Gaming News Round-Up: Colorado DLC Fee Veto, Fable Delay, Switch 2 Sales Surge, and GameSpot Merger

May 30, 2026 - 06:43

A holiday-shortened week brought a flurry of gaming news, from legislative decisions to major delays and unexpected corporate moves.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis vetoed a bill that would have added a 5% fee on downloadable content purchases for video games in the state. The proposed "Online Add-on Transaction Fee Youth Enterprise" aimed to fund youth mental health and education programs. Polis cited serious legal concerns about the bill's structure and reliance on taxing gamers. In a surprisingly nuanced statement, the governor noted that the fee would apply not just to costumes and upgrades but also to storyline content, which he described as "digital storytelling and artistic expression." He said he does not support such a fee.

Rockstar Games employees in the UK, including staff at Rockstar North in Scotland, have formally announced a workers' union. The studio is known for building the Grand Theft Auto series. Rockstar has not commented on whether it will voluntarily recognize the union.

Valve raised prices on its Steam Deck handhelds, citing rising memory and storage costs. The 512GB OLED model jumped from $549 to $789, while the 1TB OLED model went from $649 to $949.

Nintendo's Switch 2 sold over 200,000 units in Japan for the second straight week through May 24. The surge came just before a price increase on the Japanese edition from 49,980 yen to 59,980 yen. Only a month earlier, weekly sales were around 40,000 to 50,000 units.

Nintendo's new mobile game Pictonico turns user photos into comedic micro-games. It was co-developed by Intelligent Systems, the longtime co-developer of the WarioWare series.

Microsoft delayed the role-playing game Fable until February 2027. The company cited a crowded 2026 calendar that includes its own titles like Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, as well as third-party releases like GTA VI and Star Wars: Galactic Racer. The new Fable, developed by Forza Horizon studio Playground Games, was announced in 2020 and has been in development since around 2017.

This year's Call of Duty is Modern Warfare 4, set partially on the Korean peninsula. It will launch on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and notably, Switch 2. This marks the first Call of Duty on a Nintendo platform since 2013's Call of Duty Ghosts on Wii U, following Microsoft's 2023 agreement to bring the franchise to Nintendo systems.

Playstack, the publisher behind Balatro and Case of the Golden Idol, is expected to be sold to Integrated Media Company, which owns GameSpot and Fandom, for $151 million pending a shareholder vote.

CD Projekt Red confirmed a new expansion for The Witcher III called "Songs of the Past." It is slated for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series in 2027 and will be developed in partnership with external studio Fool's Theory.