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Gaming / GTA 6 / Nintendo / Xbox / PlayStation / News Roundup · November 13, 2026

The Week in Gaming: GTA 6 Preloads Begin, Football Manager 27 Bounces Back, and Fable Returns

Grand Theft Auto VI preloading started on 10 November ahead of its 19 November launch, Football Manager 27 is winning critics back after last year's stumble, Fable showed four new minutes of gameplay, and Nintendo opened its store in the Philippines — the gaming week of 7–13 November 2026.

The Week in Gaming: GTA 6 Preloads Begin, Football Manager 27 Bounces Back, and Fable Returns

Every week in gaming has a gravitational centre. This week it was a 212 GB download. With Grand Theft Auto VI launching on 19 November, the industry spent 7–13 November doing the things you do before a storm: preloading, announcing launch parties, and — for everyone else — quietly shipping good games into the one week of the year when nobody is looking anywhere else.

GTA 6: the preload is live, the frame rate is settled, the party is booked

Digital preloading for Grand Theft Auto VI began on 10 November: at local midnight on PlayStation 5, and globally at 00:00 GMT on Xbox Series X|S. Rockstar says to allow up to 212 GB of free space. The game unlocks on Thursday 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, at local midnight in each region. Physical copies are code-in-a-box — no game disc — and reach stores from 12 November. No PC version has been announced.

Rockstar also settled the year's most-asked technical question: the game targets 30 frames per second on every console, PS5 Pro included, with no performance mode; the Pro's extras are PSSR upscaling and ray-traced shadows.

Rumor note: dataminers reading the preload metadata — GTAForums user Tex2, reported by Notebookcheck, Insider Gaming and others — found references to a 120Hz / High Framerate mode with no VRR flag, and a PSSR version value of 13.60, newer than the 13.00 used by current PS5 Pro games. Neither Rockstar nor Sony has confirmed any of it, and a 120Hz output mode is not a 120 FPS game — it is also how consoles present 40 FPS smoothly. Tex2 himself said a 40 FPS mode would be Rockstar's call. Treat it as an interesting flag in the files, not a feature.

The launch is also getting a real-world party. On 9 November, Rockstar and PlayStation announced Grand Theft Auto VI: The Festival, a one-day live music event at Mana Wynwood in Miami on Saturday 21 November, two days after launch, produced with the creators of Miami's III Points festival. The bill is the game's soundtrack brought to life: Cactus Jack presents Travis Scott with Don Toliver, Kodak Black and SoFaygo, plus Cardi B, Metro Boomin, Tainy, Justice playing a DJ set, Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, and Rauw and Friends. Tickets went through a free DICE lottery; the event is 17 and up.

Demand is already historic, by the platform holders' own telling: Sony says GTA 6 is the most pre-ordered game in PlayStation Store history; Microsoft says the same about the Microsoft Store. Neither published a number. Sensor Tower puts pre-orders past 10 million and pre-order revenue past $1 billion, as reported by The Washington Post on 11 November — an estimate, not an official total.

The week's releases: Football Manager's comeback leads a crowded Tuesday

10 November was the week's big release day, and its headline is a redemption story. Football Manager 27 launched on PC and Mac, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, plus mobile through Netflix and Apple Arcade, and on Game Pass from day one. The context: last year's FM26, rebuilt in Unity after FM25 was cancelled, landed with a Metacritic score in the low 70s and a Steam rating that at one point made it one of the worst-rated games on the platform. FM27 is, so far, the game FM26 should have been: 81 on Metacritic from 19 critic reviews and 82 on OpenCritic as of 13 November, with 87% of Steam user reviews positive and a peak of more than 76,000 concurrent players. Critics praise the reworked tactics system most; the recurring caveat is lost team-name licences.

The same day brought Ashes of the Singularity II, the massive-scale RTS sequel from Oxide Games and Stardock, on PC at $39.99 ($69.99 for a Premium edition with three future DLC packs). One detail worth noting: Stardock says AI was used to provide post-processing effects and animation for art created by human artists in some campaign cutscenes — a small, disclosed use of generative tools in a shipped game. Early verdicts are mixed: GamingOnLinux scored it 3/5.

Tuesday's slate filled every niche at once: Warhammer Survivors (PC, PS5, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2 and mobile, on Game Pass), the cosy delivery game TANUKI: Pon's Summer, Aspyr's DreamWorks Shrek 2 Remastered, and Hard West 2 on PS5 and Xbox Series. Later in the week: Pikmin 4's Switch 2 edition and Metaphor: ReFantazio on Switch 2 (12 Nov), 9 Kings leaving Early Access, SONIC PICO PARK ($9.99), John Carpenter's Toxic Commando on Game Pass, and DERELIKT on PC and Xbox (13 Nov).

