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Discord Nitro Now Includes Xbox Game Pass at No Extra Cost, Here Is Everything in the Deal

Yash More
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Discord Nitro Now Includes Xbox Game Pass at No Extra Cost, Here Is Everything in the Deal

Discord just made Nitro a much harder subscription to ignore. Starting this month, every Nitro member gets access to Xbox Game Pass as part of a new benefits programme called Nitro Rewards, with over 50 games included and no price increase.

What Is Nitro Rewards and Where Did It Come From?

Discord officially announced Nitro Rewards on 11 May 2026 as part of Nitro’s 10-year anniversary. The programme bundles gaming services, hardware discounts, and platform rewards directly into the existing Nitro subscription.

Lu Zhang, Senior Director of Product at Discord, explained the thinking: “As we hit Nitro’s 10-year anniversary, we’re launching Nitro Rewards, a brand-new benefits program built with some of the biggest names in gaming.” He was direct about the value proposition for existing subscribers: “Your Nitro membership is still the same price, and Game Pass is now part of it.”

This was not a surprise to everyone watching. The partnership had been datamined weeks earlier, with strings in Discord’s GitHub revealing the “Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition” name, the 50-game catalogue, and the 10-hour cloud gaming allowance. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had also teased the announcement on April 22, with Discord responding to her post with a single word: “Soon.”

Now it is official.

What Games Come With Nitro’s Xbox Game Pass Tier?

Nitro members get access to a starter library of more than 50 PC and console games. The catalogue leans on strong recognisable titles. Stardew Valley, Hades, Grounded, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, Fable, DayZ, Cities: Skylines, Dishonored 2, Gears of War 5, and DOOM Eternal are all confirmed as part of the package.

The tier also includes 10 hours of cloud gaming per month, letting players stream supported titles across devices without needing the game installed. Discord positioned this as removing the friction of buying games players might only play briefly. The included tier appears to sit at roughly the same level as the Xbox Game Pass Essential catalogue, which covers first-party Microsoft titles and a rotating selection of third-party games.

More titles will be added to the catalogue over time, according to Discord.

Game Pass Itself Just Got Cheaper Too

The Nitro Rewards announcement lands on top of broader changes Microsoft has been making to Game Pass pricing. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate dropped from US$29.99 to US$22.99 per month. PC Game Pass fell from US$16.49 to US$13.99. Both cuts were announced by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma as part of a wider restructuring of the subscription service.

That same restructure also removed day-one Call of Duty launches from Game Pass entirely. Players who want new Call of Duty titles at launch will need to buy them separately going forward.

For Nitro subscribers, the Game Pass starter bundle sits on top of all of this. At US$9.99 per month for Nitro, members are now getting both Discord’s communication and customisation features and a gaming subscription in a single charge.

Hardware Discounts and Orbs Also Added to Nitro

Xbox Game Pass is the headliner, but Nitro Rewards includes more. Discord announced partnerships with Logitech G, SteelSeries, and KontrolFreek. Nitro members can access up to 30% off Logitech G products, 15% off SteelSeries gear, and 20% off KontrolFreek accessories. Those discounts cover keyboards, mice, headsets, and controller accessories, with Discord saying the partner lineup will rotate over time.

On the platform side, Nitro subscribers now also receive 250 Orbs automatically each month just for keeping an active subscription. Discord is also adding an Orbs Multiplier for Quests. The extra Orbs feed into Discord’s Shop, which covers profile cosmetics and other customisation items tied to the platform.

When Does It Roll Out?

Nitro Rewards is rolling out to eligible members over the coming weeks through the Nitro Home section inside Discord. Not every subscriber will see it immediately, but Discord has confirmed the rollout is underway with no additional steps required beyond having an active Nitro membership.

This is a meaningful shift in what Nitro actually is. For the past decade it has been a communication and cosmetics subscription. With Nitro Rewards layering in gaming services and hardware deals, Discord is moving toward something closer to a full gaming membership. Given that Discord sits at the centre of where most PC and console players already spend their time, the logic is easy to follow.

