The next free Epic Games Store title has been confirmed. Stardock Entertainment’s Galactic Civilizations III will replace Gods Will Fall, which is nowfree to downloaduntil January 13. Strategy title Galactic Civilizations III will then be free to claim until January 20. TheEpic Games Storegave away over 15 games in the second half of last month, with titles offered free every day from December 16-30. They includedControl,Shenmue 3, Neon Abyss, Remnant: From the Ashes, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Loop Hero, Second Extinction, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden, Vampyr, Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Prey and the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy....

A new report has revealed how much the CEOs of 40 major video game companies were paid in compensation during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report byGames Onelists 40 different companies and the compensation packages their CEOs received in 2020, all of which are six figures or more. Of the 42 CEOs listed (Digital Bros andCD Projekteach have two joint CEOs), 27 received compensation of more than $1 million....

An eagerly anticipated ray tracing mod for Valve’s classic first-person shooter Half-Life has been released. A video of Half-Life: Ray Traced, which was made by modder Sultim Tsyrendashiev, is viewable below. “Half-Life: Ray Traced integrates the real-time path tracing into the original Half-Life (1998),” according to its creator. “With the hardware accelerated ray tracing, it is possible to calculate global illumination, reflections, refractions, soft shadows and other visual effects with interactive framerates....

The Pokémon Company has made the original soundtrack for Pokémon Red & Green available to stream. 45 tracks from the original 1996 release of Pocket Monsters Red and Green (which would later come to the west in 1998 asPokémonRed and Blue) have been made officially available. The tracks can be found on an officialPokémon Sound Library website, which is currently region-locked to Asia and therefore requires a VPN to access outside of that region....

The official attendance figures for the 2022 Tokyo Game Show have been announced, revealing the turnout to be around half of what the event was getting before the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday the show’s organiser, the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association, reported a total attendance of 138,192 visitors. As noted bySiliconera, that’s a little over half the 262,076 visitors that attended theTokyo Game Showin 2019, before the arrival of the COVID-19 global pandemic....

Ubisoft has announced a new The Division game for mobile. The Division Resurgence is a free-to-play, third-person shooter RPG which the publisher says will let players roam freely in an open world New York. It will be playable solo or co-operatively and promises a range of PvE activities including story missions and world activities. “Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence takes place in a contemporary post-crisis New York City and offers a unique perspective on key story events that have taken place in Tom Clancy’s The Division and Tom Clancy’sThe Division 2,”Ubisoftsaid....

Unity appears set to lay off some of its staff in the coming months. As spotted byThe Verge, the company made reference to potential layoffs in its earnings report for Q3 2023. In the section where it would normally provide guidance for shareholders on what it expects it will do in the next quarter and beyond, Unity instead explained that it wasn’t providing guidance because it was planning structural changes....

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has spent the past five months living in New Zealand, it’s been revealed. The company president toldTVNZ1’s Breakfast showon Thursday that he had travelled to New Zealand in March for a planned ten-day visit, but decided to stay when the country announced it was closing its borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Newell was travelling with a group including Spanish racecar driver Alex Riberas and his partner Teagan Klein, following the completion ofHalf-Life: Alyx....

The first theatrical trailer for the Gran Turismo movie has been released. The film, which is set to release in August, is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, who won the GT Academy esports tournament in 2011 and is now a professional racer competing in the Japanese Super GT series. Archie Madekwe (Midsommar) will play Mardenborough in the movie, which also stars Orlando Bloom, David Harbour, Djimon Hounsou and Geri Horner....

Windows 11 is now available to download for free. The free download is available on theMicrosoft websiteand can be installed in three different ways: as an installation assistant (whichMicrosoftrecommends for installing on a device already running Windows 10), as a bootable DVD or USB drive, or as an ISO file. Microsoft claimed in a blog in August that “Windows 11 delivers the best Windows ever for gaming and unlocks the full potential of your system’s hardware with technology like DirectX12 Ultimate, DirectStorage and Auto HDR”....

Blizzard has released its 2024 roadmap for new World of Warcraft content, which is viewable below. Writing on the game’s official website, executive producer Holly Longdalesaidthree more content updates are planned for the title’s latest expansion, Dragonflight, before its follow-up The War Within launches. “Dragonflight Season 4 will revisit Dragonflight’s dungeons and raids, along with outdoor content, featuring updated rewards, and a few new twists. “Then, in the Spring/Summer, we’ll ask for your feedback when the War Within expansion alpha and beta tests drop....

Xbox head Phil Spencer believes adopting fresh business models will boost creativity amongst game developers and help attract new players to the medium, particularly in emerging markets. Spencer discussed new business models in a wide-ranging interview withInsomniacCEOTed Priceon the latest episode of the Game Maker’s Notebook podcast. “Our point of view asXboxMicrosoftis that there’s not one business model to rule them all,”he said. “And we actually think it’s healthy, not only for our industry from a monetisation standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint, if multiple business models will work....

Microsoft has announced the first wave of Xbox Game Pass titles coming in July. The most notable new release this month is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, which will be available on Game Pass Ultimate andPCGame Pass when the game is released on July 11. A number of high-profile games will also be returning to the service following a period of absence, including Rise of the Tomb Raider, High on Life andThe Ascent....