It’s finally cool to be an actor in video games. Xbox’s new CEO is treading carefully and carrying a big stick when it comes to exclusivity. The Switch may have just been dealt a deathblow in its race to outsell the PlayStation 2 for the title of most popular game console ever.
It’s Kotaku‘s Checkpoint roundup for May 8, 2026, where I am still catching my breath from the avalanche of news that broke overnight in Japan and still thinking about the new Star Fox. We’re just normal men. We’re just innocent men.
Clair Obscur shows how views around video game acting have changed
“My first engagement with video games was with a company called Ninja Theory, and we made a game called Heavenly Sword for PlayStation 3,” Andy Serkis, who played one of the game’s antagonists, King Bohan, said in a new interview with Variety. “At that point, actors looked down on video games as like, ‘I wouldn’t get involved in a video game.’ Now, young actors are coming out of drama schools, and they’re like ‘I really wanna be in a video game.’”
Serkis, currently promoting his new and widely panned adaptation of Animal Farm, played Renoir in last year’s hit RPG alongside several other high-profile talents. He said acting in games no longer has the stigma it once did, especially as movies borrow the technology and stories of gaming.
“The irony is that Hollywood is using video game engines to drive all of the previews for all of the big action sequences in all of the movies, but also for cinematographers to use pre-vis and to be able to place light sources or moonlight or sunlight very specifically in a shot,” he said.
The Gollum actor continued, “It’s an essential tool of modern filmmaking. And there has always been that snobbery about video games not being anywhere near filmmaking but that’s all changing. And certainly looking into the future when we have more immersive storytelling, which is what’s happening.”
Xbox boss Asha Sharma is “treading carefully” when it comes to exclusivity
The Nintendo Switch is running out of gas to beat the PlayStation 2
2K Games lays off developers working on its live-service shooter
Path of Exile 2 is adding another 50 hours to its endgame
The next update is called Return of the Ancients and drops on May 29. Grinding Gear confirmed it’s the last major update before the action-RPG sequel hits its 1.0 release. Return of the Ancients will include a reworked Atlas Tree, two new Ascendancy classes, five new storylines, and 15 new bosses, among other additions and quality-of-life improvements.
Netflix’s Devil May Cry is getting a third season
That’s according to MP1st, which reports that the animated adaptation helmed by showrunner Adi Shankar is already in production for more episodes ahead of its season 2 premiere on May 12. There’s still no word yet on when Capcom will bring the action franchise back for its sixth numbered sequel.
“PlayStation’s preservation journey is on its way.”
A Sony engineer working on the company’s IP preservation team spurred hopes of comebacks for various PlayStation classics with a post on social media. “Being able to share our vision, work, hopes and dreams with Sony leadership was a special moment for our team, and I’m excited to see where we go from here,” he wrote alongside a presentation slide and logo art displaying mascots for Sly Cooper and Ape Escape.
