Disney Officially Announces Glee Reboot Is Happening

Today, EA announced a major shakeup that included the layoffs of 400 employees and the closure of BioWare. Sims fans were especially quick to share worries about their beloved EA-owned life-sim franchise, which has already been mired in confusion amid constant downgrades and rumors that The Sims 5 might never happen. On Wednesday, via an internal email shared with Kotaku, EA executives Cam Weber and David Tinson announced that work on an in-development game codenamed Project Lotus would be paused.  “In Lifestyle, we’re focusing on the long-term potential of The Sims and skate. We’re going to prioritize our efforts on ‘Project Evergreen’ for The Sims to give the team more time to reach the full potential and vision for the game, and to help make this possible, we’re pausing development on ‘Project Lotus.'”  Fans were quick to react, with some celebrating the death of the controversial installment, while others expressed concern for the longevity of the series under EA’s ownership. “sims 4 not making it out 2026 THE END IS NIGH,” one fan commented. What are Project Lotus and Project Evergreen?

HBO show from Last of Us writer will pick up where BG3 ended Baldur's Gate 3 sequel series officially in the works

Since its early access launch earlier this year, developer Unknown Worlds has delivered quite a few significant updates to Subnautica 2, adding features like a buddy system and, after quite a bit of controversy, a way to fight back against some overly aggressive fish. Now, the team has revealed the game’s biggest update yet, which comes with a boatload of content and an ambitious title: Early Access 2.0. In a video posted to Subnautica’s YouTube channel last week, Creative Director Anthony Gallegos described EA 2.0 as “the most substantial update we’ve done since release.” It’ll add a story expansion, new creatures, an entirely new region composed of five biomes, and a Tadpole chassis that adds arms and legs. Most importantly, though, Gallegos described the new map addition as “one of our scariest regions we’ve ever done.” Yikes! Early Access 2.0 was not given a release window. The vlog also features relatively few peeks at the new content, but Gallegos promised more updates on the content of EA 2.0 via a vlog series that’ll include talks with other members of the development team.

Mark Darrah, who worked as an Executive Producer at BioWare from 1997–2021, shared his thoughts on the studio’s recent closure by EA and what he thinks might happen to its iconic IPs. EA announced a major restructuring in a lengthy statement on October 21. Amid some exciting developments for Sims, Fight Night, and Star Wars fans came the devastating news that BioWare — the studio responsible for beloved series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age — was being shut down. “As we focus on these larger opportunities, we've had a small team at BioWare working on early-development for Mass Effect. We've made the decision not to move forward with this development, which means we’re closing the studio and our Edmonton workspace. BioWare is a legendary studio that helped define the role-playing genre, and we do not take this decision lightly,” EA’s statement said. This news hit the gaming world hard, with fans taking to social media to mourn the developer and send fired staff their well-wishes. But one burning question has risen above the sadness: What does this mean for the future of BioWare’s IPs?

Xbox is currently undergoing a “reset” that’s on course to cut 20 percent of its headcount. With hundreds more layoffs reportedly looming over the next few months, Xbox is also now requiring that employees within 50 miles of its Washington headquarters come into the office four days a week, one more than the current mandate. “Starting February 1st, 2027, Xbox employees in Puget Sound who live within 50 commuting miles of Studio D are required to work from the office a minimum of four days a week,” Xbox chief people officer Jacinda Chislum Pearson recently told staff, according to The Verge. “We have thousands of Xbox employees within commuting distance of Redmond. Taking advantage of that proximity and working together in person makes it easier to review work, resolve issues, and make decisions without the burden of scheduling another meeting.” Isn’t that what Copilot AI is for? Forcing a shift from three days a week in office to four suggests that Xbox leadership thinks its employees are currently pursuing a work-life balance that isn’t optimized to achieve the gaming division’s ambitious new goals.

Updated: Oct 21, 2026 9:16pm UTCEA shut down BioWare earlier today, and fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic are paying their respects to the beloved developer. Star Wars: The Old Republic was originally developed by BioWare, launching back in 2011. BioWare supported the MMO itself until 2023, when EA put Broadsword Games in charge of maintaining it. But the bulk of the game's story content was developed and written by BioWare, so it's little wonder that the SWTOR community would want to pay respects to the now-dormant studio following this latest news. Reddit user WarlockingIn posted BioWare's farewell statement on the SWTOR subreddit, and in just a few hours, it's garnered nearly 5,000 upvotes and 742 comments supporting the now-defunct RPG developer. Bae_the_Elf posted a comment, lamenting EA's treatment of the studio, saying, "RIP. One of the greatest gaming studios of all time in my opinion. Sad to see how corporate mismanagement and time sadly lead to the downfall of this studio. It would have been nice if they had just kept chugging out great RPGs at a steady pace for years. "Meanwhile, user AnnoyedYamcha was devastated by the closure, saying "NO. Not BIOWARE!