ENDED This live page has ended. It covered the biggest gaming news on October 19, 2026. Follow today’s updates on our latest live page.
Table of Contents
Key stories so far
- Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Nominees and How to Vote by Oct 23
- The Witch's Bakery Patch 1.2 Fixes the Estelle Romance Bug
- Xbox strategy manager deletes his X account after posting that Xbox uses AI
- Moonlighter Dev Delays ReVamp Playtest Over AI Clone Fears
- Whiteout Survival Gift Codes (October 2026) and How to Redeem
- RIVALS Halloween 2026: RIVALSWEEN Skins, Codes and End Date
Live updates
Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Nominees and How to Vote by Oct 23
007 First Light and Big Walk lead with five nods each. Golden Joysticks fan voting in 21 categories ends Oct 23 at 23:00 UTC; winners named Nov 11 in London.
The Witch's Bakery Patch 1.2 Fixes the Estelle Romance Bug
Sunny Lab's Oct 19 patch fixes the Estelle heart lock, Mawuli's blocked event and Daniel's energy bug. Plus who the cozy Paris RPG is for and its $17.99 sale.
Xbox strategy manager deletes his X account after posting that Xbox uses AI
Brandon Stirrup, a senior business strategy manager at Xbox, began a thread on X on October 18 saying he had built a rough game with AI in about three hours of active work and that Xbox is using AI, adding: "I'm happy to take the hit if it means hundreds at Xbox can stop pretending that they're not using AI." By October 19 the posts and the account were gone, PC Gamer and Pure Xbox report. A source at Xbox told PC Gamer he deactivated the account because of the volume of replies; neither report includes an official Microsoft statement.
Source: PC Gamer
Moonlighter Dev Delays ReVamp Playtest Over AI Clone Fears
Digital Sun moved ReVamp's first playtest from Steam to Discord on Oct 19 over AI cloning fears. It still starts Oct 29; a public test is due around January.
Whiteout Survival Gift Codes (October 2026) and How to Redeem
WOS1018 is the Whiteout Survival code that works for everyone (checked Oct 19), plus the concierge-only VIP1021, disputed old codes and redeem errors explained.
RIVALS Halloween 2026: RIVALSWEEN Skins, Codes and End Date
RIVALSWEEN runs to Nov 7 at 05:00 UTC. How to farm Candy, Gargoyle and Zombie Tower rewards, the 5 new Spooky Skin Case skins and the codes that still work.
Modern Warfare 4 Weapons and Operators at Launch: 33 of Each
Activision's launch list for MW4 on Oct 23: 33 Operators, 24 primaries, 8 secondaries, 17 Killstreaks, 18 Perks, plus new Apex Attachments and Gunny.
Directive 8020 Online Multiplayer Live: 5 Players, No Cross-Play
Directive 8020's free online multiplayer update is live on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC: up to five players, two modes, choice voting, but no cross-play.
FF7 Revelation Release Date and Hard Mode From the Start
Hamaguchi confirms FF7 Revelation's Hard Mode is selectable from the start, items allowed, Dynamic Mode returns. Out April 8, 2027 on PS5, Switch 2, Xbox, PC.
MrBeast Call of Duty DMZ Video: 10 Teams Fight for $1,000,000
MrBeast Gaming's "If You Escape, You Win $1,000,000" put 10 teams in MW4's DMZ on Oct 19. DMZ early access for digital pre-orders opens Oct 20.
Square Enix Warns of FFXIV Account Break-Ins: How to Secure Yours
Square Enix says attackers are logging into FFXIV accounts with passwords leaked from other services. It is locking accounts and may reset all passwords.
Steph Thirion's Faraway lands November 5, now on PS5, Xbox and Switch too
Faraway, the minimalist arcade puzzle game about a shooting star that draws constellations to stay alive, launches November 5 on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, Switch and PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Annapurna Interactive and developer Steph Thirion announced. The console versions are new. Alongside the endless procedurally generated mode it has 16 handcrafted puzzle stages; no price has been announced yet.
