Games Inbox: Will this be the biggest week for gaming in 2026?

The Monday letters page is loving 007 First Light and its amazing montage, as readers are glad that Fable has been pushed back until next year.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

A promising week
It’ll be Monday by the time you show this (if you show it!) and what I’m hoping will be the biggest week for video games this year. We’ve got the State of Play on Tuesday, Summer Game Fest on Friday, and Xbox on Sunday. I’m also seeing rumours of Nintendo on Thursday but if not they’ll be sometime this month I should think.

There’re usually two candidates for the biggest moments on the gaming calendar, with not-E3 week and The Game Awards. Although this year you’ve also got the launch of GTA 6. That’s obviously the biggest overall, but I’m hoping this week will be the biggest in terms of reveals and news and general upbeat-ness.

We’ve had a few years like this now, but 2026 really is shaping up to be an ugly mixture of great game releases and absolutely everything else about the industry being awful. I’m hoping that this year we get a lot of positive news, not just of new games, but maybe new hardware, lowering prices, and Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft acknowledging the problems and saying they’re going to do better.

I know I’m being naïve there, but I hope we get something to be optimistic about for all three formats. It feels like a long time since we’ve had optimism in anything and it’s starting to wear on me.
Crispin

Yearly Call
So Fable is delayed till 2027. I’m surprised Call Of Duty hasn’t been delayed, I know some people would rather play Call Of Duty back in the day. I’d choose Call Of Duty over everything but times really have changed. Wasn’t so long ago Xmas number one was always Call Of Duty, now it’s Battlefield or EA Sports FC but when a company says there going to make $8 billion in the first year of a game coming out everyone knows you don’t release a game a month before or a month after.

Maybe give it a good five months for that and as big as Call Of Duty was it won’t make £1.5 billion in the whole year before the next one comes out, never mind the $8 billion Rockstar are saying it’s hoping it will do. If I was Microsoft, I’d delay it. I really would, because I’ve got a feeling on November 19th, on my friend’s list, it’s going to be saying GTA 6 they’re playing. Call Of Duty is a big game but compared to what GTA 6 is going to be, it’s going to make Call Of Duty look like an ant on a hilltop.
David

GC: You are grossly overstating how much Call Of Duty’s popularity has dwindled. Its reveal trailer is now at 48 million after just three days. Plenty of games are coming out within five months of GTA 6, including Fable.

Back to school
Can’t say the Persona 6 leaks were particularly interesting… I mean, the characters have some high school anime designs that are slightly different to the high school anime designs of the last lot. Great, tell us something we don’t know.

However, I wonder where they’re going to take the franchise generally? Persona 5 was such a great realisation of the concept that I’m struggling to come up with something that wouldn’t be a step backwards. It’s as perfect a piece of young adult fiction as I can remember, up there with other media like Harry Potter or Hunger Games. Also, despite the anime inflection the games story is as relevant today as it was in 2016, if not more so. It feels like they had a real lightning in a bottle moment, so no wonder it’s taken them a while to come up with the follow-up.

The quality of Metaphor: ReFantazio shows Atlus still have the talent to pull something out the bag. That game shows where obvious improvements could come about too… in the technology. It’s a great game but the art design carries it and it looks terrible on my 4KTV, it’s basically a PlayStation 3 game. Post Clair Obscura they need to up their game, though Persona 6 has been in development for years at this point, so is likely similar. Even Atlus’s own Shin Megami Tensei 5 in Unreal 4 looks far better, especially after it was ported to modern platforms from Switch.
Marc

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Best. Montage. Ever.
Having just completed the Malta training sections, I’m enjoying 007 First Light. During the opening mission the game did feel like it was on autopilot a bit, but I must say that with regards to the game’s locations, characters, and dialogue the developers really have managed to capture the essence of Bond, and it was a great relief to me that the man himself isn’t annoying at all.