PUBG Mobile Removes “Hand of the Almighty” Item After Muslim Players Flag Religious Concern

Divyesh Moghe
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PUBG Mobile Removes “Hand of the Almighty” Item After Muslim Players Flag Religious Concern

PUBG Mobile pulled an in-game item and issued a public apology after Muslim players across the MENA region and the Philippines flagged its name as religiously offensive. The response was fast, and the item is already gone.

What the Item Was and Why It Caused Backlash

The item in question was called “Hand of the Almighty,” a card introduced as part of the Card Collection System in the Hero’s Crown update. Players quickly flagged that the name referenced “Al-Jabbar,” one of the 99 names of Allah in Islam. The term translates to “the Almighty” or “the Compeller,” and carries significant religious weight for Muslims worldwide.

PUBG Mobile pulled the "Hand of the Almighty" card and issued an apology after Muslim players flagged it as religiously offensive. This is the third such incident since 2020.

Complaints appeared across multiple PUBG Mobile official Facebook pages, including the Arabic and Philippines community pages, as well as in app store reviews. One message posted to the Arabic page laid out the concern directly, noting that “Al-Jabbar is one of the 99 Names of Allah in Islam and holds deep religious and spiritual significance for millions of Muslims around the world,” and requesting the name be changed out of respect for the community.

The feedback spread quickly. PUBG Mobile’s response came just as fast.

PUBG Mobile’s Apology and Removal

The developers issued a formal statement on Tuesday confirming the item had been pulled from the game entirely. The statement expressed regret for “the hurt and anguish” caused and confirmed that the removal was immediate. PUBG Mobile framed the situation as a failure of their content vetting process, pledging to review and strengthen internal checks to prevent similar oversights going forward.

The full response committed the studio to maintaining a game that is “sensitive to different religions, cultures and practices,” and thanked players for bringing the issue to their attention rather than criticising the community for the complaints.

Worth noting: the Hero’s Crown update had not yet rolled out in Pakistan at the time the MENA community flagged the issue and it was resolved. Players in the region were spared the controversy before it reached them.

This Is Not the First Time

PUBG Mobile has faced religious sensitivity incidents before, and the pattern of quick apology and removal is consistent with how the studio has handled them.

In May 2024, the game came under fire after Islamic calligraphy appeared in a promotional video. PUBG Mobile apologised and confirmed it had removed the asset after players raised concerns about using sacred script in a commercial context.

The most significant prior incident came in 2020, when PUBG Mobile pulled its entire Mysterious Jungle game mode. The mode included a mechanic that required players to pray in front of totems to recover health, a feature many Muslim players argued amounted to simulated idol worship, which is prohibited in Islam. That removal was also immediate once the community flagged it.

Across three separate incidents now, PUBG Mobile’s approach to religious sensitivity complaints has been consistent: take the community concern at face value, remove the content quickly, apologise publicly, and commit to better vetting. Whether that process is working as intended is a question the studio itself acknowledged in this statement.

Why It Matters for Mobile Esports

PUBG Mobile’s player base is heavily concentrated in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. These are regions with large Muslim populations, and the game’s competitive infrastructure in these markets has grown substantially over the past several years. Dedicated regional tournaments, national championship circuits, and major MENA-focused leagues have all developed alongside a player base that takes cultural and religious representation seriously.

When content lands in ways that feel disrespectful to that audience, the blowback is fast and organised. This incident is a reminder that the biggest mobile titles in the world operate across vastly different cultural contexts, and that content pipelines need to account for that at the vetting stage rather than the complaint stage.

PUBG Mobile’s ongoing engagement with its South Asian and Muslim-majority player communities has been a key part of the game’s long-term growth strategy in those regions. Incidents like this one, handled badly, can damage that relationship quickly. Handled the way this one was, they tend to reinforce the idea that the studio is at least listening, even if the slip-up itself should not have happened.

For now, the item is removed. The apology is on record. PUBG Mobile’s content review process is, by the studio’s own admission, still a work in progress.

NAVI Survive a Wild Decider to Reach IEM Atlanta Playoffs; SINNERS Send Passion UA Home

Satyam Kumar
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NAVI Survive a Wild Decider to Reach IEM Atlanta Playoffs; SINNERS Send Passion UA Home

b1t put on a clinic on Inferno, GamerLegion wrecked Ancient, and then Mirage got very tense very fast. NAVI came through 2-1. In the B stream, SINNERS took care of business against Passion UA and kept their tournament alive.

