A billion-dollar video game budget may seem surprising at first glance, but it starts to make sense once you consider that a modern game often has just as many moving pieces as a Hollywood production. You need actors, writers, programmers, animators, designers and composers among others to make an expansive open-world game. And short of a few outliers like the Avatar series, movies are typically in active production for a couple of years. GTA VI has been in active development for closer to a decade. Once a game is nearing completion, it usually goes through a rigorous testing process that requires yet another team.

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. It's Gamescom week, so there have been tons of game announcements. We'll dig into several of those as well as a few new games you can jump into this weekend. You may recall a long-running saga about a guy who tried to gain access to a landfill site because he was convinced it contained a hard drive he accidentally threw away in 2013. The hard drive is said to house a private key for 8,000 Bitcoin, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Netflix has walked back plans to put AAA games on its streaming platform. Instead, it's pivoting to marketing highly anticipated titles like . Later today, Netflix will stream a live event with Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive, the developer and publisher of the highly anticipated video game . Called Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look it's the third official trailer for the game, which releases on November 19. But unlike the two trailers before, this extended look will debut exclusively on Netflix, then be disseminated six hours later across other social platforms like YouTube.

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Carney matches Trump tariffs with 50% tax on U.S. dairy, steel Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne (C) speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday. Prime Minister Mark Carney matched dollar-for-dollar the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump over the weekend and announced support programs for Canadian businesses hurt by the escalating trade war. Prime Minister Mark Carney matched the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and announced new support programs for Canadian businesses hurt by the escalating trade war with the country's largest trading partner. Canada will double its existing counter-tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products to 50%. American-made milk, furniture, clothing and apparel will also have new 50% duties applied, as will video-game consoles, smartphones and other electronics. Overall, the retaliatory levies will affect $20 billion worth of annual U.S. exports to Canada, roughly matching the dollar-value impact of the tariffs the White House put on Canadian products on Saturday.

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Mashable Selects Mashable Voices Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series Ben Williams is a freelance writer at Mashable, having joined the team in June 2025. With over 10 years experience in gaming, tech, TV, anime, and film, there's nothing he hasn't covered. Alongside Ben's other work at IGN, Radio Times, Eurogamer, UNILAD Tech, and Rock Paper Shotgun, he also has bylines at sites like GamesRadar+, PCGamesN, ScreenSphere, Twinfinite, ScreenRant, GGRecon, and more. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.

The ability for players to smoke marijuana to detect an enemy has resulted in the game being banned in Australia. The ability for players to smoke marijuana to detect an enemy has resulted in the game being banned in Australia. Illicit deeds have just gotten a new Halloween video game banned in Australia - and it's not because of the violence Academics - and a former director of Australia's Classification Board - say Halloween: The Game's ban due to'incentivised drug use' highlights an incoherent set of standards H alloween's Michael Myers is one of film's most feared boogeymen, responsible for some of the most brutal on-screen deaths in horror cinema. US video game developer Illfonic looked to reproduce those terrors in its upcoming title Halloween: The Game, with gruesome killings a major focus of the gameplay: for instance, you can stomp another player's head through a toilet seat, or fry their brain by throwing them through a television screen. But Australians will not be able to play Halloween: The Game, because it has been refused classification by the Classification Board, which means it is banned from sale within the country.

Standard Bluetooth adds roughly 200ms of audio latency in real-world use, though the exact figure varies by codec, device and implementation. Some low-latency Bluetooth codecs can reduce this delay substantially, but support is inconsistent across devices. Either way, Bluetooth generally lags behind 2.4GHz wireless and wired connections for gaming. To put that in perspective, the average human visual reaction time is around 220 to 280ms, with auditory responses usually being faster (between 170 and 220ms). Fighter pilots and esports players will be much faster, but that's what average folk can expect.

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. Gamescom is fast approaching, but there are still lots of new games you can check out before the tidal wave of announcements from that event next week. We'll take a peek at some games that are a little further out as well. Before we dive in, let's take a look at some news from the last few days. Ternox Games says PlayStation is blocking a PS5 version of its stock market game, STONKS-9800, which debuted on Steam in early access in 2023.

Say More Look Up Mashable Selects Mashable Voices Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series Magic: The Gathering's Marvel Super Heroes 4-Commander Deck Bundle is at its lowest-ever price on Amazon -- save $115 The bundle on Amazon is even cheaper than TCGplayer. Ben Williams is a freelance writer at Mashable, having joined the team in June 2025. With over 10 years experience in gaming, tech, TV, anime, and film, there's nothing he hasn't covered. Alongside Ben's other work at IGN, Radio Times, Eurogamer, UNILAD Tech, and Rock Paper Shotgun, he also has bylines at sites like GamesRadar+, PCGamesN, ScreenSphere, Twinfinite, ScreenRant, GGRecon, and more. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.