October was an incredible debut month for Battlefield 6: it's officially the best-selling title in franchise history in the U.S., and the best-selling game in the U.S. as of last month.

This comes from Circana's monthly report, which states that Battlefield 6 is the best-selling game of 2025 on both Xbox and PC, and the second best-selling on PlayStation so far, behind NBA 2K26. It also says that Battlefield produced the highest single month tracked full game dollar sales total of any video game in three years. That means it sold more than the last few Call of Duty games did in their debut months, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II in October of 2022. Is this troubling news for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 when the November report comes out? We'll see.

Battlefield 6 is followed by Pokemon Legends: Z-A, which is the second best-selling game of October and, per Circana, the best-selling physical game year-to-date. Notably, because Nintendo does not share digital sales data, its second-place spot is entirely based on physical sales.

Other debut games for October included The Outer Worlds 2 at No.7, Little Nightmares III at No.8, and Ninja Gaiden 4 at No.11. Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake didn't make it to the top 20, but it was No.6 on Nintendo platforms for the month. There weren't any other major outliers in the charts this time around.

Hardware spending was up 36% year-over-year to $351 million, with the Nintendo Switch 2 offsetting declines in the other three major consoles: Nintendo Switch (sales down 52% year-over-year, wonder why?), Xbox Series (down 37%), and PlayStation 5 (down 22%). The Nintendo Switch 2 sold approximately 328,000 units in October, 68% ahead of the original Nintendo Switch's pace and 3% ahead of the PlayStation 4, which was the previous record-holder.

Thanks to Battlefield, the Nintendo Switch 2, and a good month for mobile, overall game hardware, content, and accessories spending was $4.9 billion for the month, up 3% year-over-year.

October 2025 U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games:

1. Battlefield 6 (NEW)
2. Pokemon Legends: Z-A (NEW)*
3. Ghost of Yotei
4. NBA 2K26
5. EA Sports FC 26
6. Madden NFL 26
7. The Outer Worlds 2 (NEW)
8. Little Nightmares III (NEW)
9. Digimon Story: Time Stranger
10. Borderlands 4
11. Ninja Gaiden 4 (NEW)
12. EA Sports College Football 26
13. Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2*
14. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
15. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
16. Silent Hill: f
17. Minecraft*
18. Helldivers II
19. Grand Theft Auto V
20. Red Dead Redemption II

* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo, do not share certain digital data for this report.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Omelet You Cook, a roguelike cooking game on Steam, has been having a great early access it seems. It recently passed 500 player reviews, and every last one of them was positive, making it one of a rare few games on Steam to have 100% positive reviews.

Until today.

As pointed out to us by developer Dan Schumacher of SchuBox Games, the game received its first negative review today. And sure, negative reviews are just part of the deal when releasing a game on Steam. But what really bothered Schumacher is that according to the text of the review, the reviewer didn't actually dislike the game. They played for 0.8 hours total, 0.2 hours when they posted the review, and wrote the following:

"Game is amazing. I just like to be different."

IGN reached out to the reviewer for further comment ahead of this piece but didn't hear back.

The community appears to have sprung to Omelet You Cook's defense, as the game has received almost 40 new positive reviews in the 14 hours since the negative review was posted, and a number of people have commented scolding the negative reviewer for ruining the positive streak just for kicks, though some of those comments are unfortunately far harsher than the negative review itself.

"Seeing this review was very draining for us," said Schumacher to IGN. "We knew 100% wouldn't last forever but it hurt to have the streak ended by someone who in their own words thinks the game is amazing. Emotionally I think I'd feel better if it was someone complaining about bugs, or design choices, or just feeling the game isn't for them."

A single negative review is hardly the end of the world for SchuBox Games, but it does make a difference. There are very, very, very few games on Steam with perfectly positive reviews, or at least in meaningful amounts like this. The more you get, the more likely it is someone will have something bad to say. There's a game called Shooters, Ready! on Steam that's only available in Japanese and similarly has over 500 positive reviews and 0 negative ones. But at least using the built in search by user reviews, there don't seem to be any others.