NAVI vs GamerLegion: Map by Map

Inferno looked over before it really started. b1t was everywhere, posting a 1.80 rating as NAVI ran out 13-4 winners. Aleksib and w0nderful backed him up with 1.49 and 1.48 ratings respectively on a map where GL barely got a foothold. For a team ranked second in the world, it was exactly the kind of statement opener you’d expect.

Ancient was the opposite. GamerLegion, and specifically makazze’s preferred playground, flipped the script entirely. GL won 11 rounds in the first half and kept the foot down after the break, securing the second pistol and the follow-up to close it out 13-1. One of the most one-sided maps of the event so far, and it put NAVI firmly in must-win territory on the decider.

Mirage delivered what the other two maps did not: a real match. NAVI built a 6-2 lead early, GL clawed back to a dead heat at the half, and then neither side could break clear. The score reached 11-10 in NAVI’s favour before they doubled up to reach match point. GL made them earn it, but NAVI closed it out 13-11 and are into the playoffs.

Stat Leaders from the Series

On NAVI’s side, w0nderful finished the series 44-32 and b1t 43-36. Both were consistent across all three maps when it counted. Aleksib ended 25-34 on kills but his 76.4% KAST across the series tells a better story than the raw numbers.

For GamerLegion, PR led the way with a 1.30 rating and hypex posted 1.21. Both of them played better than the scoreline suggests, particularly on Ancient where GL looked like a completely different team. GL now drop to the lower bracket, where they’ll face the M80/Liquid winner.

SINNERS Eliminate Passion UA in Three Maps

Over on the B stream, SINNERS and Passion UA went the distance in what was a scrappier but compelling series. Dust2 opened at 6-6 at the half, then SINNERS locked in on CT to take it 13-8. Mirage saw Passion UA race out to a 6-1 start on CT before fading, and SINNERS came through on the attack to level the series 13-9.

Overpass was SINNERS’ most dominant showing. beastik, kisserek, and MoDo all cracked 100 ADR in a 9-3 first half that essentially decided the map. kisserek hit a triple in the pistol to push SINNERS into double figures, and Passion UA’s comeback attempt fell well short. SINNERS took it 13-8 and the series 2-1.

Across the full series, SHOCK and kisserek both rated 1.19 for SINNERS, with MoDo just behind at 1.15. Passion UA’s Kvem was the standout performer going out, finishing 55-45 with a 1.22 rating, but it was not enough to keep the Ukrainian side in the tournament.

This result is particularly meaningful for beastik, who said ahead of IEM Atlanta that a deep run was the only outcome he’d find satisfying given what it would mean for Major qualification prospects. SINNERS are not done yet.

What Comes Next

NAVI now play in the Group B upper bracket final, where a win puts them directly into the semi-finals. This NAVI squad has grown steadily since rebuilding post-s1mple’s departure, and Atlanta is shaping up as one of their better runs of 2026. Lose, and they drop to the lower bracket, which would be a significant setback for a team that should be pushing for the trophy.

SINNERS face Astralis in the lower bracket, a genuinely tough draw. Astralis have been inconsistent but are dangerous on their day, and SINNERS will need their big three to keep producing if they want to stay in the conversation. Their performances in earlier IEM events this cycle show they can go deep against top opposition, and Atlanta looks like the moment they put that theory to a real test.

For a full breakdown of the IEM Atlanta bracket as it develops, keep it on TalkEsport’s CS2 coverage.

Trainwreck Gets 31-Day Valorant Ban, And a Riot Dev Says It’s Not What It Looks Like

Pranav Nalawade
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Trainwreck Gets 31-Day Valorant Ban, And a Riot Dev Says It’s Not What It Looks Like

Kick streamer Trainwreck is out of Valorant until June after a 31-day ban that blew up on social media, and a Riot anti-cheat figure stepping in to explain why the “bad at the game” defense doesn’t quite hold up.

