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Xbox Series X/S remain third in global console sales behind Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5, a gap attributed to a lack of standout exclusives. Despite this, Microsoft's consoles offer stronger backward compatibility with older game libraries than Sony's PS5, letting players access many classic titles cheaply. Sony, by contrast, has leaned more heavily on new releases to drive its platform's popularity.
Gearbox Software announced that its Borderlands series has sold more than 100 million copies total since launch, a milestone reached roughly a year after Borderlands 4 debuted on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC in September 2025. The latest game has received a year of post-launch content, including two story packs, five bounty packs, two new vault hunters, and additional features.
Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto VI and Nintendo's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are both scheduled to arrive within weeks of each other in November 2026. Circana estimates 29% of US gamers intend to buy GTA VI, with analyst Mat Piscatella suggesting the title could drive console upgrades, while most other major releases have shifted their dates to avoid competing with it.
Uninstalling a game on Steam or consoles removes only the files the platform originally installed, leaving behind saves, settings, shader caches, mods, crash dumps and screenshots scattered across other folders. Clearing this leftover data is largely a manual process, though shader caches can be safely deleted since games rebuild them automatically. Separately, an unverified PlayStation Store listing cited by the PlayStation Game Size account pegs Grand Theft Auto VI's PS5 download at 210GB, a figure Rockstar has not confirmed.
Virgin Media is hiring one person to play Grand Theft Auto VI for eight hours and provide an honest review of the game, paying €100 (about $112) per hour, roughly $900 total, plus a free copy of the title. Applicants must be 18 or older and can split the gameplay hours across the week; the broadband provider is accepting applications through its website.
A tipster account called PlayStation Game Size reports that Grand Theft Auto VI's download size on PS5 will be approximately 210 gigabytes, based on data pulled from the PlayStation Store backend. Rockstar's game launches November 19 and will ship without a physical disc, meaning even boxed retail copies will only include a download code.
A dataminer account called PlayStation Game Size posted that Grand Theft Auto VI's PS5 download will be 210GB, a figure corroborated by Insider Gaming. The same post lists a preload date of November 12 and a midnight release on November 19 for the standard $79.99 edition. It's unclear whether the 210GB figure includes temporary installer space or reflects the final installed size.
A public jailbreak called Relapse enables PlayStation 5 consoles on firmware up to version 13.60 to play PS2 discs, but applying it blocks future firmware updates and there is no way to downgrade. Sony has reportedly begun blocking PlayStation Network sign-ins for consoles running firmware older than 14.10, meaning jailbroken PS5s lose access to online multiplayer, the PlayStation Store and new games requiring newer firmware.
Gaming hardware has gotten notably pricier, with the PlayStation 5 Pro's price climbing from $700 at its 2024 launch to $900 today, and resellers like GameStop listing it above $1,400. Despite these increases, budget-friendly new consoles remain on the market for players willing to accept lower graphical performance or less conventional designs, though niche devices like the Playdate or Analogue 3D and generic Android gaming handhelds are excluded from consideration.
The Verge's Installer newsletter issue No. 149 covers a search for a new web browser alongside other tech releases, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Amazon's Blink Mini 4K camera. The newsletter notes the new Call of Duty title focuses on refining existing gameplay rather than reinvention, with an improved campaign mode, while the Blink Mini 4K offers a $80 4K camera with two-way audio and smart security features.
Sony is selling refurbished PS5 consoles at $100 off, with digital and disc editions priced at $499 and $549 respectively, each carrying a one-year warranty. Buyers can add a refurbished DualSense controller for $40 off its normal price, bringing a white controller's added cost to $18 and pricier colors like sterling silver to $23. The refurbished consoles also come with a 1TB SSD, more storage than the 825GB built into new digital edition consoles sold at retail.
Microsoft has set introductory pricing for its new pay-as-you-go Xbox Cloud Gaming option, letting players buy cloud hours without an Xbox Game Pass subscription. Xbox Insiders can now purchase bundles of 10 hours for $3.99, 25 hours for $7.99, or 50 hours for $11.99, with unused hours carrying over indefinitely. The feature rolls out more broadly next month and includes ad-free streaming and faster load times.