According to Schumacher, having no negative reviews actually did afford him some benefits, too:

"Having 100% positive reviews was a huge benefit for us because it's extremely abnormal for a game with hundreds of reviews," he told IGN. "People see 100% and become curious enough to read through some of the reviews to understand why it's so beloved or to check out the demo for themselves. We've had multiple people join our Discord or leave their own review and mention that they gave the game a chance because they couldn't believe it was maintaining 100% for so long.

"...The biggest impact this will have on Omelet You Cook is losing that mystique of a perfect 100%. That led to some opportunities for Omelet You Cook to be mentioned because it was atypical. But honestly for players coming across the Steam page, I don't think 99% vs 100% makes any difference at all. Some users like to filter by negative reviews to understand where the pain points are and I have to appreciate that this negative review frames Omelet You Cook in a very positive light."

It's long been known that engagement with games on Steam in the form of Wishlists and reviews can be a massive boon, especially for small developers. There are simply too many games, and getting attention on such a crowded storefront is impossible if you don't already have a built-up audience or a lot of advertising money. Having lots of positive reviews and few negative ones gets games like Omelet You Cook visibility when searching under certain filters or ranking systems, including third-party ones. That's certainly been the case for Omelet You Cook

"We're very fortunate and grateful to have reached 507 positive reviews before our first negative," Schumacher said. "We worked incredibly hard to achieve that with 15 content updates over 5 months. But we also got incredibly lucky and it's nowhere near a flawless game. There's plenty of valid reasons somebody might have a negative experience with the game and we're grateful to all 507 chefs who took the time to write a positive review. Each one helps Omelet You Cook reach a wider audience."

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Haha. Yeah, I know. "Half-Life 3". The long-fabled, often-rumored, still non-existent third numbered entry in the Half-Life series that fans have craved but never heard a credible whisper of. It's been a pervasive joke in the industry and among fans for years, a stand-in for a thing that doesn't exist and never would.

And yet, for some reason, a lot of people seem to think it's being announced soon. Possibly in the next few weeks. Maybe even today.

You might have seen it. The sudden flurry of mentions of Half-Life 3, some humorous, some quite serious. The surge of memes. A handful of people that seem to have lost their dang minds:

Update 1:09pm PT: Originally, I had included several embeds of Reddit posts of people desperately praying and begging for a Half-Life 3 announcement. However, the r/halflife mods appear to be removing them, seemingly due to the subreddit's rule against "low-value submissions", aka memes, and perhaps due to the sheer volume of these posts recently. These have subsequently been replaced by more posts wishing for Half-Life 3 - honestly, just check out the subreddit, I'm sure you'll see some good ones that haven't been deleted yet.

Original story continues below:

So what's going on? Why do people think Half-Life 3 is imminent, seriously or unseriously? We investigated:

Half-Hope

Half-Life 3 rumors have existed pretty much since Half-Life 2 first released, so that's nothing new. But the last couple of years have seen a steady trickle of interesting little threads that have lead many to believe that a third entry was actually in development, quietly, at Valve. There were vague nods, such as the Half-Life: Alyx team saying they wanted to make more Half-Life games and a Final Hours documentary that actually confirmed it was in development at one point between 2013 and 2014. We've also seen dataminers pulling crumbs from various Valve releases over the last few years of what seems to be an in-development game internally at Valve known only as "HLX", using Source 2. Dataminers have worked out that it's a full-fledged, non-VR, Half-Life game of some sort, that's been in the works since at least 2021, probably earlier. That game is possibly the same one as was accidentally leaked by a voice actor in 2024, who referred to it as "Project White Sands".

But this year there's been a marked increase in little breadcrumbs. Right after the new year, G-Man's voice actor issued a cryptic post teasing "unexpected surprises" in 2025 – it was his first tweet since he congratulated Valve on Half-Life: Alyx in December 2020. Fans proceeded to tear apart the post, delving deep into an album cover image and the number 197 for what they believed were even more hints that something was in the works.

