Google's AI enters QA testing as Dead Rising turns 20 and studios shuffle

Google has built an AI capable of playing and testing games still in development, and some publishers are already embracing it. The news lands at a fraught moment for the industry's workforce — QA testers, already among the most precarious roles in games, now find themselves in the crosshairs after earlier waves of AI displacement hit programmers and artists.

That's No Moon, the studio that revealed Crossfire two months ago, has apparently laid off 14 staff members — a rough sign for a project that had only just gone public. Separately, Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls is confirmed to be shutting down next month, adding to the ongoing list of live-service casualties. Project Zomboid fans, meanwhile, launched a petition after developers revoked access to a community map, a dispute that speaks to the recurring tension between studios and the modding communities built around their games.

Dead Rising turned 20 years old today, a milestone worth marking for a series that helped define the open-sandbox horror genre. At QuakeCon, id co-founder John Carmack was on hand to reflect on Doom, calling it still a great game after all these years. Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is set to get a new look at Gamescom's Opening Night Live, and THQ Nordic held a 2026 showcase covering its lineup across Switch 1 and Switch 2.