Gaming News Roundup: Capcom's 11.7M-Account Data Breach, Switch 2's First Jailbreak, GTA 6's Cluckin' Bell & More (Oct 22, 2026)
GTA 6's Vice City branding and Burger Shot in Miami (image via VGC)
It's a busy Thursday. Capcom says a hacker got into more than 11 million Capcom ID accounts, so watch your inbox for phishing. GTA 6's real-world Miami takeover now includes a Cluckin' Bell, and the Switch 2 has been jailbroken for the first time. Also today: Marvel's Wolverine topped September's US sales while NBA 2K27 became 2026's best-seller so far, EA's layoffs turn out to reach well beyond BioWare, Stranger Than Heaven previews are glowing, Gears of War: E-Day's budget reportedly topped $500 million, Phantom Blade Zero is getting a disc after all, and Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer is live without an open matchmaking playlist. Plus: Final Fantasy 14 players saving each other's gardens during the PHP outage, Playasia going dark, Sony's new Pulse headset, Sony quitting standalone 4K Blu-ray players, and the Disgaea creator's plan for 66 more games. Here's the Lanbrew gaming roundup for October 22, 2026.
Capcom ID (image via VGC / Capcom)
Capcom says a data breach hit more than 11 million Capcom ID accounts
Capcom has confirmed that an outside party got into its Capcom ID membership service on October 19 and accessed data tied to 11,774,247 accounts. Capcom ID is the free account used for online features in games like Street Fighter 6. For most accounts, what leaked was the email address plus login metadata: when the account was created, when it last logged in, how many times it has logged in, and the IP address from the last login. For 43 accounts, birth date, gender, country and nickname were also exposed.
The good news: Capcom says passwords people set themselves weren't taken, no credit card data was involved, and its games shouldn't be affected. The attacker did change the passwords on 196 accounts, and Capcom has already reset those. Since millions of email addresses are out there now, Capcom is warning players to be careful with any message claiming to be from it and to avoid clicking links or opening attachments. It says it has found and closed the hole that was used. VGC notes this is Capcom's second big breach, after a 2020 ransomware attack.
A Burger Shot-themed car from the GTA series (image via Insider Gaming / Rockstar Games)
GTA 6's Miami takeover adds a Cluckin' Bell, plus in-game ads on buses, taxis and city screens
Rockstar's real-world Vice City keeps getting bigger. Fans at the Miami Heat's Kaseya Center have now spotted a Cluckin' Bell stand, GTA's fried chicken chain, opening next to the Burger Shot that showed up there earlier this week. VGC also pulled together the growing list of fake GTA brands showing up around the city: ads for Weazel News, radio station Chamber 106.6, phone maker Fruit, car brand Coil, eCola, the Y Hotel, Vault Nightclub and Big Chug, running on buses, taxis, murals and digital screens.
Insider Gaming adds that the arena has a big mural for Macca & Friends, a cartoon gator from the game. It's all leading up to "A Night in Vice City" on November 18, the night before launch, when the Heat will play as "Vice City" on a custom court in reimagined uniforms. Rockstar still hasn't made a big announcement about any of this. Fans keep finding it on their own.
Source: VGC; Insider Gaming
Marvel's Wolverine (image via Eurogamer / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Marvel's Wolverine topped September's US sales, and NBA 2K27 is now 2026's best-seller
Circana's September US numbers are in. Despite mixed reviews, Marvel's Wolverine was the month's best-selling game, even though it only launched halfway through September. Analyst Mat Piscatella says it had the highest launch-month dollar sales for any Sony-published game since Helldivers 2. It helped PS5 lead the month in both units and dollars, with dollar sales up 43% year over year, partly because the console costs more now. Switch 2 unit sales fell 14%, and Xbox fell 27%, its lowest September ever.
Eight of September's top 10 were new releases, including The Blood of Dawnwalker, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Ace Combat 8, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Wardogs. NBA 2K27 finished second for the month, but that was enough to pass Resident Evil Requiem as the best-selling game of 2026 so far. The year-to-date top five is now NBA 2K27, RE Requiem, 007 First Light, MLB The Show 26 and Crimson Desert. Expect that to change fast with Modern Warfare 4 out this month and GTA 6 in November.
Nintendo Switch 2 (image via GamesRadar+ / Nintendo)
The Switch 2 has been jailbroken for the first time, with a little help from AI
A hacker who goes by pepsipu has shown off what they say is the first jailbreak for Nintendo Switch 2, and naturally the first thing they did was put Cinnamoroll, Peter Griffin and Hatsune Miku into Mario Kart World. The exploit, called ns2jb, is software-only and lets you run your own code on the system. That opens the door to homebrew, game mods, save backups and reverse-engineering.
