{"id":474222,"date":"2026-05-30T05:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474222\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T05:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T05:20:08","slug":"news-round-up-colorado-dlc-gaming-veto-fable-delay-switch-2-surge-in-japan-and-an-unexpected-gamespot-merger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/474222\/","title":{"rendered":"News round-up: Colorado DLC gaming veto, Fable delay, Switch 2 surge in Japan and an unexpected GameSpot merger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Colorado state flag, via Wikipedia<\/p>\n

Note: Thanks to a holiday-shortened work week and the need to get the weekend going (for me and for you!), this is an all-round-up edition of Game File. I\u2019ll be back next week with some original stories\u2013and with coverage of the coming avalanche of E3-style gaming events and announcements.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc40 Colorado governor Jared Polis has vetoed a bill<\/a> that would have forced gamers in the state to pay an extra 5% fee for downloadable content for video games, The Denver Post reports<\/a>. The money would have been used to fund youth mental health and education programs,<\/p>\n

Polis said he vetoed the \u201cOnline Add-on Transaction Fee Youth Enterprise\u201d (full text of the bill<\/a>) due to \u201cserious legal concerns about the bill\u2019s enterprise structure and its reliance on fees on gamers to fund these important programs and enforcement functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more nuance about video game DLC than you\u2019d expect from a governor, Polis added: \u201cthe fee imposed on these add-on transactions means that consumers would not only be charged extra for things like character costumes and upgrades, but also for storyline content for online games. This type of content represents digital storytelling and artistic expression, and I do not support such a fee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfae Rockstar Games employees in the U.K\u2014including in Scotland where Rockstar North historically has built the bulk of each Grand Theft Auto\u2014have formally announced a workers\u2019 union, Aftermath reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\ude2e Valve has significantly raised the price<\/a> of its Steam Deck handhelds, citing \u201crising memory and storage costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5Switch 2 sales in Japan exceeded 200,000 units for the second straight<\/a> week<\/a> (through May 24). The surge came just ahead of a May 25 price increase to the Japanese-language edition of the device from \u00a549,980 ($314) to \u00a559,980 ($376)<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcf1 Nintendo\u2019s new mobile game Pictonico, which turns user\u2019s photos into comedic, rapidly played micro-games was co-developed by Intelligent Systems<\/a>, the longtime co-developer of Nintendo\u2019s WarioWare games, which are\u2026 compilations of rapidly played micro-games.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udfe9 Microsoft has delayed the role-playing game Fable<\/a>, one of its biggest upcoming releases, until February 2027. The company cited a crowded 2026 calendar of its own games (Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day) and third parties\u2019 (GTA VI, Star Wars: Galactic Racer).<\/p>\n

In January, Xbox Studios chief Craig Duncan told GamesRadar<\/a> that releasing three games during October 2025 was a moment \u201cwhere we were probably on top of ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Fable, developed by Forza Horizon studio Playground Games, was announced in 2020<\/a> and has been in development since 2017 or so<\/a> (just after the studio released Forza Horizon 3; they released FH6 this month).<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udca5 This year\u2019s Call of Duty is Modern Warfare 4<\/a>, set partially on the Korean peninsula and coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2.<\/p>\n

That Switch element is notable. In February 2023, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement<\/a> to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms, as it tried to assuage regulators\u2019 concerns over its planned purchase of Activision Blizzard. CoD has not appeared on a Nintendo platform since the 2013 Wii U release of Call of Duty Ghosts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udccf Balatro and Case of the Golden Idol publisher Playstack is expected to be sold to Integrated Media Company, the owners of gaming editorial outlets GameSpot and Fandom for $151 million, pending a shareholder vote, Kotaku reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2694\ufe0f CD Projekt Red is indeed preparing a new expansion for their 2015 hit role-playing game The Witcher III. <\/p>\n

Called \u201cSongs of the Past,\u201d it\u2019s slated for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series in 2027 and will be developed \u201cin partnership<\/a>\u201d with external studio Fool\u2019s Theory, the company said.<\/p>\n

Event: Kicking off what used to be E3 week and now is commonly referred to as Summer Game Fest, the MIX Summer Game Showcase<\/a> airs online at noon ET. It will highlight a batch of upcoming indie games.<\/p>\n

Event: An hour-long Sony PlayStation State of Play showcase<\/a> will air online at 5pm ET. Sony is promising a new look at Insomniac Games\u2019 Wolverine alongside \u201cupdates, announcements, and gameplay reveals from top studios around the world.\u201d The PlayStation team considers the overall showcase a big enough deal that they\u2019re organizing watch parties at movie theaters across the U.S. Shall we finally see Sony Santa Monica\u2019s next game?<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019re curious about Xbox\u2019s version of this<\/a>, their event will air on Sunday, June 7. And Nintendo, well, they haven\u2019t announced a showcase yet\u2026 didn\u2019t do one in 2025 seemingly because they\u2019d just aired a Switch 2 showcase in April \u2026 and aired one<\/a> in 2024 on June 18, more than a week after all the other SGF stuff concluded. They do their own thing, if you haven\u2019t noticed.)<\/p>\n

(That\u2019s not all! Even more events will unfold<\/a> into<\/a> the<\/a> weekend<\/a>; I\u2019ll run another breakdown in next Friday\u2019s newsletter.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado state flag, via Wikipedia Note: Thanks to a holiday-shortened work week and the need to get the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80],"class_list":["post-474222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}