GTA 6 leak threat, PlayStation hardware slump, and Deadlock's chess wizard

A leaker is threatening to upload a build of GTA 6 that reportedly includes the full story mode, ratcheting up pressure on Rockstar Games ahead of the title's release. The threat adds to a years-long saga of leaks surrounding the game and raises fresh questions about the security of one of the industry's most anticipated launches.

PlayStation hardware sales have hit their lowest point in the US since 2013, with the PS5's price singled out as the primary cause. That's a difficult backdrop for Sony, and it lends new weight to ongoing speculation about the last-minute cancellation of Gears of War: E-Day for PS5 — estimated sales figures for that title are apparently grim enough that analysts are asking whether the platform snub was a miscalculation. Separately, BlazBlue: Central Fiction has been announced for PS5, arriving nearly a decade after its original release.

Deadlock has surpassed Team Fortress 2's all-time concurrent player count peak, driven in part by the addition of a new hero whose reload animations are based on famous chess matches. Arc Raiders is also seeing a resurgence — a 2.0 update and a new grappling mechanic have pushed its player count to a seven-month high. And Strange Scaffold has announced Gods With Badges, a tactics game built around the choice of when to switch off your bodycam.