What I found particularly interesting during the Malta training mission was the playable montage. So here the game was cut together just like a film. Bond/the player starred in a series of short playable scenes in slightly different locations. I wonder if this cinematic device has been used in other games. This was the first time that I’ve seen it implemented. I think the technique worked because it gave the player different things to do while driving the narrative forwards at an entertaining pace.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else First Light has to offer. Personally, I’d like a bit more gunplay but otherwise so far so good.
Michael Veal (@msv858)

Max disappointment
My PS5 has stopped working in this heat, so I’ve gone back to my Xbox 360 and dug out Max Payne 3. I forgot how good this game is!

I won’t go on a list about why but it’s hard hitting and the gunplay is second to none. I’m probably the only person on the planet who isn’t interested in GTA 6 but if they ripped off the gameplay from this then I’d buy it on day one.

An absolute classic.
Simon

GC: They had the chance to do so with GTA 5, but they didn’t. So the chances seem very slim.

Wise move
Sensible decision, I feel, to move Fable back to February 27. I always felt Microsoft made a mistake putting Indiana Jones And The Great Circle out in December. Made the game feel a bit of an afterthought and missed the nominations for that year’s awards.

It’s why I’m happy to take Microsoft’s reasons for the delay as stated and genuine, rather than just cover for it not being ready. With Wolverine in September, Call Of Duty in October, and GTA 6 in November, along with a lot of other games, it is a busy period.

Microsoft have delayed big games like Starfield and Halo Infinite, after the Craig the Brute mocking, and made no bones about the reason being they’re not ready.

It’s only really haters that respond negatively to delays for that reason. Anyone actually interested in the game would rather a delay and for it to be ready than put out unfinished. Which is why I think Microsoft would of just said that if that was the reason for Fable being moved to next year.

Microsoft even put a funny Easter egg in Halo Infinite for Craig the Brute. I say funny but as they botched the post launch content for that game, it’s more a sad testament to their incompetence rather than taking ownership of their failings.

Due to things like that I’m really not sure how Fable will turn out. I have my fingers crossed though and if it’s as good as Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, and deserves success, then moving it out of a busy release schedule that includes the most anticipated game ever, so it can enjoy more column inches upon release, is a sound decision.
Simundo

Adding to the list
Very pleased Microsoft chose to delay Fable. As an Xbox Series X owner I don’t need it this year, just my personal opinion.

And it’s one less game for me to focus on, as I still haven’t found the time for Resident Evil, Forza, or 007 First Light yet, not to mention when and if GTA 6 ever comes out. Besides, they should take their time with Fable and make it decent at least.
icelticghost

Bond is back
I completed 007 First Light over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. More Uncharted than Hitman, but you can feel the influences of both.

I really enjoyed switching between melee, guns, and gadgets in combat, in a very satisfying and free-flowing way. There were a few too many situations where the game just has loads of enemies firing at you from all angles though. I died too many times during a particular part near the end.

What I would like to see is a crossover with Agent 47. They’ve already done a Bond mission in Hitman, with Mads back as LeChiffre, so I don’t see why not.

Ideally, they’d have the same event in both games, and you could play as Bond and 47 in their own games and see the same scenario from the different perspectives and skillsets.

I could see them having a little chat and 47 mentioning he’s never been bothered about having to have a licence in order to kill.

I’ve got the Tacsim side of the game to explore now. I’m hoping it’s not just various combat scenarios and there’s more of the Hitman style investigations and problem solving.

I hope the game sells well and iO can make the next game so heavily signposted by the events at the end. I also hope that whenever they cast the new movie Bond they don’t force him in the game and stick with Patrick Gibson as he was excellent throughout.
Euclidian Boxes

Inbox also-rans
Any plans to review Necrophosis: Full Consciousness? Art direction and visuals look morbidly interesting.
Lizardpudlian

GC: Not at the moment, no.

Thank you for reminding me of the Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg theme tune, definitely one of the all-time greats!
Coursier

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