Back in 2013, having bought the series from Eidos, Square Enix released a reboot of the hit 1990s action game Tomb Raider starring a significantly less objectified Lara Croft. I loved that game, despite a quasi-assault scene near the beginning that I would later come to view as a bit icky, and I wasn't the only one – it was extremely well received, selling 3.4m copies in its first month alone. Then Square Enix came out and called it a disappointment. Sales did not meet the publisher's expectations, apparently, which raises the question: what were the expectations? Was it supposed to sell 5m in one month?

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. The Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly a less powerful games machine than the PS5, Xbox Series S/X, or a top-of-the-line gaming PC. But for Nintendo, power has never really been the point. Games developed for the Switch series never lacked for visual innovation or the artistic flourishes necessary to create inarguably beautiful worlds whose visuals fully justify playing on a really large TV. From 2.5D to watercolors, living animation to sci-fi universes, the Nintendo Switch can easily be a feast for the eyes. Almost three years ago, the Nintendo Switch OLED upped the aesthetics ante for handheld gaming. Now, with the Nintendo Switch 2 (and its backward compatibility) officially confirmed for a 2025 release, you're revisiting the age-old question: What are the best Nintendo Switch games that justify playing on your big screen? Well, we've collected the best games to buy now right here. Nintendo's first-party games are legendary for their quality and often take advantage of their respective consoles better than most third-party titles. The Switch has no shortage of games designed by Nintendo, and most rank amongst the best this system offers.

Square Enix wants a hit Final Fantasy game that's just as popular as any game in the storied history. It's taken seven years to get from the tepidly-received Final Fantasy XV to Final Fantasy XVI, and the company continues to wrestle with what a FF game is in 2023. The company courted nostalgia with FF7 Remake (and the Pixel Remaster series). At the same time, its MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, continues to be a huge success – but what about the prestige title? It has a plan, and it involves giant-summoned monster battles with different styles of play, a single controllable protagonist with guest-star allies, a support dog that grows up with you, horny antagonists, wicked moms and several bleak plot twists to help establish the plot and characters relatively early on.

Minecraft will not allow non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be used on the popular gaming platform, with the company describing them as antithetical to Minecraft's "values of creative inclusion and playing together". NFTs confer ownership of a unique digital item, typically an image or a video, with the ownership recorded on a decentralised digital register known as a blockchain. Digital files can usually be copied or deleted for free, but a NFT identifies the owner of the original file for the purposes of buying, selling, or trading the ownership – usually for cryptocurrency. The hype around NFTs led to a boom in sales peaking at US$12bn (AU$17.4bn) However, coinciding with the downturn in cryptocurrency, sales recently began crashing to a 12-month low of US$1bn (AU$1.45bn) in June.

It's June, and video game fans across the globe know what that means – it's not E3. The old, in-person gaming show has been canceled for the third year in a row, but this summer will still be filled with news and virtual events, thanks in large part to Canada's sweetheart Geoff Keighley. It all takes place in early June, which is like right now, so let's take a look at the schedule for Summer Game Fest and break down what to expect from the studios involved. Summer Game Fest is less a singular event and more a state of mind. It comprises a handful of virtual shows spread over 10 days, starting on June 2nd with the PlayStation State of Play stream.

Gaming company Square Enix will reduce its developer presence in the West with the sale of the studios behind franchises Tomb Raider, Deux Ex and Thief to Sweden's Embracer Group for $300 million. The latest in a series of deals in the video games industry, the sale announced on Monday includes studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, affects 1,100 employees and is expected to close in the July-September quarter. Square Enix, whose major franchises include Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, said the proceeds will be used to invest in areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and the cloud. The Tokyo-based company last year said it was reviewing its portfolio to adapt to industry trends such as the focus on the "metaverse," or the idea consumers will spend more time in virtual worlds. Embracer, which has a reputation for acquisitions and a war chest of 10 billion Swedish krona ($1.02 billion), said the deal will give it a pipeline of more than 230 games including 30 big-budget AAA titles.

Gaming company Square Enix will reduce its developer presence in the West with the sale of the studios behind franchises "Tomb Raider," "Deux Ex" and "Thief" to Sweden's Embracer Group for $300 million. The latest in a series of deals in the video games industry, the sale announced on Monday includes studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix Montreal, affects 1,100 employees and is expected to close in the July-September quarter. Square Enix, whose major franchises include "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest," said the proceeds will be used to invest in areas such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and the cloud. The Tokyo-based company last year said it was reviewing its portfolio to adapt to industry trends such as the focus on the "metaverse," or the idea consumers will spend more time in virtual worlds. Embracer, which has a reputation for acquisitions and a war chest of 10 billion Swedish krona ($1.02 billion), said the deal will give it a pipeline of more than 230 games including 30 big-budget AAA titles.

Square Enix is dipping into its back catalog with the launch of Valkyrie Elysium, a new instalment in the Valkyrie Profile series that first appeared on the original PlayStation in 1999. Announced during Sony's latest State of Play livestream yesterday, the action-RPG is set to arrive in 2022 on the PlayStation 4, PS5 and Windows PCs. "You play as a Valkyrie who is entrusted with the fate of this world by the All-Father -- the highest among gods and the ruler of all creation," the description states. "Descending to the land below, you must battle powerful foes, and uncover the secrets behind the impending ruin." The game will feature "fast-paced combat using a variety of weapons," along with magic abilities.

The much-lauded action-RPG NieR: Automata is being developed into an anime series, Square Enix has announced. A teaser trailer shows a potential glimpse of how it will look (and not much else), and the developers also tweeted an image of the lead character 2B and her Pod companion robot. It appears that the story will closely follow the plot of the original game. "The stage is a distant future in which human beings are routing to the moon in front of the overwhelming force of'machine life forms' that aliens unleash," according to the developer's blog post. "The '2B' belonging to the newly organized android unit'Yorha' will put himself into a fierce battle to recapture the Earth."

It's fair to say that Square Enix didn't have the smoothest entry into the Marvel Universe. The company's Avengers-themed online action game has had problems with bugs, matchmaking and endgame repetition, and is struggling to retain an audience. But most critics agreed that its story and characterisation were strong; they just didn't belong in a live game. Guardians of the Galaxy, due out next month, is the developer's chance to redress the balance and remind Deus Ex and Tomb Raider veterans about its skill with single-player, cinematic stories. The story is classic Guardians, in that it's based around a minor misdemeanour that quickly transforms into a colossal cosmic drama.