SNK has told 4Gamer that its Metal Slug 30th Anniversary Project is not a one-year celebration but the start of a long-term franchise rebuild. Three staff, led by chief producer Naoto Abe, opened up about the new game's direction (home consoles and PC), behind-the-scenes development lore (the tank was originally the player character), and how they plan to turn a beloved arcade icon into SNK's number-one brand. Here is what overseas fans need to know.
Katsuhiro Harada launched VS Studio under SNK. Shinji Mikami's Unbound was absorbed by Korea's SHIFT UP. Daisuke Taka burned through his savings to go solo. As Japan's most celebrated game creators strike out on their own, the capital keeping them afloat is overwhelmingly Saudi and Korean. Here's why Japan's own giants can't fund their stars, and why foreign money can.
Japanese Unreal Engine studio Historia has unveiled REAL MOON Studio, a lunar digital twin recreating a 240km by 240km stretch of the Moon's south pole. Built on joint research with JAXA, it lets engineers rehearse rover routes, preview camera shots, and plan lunar bases - a look at how game-engine technology is quietly joining the global Moon race.
M2, the studio beloved by retro shoot 'em up fans, has cancelled Ubusuna, a shmup it spent 12 years building. The reason: the departure of Hiroshi Iuchi, the creator of Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun. Here is what the cancellation means, and what it says about Japan's shrinking shmup scene.
Two key Capcom executives explained their AI strategy to 4Gamer: 3,000 hours of QA collapsed to 72 hours by AI, 30,000+ hours of monthly autonomous playtesting, and a three-layer architecture combining Google's Gemini with Capcom's own art-director models. As the DLSS 5 backlash and ResetEra debates continue, here's why Capcom insists AI is for releasing creator potential, not making art, and why its no-AI-assets pledge predates the Nvidia row rather than answering it.
Shueisha Games — the gaming arm of Japan's iconic Weekly Shonen Jump publisher — has reopened a worldwide pitch program with one striking condition: you don't need to be a game developer. Just a proposal and a portfolio. Here's what the deal actually looks like.
Free iOS collection ONE-DOT GAMES, built on the minimalist concept Kenji Eno (D, Enemy Zero) left behind in 2009, launched on May 17, 2026. University students who never knew him are now carrying the torch.
Nintendo's first-party Switch 2 title 'Yoshi and the Mysterious Book' is reportedly built on Unreal Engine 5, a first for any Nintendo-published game. We unpack how dataminers cracked the case, why Switch 2's UE5 performance has been a worry, what this means for future ports, and whether this small platformer is quietly Nintendo's biggest engine pivot yet.
Four months after exiting Bandai Namco, Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has launched VS Studio SNK, with his longtime rival SNK as parent company but explicitly not as a wholly owned subsidiary. We look at the 90s-spirited mission, the Yonemori and Oda reunion, and the divided fighting game community reaction, including the Saudi ownership question r/Fighters can't stop debating.
SEGA Sammy officially confirmed the cancellation of its 'Super Game' initiative in its FY2026 earnings, ending a 5-year plan to build a live-service mega-title aimed at 100 billion yen in lifetime sales. We break down why Sonic Rumble Party underperformed, why Rovio took another impairment hit, how 100+ developers were shifted to mainstay IP full games like Like a Dragon and Sonic, and how this fits the broader collapse of the GaaS gold rush following Concord, Suicide Squad, and Sony's own cancellations.
SEGA Sammy Holdings reported its FY2026 results: record revenue of 487.5 billion yen ($3.1B, +13.7％ YoY) was wiped out by 58.8 billion yen in special losses tied to Rovio Entertainment (Angry Birds) and Stakelogic, producing the company's first net loss in 11 years. We unpack the impairment, the international community's skepticism about the 776 million-dollar Rovio acquisition, the deprioritization of F2P, the redeployment of 100＋ developers onto full-game projects, and SEGA's bet on four new mainstay-IP titles ahead of Sonic's 35th anniversary.
MAGES. has officially announced no streaming or let's plays will be permitted for STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, launching August 20, 2026. Console share features are restricted to private use only. What Western streamers and visual novel fans need to know — including the 2023 case where Japan's first arrest over a game stream was for a Steins;Gate game.
Konami Group reports record-breaking FY2026 results—revenue ¥493.6B, net income ¥100B, third consecutive year of record highs—and unveils a stacked 2026 lineup: Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, Silent Hill Townfall, Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, Suikoden revival, and aggressive Switch 2 deployment.
Sony Group's FY2025 results: record $9.2B operating profit on $79.5B in sales, but net income fell 3.4% as the Honda EV joint venture imploded. PS5 cumulative sales hit 93.6M units, the memory crunch forced Sony to throttle PS5 production, and a fresh TSMC deal cements its image-sensor empire. With Crunchyroll, Demon Slayer's $750M global hit, and a $3.2B buyback, this is the IP conglomerate Disney should be watching.
SEGA and RGG Studio just dropped the theme song for STRANGER THAN HEAVEN, and the lineup is wild: Snoop Dogg, Ado, Official Hige Dandism's Satoshi Fujihara, and Tori Kelly on a single track. We break down Ado's record-breaking Hibana world tour (500,000 fans across 33 cities), Higedan's anime-fueled global rise via Spy x Family and Tokyo Revengers, Snoop Dogg's long history of collaborating with Japanese artists, and how international gaming and music communities are reacting to this Pacific-spanning collision.
MAGES. has set August 20, 2026 as the release date for STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT, launching simultaneously on PS4/PS5/Xbox Series X|S/Switch/Switch 2/PC. The remake adds new worldlines, new endings, fully redrawn CG, and re-recorded voices, and Western VN fans are already debating how it stacks up against ELITE.
Nintendo's surprise May 7 Star Fox Direct validated months of insider leaks. The next big rumored title, a Zelda: Ocarina of Time major remake, had three competing scenarios in international gaming communities: a 2026 launch, a sync with the May 2027 live-action movie, or no remake at all. Nintendo confirmed the remake for Switch 2 at its June 9 Direct with a 2026 window and no date attached. Here is the full record of the debate and how it resolved.
SEGA and RGG Studio have set STRANGER THAN HEAVEN for January 15, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Xbox Game Pass day one. The 50-year saga follows half-Japanese, half-American Makoto Daito across five cities and five eras from 1915 to 1965, with Snoop Dogg, Ado, Yu Shirota, and Dean Fujioka in the cast. Here's the full breakdown of the new dual-side combat system, the Tojo Clan tease, and how the international Like a Dragon community is reacting.
Kenichi Sugino, who designed the Game Boy Color, Advance, DS and 3DS over 37 years at Nintendo, and Goro Abe, who directed all 12 WarioWare titles, have joined Osaka Electro-Communication University as professors. We explore Japan's distinctive game education model, how it compares to DigiPen and USC, and the wave of generational change at Nintendo.
TYPE-MOON, French-Bread and Aniplex revealed MELTY BLOOD: TWI-LUMINA at EVO Japan 2026, launching early 2027 with Black Len playable at last. Refined battle systems, an eight-language launch, and what the global FGC is arguing about: rollback netcode, crossplay, and a shot at EVO Las Vegas 2027.