Source: Gematsu (Annapurna Interactive)
Square Enix warns FFXIV players of account break-ins using reused passwords
In a Lodestone notice posted on October 19, Square Enix said third parties have accessed Square Enix accounts using email/ID and password combinations that appear to come from other companies' services. It is restricting logins on accounts it believes are compromised and emailing those players reset instructions, and it may reset passwords for all accounts if attempts keep rising. Players who reuse a password or use an easily guessed one should change it now and turn on One-Time Passwords.
Source: Final Fantasy XIV Lodestone
Anime Dice Codes (October 2026): Halloween Code and Pt. 2 Date
New Anime Dice code Halloween gives a Pumpkin Jackpot. 20 working codes cross-checked across six dated lists, plus official Halloween Pt. 2 timing for Oct 25.
Star Wars Galactic Racer Tips: Tours, Speeders and Ramjet
Survive Tours, pick the right speeder, upgrade cornering first and stop the Ramjet exploding: Galactic Racer beginner tips plus all 14 Racer Style unlocks.
Castlevania: Belmont's Curse debuts at No.3 in the UK as FC 27 holds the top spot
Konami's Castlevania: Belmont's Curse entered this week's GfK-compiled UK physical chart at No.3, with PS5 taking 50% of its boxed sales and Switch 45%. EA Sports FC 27 stayed at No.1, and Control Resonant was the highest new entry at No.2. Toy Story: Retro Roundup! debuted at No.4 and Valor Mortis also entered the top 10, at No.9.
Source: Nintendo Life (GfK data)
Micromania Employee in Nice Goes Viral Defending Store in Riots
A Micromania worker in Nice tried to keep rioters out of his game store on Oct 17 before it was looted. He told ICI he acted on instinct and shouldn't have.
Aniimo Codes and Tier List (October 2026): Best Aniimo Ranked
14 Aniimo codes that 4-5 dated code lists confirm, how to redeem them, plus a tier list built from three rankings: Irisalis, Fulmintis, Glacy, Somniwing.
MrBeast says one of the 'biggest COD videos of all time' drops today, set in MW4's DMZ
MrBeast, who started his channel making Call of Duty videos, posted on Oct 18 that he is releasing a huge CoD video on Oct 19 to celebrate Modern Warfare 4's launch, and the official Call of Duty account confirmed he 'steps into DMZ' for it. DMZ early access opens Oct 20 at 17:00 UTC for MW4 pre-orders, ahead of the game's Oct 23 release.
Source: MrBeast on X
Digital Foundry flags a fixable image bug in the Metaphor: ReFantazio Switch 2 demo
Digital Foundry's look at the free Switch 2 prologue demo (on the eShop since Oct 13, saves carry over) calls it a promising port that runs smoothly in motion, but finds heavy jagged stepping on the vertical axis when the camera is still, which it suspects is an upscaling mistake on Atlus' side. The full game arrives on Switch 2 on Nov 12 at $39.99.
Source: Digital Foundry
Final Fantasy Resonance Release Date, Time, Price and Editions
Final Fantasy Resonance unlocks Oct 22 at 04:00 UTC on PS5 and Xbox. Standard is $49.99, Deluxe $59.99, Collector's $209.99. Bonuses, Switch notes, length.
Witcher 3 Switch 2 Patch 5.01: Sharper Image and Full Notes
CD Projekt Red is rolling out free Patch 5.01 for The Witcher 3 Remastered on Switch 2 today, adjusting sharpening and resolution and adding PC/PS5 fixes.
FF7 Revelation lets you pick Hard Mode from the very first playthrough
Director Naoki Hamaguchi told Hardcore Gamer at TGS 2026 that Final Fantasy VII Revelation's Hard Mode is selectable from the start, instead of unlocking after the credits as in Remake and Rebirth. He said it has been reimagined and drops the old no-items rule, while a Dynamic mode with fully leveled enemies returns.
Source: Hardcore Gamer
Hideo Kojima returns as Hideyoshi Oshima in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2
The official Edgerunners account confirmed on October 19 that Hideo Kojima reprises Hideyoshi Oshima, the braindance director he played in Cyberpunk 2077's Konpeki Plaza heist, in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. The new season premieres on Netflix on October 20.
