Video games never sleep. And neither do you if you try to play them all.

There are few slow weeks in gaming news these days — always something to be missed — so here’s another dose of the Biggest Gaming News of the week.

• Xbox Federal Trade Commission hearings (over its Activision-Blizzard bid) outed that PlayStation may be planning a PlayStation 5 Slim for $399.99 later in 2023.

  • PS4 released in 2013, followed by the PS4 Slim in 2016. So, this checks out, but Sony has made no official comment.

• PS5’s wi-fi streaming accessory, Project Q, may be planned for later this year for less than $300 according to the FTC hearing documents. No comment from Sony.

• PlayStation boss, Jim Ryan, said “all the publishers…unanimously” think Xbox Game Pass’s model is “is value destructive” and do no like it. Another gem from Xbox’s FTC hearings.

• According to two sources, Kotaku has learned Ubisoft is remaking Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, the 2013 release. It is allegedly years away.

• DayZ 2 is seemingly underway. It has not been officially announced, but (you guessed it…) showed up in Xbox FTC documents that were submitted. A Bohemia Interactive spokesperson did not deny it, and told IGN, “There are numerous projects Bohemia Interactive dev teams are currently exploring.”

• Bungie’s newly-revealed extraction shooter, Marathon, may be out in 2025. …or it could be another new Bungie IP. Xbox FTC documents said the Destiny developer planned a new IP for 2025.

  • Take it with a grain of salt, but given Bungie revealed Marathon in 2023, a release in late 2024 or 2025 is likely.

• Baldur’s Gate 3 release moved up for PC — it will hit August 3, 2023 to get ahead of Starfield madness.

• Square Enix announced it sold three million copies of Final Fantasy XVI, the exclusive PlayStation 5 title.

Cocoon from Limbo and Inside Lead Designer, Jeppe Carlson

Did you dig the stylings of the atmospheric indies Limbo (2010) and Inside (2016)? The lead designer’s new project, Cocoon, releases on September 29, 2023 for PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch.

It looks dope. Each world exists in an “orb” that you carry on your back — which you can later use as a tool within other worlds. Expect puzzles, platforming and nifty visuals.

The AAA Cost of Gaming - $200MM to $1 Billion

Most gamers don’t care how much a game costs to make — they care how much it costs them at the register. But if you find yourself scratching your head why game prices can sometimes seem like a roulette table, well, it’s because it’s all a gamble.

In two recent reports, we were reminded on the massive bets (and profits) big companies are making on huge franchises. In the recent Xbox FTC filings, a letter submitted by Sony PlayStation revealed Last of Us Part 2 cost $220 million to develop; meanwhile, Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million to develop. There were 200 and 300 people on those development teams, respectively.

But that doesn’t include the massive marketing budgets that huge companies gamble. In another related filing, the UK CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) revealed a slew of findings that corroborates these common $100MM - $200MM costs.

But the bombshell was one publisher said its game may cost $660 million to develop — with a $550 million marketing budget. That’s over $1.2 billion, which has led to most speculating this is the cost of the yet-to-be-revealed Grand Theft Auto 6.

Anyway, I wanted to take a moment to highlight the risks. Let’s do some inaccurate, lazy math. There were reports Square Enix’s Forspoken cost $100MM to make and no doubt more to budget. Let’s say $140MM all-in. It’s was a $70 game, which had many (especially post-release) decrying “Whyyyy is it so expensive? Is this game really worth it?”

Therein lies the issue: they’d have to sell at least two million copies to break even. Four million copies sold and maybe they could make a bet on a modest sequel.

Again, this ignores a lot of things: revenue share with partners, other overhead, etc. But you get the idea — AAA game development is extremely risky and expensive.

My final, often-controversial point: when a game is good to great, you gotta get over the “is it worth it?” conversation. Worth is subjective. When a game is good to great — to you — vote with your wallet. Or you may not see Metroid Prime Remastered for 20 years. You didn’t get a sequel, nor a remaster, because the genre didn’t sell enough at the time, and it was deemed too expensive and risky to make. So here we are in 2023 still waiting for Metroid Prime 4.

It’s tricky, because some games are complete rip-offs. But when a game is solid, and you’re interested? I’m just saying you might want to think again. Don’t pay $20 for a skin in an online shooter, and then “wait for Stray to hit Game Pass” if you want more games like that.

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