There are big limits for now. It's tethered, so it goes away every time the console shuts down. GamesRadar+ says it relies on SmileBASIC 4, a $25 eShop programming app, and that the hacker used OpenAI's tools along the way. Nobody expects Nintendo to leave that door open for long. It's still a lot less than what's possible on PS5 right now, but it's the first real crack in Nintendo's newest console. Some players are already worried it could lead to piracy and pre-release leaks.
Source: Insider Gaming; GamesRadar+
PlayStation 5 (image via Kotaku / Sony)
Update: PS5 firmware 14.20 reportedly patched a big piracy exploit, and that means it can now be released
What's new: Yesterday we covered Sony's new PS5 firmware 14.20 and the jailbreak race ahead of GTA 6. Kotaku now reports that, according to well-known hacker Ark Sama, 14.20 fixes an exploit he's been teasing for almost a year. It lets a PS5 run "fake" PKG files natively, which would make unofficial and pirated games run much better than they do with today's workarounds.
Strangely, the homebrew scene is celebrating. Ark Sama reported the bug through Sony's HackerOne bug bounty program and has said he'd only release it after Sony patched it, which HackerOne's disclosure rules allow. So anyone still on older firmware could get a much stronger exploit soon. If you want to stay safe and keep playing online, keep your PS5 updated.
Source: Kotaku
Apex Legends (image via Eurogamer / Respawn Entertainment)
Update: EA's layoffs reach Respawn, Maxis and Motive, plus an open-world football game and a new Sims
What's new: EA's BioWare closure came with about 400 job cuts, but EA only spelled out two parts of it: about 50 jobs at BioWare and a smaller Skate team at Full Circle. Now Vertical Slice and LinkedIn posts show the cuts also hit The Sims studio Maxis, Battlefield support studio Ripple Effect, EA Motive (Iron Man), Respawn and Full Circle. The Respawn cuts stand out, since EA just said it would invest "heavily" there for Apex Legends.
EA's memo also named two new projects. EA Sports is making "Project Gridiron," a "social-first open-world experience" for American football that we'll hear more about in the coming months. With its mobile-first multiplayer Sims project, Project Lotus, on pause, the Sims team is focusing on Project Evergreen, which IGN says is rumored to be a big Sims 4 follow-up for PC. Meanwhile, former BioWare cinematic supervisor Tony de Waal says the canceled Mass Effect was aiming for "a level of autonomy and choice" to compete with Larian and CD Projekt's RPGs.
Source: Eurogamer; IGN; IGN; Rock Paper Shotgun
Stranger Than Heaven (image via Eurogamer / Sega)
Stranger Than Heaven previews are in, and the Yakuza team's new game is winning people over
The final hands-on previews of Stranger Than Heaven, RGG Studio's next game after Like a Dragon, are in, and they're very positive. The story follows Makoto Daito, who is half American and half Japanese, across several decades of Japanese history. It opens with him on the run in San Francisco, framed for murder, before he escapes on a pirate ship captained by Snoop Dogg's Orpheus.
Eurogamer says it's "smitten," but expects the combat to split players. Left and right strikes are mapped to the triggers and bumpers, and there's a big focus on directional parries and dodges, plus some of RGG's most brutal violence yet. GamesRadar+ was "shocked by how much I love it" and praised its themes of identity and belonging. Push Square came away "partly convinced, partly concerned." Stranger Than Heaven launches January 15, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Source: Eurogamer; GamesRadar+; Push Square
Gears of War: E-Day (image via Kotaku / Xbox Game Studios)
Update: Gears of War: E-Day reportedly cost more than $500 million to make
What's new: We already knew E-Day's early sales looked soft: Alinea estimated about 230,000 copies sold in its first week. Now a source familiar with Xbox's business tells Kotaku the game cost more than $500 million before marketing. That's above earlier rumors of $400 million-plus, and well above reported budgets for other console exclusives this generation, like Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Microsoft didn't comment.
Kotaku's source says E-Day probably wouldn't have made its money back on any combination of platforms, but keeping it exclusive could still help bring players back to Xbox. Microsoft hasn't shared any player numbers for E-Day yet. When Gears 5 launched in 2019, it announced more than 3 million players right away. It's a tough spot for a game with the series' best reviews since the Xbox 360 trilogy.
Source: Kotaku
Phantom Blade Zero (image via Polygon / S-Game)
Phantom Blade Zero is getting a PS5 disc release, but not until 2027
Good news for physical collectors: S-Game has confirmed a boxed PS5 version of Phantom Blade Zero, with a real disc instead of a code in a box. The catch is that it won't arrive until 2027, months after the digital launch. The reveal came at the end of the game's new launch trailer.
There will be three physical editions: Standard (around $59.99), Deluxe (around $69.99, with a digital art book, soundtrack and two skins), and an Ultimate Edition with a collectible steelbook. The wuxia soulslike, which had Donnie Yen consult on its combat, launches digitally on PS5 and PC on October 28 at 10pm ET (October 29 in Europe), with preloads opening two days earlier. Push Square notes the PS5 download is about 134GB, which is more than one disc can hold.
