CDPROJEKT RED NEW OPEN WORLD GAME, PS5 EXCLUSIVE SALES CRASHING? & MORE

Added: 2026-06-06

[00:00:01]Hey folks, today is Friday, June 5th, 2026. As usual, my name is Jake Baldino here to talk about all the video game news that has been going on this week.

[00:00:09]Uh, and it's going to be a wild week. Of course, it is Friday, but uh later on tonight, uh, Summer Gamefest is kicking off with that big Jeff Key live stream.

[00:00:17]We got the Future Game Show. We got, uh, Xbox doing a showcase this weekend. So, expect a bunch of news coming throughout the weekend, and we're going to make videos on all that stuff to keep you posted. But for now, let's just kick it off with the first story. Senior Project Red is in the news again last week, of course, for the big Witcher 3 expansion announcement, but now uh potentially for their next game. We've known for a while now that they've been working on a bunch of different projects, right? Uh and one of them is Project Hadar. Hadar, I think, is like the code name, but it's popped up in the news because they're hiring. We've known that they've been working on this, but apparently it's like a skeleton crew thing. But now we know that it's apparently going to be another openw world game. So it's going to be them sticking with what they did with The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

[00:01:04]This comes from a job listing for an engineer director for Hadar that says, quote, "In this position, together with the rest of the team, you will help push the envelope for the next immersive game in the Hadar world, creating an emotional openw world experience that will stay with gamers." All right, so that's what we got. It's not a lot, but open world game seemingly sort of confirmed. Even if it's not an official announcement, at least it's a job posting. And the game is going to have an emotional story, I guess. Super vague, but hey, it's something and we found it kind of interesting. The big question is when. Obviously, they're working on the Witcher 3 expansion content uh with that other team, but they're also bulking up for Witcher 4.

[00:01:45]And along with that, we also know that they are working on a new Cyberpunk game. So, another project. It's pretty ambitious that they're taking on this much, but we do know that they have been staffing up. They established a new studio in Boston in the United States a couple years back. So, uh I'm really curious to see where this actually goes.

[00:02:03]Also, in other brief news in terms of numbers, uh Gamefile is reporting a kind of noted drop uh for PlayStation first party success. This comes to firstparty sales decline, apparently with the data to back it up. The most recent thing though is that uh newer games more recently like Ghost of Yote uh helped that slump start to move back up. But I think this isn't indicative of like Sony like collapsing or anything, but I think it does show that in the last couple of years they've probably kind of depprioritized pumping out big crazy awesome games that everybody buys all the time and trying to focus a little bit more on the live service stuff.

[00:02:43]Couple that with a lot of the games that they have been putting out taking years and years to make, like Naughty Dog goes almost console generation stretches. I guess that's probably why we're seeing this. But, uh, if you do want to read up on it at all, uh, everything I talk about today, it'll all be linked in the description down below. Next up, this video is sponsored by boot.dev. Maybe you're interested in becoming a software developer. Maybe you're looking into game development. Well, the best way to learn coding is to never be bored. And boot.dev understands this. You can learn Python, JavaScript, Go, Linux, maybe to pivot into a different career, uh, good salary, uh, potentially working remotely, or maybe you're trying to learn how to tinker with games. Well, you learn through a kind of hands-on RPG experience. Yes, they have gamified learning here, and it actually works.

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[00:03:53]Uh things are added. Plus, you have Boots, the wizard bearer here, who is your personal tutor. He's better than your average assistant. Like, he actually helps. So, if you want to check this out, there's actually a free demo available to get started. Again, kind of like a video game. But, uh, with this, there's also a 30-day, no questions asked, refund policy. If you want to get started, have fun, but learn something legit, all you got to do is click the link in the description down below or go to boot.dev. And when you're there, use code game ranks. That's to get 25% off your entire first year on an annual plan. Again, head to boot.dev and use code gamer ranks when you're there to get 25% off your entire first year on an annual plan. Check it out. And big thanks to boot.dev for sponsoring this video. Also in some interesting news, uh just some numbers, some good gaming numbers for once. Uh according to a report released by the ESA, the Entertainment Software Association, 2/3 of Americans play quote an hour or more of video games per week. Apparently, this is up 3% uh compared to last year's report, too. I'll link it in the description down below. There are some cool data points about this, but uh this is a positive note. It also leads into another bit of conversation that's been going on this week about aging players.

[00:05:01]Games industry.biz Biz did this great article. Uh, quote, "Nobody's making games for the retired people, the growing yet underserved market for gray gamers." This is a great feature worth reading. Uh, talks to some analysts and just some player insight uh really around the fact that like the generation that started with video games, that generation is starting to get older, right? And you start having people in their 50s, their 60s, even their 70s.

[00:05:27]Uh, and this article talks about how games are still very much being made for younger demographics, younger audiences.

[00:05:34]Meanwhile, the argument is that there are a lot of retired people that yes, that's very great that some people can actually retire, right? But like the people who are retired apparently have more time to play games, but also potentially money as well, just expendable income. The games industry.biz article uh has a lot of interesting stuff. some cool data points like this graph that shows the number of gamers aged 55 and above in the UK 2020 to 2031. This number is increasing and uh they're projecting it to increase uh even more over the next couple of years.

