Wo Long 2 dated, Sakurai steps back, and GameCube cult classic stirs

Masahiro Sakurai is stepping away from the Game Designers Award after 16 years, forced to abandon the initiative because he has been unable to find a successor. The news puts a quiet end to one of the more personal projects the Super Smash Bros. creator has championed outside his day job. Separately, Bungie surfaced in a candid historical light, with a former lead recalling that the studio's internal mantra during Destiny's early years was "I love playing Destiny. I hate that it's not better" — a rare glimpse at the frustration behind one of the generation's biggest live-service launches.

Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember has a release date — March 4, 2027 — with an alpha demo now available for players who want an early look at Team Ninja's follow-up. On a murkier timeline, the delayed art book for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been pushed to 2027 as well, while a Zelda-themed Nintendo Switch 2 console has gone up for pre-order on Amazon. Polygon also rounded up 25 of the best Switch 2 games currently available, a sign of how quickly the platform's library has taken shape. And after 24 years of silence, one of the GameCube's most beloved cult classics is showing signs of life, with a tease emerging from a studio known for quality remasters.

Blizzard acknowledged that Overwatch fans are frustrated by the distribution of its premium skins, with the studio calling it the number-one issue it is working to fix. Diablo IV's 30th anniversary Diablo celebrations got off to a bumpy start, and Diablo 5 developers responded to release-date skepticism, saying the team collectively agreed the time was right to go public. Xbox also addressed rumors that Game Pass could lose new day-one games in 2027. On the publishing side, Falcom signed an agreement with NEOWIZ for the development and global release of The Legend of Heroes III: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch, and Wardogs CEO drew sharp attention for stating he will not hire developers who are not prepared for mandatory crunch.