Source: Polygon; Push Square
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 (image via Insider Gaming / Activision)
Modern Warfare 4 multiplayer is rolling out, and there's no open matchmaking playlist
Modern Warfare 4's traditional multiplayer started going live in New Zealand ahead of tomorrow's worldwide launch, and players quickly confirmed something many had feared after the beta: there's no Open Matchmaking playlist. Every playlist uses the "Standard" matchmaking system from the beta, which includes skill-based matchmaking.
That's a step back from Black Ops 7, which offered an Open Matchmaking option, although Treyarch leaned back into skill-based matchmaking over time, citing "increased engagement." Infinity Ward has been vague about how matchmaking works in MW4. The campaign and DMZ have gotten strong reactions so far, so multiplayer is the last big piece. Full launch is Friday, October 23.
Source: Insider Gaming
Final Fantasy 14 (image via PC Gamer / Square Enix)
Update: The PHP outage locks out Final Fantasy 14 players and permanently shuts down two old Japanese mobile games
What's new: We posted yesterday about the PHP emergency taking down Pokémon Home and other sites. Here's how it's hitting games. Square Enix suspended Final Fantasy 14's login servers on October 21, and that's a problem for anyone growing crops in player housing, since unwatered gardens die. PC Gamer spotted players who are still logged in, mostly on console or AFK, running a Reddit "PHP Watering Service" to keep everyone's crops alive, including five-day Thavnarian Onions.
Not every game will come back. Kotaku reports that World Quest, a GREE social travel game from 2011 that was revived in 2020, and the text-based RPG Save My Demonic World have both shut down for good because their old systems can't be patched. On the brighter side, Nintendo Life says Pokémon Champions, Home and Sleep were all back online by Thursday morning.
Source: PC Gamer; Kotaku; Nintendo Life
Playasia has gone offline after weeks of cyberattacks
Hong Kong retailer Playasia, a go-to for import and Asian-English editions of games for almost 24 years, has temporarily shut down its store. CEO Jan Neuhäußer says the company decided to "go dark" after weeks of "increasingly sophisticated and relentless attacks" on Playasia and several partners, while it does a full security audit.
Neuhäußer calls it "a coordinated, systemic campaign" aimed at thousands of digital-first companies, not just Playasia, and says the company has reported it to cybercrime authorities. IGN notes there's no evidence the shutdown is tied to this week's PHP vulnerability. There's no date yet for when the store will reopen.
Source: IGN
PlayStation Pulse headset (image via Push Square / Sony)
Sony's new PS5 Pulse headset launches alongside GTA 6 on November 19
If you want new headphones for Vice City, Sony's timing is no accident. PlayStation has confirmed that its updated Pulse headset, a follow-up to the Pulse Elite with bigger planar drivers, launches November 19, the same day as GTA 6. Preorders open on PlayStation Direct on October 29 at 10am local time, with other retailers to follow.
It costs $99.99 / £89.99 / €99.99 and comes in white or Midnight Black. It connects to PS5 and PlayStation Portal over PS Link, also supports Bluetooth, and has a built-in mic with AI noise cancelling. A higher-end Pulse Edge with a detachable boom mic is planned for 2027.
Source: Push Square
Sony UBP-X700 UHD Blu-ray player (image via Push Square / Sony)
Sony appears to be done making standalone 4K Blu-ray players
Sony seems to have quietly left the UHD Blu-ray player market. Official Sony retailer Kunkoku reports that shipments of the UBP-X700/K have stopped with no replacement planned, and Sony's own site lists it as out of stock with no new units coming. That leaves Panasonic as the last big-name maker, with some Chinese brands starting to fill the gap.
It fits Sony's broader shift away from physical media. The PS5 can still play 4K Blu-rays, but Sony has said it plans to stop shipping disc-based games in January 2028, and Push Square doesn't expect the PS6 to have a disc drive. If you want one of these players, you may want to grab one while stores still have them.
Source: Push Square
Demons' Night Fever (image via Push Square / Arc System Works)
The Disgaea creator wants to make 66 more games before he turns 75, if this one sells
Sohei Niikawa has done the math: "75 - 53 = 22 years x 3 titles per year = 66 titles." The Disgaea creator has been joking on social media about his goal of releasing 66 more games before he turns 75. There's a catch, though. They have to sell.
Niikawa says he took out a ¥20 million (about $127,000) loan to help fund his new game, Demons' Night Fever, and didn't tell his wife. He asked fans to think of buying it "as a form of crowdfunding." Push Square thinks he's mostly kidding, but the game is real and out now. It's a Disgaea-style strategy RPG where you get to do evil deeds, published by Arc System Works.
Source: Push Square
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