EA's Saudi Deal Scrutinized, GTA 6 Easter Egg Hunt, and More

Helldivers 2 CEO Johan Pilestedt has weighed in on EA's acquisition by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund, calling it a 'real waste' if the deal results in nothing but safe sequels. The comment cuts to a widely shared anxiety in the industry: that consolidation under risk-averse ownership tends to sand down the edges that make games worth playing.

GTA 6 fans are doing what they do — this time convincing themselves a painting in GTA Online contains an Easter egg, requiring zooming, cropping, and rotating to reveal it. Whether or not Rockstar put anything there intentionally, the exercise is its own kind of community sport. On the subject of live games in motion, Dead by Daylight has pushed its first-ever community-created chapter to the PTB, a notable milestone for Behaviour Interactive's long-running asymmetric horror series.

Endless Legend 2 has a September exit from early access confirmed, bringing new major, minor, and rogue factions when it fully launches. The Palworld lead also addressed the expanding universe around the game — a card game and an MMO among recent reveals — clarifying that a lot of those projects aren't being made directly by Pocketpair itself. And a solo developer shared a striking cautionary tale: his Steam game earned $1.3 million on paper, but a 99% refund rate left him with roughly $2,000.