Today is a great day to be a gamer, as EA and Hazelight Studios unveiled Split Fiction: Friend Edition - a very special edition of the anticipated co-op adventure from the team behind the 2021 Game of the Year winner, It Takes Two. This limited edition of Split Fiction comes with all the essentials for you to jump straight into amazing co-op gaming - a copy of the game, a second controller, and for the first (and maybe only) time ever, a real friend shipped straight to your door. Get ready, because Split Fiction: Friend Edition is coming soon to a couch near you.

"As a gamer, being part of an epic special edition like this is awesome! I'm honored to be the first ever real-life friend to come with a game," said Greg, a companion that players can unbox by ordering Split Fiction: Friend Edition. "It was a little scary when Josef Fares told me to go into the packaging, but it's roomier and comfier than it looks. I'm excited to travel the world and make a new friend. I've got snacks to share and high fives to hand out as soon as I'm unboxed."

Forza Horizon 5 is getting one of its biggest updates! This April, the Horizon Festival evolves with Horizon Realms. This brand-new feature will let players dig into Forza Horizon 5's history of Evolving World updates. Explore 12 fantastic Evolving World locations: 11 of the best previously limited-time locations and the premiering Stadium Track. Collect new Horizon Realms-exclusive accolades to unlock four new-to-Horizon reward cars. Revisit your favorite environments, or discover them for the first time, in Horizon Realms available for every platform on April 25!

Pre-order Forza Horizon 5 on PlayStation 5 Today!
Forza Horizon 5 is now available for pre-order ahead of its PS5 release on April 29! Visit the PlayStation Store to pre-purchase one of Forza Horizon 5's different editions. Standard Edition comes with the complete base game and its free content and features like Horizon Realms. Get access to an extra 42 cars added with Car Pass by purchasing the Deluxe Edition of Forza Horizon 5. Upgrade your adventure to the fullest with the Premium Edition. This edition comes with both Forza Horizon 5 expansions (Rally Adventure and Hot Wheels), 42 additional cars from Car Pass, VIP Membership, and extra perks that are included in the Welcome Pack.

Hello gang! We heard you like Baldur's Gate 3 and breaking things. Well, we have good news for you: The Patch 8 Stress Test is now live and available to all Xbox Insiders who own the game! Not into breaking things but still want to know what this is all about? Read to the end to find out what's coming in Patch 8.

Patch 8 Stress Test
The final major patch for Baldur's Gate 3 is right around the corner, but with an update so packed full of bug fixes, new features, and additions, we're enlisting your help to go beyond our internal testing and help us catch things before release. Patch 8 is bringing cross-play to Baldur's Gate 3, allowing players on all platforms to join each other in multiplayer sessions! So grab your friends on other platforms and get ready to fight… over who will romance each companion.

After recently announcing PS5 and PC cross-play, Airship Syndicate announced that its co-op, indie, ARPG dungeon crawler, Wayfinder, will officially exit early access on October 21. Along with the full version 1.0 release, Wayfinder will introduce both a new playable area, called The Crucible, and a new vertical traversal tool, called a Hookshot, specifically designed to explore the ruins of the ancient city. The announcement comes with gameplay footage (see on the PlayStation Blog) of the overgrown, gloomy mega-mech that was built by the ancients to fight a war but has since been reclaimed by nature. The new map adds an extra degree of verticality to the game, giving the developers an opportunity to expand the player experience and arsenal.

In addition to the new region and extended mobility options, Airship Syndicate is teaming up with Critical Role for a paid DLC that will add The Legend of Vox Machina characters to Wayfinder as playable characters. Although exact pricing of the DLC is unknown both the Critical Role DLC Supporter Pack and The Crucible will be available on October 21. After the update, players will still be able to play in both single-player and co-op modes, just like before.

Path of Exile 2, the next generation free-to-play action RPG from Grinding Gear Games, will be coming to PlayStation 5, and now with a great new feature, couch co-op. Path of Exile has always been a game that plays great with your friends, but until now, you needed multiple devices to play it on.

For Path of Exile 2 though, we really wanted to bring the experience of playing together to the couch. Players can play collaboratively on a single account, or log in with two separate Path of Exile accounts on the same console. In addition, Path of Exile 2 is introducing full cross-play and cross-progression. Play with your friends without losing any progress!

Key features
Twelve character classes
Path of Exile 2 features twelve character classes, two for every combination of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence. While each of the class variants focuses on a different playstyle, they're just a starting point. You can combine skills from many classes together to create your ideal character build. Each of the twelve character classes has its own three Ascendancy specializations, resulting in a total of 36 Ascendancy Classes to pick between.

