BG3 Fan Expansion, Monster Hunter Fixes, and Xbox's Trophy Answer

A fan-made expansion for Baldur's Gate 3 has shipped after nearly two years in development — a remarkable milestone for community modding, arriving the same week Polygon rekindled the debate over whether BG3 has actually surpassed its predecessors, concluding it hasn't quite dethroned the classics. The two stories together make for an unusually rich moment for the franchise.

Capcom and Monster Hunter Wilds are having a busy stretch: the producer behind Wilds acknowledged that fixing the game represented the hardest the team has ever worked, Ascendance — the upcoming expansion — is drawing preview praise for bringing back one of the series' most feared creatures, and a separate preview outlet says it has them eager to sink back in. On the Xbox side, leaked details point to a Mythic Achievements system coming to the platform, framed explicitly as an answer to PlayStation's Platinum Trophy.

Blizzard is toughening its stance on World of Warcraft Forever, promising to aggressively penalize gold buyers after admitting the MMO has been too permissive on the issue. Separately, an industry expert argued that Japanese developers have largely avoided the wave of layoffs hitting Western studios because their executives take far lower pay, their teams are smaller, and they stayed away from the live-service gold rush — a pointed contrast as studios in the West continue restructuring.