What Trainwreck Says Happened

Trainwreck, real name Tyler Niknam, had been queuing Valorant live on stream in a 5-stack that included ProdCM, sinatraa, dapr, and Hamyontwitch. All of them are significantly higher-ranked players. When the ban dropped, Trainwreck posted on X with zero ambiguity about how he felt.

“31 day f***ing ban for being bad at the game and playing live on stream with @ProdCM_ @sinatraa @dapr & @Hamyontwitch in a 5 stack,” he wrote. The in-game suspension message on his account cited “suspicious shifts in skill and unfair play” following player reports and an automated review, with the ban set to last until June 7, 2026.

xQc jumped in to back him up. “For context,” he wrote on X, “train was banned from the game for queuing with friends LUL.” The framing from both of them was simple: big streamer plays with better players, gets flagged by the system, undeserved ban.

Riot’s side of it is a bit more complicated.

What Riot Actually Says

GamerDoc, a Riot anti-cheat figure, posted a clarification that reframed the whole thing. According to him, the problem wasn’t Trainwreck playing with higher-ranked friends — it was who those friends were playing on.

“This wasn’t just a 5-stack with friends on their own accounts,” GamerDoc wrote. “An Immortal player (with prior boosting bans on their main) was swapping between multiple lower-rank smurfs/shared accounts they did not own. That group ran ~80% winrate across ~50 games.”

That’s the part the “bad at the game” framing skips over entirely. Riot’s Community Pact explicitly defines rank manipulation to cover boosting, deranking, and win-trading. Account sharing falls under smurfing, which Riot also classifies as rank manipulation. It’s not a grey area in their rulebook — it’s a direct Terms of Service violation.

The Leaked Messages and the Typo Chaos

Things got messier when screenshots of private messages attributed to GamerDoc leaked. In them, he allegedly said Trainwreck “was getting carried every game” and that the ban would not be reversed.

GamerDoc addressed this in his public clarification, saying one specific line in the screenshots was a typo. He said he wrote “account he doesn’t know” but meant “account he doesn’t own” — a meaningful difference when the whole argument is about whether someone was knowingly playing alongside shared-account boosting.

“Typo on my end, my bad,” he wrote. “I had already said multiple times in the conversation that there were people in that stack using accounts they didn’t own, so I didn’t think I needed to re-clarify it.”

Whether you believe that or not probably depends on how much goodwill you have for Riot right now.

Where Trainwreck Actually Stands

The core tension here is real, and it’s one Valorant has been wrestling with for a while. The game allows 5-stack ranked queues even when rank gaps are wide, which means a lower-ranked player can legitimately queue with Immortal or Radiant players. But “allowed to queue together” and “no one in the stack is breaking rules” are two very different things. Riot isn’t punishing Trainwreck for playing with better players. It’s flagging the stack for the alleged use of smurf and shared accounts by others in the group.

Trainwreck himself hasn’t claimed the ban was lifted as of the latest information available. His account remains suspended until June 7.

Worth noting: this isn’t the streamer’s first run-in with drama, Trainwreck has attracted controversy before, though nothing quite like a Riot ban going viral mid-stream. And given that Riot has previously pulled off ban waves removing tens of thousands of accounts in its crackdown on rank manipulation, the enforcement mechanics here are clearly not new — they’re just rarely aimed at someone with hundreds of thousands of viewers watching in real time.

What to Watch For

The arraignment of facts here is still unfolding. If Trainwreck files a ban appeal or Riot reverts the punishment, that will be the next major development. Keep an eye on GamerDoc’s official Valorant anti-cheat communications for any updates, and on Riot’s Community Pact page if you want to read the exact boosting and smurfing rules yourself. For now, Trainwreck is on the sidelines until June.

Two Men Charged After Oakland Sideshow Hijacks IShowSpeed’s “Speed Does America” Livestream

Satyam Kumar
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Two Men Charged After Oakland Sideshow Hijacks IShowSpeed’s “Speed Does America” Livestream

Two people are facing criminal charges after a sideshow erupted mid-stream during IShowSpeed’s visit to West Oakland, an incident that sent the YouTuber scrambling onto a restaurant rooftop while cars did donuts below him.

