Just Cause 3 Hype

Dungeons and Dragons has a lot planned for the coming year. Following the 2024 release of its revised fifth edition ruleset (which the developers have come around to calling "5.5e" after initially resisting), the D&D team has crafted a seasonal content structure reminiscent of a live-service video game like Overwatch or Fortnite. At today's Gen Con presentation, we got a decent look at all the expansions, collaborations, and tie-in products on the horizon for the coming year. It's a lot, so here's a rundown of what to expect in chronological order. Season of Magic: July – September 2026 Arcana Unleashed The first (and technically ongoing) season brings a pair of Arcana Unleashed books, themed around magical subclasses, items, and an adventure that pits players against the Red Wizards of Thay (a faction you might recognize from the 2023 Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie). Arcana Unleashed is the gameplay expansion, which includes eight subclasses, 33 spells, 10 backgrounds, 29 feats, 47 magic items, and more. It also concludes with a short adventure for first-level characters to test out the new arcane additions. Meanwhile, Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall is a "magical espionage campaign" that has you face off against Szass Tam, the dreaded lich. It's designed to bring players from level 11 up to level 20. Both Arcana Unleashed books drop September 15. DnDBeyond.com/LFG Next, Dungeons & Dragons is adding a new game-finding feature to D&D Beyond, and you can check it out at dndbeyond.com/lfg. This page has three functions. First, you can use it to find in-person games near you. Second, D&D is partnering with startplaying.games to give players a discount when using the service, which connects people to for-hire Dungeon Masters online. Specifically, it makes the first game cost just 99 cents. Finally, there will also be a server to connect players with players through Discord. Season of Champions: October – December 2026 Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft The next season is headlined by Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft, one of the TTRPG's more ambitious crossovers. Not only does it bring Azeroth to the world of D&D, but the designers are boasting that it's a very thorough crossover. With 11 new species and 9 subclasses, the team says you can play as any World of Warcraft race and class combination that you could play in the game. It also includes seven World of Warcraft dungeons, 30 dungeon boss stat blocks, over 60 new spells, over 50 new monsters, and bespoke mechanics for professions, mounts, companion creatures, and faction rewards. Dungeons & Dragons: World of Warcraft, alongside a new DM screen, a pack of Icecrown Citadel maps (with an included adventure), and two packs of miniatures, launch on November 17. Like with all D&D products, you can also access them two weeks early if you purchase them from a local game store or pay for the D&D Beyond subscription Master Tier. The whole suite of products is available for pre-order today. D&D: Universes Beyond This is the first collaboration in a new initiative called Universes Beyond, which seeks to partner D&D content and mechanics with compatible crossover universes. While this is the first and only example we've seen so far, it's not hard to imagine that the D&D team will take some guidance from the numerous crossover collections seen in Magic: The Gathering in recent years. Season of Survival: February – July 2027 Dark Sun Dark Sun returns next year, kicking 2027 off with a bloody bang. It's set in Athas, a brutal world of city-states ruled by sorcerer kings, and with intense violence and sexual themes, the setting is pretty mature for D&D standards. The art is graphic, but so are some of the rules – in a private briefing of the news, we heard designers tease an optional decapitation mechanic, for example.  It's actually extreme enough that it comes with a content warning, and copies in stores will have to be shrink-wrapped on shelves so sensitive audiences don't accidentally view its graphic art. The news was accompanied by a particularly gruesome animated trailer, complete with cartoon dismemberment, to set the tone. That trailer also has footage of a person fighting foes with psychic powers, because this book will finally re-introduce the Psion class to the D&D world. While it initially appeared in some playtesting material early in fifth edition's lifespan, Wizards of the Coast ultimately chose to add psychic-themed subclasses to its existing classes instead, saving the new rules for another time. Last year, it was released again as Unearthed Arcana, and it seems that this time, the design team was able to make enough progress to move it on the path towards publication. The content release includes two main books: Dark Sun: Edge of Oblivion is a setting expansion, while Dark Sun: Blood and Power is a gameplay expansion. The