Neowin®

This weekend's PC game deals include bundles for Monster Hunter and beat 'em up titles, freebies on Epic Games Store and Steam, cooperative free events to try, rare Minecraft discounts, and more.

Ubisoft has revealed the final PC hardware recommendations for its upcoming free-to-play shooter XDefiant. Also, preloads are available for both the console and PC versions ahead of its May 21 launch.

Playground Games has announced a new free content update for Forza Horizon 5. Dubbed "Horizon Retrowave," it brings new cars, fresh synthwave music, neon lights, new character items, and more.

Star Citizen is hosting a massive free-fly event, offering everyone access to its sci-fi universe as well as almost all its ships and vehicles. The free-to-play promotion lasts for 12 days.

Developer Arkane Austin will release one final update for its vampire shooter Redfall. The update will add a much-wanted offline mode to the game along with single-player pausing and more.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Microsoft has decided to launch Activision's 2024 Call of Duty game as a Day One title for the Xbox Game Pass subscription service for an October launch.

The Creative Assembly development team is reportedly working on three more entries for its long-running Total War RTS game series. One of those games is allegedly based on the Star Wars universe

Leaks on social media have reportedly shown a new third-person shooter called Deadlock. This is rumored to be the next major new game from Valve, and it may be officially announced soon.

Intel 31.0.101.5522 WHQL driver is now available for download with optimizations and support for the upcoming Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Starfield May Update, XDefiant, and Wuthering Waves.

The Summer Game Fest X account has announced that the live-streaming event will officially reveal a new title from 2K Games that's part of one of its "biggest and most beloved franchises" on June 7.

As part of its quarterly financial report, publisher Take-Two Interactive stated that Grand Theft Auto VI from Rockstar Games will launch in the fall of 2025 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Activision, now owned by Microsoft, has opened a new game development studio called Elsewhere. The team is working on an all-new "narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise."

Xbox Free Play Days has two games for Xbox Game Pass Core and Ultimate members to try for no extra cost this weekend: The theme park building title Planet Coaster and the co-op entry Killing Floor 2.

The Epic Games Store's first mystery giveaway from its Mega Sale promotion has turned out to be Dragon Age Inquisition - Game of the Year Edition. The BioWare RPG is free to claim for an entire week.

Palworld, the surprise game hit of 2024, is now available on the Nvidia GeForce NOW cloud gaming service for Steam owners of the game. Four other games were also added to GeForce Now this week.

Minecraft, one of the most popular modern games, is celebrating its 15th birthday. To mark the occasion, Microsoft put the game on sale, allowing you to save up to 70% on different platforms.

AMD's latest WHQL-certified driver, 24.5.1, lands with support for Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, and F1 24, as well as AI acceleration and development support.

Today, Google announced a number of new additions for devices that use versions of Android. They include a new "private space" for smartphone apps in the upcoming Android 15 OS, and more.

Tomorrow is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, and Microsoft is using the occasion to officially reveal the Proteus Controller, a third-party modular Xbox game controller that's coming this fall.

Ubisoft has canceled the 2021-announced The Division spin-off entry Heartland. The development resources from the free-to-play survival game are being diverted to Rainbow Six Siege and XDefiant.

Starfield 1.11.36 update is now live across PC and Xbox, bringing updated local maps, ship interior customization much like on outposts, frame rate targeting and graphics options on Xbox, and more.

Assassin's Creed is returning this November with a brand-new entry focused on feudal Japan. Shadows will feature two protagonists, letting players take the roles of being shinobi or samurai.

Microsoft's latest Xbox software update for May concentrates on the PC platform, as it officially adds support for playing certain Xbox Cloud Gaming titles with a mouse and keyboard.

Tango Gameworks will release one more and final patch for its acclaimed action game Hi-Fi Rush later today. The game's physical editions from Limited Run Games are also still in the works.

Microsoft has released its latest Xbox Transparency Report, which claims that the company has seen the online safety of its gamers improve with the use of new tools and reporting features.

Over 100 games on the Xbox 360 store just received discounts of up to 90% off. Microsoft says it is working with publishers to offer sales on the classic titles before the store's closure.

Games Workshop will stream the 2024 Warhammer Skulls event on May 23. This will reveal news and updates for current and upcoming video games in the Warhammer/Warhammer 40,000 franchise.

The second half of May will carry 11 fresh titles for Xbox Game Pass membership holders. This includes Xbox's Hellblade II, EA's Immortals of Aveum, CI Games' Lords of the Fallen, and more.

Helldivers 2 sets a new PlayStation sales record with 12 million copies sold, making it the fastest-selling PS title ever. While server issues affected the launch, over 458k played on Steam alone.

There have been some interesting statements, plus a trademark filing, that suggest a reveal of the next game in id Software's Doom first-person shooter series could happen at the Xbox Games Showcase.

Sony has announced that Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst will be the two CEOs of its Sony Interactive Entertainment business, which covers its PlayStation division, to replace former CEO Jim Ryan.

Members of Microsoft's Xbox Insider Program in the Alpha Skip-Ahead ring can get a new update that will let them test out a way to get updates for some games before they become generally available.

Paradox Interactive and Double Eleven have split up due to the parties not reaching a "commercial agreement". This means a new developer is taking over development of Prison Architect 2.

Square Enix has reportedly decided to lay off a number of team members in North America and Europe. It will also launch a new business plan that will involve launching AAA games for multiple platforms

Ubisoft is preparing to unveil its next mainline Assassin's Creed entry this week. Assassin's Creed Shadows, originally Codename RED, is getting its cinematic world premiere trailer on May 15.

Bethesda has released another update for Fallout 4, and this one aims to fix bugs introduced with the next-gen update from last month, as well as add new frame rate targeting and graphics modes.

Rockstar Games 2010-hit Red Dead Redemption may finally be getting a PC port after all these years. Strings have been found on the Rockstar Launcher promoting the classic title's PC version.

Project Starline, the 3D video conferencing hardware system that was shown off at Google I/O in 2021 will leave the labs and be sold as a commercial product in 2025 with the help of HP.

It's been a week since Sony decided not to require Helldivers 2 players on Steam to sign up for a PlayStation Network account, but the game is still unavailable to play in over 170 countries.