What Happened During the Oakland Stream

IShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr., stopped at Hyphy Burger on West Grand Avenue near Market Street on November 25, 2025. It was part of his Speed Does America tour, his massive live-streamed road trip across the United States. Within minutes, hundreds of fans descended on the block.

The intersection turned chaotic fast. Fireworks went off. Lowrider cars rolled in. The crowd started chanting “Speed.” Then several drivers began doing donuts in the street while fans ran toward the moving vehicles.

Speed watched it unfold from the Hyphy Burger rooftop, where he and his team had climbed to get out of the crush below. “Why are they running to the car… are they stupid?” he said during the broadcast. “I can’t watch this.” Eventually, he was forced to leave — though even that took a while, with fans surrounding him for photos as he tried to make his way out.

Who Was Charged and What Are the Charges

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office announced charges against Axel Cisnerosmentos and Aron Anaya. Both face misdemeanor counts of organizing and facilitating a sideshow, as well as aiding and abetting a speed contest. The two are scheduled to appear for arraignment on May 27 at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.

IShowSpeed has not been accused of any wrongdoing. He was a bystander to events he clearly did not want happening around him.

The DA’s Message to Sideshow Organizers

Alameda County DA Ursula Jones Dickson was direct in her statement. “Sideshows are not harmless gatherings,” she said. “These illegal events routinely cause vandalism, reckless driving, injuries, property damage, and pose significant threats to public safety. Individuals who organize, promote, and facilitate these activities will be held accountable.”

The charges come as Bay Area authorities are ramping up enforcement. Just earlier this month, Oakland PD, the San Francisco Police Department, and the California Highway Patrol coordinated a major operation that trapped sideshow participants on the Bay Bridge, seizing 77 dirt bikes and ATVs and making nine arrests. The crackdown is part of a broader push — Oakland passed a sideshow ordinance in June 2023 that made organizing one a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine, though authorities have rarely used it until recently.

This Isn’t the First Time Speed’s Crowds Got Out of Hand

Anyone who follows IShowSpeed knows crowd control has been a recurring problem on his tours. In San Francisco, during the same Bay Area leg, massive crowds followed him through several major landmarks. Earlier on the Speed Does America tour, he was threatened with a rioting charge after a police stop in Dallas. Fans have smashed restaurant windows trying to get to him. A dock collapsed under the weight of people rushing to meet him.

Speed himself has spoken out against fans who endanger others. He called out “weird” fans for driving dangerously near his tour bus during earlier stops. The Oakland clip hit differently though — watching him helpless on a rooftop while an intersection below turned into a sideshow is one of the more surreal moments of his entire streaming career.

What’s Next for Speed

Since the Oakland incident, IShowSpeed has kept the content coming. He completed a Caribbean Tour and racked up nearly 1.92 million concurrent viewers during a Dominican Republic stream — though he later confirmed to fans the numbers had been inflated by viewbots. He’s one of the biggest streamers on the planet right now, and the crowds are only getting larger wherever he goes.

As for the Oakland case, the arraignment on May 27 will be the next major update. Keep an eye on whether the DA pursues any additional charges as Bay Area authorities continue their sideshow crackdown. With IShowSpeed’s history of chaotic fan encounters, it probably won’t be the last time his streams make news for all the wrong reasons.

You Can Now Directly Inspect Your CS2 Items, Stickers, and Charms Via the Steam Market

Sonu Banerjee
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You Can Now Directly Inspect Your CS2 Items, Stickers, and Charms Via the Steam Market

Valve has shipped out an experimental new update to the Steam Community Market, enabling players to inspect their Counter-Strike 2 items in much more detail without needing to launch the game itself.

Alongside this change, the latest beta also implements a plethora of quality-of-life improvements to the Steam Community Market. Some of these changes were heavily requested within the CS2 community, while others will simply make your life a whole lot easier when purchasing skins from the market.

“Available in beta starting today, we’re releasing major updates to the Steam Community Market to improve item pages, listings, and search/filters,” Valve said in a blog post.

Since Counter-Strike items are popular in the Community Market (and a game we work closely with), we’ve used them to experiment and build out this extensive item integration, but we look forward to other games leveraging these same new features.

