Weekly News Wrap Up (6/22 - 6/26)

Welcome to the first Weekly News Wrap Up! Here at Real Rant Press, we will have a weekly post discussing any news from the past week. In addition to covering the news, we will also include some commentary on each story as well. Not only that, but we will also list some games that have come out this week.

Compared to earlier this month, there hasn't been much going on. The dust has settled following all the excitement from Summer Games Fest, Nintendo Direct, Xbox Showcase, and Sony's State of Play. Yet, as we wait for the second half of 2026 and all the games that are jam-packed into it, there have been a few noteworthy headlines over this past week.

Mass Layoffs at Bungie

We start today's post off with some sad news. Following its final content update on June 9th and the upcoming final bug-fix patch, it is the end of an era for Destiny 2 as it is put into bare minimum maintenance mode. As of this moment, the only game Bungie is actively focusing on is Marathon and some unannounced projects that are still, in their words, in incubation.

Rather than having staff focus on developing Marathon or other games, Sony has instead decided to lay off a significant number of its employees. Effectively, almost all of the Destiny 2 team has been laid off, along with a portion of the Marathon team. With this, any chance of a Destiny 3 is extremely unlikely.

As someone who was recently laid off, my heart goes out to those affected by this. It sucks to lose your job through no fault of your own, and I hope everyone manages to land on their feet. It is a shame to see this happen to Destiny, and it is frustrating to see its potential wasted. Maybe someday Sony will find someone to make another Destiny game, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Grand Theft Auto 6 Pre-Orders and the Lack of Physical Discs

After nearly a decade of development, Grand Theft Auto 6 is finally available for pre-order as of yesterday. Since there hasn't been word of another delay, it looks like the long-awaited sequel to GTA 5 is just around the corner (plus a few months).

At launch, there will be two editions of GTA 6:

• Standard Edition ($79.99)
• Ultimate Edition ($99.99)

The Ultimate Edition comes with a bunch of extras like weapons and in-game apparel, and it also apparently comes with extra story content. While cosmetics are fine, having story content exclusive to the most expensive version of the game seems like a questionable move.

The price tag and Ultimate Edition exclusives aren't the only controversy that Grand Theft Auto 6 is facing. It was also recently confirmed that the physical box edition of the game will, in fact, not come with a disc. Instead, there will just be a code, and you download the game.

While digital-only games have become increasingly more common, having major titles without a physical disc is incredibly limiting for those who may not have a fast enough internet connection or are extremely limited in how much data they can download per month.

Steam Machine Price Revealed

Earlier this week, Valve revealed the price tag for its Steam Machine. Intended to be more powerful than the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine will cost $1,049 minimum. If you want a controller or more storage space, it will cost more (up to $1,428 to be exact, and that doesn't include shipping).

While the Steam Machine seems like a great way to play your Steam library in the living room, it is difficult to justify spending over a grand for something that is on par with a regular PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. But if you are looking for something more powerful than the Steam Deck, then that is what the Steam Machine will provide.

Game Releases

Star Fox (Switch 2) - $49.99

Nintendo released a remake of Star Fox 64 on Switch 2 simply titled Star Fox. In terms of remakes, Star Fox is pretty faithful to the original version. We have a review for Star Fox, which went up earlier this week.