Video game news digest: Wednesday, October 14, 2026

Xbox sets up a team to explore the ports and remixes born of new technology, Sony keeps a black PS5 for Japan and RimWorld leaves Unity for its own engine.

Xbox creates Xbox Labs to explore ports and new technology

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced Xbox Labs on Tuesday, a small group of game makers, engineers and scientists tasked with turning emerging ideas into things players and developers can use, in a message to employees published on Xbox Wire. She points to games recently decompiled to run on hardware they were never built for, from Apple Silicon Macs to web browsers. The team says it will build in the open and share its tools with other studios. A spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that the group brings together existing internal projects, with no new hires, no mandate to use AI and nothing set to ship soon.

A black PS5 Digital Edition for Japan only on November 19

Sony will release a Midnight Black PS5 Digital Edition in Japan on Thursday, November 19 for ¥55,000, with pre-orders opening Tuesday, October 20, Sony announced on its Japanese PlayStation Blog (as covered by Eurogamer). It only works with an account set to Japanese language and the Japan region, so it can't be used with a European or American account. A matching disc drive launches the same day. Sony has announced nothing for other regions.

RimWorld drops Unity for its own engine

Ludeon Studios is moving RimWorld to Waylith, its in-house engine, with update 1.7, already playable on Steam's "unstable" beta branch, the studio announced. The game looks the same, but runs two to four times faster in its tests: a 1,500-mod list now loads in 6 minutes instead of 14. Saves work both ways between versions, and most mods run unchanged. PCs more than ten years old may no longer run the game, though. Ludeon is also making a new game on the engine, with no details yet.

Ace Combat Zero becomes a standalone app on Steam

Bandai Namco will offer Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War as a standalone Steam app for players who got it as an Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve pre-order bonus, which currently has to be launched to play it, the publisher said. Saves will be shared between both versions through Steam Cloud. Players who don't already own the bonus won't be able to get it this way. Timing depends on final quality and compatibility testing.

Richard "Levelord" Gray has died

Level designer Richard Gray, known as Levelord, has died, Apogee Entertainment announced, as reported by PC Gamer and Kotaku. He built levels for 1996's Duke Nukem 3D, where his hidden "You're not supposed to be here" message could only be reached with cheats. He went on to co-found Hipnotic Interactive, later Ritual Entertainment, and worked on Quake: Scourge of Armagon, Sin and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero.

Helldivers 2 gets new precision weapons on October 20

The Scope of Authority Premium Warbond lands in Helldivers 2 on Tuesday, October 20, per the PlayStation Blog. It focuses on long-range combat, with the R-40 Sightliner bolt-action rifle, the backpack-fed AMW-20 Apex anti-materiel rifle and G-11 Caltrops, mines that slow and stun enemies.

Escape Academy 2 is coming to PS5 on November 5 too

Coin Crew Games is adding a PS5 version of Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School, which launches on Thursday, November 5, the same day as on PC via Steam. The sequel swaps the first game's linear string of rooms for an open campus to explore, where puzzles are no longer confined to rooms. Local and online co-op are still in.