Valve

All New CS2 Steam Market Changes

The following changes have been implemented in the latest Steam Market update and are available in beta right away:

  • Bigger, Better Listings: Listings now feature more images and item-specific details like wear/float, pattern, and applied accessories. Valve also generated over 27 million unique images to backfill existing CS2 listings, so you no longer need to launch the game to inspect an item before buying.
  • Showcasing New Game-Specific Data: The Market now uses item data for better filtering, grouping, and visibility. Stickers and charms are directly linked to their own Market listings, with images and current values shown alongside them.
  • Unique Properties: CS2 item listings on the Steam Market now display unique item properties such as pattern template, wear/float, and charm template directly on the listing page.
  • Grouping Like Items into One Page: Similar item variants are now grouped together under one page with tabs, making it easy to compare wear levels and prices without jumping between multiple listings.
  • Improved Graphs: Price graphs have been overhauled to now show volume data alongside price, with support for multiple datasets on grouped items.
  • Dynamic Filters: New dynamic filters appear on both item pages and search pages, with instant result updates as you change filters. New sorting options like popularity, price, and quantity have also been added.
  • Steam Community Items: It’s now easier to switch between in-game items and Steam Community items like trading cards, emoticons, and profile backgrounds directly from the Market.

How to Opt Into the New Steam Market Beta?

Valve has confirmed that players don’t need to opt into the new Steam Market beta to enjoy the latest series of improvements. Instead, the Market beta has been enabled for everyone by default.

Players looking to opt out of the beta can do so by clicking on a button located at the top of the item and search pages.

PGL Astana 2026 Day 4 Recap: Falcons and MOUZ Advance to Playoffs

Sarjyo Mukherjee
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PGL Astana 2026 Day 4 Recap: Falcons and MOUZ Advance to Playoffs

Following uncertain results in the first 4 days of the event, the PGL Astana is closing in on the playoffs, with Falcons and MOUZ making it to the next stage following the conclusion. With one more day left ahead of the playoffs, we will see how the event has shaped up so far.

Teams Going Through

Falcons, FURIA, and MOUZ were the three big names expected to make it through on day 4, but all three were put off by unexpected losses. The Falcons took down MongolZ in a tough 2-1 win, MOUZ secured a comfortable 2-0 victory over Aurora, FURIA outlasted a pesky opponent in Gentle Mates, ensuring their qualification will not be pushed to the final day of the groups.

Teams Still Fighting

Magic, G2, and Monte secured crucial wins that ensured they fell in the bracket with teams that have a 2-2 scoreline, which keeps them in the tournament for another day at the cost of Huns and Heroic. MongolZ and Aurora losing out on their chance at qualification has also placed them in the same bracket, with their qualification stalled for another day.

Teams Heading Out

Huns and Heroic will join K27 and Fisher College among the teams heading out of the tournament after a disastrous showing, as both teams won only a single match before being eliminated, having incurred 3 losses. PARIVISION losing out to G2 ensured that their run in Astana comes to an end as they become the final team to bow out for the day.

PGL Astana 2026 Day 3 Recap

Pocketpair Files “Palworld Online” Trademark in US and South Korea

Aritra Patra
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Pocketpair Files “Palworld Online” Trademark in US and South Korea

Pocketpair has filed a trademark for “Palworld Online” in both the United States and South Korea. The filing includes a logo. South Korea received the application on April 24, and the US filing followed on April 27, according to records from the USPTO.

Pocketpair has not made any official statement about what “Palworld Online” refers to.

What Palworld Already Offers Online

Palworld already has online multiplayer. Players can join co-op sessions with up to four people in a personal save file, or connect to dedicated servers that support up to 32 players. The online component has been part of the game since its Early Access launch.

Two Possible Explanations

The trademark could connect to the game’s upcoming version 1.0 release, which Pocketpair confirmed is coming in 2026. In September 2025, the studio said 1.0 will include a large amount of new content and that the team is focused on cleaning up bugs and improving the overall experience before leaving Early Access.

It’s also possible the “Palworld Online” name is just branding for the existing multiplayer mode, similar to how Rockstar labels its long-running GTA multiplayer component “Grand Theft Auto Online.”