Nixxes Software has released official PC system requirements for Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut that will officially launch on May 16th. In addition, the game will be the first PlayStation title on PC that will use the PlayStation overlay. The game will also feature support for NVIDIA DLSS 3, AMD FSR 3 and Intel XeSS, as well as support for NVIDIA DLAA and AMD FSR 3 Native AA.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut on PC will feature the full game, the Iki Island expansion, and the cooperative online multiplayer Legends mode. It will also support cross-play, allowing games on PC to team up with PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles. Of course, you'll still need to sign in to PlayStation Network account for Legends mode. In addition, this will be the first game on the PC to use the new PlayStation overlay, allowing users on PC to access Friends list, Trophies, Settings, and Profile.

In March last year, we announced a 10-year partnership with Boosteroid to bring Xbox PC games to more players around the world. In June, we brought the first batch of Xbox PC games to Boosteroid and today, we're taking another step in our partnership. We're bringing more high-quality, immersive PC games by giving players another option to stream select games purchased through Microsoft Store on Windows, or available with a Game Pass membership. Our partnership continues to accelerate access to players by letting them choose how and where they play their games.

Starting today, you can play Deathloop, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Pentiment. You can also enjoy cross-play and cross-save features with your Xbox console and Windows PC for these games. We'll continue to add more hits and fan favorites from our extensive catalog of PC games over time. To get started, you'll need to gain access to the game through the Microsoft Store—either via a PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, or by a direct purchase of the game through the Microsoft Store—long with a Boosteroid membership.

At Xbox, we strive to create games that inspire, entertain, and connect players from around the world. As a publisher and platform we are committed to meeting players where they are, by bringing more games, to more people, and on more devices. And at the heart of all we do are our players, and the vibrant communities that they build around the games they love.

Today we are announcing that four fan-favorite Xbox games will be coming to Nintendo Switch and Sony platforms this spring. The studios that built these celebrated games have drawn on their multi-platform experience to open the worlds they created to even more players and communities.

Yesterday, during a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, we shared an update on plans to continue to bring more games to more people around the world, with the exciting news that the first Activision Blizzard game on Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IV, beginning March 28. Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty also shared the vision on game exclusivity, the future of Xbox hardware, and the overall Xbox promise. There's a lot to talk about, so we encourage you to watch the full episode (see below).

With the combined creativity across Team Xbox, players can expect an incredible 2024 with the likes of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Towerborne and more coming your way, alongside continued updates for our blockbuster franchises Call of Duty, Minecraft, Forza, The Elder Scrolls Online and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Titan Forge Games and Hi-Rez Studios have made the biggest announcement in SMITE history—SMITE 2! Become a god and wage war in SMITE 2, the Unreal Engine 5-powered sequel to the legendary third-person action MOBA. If you love rewarding teamwork, challenging competition, intense action, ability-driven third-person combat, or godly mythology, you'll see why 40+ million players love SMITE.

SMITE, EVOLVED
More than 40 million players have enjoyed SMITE. Now the next generation of action MOBA begins, with immersive next-gen visuals powered by UE5, more impactful combat, and new creative gameplay options to shape the game in your own way.

We know it's been a long wait but it's finally time to reveal more about the PC release of Helldivers 2. We know what's on your mind, first and foremost: Is it crossplay? And we're pleased to announce that Helldivers 2 supports crossplay! That means your teammates on PC can play with you on PS5 and vice versa. Community and teamwork are the most important pillars of Helldivers 2, and so it is essential to ensure players can work together regardless of the system they choose to use. Together we can celebrate victories, mourn losses, and liberate the galaxy without platform boundaries.

As part of this announcement, we're also finally able to provide you with the minimum, recommended, performance, and ultra system specifications for PC players to ensure that no matter what kind of equipment your squad uses to play - PS5 or PC with a broad range of supported PC hardware - you'll be able to spread Managed Democracy together.

Michael Douse, the director of publishing at Larian Studios, has confirmed to Eurogamer that cross-play functionality is being worked on, although the team was not able to get it ready in time for release day code on PC (August 5) and PlayStation 5 (out today!): "It was always in the planning, but we knew it wouldn't be for launch. It's in the roadmap, and though we have an idea of when we'd like to get it ready for, we don't want to put a date on it until we're sure." Larian and the BG3 fan base are hoping to see players united in online multiplayer across PC and console platforms in the near future, with the Xbox version due to arrive at some point before the end of the year.