Source: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on X
Saros Zenith Update Out Now: Free Boss Rush, NG+ and Slow Mode
Housemarque's free Saros: Zenith update is live on PS5 with Overlord Rush, Eclipse Layers New Game+, 20 new modifiers and a Slow Game Speed option.
BeamNG.drive PS5 Early Access: $24.99 Price, Launch Time, No Mods
BeamNG.drive hits PS5 Early Access on Oct 19 at $24.99 with 4-player split-screen, FSR 3 and PSSR on PS5 Pro, but no mods, VR or online play at launch.
Programmer's brute-force analysis offers a new reading of Mario 64's blurry plaque
Programmer Mochi64 has released an open-source tool that tested more than 1.2 million words, fonts and resizing methods against the pixels of Super Mario 64's famously unreadable castle courtyard plaque, VGC reports. The best match, per the analysis, is "Eternal Star" on the top line and "We Hope So" below it, scoring far closer than the long-running "L is Real 2401" theory. It is still a best guess rather than a confirmed answer: the text is only 3-5 pixels tall, and Nintendo has never said what it reads.
Source: VGC
Worlds 2026 Swiss Stage draw set: Karmine Corp open against Anyone's Legend
Karmine Corp swept MVK Esports 3-0 in the Play-In final on October 18 to take the last spot in the Worlds 2026 main event, and the Swiss Stage Round 1 draw followed in Los Angeles. KC face LPL top seed Anyone's Legend, while the other openers are Gen.G vs Invictus Gaming, Team Liquid vs CFO, G2 vs Dplus KIA, Hanwha Life vs Top Esports, T1 vs LOS, Team Secret Whales vs LYON and Bilibili Gaming vs Movistar KOI. Per LoL Esports, the Swiss Stage runs October 23-31 in Allen, Texas; Round 1 matches are best-of-one and match order is still to be announced.
Source: Insider Gaming
12 Games Like Dressmaker: Cozy Sewing and Fashion Picks
Loved sewing in Dressmaker? Try Tailor Simulator, Fashion Dreamer, Infinity Nikki and 9 more cozy crafting games, with Switch and free options marked.
Tim Sweeney says a 'huge retooling' of Fall Guys is underway
Replying on X on October 17 to a false claim that Disney had bought Fall Guys studio Mediatonic, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney wrote: "Not so, but don't give up on Fall Guys. There's a huge retooling underway that will make new things possible." He didn't say what the retooling involves or when players will see it. Fall Guys has been part of the Fortnite ecosystem since August 2024, where creators can build their own Fall Guys islands.
Source: Insider Gaming
LOUD Win Valorant Champions 2026, Beat Vitality 3-1 in Shanghai
LOUD beat Team Vitality 3-1 in the Valorant Champions 2026 final in Shanghai on Oct 18, the first team to win two Champions titles. erde was named MVP.
Tenebris Somnia Endings: All 4 and How Long to Beat
Tenebris Somnia has four endings. Spare or kill Relicta after the Aurifer for Endings 1 and 2; Endings 3 and 4 need a new game. A first run takes 6-8 hours.
Dandy's World Halloween 2026: All 4 Toons, Costs and End Date
Dandy's World Halloween ends Nov 6 at 20:00 UTC. Costs for Gourdy, Eclipse, Soulvester and Ribecca, Pumpkin farming, Trick or Treat doors and calendar skins.
New Mobile Games October 2026: 12 iOS and Android Releases
Monster Hunter Outlanders, Saints Row 3, VAMPIR, ONE PIECE: Grand Gourmet and 8 more mobile games due Oct 19-31, with store dates and prices checked Oct 19.
Best PC Game Deals This Week: Cyberpunk $17.99, Oblivion $4.99
17 PC deals sorted by end date: Hogwarts Legacy $5.99, Oblivion $4.99 on GOG, Cyberpunk 2077 $17.99 to Oct 26, Street Fighter 6 $15.99, plus Epic freebies.