But an already simmering pot of rumors turned into a full boil with the announcement last week of new Valve hardware: the Steam Machine, complete with a new Steam controller, and a VR headset known as the Steam Frame. Notably, there were no software announcements alongside these hardware reveals, which is a bit odd given that Valve tends to release new games alongside new hardware - recall Half-Life: Alyx and the Valve Index headset. Around the same time, a number of Valve and industry insiders began mentioning Half-Life 3, saying confidently that it was planned for a 2025 announcement still. One leaker, who has a good track record of getting Valve stuff right, said back in May that Half-Life 3 was officially "playable, end-to-end." There's a massive Miro board floating around that has catalogued every remotely credible recent mention of Half-Life 3, and is worth digging into if you want follow along.

Go, G-Man, Go

There are so many other weird little indicators floating around that are leading to wild speculation. For instance, Valve's "Upcoming Releases" tab on its own Steam page only lists one game (Deadlock) despite the sidebar indicating that there are two upcoming game releases. A tweet/X post from the official The Game Awards account commemorating Half-Life's 27th anniversary today has sent everyone into a frenzy, even though it tweets this anniversary every year. There was a weird amount of extra security at Valve during the recent Steam hardware preview events – something noticed by IGN's own representatives and contrasted with my personal experience there for Half-Life: Alyx years ago, which featured a relatively normal and relaxed amount of security.

And there was an incredibly silly saga where Geoff Keighley posted a screenshot that showed he had one game in his Steam wishlist. When asked what the game was, he responded with an eyes emoji. Of course, the Half-Life nerds pounced. Keighley then posted a screenshot of his wishlist showing only the game "Dadlympics," but notably, this was added on 11/18, the same day he posted the screenshot, suggesting he's hiding something. Is he hiding Half-Life 3? Probably not! It doesn't have a viewable Steam page! That's not how Steam works! But that hasn't stopped Half-Life 3 fans from freaking out. Seriously, the replies are hilarious.

pic.twitter.com/t5L0zHW0Il

— arda (@lornarcoss) November 18, 2025

Whatever you believe is happening here, the reality is that this has resulted in the community going completely bonkers. The Half-Life subreddit is overflowing with Half-Life 3 summoning and hope posts. A quick search for Half-Life on Twitter/X reveals an overflow of discourse, prayers, and memes. It's kind of nuts, and also really, really fun:

Okay, so let's say everyone's right, and we really are getting Half-Life 3 announced soon. When? Well, some think it's as soon as today. November 19, as The Game Awards posted, is the anniversary of Half-Life – what better time to make an announcement? We've already passed the anniversary of Half-Life 2, and the anniversary of Half-Life: Alyx's announcement, but that particular anniversary is the reason you're likely seeing so much noise around this today. The other big possibility floated by some is an announcement at The Game Awards, which is coming up on December 11. That would be a little surprising, given that Valve doesn't need an awards show to command attention with such an announcement. But Valve also has a long history of friendliness with host Geoff Keighley, so maybe it's not so far-fetched after all.

Whatever the case, one thing is certain: either Half-Life 3 is getting announced before December 31, 2025, or an awful lot of folks are going to have egg on their faces come January 1, 2026. I'm personally hoping for the former, but the community has been hoodwinked before with Half-Life rumors, multiple times even. Keep injecting that Hopium, folks. Perhaps the return of G-man is right around the corner.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Vedinad, developer of Megabonk, has withdrawn his game from The Game Awards following its nomination for Best Debut Indie Game, saying it doesn't qualify for the category.

In a post to Twitter/X from the official Megabonk account, vedinad made the announcement today:

"I'm withdrawing from The Game Awards.

"It's an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for TGA, but unfortunately i don't think it qualifies for the category 'Debut Indie Game'

"I've made games in the past under different studio names, so Megabonk is not my debut game 🥸

"i really appreciate the nomination, support and votes, but it doesn't feel right in this category. you should vote for another one of the amazing debut titles, they are all amazing games!

