Destin Legarie Podcast | Save State Plus

Path of Exile 1 is getting another major expansion, and I sat down with game director Mark Roberts and designer Octavian Morosan to talk about the future of the game.
We discuss Grinding Gear Games’ surprisingly small and efficient development team, major changes designed to help new players, systems being brought over from Path of Exile 2, how the studio reuses assets across both games, its proprietary engine, secret content, datamining bait and why developers keep hiding bananas throughout Path of Exile.
We also talk about the possibility of a Path of Exile movie or card game, favorite bosses, lessons from past leagues and how the team plans to keep growing Path of Exile 1 alongside Path of Exile 2.

Xbox’s latest round of layoffs has resulted in a major leadership shakeup at ZeniMax Online Studios, the developer of The Elder Scrolls Online.According to Game File, studio head Joe Burba is departing alongside ESO executive producer Susan Kath, studio game director Rich Lambert and production director Ala Diaz. Their positions were included among 379 ZeniMax jobs eliminated in Maryland, with more than 200 cuts reportedly hitting ZeniMax Online Studios alone.

The console market could be heading for a massive decline. New estimates from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan predict global console shipments will fall 19.5% in 2026, dropping from 42.1 million units to just 33.9 million. Shipments could fall even further in 2027 as the RAM and storage crisis pushes hardware prices higher. The forecast estimates Nintendo will ship 17.1 million Switch 2 consoles in 2026, while Sony ships 13.2 million PS5s and Microsoft ships only 2.5 million Xbox Series X|S consoles.Analysts also believe PS6 and the next Xbox may launch at prices between $600 and $800 if component costs do not improve. So even with GTA 6 approaching, the console business may be entering one of its most difficult periods yet.Let’s break down what these estimates mean for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and the future of console gaming.

I played nearly two hours of Beast of Reincarnation, Game Freak’s ambitious new action RPG, and came away feeling like I had only scratched the surface.
Beast of Reincarnation combines fast, demanding real-time combat with a more traditional command-based RPG system. You control Emma directly while issuing abilities to her canine companion, Koo, allowing you to attack, apply buffs, weaken enemies and change the pace of battle without completely stopping the action.In this hands-on preview, I break down the combat, progression, world, story setup and what surprised me most about Game Freak’s major departure from Pokémon.Beast of Reincarnation launches August 4, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. It will also be available through Xbox Game Pass on day one and supports Xbox Play Anywhere.Thanks to Fictions and Game Freak for inviting me to preview the game.

Xbox has teased that a major delayed console update should finally reach Insiders next week, and speculation is growing that it could be the reveal of Microsoft’s rumored disc-to-digital program.