drop will also include a map pack, a Dark Sun DM Screen, and a limited edition 5.5e Player's Handbook with Dark Sun cover art. Season of Sword & Sorcery: September – October 2027 Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen The last announced season, scheduled for late 2027, will bring a new Greyhawk campaign setting, returning players to one of D&D's earliest original worlds. Greyhawk: Crown of the Witch Queen will be a 160-page hardcover book that is villain-focused, centering on Drelzna, the vampire daughter of Iggwilv (who is also known as Tasha). It's over a year out, so details are limited, but we know the book will be accompanied by a Greyhawk DM screen and a map pack. Other Announcements Finally, here's a rundown of everything else mentioned in the presentation that don't have a specific date tied to them. D&D Icons D&D Icons is a new collaboration campaign to bring storied creators to work with the current design team on upcoming D&D content. Joe Manganiello (who I played HeroQuest with last year) will be the program's chief creative officer, and the program will launch with collaborations with Luke Gygax (who will work on Greyhawk materials), Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman (who will work on Dragonlance materials), and R. A. Salvatore (from The Legend of Drizzt). D&D says this group of cohorts is just the start of the Icons program, and hopes to work with more creators in the future. D&D Beyond Improvements Next, the presenters announced an overhaul to the D&D Beyond app, which is intended to make it a more helpful mobile companion for use at the table, not just for online play. It looks streamlined, with more intuitive menus and a cleaner interface. A version is scheduled to drop in 2027, but the developers stressed it will be a "very early version" and that they'll be relying on player feedback to shape the final product. Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons We also learned more about Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons, the upcoming third-person action-adventure game. Every warlock needs a patron, and today we learned the patron in this story will be Tasha, the Witch Queen. We also learned she'll be voiced by Maggie Robertson (best known for playing Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village), and that we'll get our first glimpse of gameplay at Gamescom next month. Annual Setting Support We also learned that D&D is teaming up with third-party TTRPG designers to create a more regular cadence of releases in its existing campaign settings. Ghostfire Gaming is developing a Ravenloft adventure for next year, Visionary Productions is developing an Eberron adventure featuring the Lord of Blades for 2028, and Kobold Press is working on future content set in the Forgotten Realms.  D&D/Star Wars Crossover Details are scarce, but Wizards of the Coast also used its showcase to reveal upcoming plans for a "Season of Rebellion" related to some kind of Star Wars crossover. Wizards of the Coast published one of the main iterations of the Star Wars TTRPG starting way back in 2007, but a more recent Star Wars RPG (with different rules) has been published by Fantasy Flight in more recent years. We'll have to wait to learn precisely what this new crossover might involve. View the full article

Electronic Arts will become a private company again very soon, with the gaming giant set to be acquired by an investors' group led by the Saudi Arabian government. As revealed in today's SEC filing, "all regulatory approvals required to complete the Merger have been obtained. Electronic Arts currently expects the Merger to close on or about the close of trading on August 4, 2026." The news comes just after the deal was approved by the European Union. The $55 billion deal is among the biggest ever seen in the gaming industry and will see EA--which has long been a publicly traded company--be taken private. Alongside Saudi Arabia, which is involved in the deal through its controversial Public Investment Fund, the other partners are private-equity firm Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, which was founded by Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The buyout comes during a particularly tumultuous time for EA, which has seen several mass layoffs and canceled projects in recent years. Much of its resources have been funneled into a few key franchises, particularly Battlefield. Critics remain concerned that the Saudi government's involvement could influence the themes and values present in EA's games, perhaps most prominently in The Sims series, but that remains to be seen. Most recently, EA CEO Andrew Wilson was given a massive pay increase despite laying off many of the people responsible for his company's successful games. The deal will also saddle the newly private company with a tremendous amount of debt, and it's unclear how that will be addressed. View the full article