Technical and performance issues are present in the PlayStation 5 version—reviewers have noted that split-screen performance on Sony's console is choppy, with local multiplayer sessions forcing a 30 frames per second "Quality" visual mode. This perhaps provides a small insight into the problems encountered when developing split-screen mode for Xbox Series X and S platforms, with the latter proving to be the largest headache. Eurogamer's journalists were also privy to Larian highlighting: "in a pre-launch note to PS5 reviewers, problems with performance in the game's climactic final act in the city of Baldur's Gate. It said it was working hard to fix it. Remember, the studio has had issues with this area on PC too."

EA SPORTS FC 24 welcomes you to The World's Game—the most true-to-football experience ever with HyperMotionV, PlayStyles optimised by Opta, and a revolutionised Frostbite Engine reinventing how 19,000+ authentic players move, play and look in every match. Pre-order EA SPORTS FC 24 Ultimate Edition by 22 August to get a UEFA Champions League or UEFA Women's Champions League Ultimate Team Hero Item on 27 November.

EA SPORTS FC 24 is a new era for The World's Game: 19,000+ fully licensed players, 700+ teams, and 30+ leagues playing together in the most authentic football experience ever created on PC. Develop club legends and improve your players with the brand new Ultimate Team Evolutions, and welcome women's footballers to the pitch alongside men as you craft your dream XI. Write your own story in Manager and Player Career, and join friends on the pitch with cross-play in Clubs and VOLTA FOOTBALL. EA SPORTS FC 24 is the next chapter in a more innovative future of football.

Over the last few months, we have communicated details about customization, Endgame offerings, moment-to-moment gameplay, and given players a first-hand taste of Sanctuary through Act I during our Early Access and Open Beta Weekends. But what about the post-launch experience, and how do we plan to increase the heat? We'll answer this question by explaining our approach to Seasons, Season Journeys, Battle Pass, and the Shop, and how they work in unison to enhance and diversify the robust campaign and Endgame offerings available to players at launch. There was also a Diablo IV Developer Update Livestream today (see below) that further expands on the aforementioned areas—give it a watch after reading this blog.

Stoking the Flames of Hell: Seasons
Seasons are quarterly releases that will add additional gameplay features, questlines (with new and old faces alike), Battle Passes, Legendary Items, class balance changes, quality-of-life improvements, and much more. Seasons will introduce fresh concepts and ideas into the world of Sanctuary, for all wanderers to enjoy while simultaneously iterating upon your baseline experience. Above all, we want Seasons to be celebratory moments; something to look forward to and enjoy with your friends and other members of the Diablo community. Season 1 will begin in mid to late July, and to embark on this next chapter, you must first complete the Campaign. Because of this, we recommend you begin your pursuit of Lilith in advance so you can jump into the first Season as soon as it becomes available.

The Call of Duty RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team announced earlier this month that their newly updated system was capable of detecting "third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience" - this makes reference to a plethora of gaming input modification devices including the Cronus Zen/Max, XIM Apex and FPS Boost Strike Pack. All readily available from direct stores, Amazon and various e-tailers. These hardware modules are hooked up to a gamepad or mouse plus keyboard combination, and allow the user to bypass the legitimate control input detection on the host hardware, be it a games console or PC. Stock scripts and macros can be utilized - for example - to boost in-game aim assist to unprecedented levels, mitigate weapon recoil, and add support for mouse and keyboard in otherwise non-compatible games. Anti-cheat software suites have been unable to detect the extra layer of code, since it runs on an external device - until now.

CoD's security team elaborates on their cheat spotter: "Since our previous progress report, TeamRICOCHET has developed and tested a detection for third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience. These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil. Testing is complete: This detection is deployed globally on all platforms. Users across PC or console who are detected to be using third-party hardware devices to impact the Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0 gameplay experience will first see a warning about the improper use of these devices..."

Developer Sweet Bandits Studios and Publisher Tripwire Presents announced that DECEIVE INC., the highly-anticipated multiplayer FPS title that blends stealth and spycraft elements with intense action, launches this week with cross-play support on PC (via Steam and Epic Games Store), the PlayStation 5 computer entertainment system, and Xbox Series X|S console system.

DECEIVE INC. deploys players into the world of high-stakes subterfuge, working for a private corporation with a complete monopoly over the international espionage market. Disguise yourself as anyone you meet in an instant, access state-of-the-art gadgets the rest of the world can only dream of, and possess skills that would make Hollywood super spies jealous. But you are not alone. Rival spies are after the same objective and every single one of them is as skilled, cunning, and well-equipped as you are. Blend in, alone or with your team, grab the objective, and break out. In the end, only the right actions and skills will get you that paycheck.