"thanks again! new megabonk update coming soon ✌️"

Update 2.23pm PT: Megabonk was listed as a nominee under Best Debut Indie, along with Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Despelote, and Dispatch. Since this statement, The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley has shared a statement of his own acknowledging the request and stating that Megabonk would be removed in a Twitter/X post. At the time of this update, Megabonk was still listed on The Game Awards website as a nominee.

"@MegabonkGame, a nominee for Best Debut Indie Game, reached out to clarify that he is an established solo developer who had been presenting himself as a new creator under the name Vedinad.

"We’re grateful for his honesty. As a result, MegaBonk will be removed from the category.

"He’ll share more about his story when he’s ready, but we respect that he didn’t want to take recognition away from other debut teams — even though the game itself is outstanding."

Original story continues below:

Critically, Best Debut Indie is awarded to the "best debut game created by a new independent studio." So what counts as a new, independent studio? This definition certainly can get a little fuzzy - game dev teams are often Ships of Theseus, with certain groups sticking together, hiring others, and rebranding. For instance, Dispatch was made by AdHoc Studio, and is the team's collective first original game. However, AdHoc was founded by a team of former Ubisoft and Telltale developers who had previously been working together. Cocoon, by Geometric Interactive, won Debut Indie back in 2023 and was arguably in a similar situation with former developers from Playdead. But by that logic, it's also unlikely anyone's "first game" would ever make it to The Game Awards, as most people's first projects are small, student, or experimental.

Vedinad's argument at least makes a bit more sense for himself, given that he is effectively a solo developer and has worked on other projects under other names. But even solo developers have help: Miguel Angel, for instance, is credited with the OST, Giovanni Fim made the Steam art, and there are a handful of names listed as playtesters, as well as a "special thanks" to vedinad's mom. Vedinad seems to be as close to a solo dev as anyone really gets. What really is a game studio, anyway?

What this ultimately seems to boil down to is that there's at least some level of confusion about what the categories of The Game Awards actually mean. This isn't the first time this has happened. In 2023, Dave the Diver - a game made by a subsidiary of Korean gaming giant Nexon - was up for Best Indie, leading TGA creator Geoff Keighley to respond that indie can "mean different things to different people," and even the director admitted the nomination was confusing. We've also seen some oddities like Sifu being up for Best Fighting Game in 2022 (it's an action beat-em-up), and even some recent eyebrow raisers like Monster Hunter Wilds being nominated this year for best RPG.

Define it all however you want, but Megabonk's developer has spoken, as has Keighley. You can catch up on all the other 2025 nominees right here, and check out our early thoughts on Megabonk here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Yoko Taro, the creator of the Nier and Drakenguard games, has been awfully quiet lately. Though he's worked on some smaller projects (writing scenarios for Voice of Cards, and a few mobile games), the lack of a proper Nier follow-up or other new major game from him has been getting under fans' skin. But according to Taro, he has been working on projects. They just keep getting canceled.

This comes from his remarks at Korean gaming convention G-Con 2025, which were reported on by 4gamer and translated by Automaton. The panel, which featured Taro and Bayonetta and Okami director Hideki Kamiya, saw the pair asked for updates on recent projects. Kamiya mentioned the upcoming sequel to Okami, while Taro said he'd been very busy with new projects, they just keep getting canceled partway through.

“I often get told stuff like ‘Why aren’t you making a new sequel to NieR’ or ‘Yoko Taro isn’t doing anything,’ but that’s because recently, a lot of projects I was involved in got discontinued midway through development," he said.

"I’ve actually been working on some stuff, it’s just that it never ended up seeing the light of day. I got paid for it, so I personally have no issues with that, but people seem to think that I haven’t been doing anything just because none of the work I’ve done is being released."

However, Taro isn't discouraged by this, apparently. He continued, saying he'd rather fail repeatedly and eventually create something good, rather than put out multiple mediocre works. “I believe that if I’m going to release something weird, I’d be better off not releasing anything at all.”