[00:06:06]So the question is are they going to start making games for old people? No disrespect to some of you older guys that watch out there, but like is that going to happen? I'm even starting to think about it now even more here and there. I talked about it on my other channel a couple of days ago where they're remaking Star Fox and they're remaking uh Rayman Legends, right? And I'm like, "Yeah, that's that's cool."

[00:06:26]But I I think it's mostly to get kids on board more than entertain me, a grown ass man. I'm still going to play them cuz that's my thing. But still, the gaming industry is always trying to find younger audiences and new audiences. But yes, I it does seem this article does suggest that this is going to be a growing thing in the future. And I'm really curious to see if and how it's going to be addressed because we already have games that are quote unquote mature, right? But like how else do these games cater to older demographics?

[00:06:55]I don't know. But they do talk to an analyst, an industry analyst that says, quote, "The opportunity is substantial.

[00:07:00]There's probably going to be some money there." So, I'm curious to see if this does become a thing. Also, in case you missed it this week, just a brief catch up. Sony PlayStation did have their state of play earlier in the week. Uh, I did a whole video on this channel breaking down the biggest announcements.

[00:07:13]So, check that out. That is linked in the description down below. But, uh, the big picture stuff is they're bringing back Stuntman with Stuntman Hollywood.

[00:07:20]Really cool. A bunch of games got release dates including Control Resonant. Dune Awakening on PS5.

[00:07:26]Onimusha Way of the Sword is coming September. There's a demo now. Phantom Blade Zero has been moved to October 29th. No Rest for the Wicked with 1.0 is coming to PS5. Ace Combat 8 is releasing October 2nd. And that new Silent Hill firstperson game is releasing September 24th. It seems like the release date is getting stacked with basically only Grand Theft Auto 6 being in November.

[00:07:48]They also revealed Until Dawn with a new studio working on it and a tropical setting. Uh The Lost Wild caught my eye because it's kind of like a Alien Isolation, but you're being hunted by dinosaurs, but it actually looks cool and cinematic. That's coming in 2027. We also got a good look at gameplay for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Uh, and we know now that this is coming February 12th. It got pushed out of 2026, unfortunately. They also did reveal Rayman Legends Retold. This is a full remake of Rayman Legends with some extra content and uh kind of enhanced, more 3D graphic visual style that I was skeptical of, but it kind of won me over. Also, we got a look at Sony Santa Monica's next game. They're continuing God of War with this new one called God of War La. This is apparently set during the events of God of War 2018, telling the tale of Kratos's wife, Fay. It looks like while you're burying mom on the funeral p, she's being sent to hell world and she has to kick like Egyptian god asses in this kind of afterlife for the gods. There's a lot of skepticism about this one, a game without Kratos and some kind of cheesy dialogue here and there, but the combat looks cool.

[00:08:58]Look, I'm not sure yet about this one, but for now, we got a lot of gameplay.

[00:09:01]They were confident. They released like 20 minutes of gameplay if you want to check it out. Last but not least, certainly a speaking of confidence, Wolverine. We got a good look at Insomniac's Wolverine gameplay. And it kind of looks like what you'd expect, but it looks absolutely awesome. Good, faithful, real Wolverine here doing some cool murder, doing some cool moves. It just looks like a cinematic fun action game. And they have confirmed that it is not open world. This is a story-based, more linear experience. And I'm excited to see how that actually goes down.

[00:09:30]Also, uh the people really want Destiny 3. Uh I don't know if you guys saw this, but there is a petition out there, a change.org petition, uh for Sony to develop Destiny 3. As you know, of course, very soon they are officially winding down uh any more updates or anything to Destiny 2 as Bungie moves on. But a lot of people out there still really like Destiny, and people always dunk on me when I say that. I'm not a big Destiny guy, but you can't ignore that there are people out there that want it. They love it. And here is this.

[00:10:01]This petition at the time of recording is just about at 350,000 signatures. Going to be totally honest.

[00:10:08]Change.org petitions often mean nothing.

[00:10:11]But at the very least, it's a showcase that there are people out there that love Destiny and want more of that type of experience. A games as a service game that I guess did work for some people.

[00:10:21]We kind of did a eulogy for Destiny 2 already when the news dropped a couple of weeks back. So, I I just wanted to briefly touch on this the petition. You know, like I said, I don't know how much it's going to change, but at least maybe Bungie will see it and maybe Sony will see it and realize something. It's linked in the description down below.

[00:10:36]Oh, we also got uh an announcement for a new racing game from a new studio. This is significant because it's from a director behind some of the Fortza Horizon games. So, they know racing, but this looks very much more like a Need for Speed style game. Uh, it's going to have a story, but it's also going to have a lot of customization and tight realistic racing mechanics. To me, at first, I didn't I was like, "Okay, whatever." Like, it didn't really do a lot for me until they showed the car interiors. And not only are you able to place custom junk in the car interiors, like a real car. Uh, but just the detail on the dashboard, on the car details, make it look like real actual cars that are lived in, that cars that are used.