What About Palworld Mobile?

A mobile version of Palworld is in development, but it already has its own name. KRAFTON and PUBG Studios are building that game, which goes by “Palworld Mobile.” The “Palworld Online” trademark is separate from that project.

Palworld first launched in Early Access on Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store on January 19, 2024, and later came to PlayStation 5 on September 24, 2024.

Pocketpair confirmed version 1.0 is planned for 2026, describing the update as a major step for the game.

Initiators, Sentinels, and the Bandit To Receive Major Buffs in Valorant 13.0 Update

Sonu Banerjee
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Initiators, Sentinels, and the Bandit To Receive Major Buffs in Valorant 13.0 Update

Riot Games has revealed some major changes coming to Valorant over the game’s next few updates, and they’ll certainly have an impact on the game’s competitive meta.

Over the past few months, we’ve seen repeated complaints from the Valorant community about the game’s meta feeling stale, with certain Agents feeling overpowered while others struggled to keep up.

Riot partially addressed this issue with the latest Valorant 12.09 patch, significantly tuning down Neon while also nerfing Shotguns across the board. However, all the other Agents in the shooter remained untouched.

Shortly after releasing the Valorant 12.09 patch notes, Riot has finally shed light on the upcoming changes coming to the title in a Dev Updates video.

Sentinel and Initiator Buffs Coming To Valorant With Patch 13.0

It’s a good day to be a Sentinel or Initiator main, as the Valorant devs have confirmed some massive buffs coming to these two roles in the upcoming 13.0 patch.

For starters, Initiators will see cooldown reductions on their signature abilities, giving them more opportunities to use their ‘E’ if the round stretches out.

Sentinels, on the other hand, will see some stronger buffs. While the exact nature of the Sentinel buffs has not been confirmed, the devs have stated that Sentinels will be able to stall sites more effectively, rendering explosive entries more difficult.

Valorant 13.0 Bandit Buffs

Alongside Sentinels and Initiators, the Bandit pistol will also see buffs in the next Valorant patch.

Once again, the exact Bandit buffs have not been revealed by Riot at the time of writing. However, the devs confirmed that the Bandit should see more use outside of pistol rounds following the buffs.

Lastly, the Valorant devs also shared a detailed roadmap for the tactical shooter stretching through the next year, which fans can check out in the official Dev Updates video linked above.

New Marvel Rivals Season 8 Hero Devil Dinosaur Teased by NetEase

Sonu Banerjee
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New Marvel Rivals Season 8 Hero Devil Dinosaur Teased by NetEase

With the release of the highly anticipated Marvel Rivals Season 8 update being just a few days away, NetEase has all but confirmed the addition of Devil Dinosaur to the hero shooter as its next playable hero.

This goes in accordance with the recent leaks that surfaced on social media claiming that Devil Dinosaur and Cyclops would be the two new heroes in Marvel Rivals Season 8. With Devil Dinosaur joining the roster alongside the Season 8 update, fans can expect Cyclops to be added to Marvel Rivals with the mid-season patch.

Earlier today, the official Marvel Rivals X handle posted a cryptic message hinting directly towards the addition of Devil Dinosaur to the game’s roster.

“One premium exhibit has gone missing,” the X post reads. “Description: Large. Red. Friendly unless provoked. A temporary replacement has been installed in the museum until the original specimen is recovered.”

The post also includes a video showcasing a glimpse of the seemingly cute Dinosaur.

Marvel Rivals Devil Dinosaur Release Date

As mentioned earlier, Devil Dinosaur will join the ever-expanding roster of playable characters in Marvel Rivals with the game’s Season 8 update.

For the unaware, the Marvel Rivals Season 8 update goes live on May 15, 2026, bringing with it the new hero, a fresh Battle Pass, new events, cosmetics, and more.

Marvel Rivals Devil Dinosaur Role

At the time of writing, Devil Dinosaur’s role in Marvel Rivals has yet to be officially confirmed. However, given that the two most recently added heroes, White Fox and Black Cat, were a Strategist and a Duelist, respectively, Devil Dinosaur seems likely to fill the Vanguard role.

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