Nintendo: a remake keeps selling, and a whole country gets a store

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launched on Switch 2 on 5 November, just before this roundup's window — and it is still the story. The remake, $59.99 digital and $69.99 physical, reached the best-seller list on the Nintendo eShop this week, with reports of physical copies selling out at some retailers.

The bigger structural news came on 10 November, when the Nintendo eShop and Nintendo Switch Online officially launched in the Philippines on Switch and Switch 2, with peso pricing — individual memberships from P149 for 30 days. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are scheduled to follow on 18 November.

Looking ahead: Fable, The Outer Worlds 2, and one big delay

Xbox turned 25 this week, and marked it with the most substantial look at Fable since its Gamescom deep dive. On 12 November, Xbox shared four minutes of new quest gameplay: the Hero of Briar Hill and a local Hero named Arden investigate a corrupted Deepwood, where strange magic is troubling the people of Oakshire. The footage was captured in 4K on PC at the ultra preset. The reboot launches on 23 February 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

Obsidian dated the first expansion for The Outer Worlds 2. Side Effects Guaranteed launches on 2 December for $14.99 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as part one of a two-part story; part two follows in spring 2027. It adds the Elysium Valley region on Eden, raises the level cap from 30 to 36, and adds 15 perks, four flaws and five weapons. Push Square notes it arrives after Obsidian lost about a quarter of its workforce in a recent round of layoffs.

Not everything moved forward. Stronghold 4 slipped from December 2026 to 20 April 2027, after feedback on its Steam Next Fest demo, and Company of Heroes 3 received its biggest update yet — Final Stand 3.0 — with a 2027 roadmap stretching to July.

Subscriptions: PlayStation's November catalog is unusually strong

Sony announced November's PlayStation Plus Game Catalog additions on 10 November. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach headlines, arriving 17 November — five months after launch — alongside Atomfall and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake the same day, with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Trepang2, MotoGP 26 and Cricket 26 following on 24 November, and Hell Let Loose on 11 November. Premium members also get Soul Reaver 2 and Freedom Wars Remastered. The monthly Essential games — Dead Island 2, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered and Monster Train 2 — remain claimable until 30 November. One footnote: Sony is retiring the PlayStation Plus app on PC on 10 December.

The business side: layoffs continue, and Arkane Lyon gets one more month

Skydance Games has laid off at least 25 people, according to Variety and The Wrap, about a month after Paramount Skydance completed its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. and combined the two companies' games divisions into Paramount Games Studio. And Bit Reactor, developer of the upcoming Star Wars Zero Company, went through more layoffs on 9 November — a month after bringing back some furloughed employees.

The longest-running story of the autumn got a small reprieve. Arkane Lyon — the Dishonored and Deathloop studio, now making Marvel's Blade — was told in July that Microsoft was considering closing it, with about 217 jobs at risk. Under French labour law, Microsoft must search for a buyer first; that search was due to end on 13 November, and Microsoft has now extended the consultation by a month, to 13 December. Bloomberg reported on 3 November that Ubisoft and at least two other companies have submitted bids; neither Microsoft nor Ubisoft has confirmed any bid. On 4 November, the French games union STJV published an open letter accusing Microsoft of freezing hiring at the studio for 19 months and then citing the resulting delays and costs as a reason to close it — the union's claim, which Microsoft has not directly answered. A census published this week puts the Arkane story in a wider pattern. Researcher Sebastian Cardoso's update to his Game Studio Unlocked census, covering 362 PC and console studios acquired by large companies since 2000, found 123 had closed by 30 October 2026 — about one in three — and 60% had declined or closed. It is one researcher's dataset, not an industry verdict, but it is the clearest number yet behind a feeling every games worker already has: being bought is not the same as being safe.

Finally, a quiet ending: Ratchet & Clank: Ranger Rumble received its final update on 6 November. It leaves the App Store and Google Play on 21 November, and its servers shut down permanently on 1 May 2027.

What to watch next week

Next week is GTA 6 week, full stop — the 19 November launch and the reviews, with The Festival in Miami two days later. Beyond that, watch the Arkane Lyon clock (30 days to 13 December), the PS Plus catalog landing on 17 November, and whether Football Manager 27's strong opening holds.

Sources and classification

Classification: Confirmed News for the launches, dates, prices and announcements below; Rumor for the GTA 6 datamine findings, labelled in-text. Pre-order totals are third-party estimates, labelled as such.

Checked 13 November 2026. Review aggregates move as more reviews land; scores above are snapshots as of the check date.

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