[00:11:16]And that's interesting. I just like a little bit of a different approach, something fresh, and especially if EA isn't putting out Need for Speed games right now, I am willing to check this out. This is called Clutch, and we'll probably be hearing more about it soon.

[00:11:30]Also, there's some analyst stuff coming out right now, some estimations that uh 007 First Light, the new James Bond game, has sold over 2.2 million units.

[00:11:39]Uh that's the numbers coming out right now, not completely confirmed, but we know it's over 1.5 million, which IO did confirm. A lot of people are talking about sequels and stuff like that and now so is the parent company Amazon MGM with Polygon getting this scoop. Jeff Gatis, GM of gaming at Amazon, says that uh they didn't have the full rights to First Light James Bond game. Uh the sequels will be done by MGM and theoretically by Amazon Game Studios. We did not make First Light. We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP, but at that IP acquisition happened after the first light IO deal was already done. Yes. So, we know that this game was being worked on when Bond was still in the traditional sense before it was gobbled up by Amazon MGM. Now, it is. So, seemingly in the future where IO Interactive mostly self-published this first light game uh with Amazon and MGM like slapping their name on it, seems like next time around there's going to be a closer involvement. A lot of people are reading this as uh-oh. Are they not going to let IO Interactive make the next game? Are they going to try and publish it in-house? I don't know.

[00:12:42]Number one, because Amazon Games doesn't have the greatest track record and most of the time they just publish. They are publishing. Yes, they own some studios, but they are mostly a publisher. And I'm I'm hoping like I'm hoping they're not too stupid that they don't realize that it's IO that made these games special, right? But companies are stupid sometimes. However, we did get a little bit of an additional clarification uh in a statement to Rock Paper Shotgun.

[00:13:05]Quote, "An Amazon spokesperson provided the following statement uh for their plans. Amazon MGM holds the rights to any future James Bond video games, but it's still too early to discuss future projects. We have a great relationship with IO Interactive, and we are proud of what we've accomplished together on um First Light. Our partners at IO will reveal more about First Light in the near future, and we're looking forward to sharing what's next. So again, not a confirmation that they're not kicking IO to the curb, but I hope that they are smart enough to realize that they are what made this James Bond game work, and that's why I liked it so much. I'm sure we're going to hear more about like content being added to the taxim mode and stuff like that. That's what they're referring to here, but for now, we're just going to have to wait and see on on the future of this franchise. Now, in terms of games releasing this week, uh quite a bit of interesting stuff. First, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is releasing on Switch 2 and Xbox. People have been waiting for this for a long time. This is a massive game, and it's nice to see it's finally out everywhere. Probably just in time for the third one. Maybe that'll be announced soon. Also, uh speaking of Nintendo, Donkey Kong 64 has been released on Switch Online. And uh Gothic 1 remake is out. We've been talking about this one for a long time.

[00:14:18]I'm hoping we can get time to cover it.

[00:14:20]Uh it's a remake of a classic very weird PC RPG and uh yeah definitely keep your eyes on that if you're looking for something totally of a different flavor.

[00:14:29]Also, last but certainly not least, Fatekeeper is out. Uh we've talked about this on the Friday show and in other videos. A firsterson kind of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Skyrim combat mixed game, but it's kind of like a linear brutal experience where you play as a big druid paladin type style guy.

[00:14:46]This is still very much an early access game. You can get it for eight bucks.

[00:14:50]That's what I paid for it. And it's short. It's like 2 hours and you'll really get your fill. And it is not ready for prime time. This game is really, really early work in progress.

[00:15:00]But I think it does show some promise, some potential. Uh, if you can look past all the many, many flaws of this thing, the faults of this thing, the unfinished nature of it, I think there is potential for a good, fun, old-fashioned firsterson brutal might and magic adventure. You're casting spells, you're lpping dudes heads off with claymores. I like that. I I I want more of that. So, if you want to check out the Before You Buy, it's linked in the description down below. But, I know we have a lot to catch up on. Speaking of that, I got to go hop on a plane to go check out some video games at Summer GameFest. If you see me there, say hi. But uh yeah, for now, let me know what you think about everything going on this week, right from the top story we talked about. I definitely want to know what you're thinking, the big title story. But along with that state of play, you probably still have opinions. If you left it on the previous video, that's cool. If you leave it here, hit us up. But also, uh what do you think about the whole Destiny 3 petition? And also, for me personally, the story I found the most interesting this week, the aging gamer thing and and just the increasing number of players despite so many industry issues. How do you feel about that?

[00:16:02]Let's talk anything gaming down in the comments. Hit me up. I'll be down there as much as possible. But if things get a little crazy, you can always find me on my other YouTube channel, Jake Baldino.

[00:16:10]And also just yell at me on Instagram.

[00:16:12]I'll probably be posting on there the most throughout the weekend. But for now, that's all I got for you. I've been yapping for a while. Thank you. Uh if you like getting caught up on the news every single week, we're here. Clicking the like button helps us out. We really appreciate that. Subscribe if you're new. All that stuff. But all I can ask of you now is to have a great weekend.

[00:16:29]Be safe. I'm Jake Baldino. I need another cup of coffee. Pizza's on me.

[00:16:33]See you.