Morning Save Point: Funcom’s CEO Exit, MW4 Reviews Begin, and More

Saturday opens with the publisher playbook flipping again. Funcom, the Norwegian studio behind Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles, is shrinking around the two live survival games it already ships, and CEO Rui Casais is leaving after 22 years. The same morning, the first real reviews of Modern Warfare 4’s campaign landed, IGN calling it the best Modern Warfare since its 2019 reboot. Around those two stories, GTA 6 got its final Japanese age rating, Microsoft shipped a handheld-friendly Xbox Mode update, and the Oliver Twins announced a 40th-anniversary Dizzy collection. Here is your morning brief.

The big one

Funcom began a company-wide restructuring on Friday that will end with layoffs and a CEO change at the top. Rui Casais will step down at the end of the year after 22 years at the studio, including 11 years as CEO; Chief Product Officer Scott Junior, who served as executive producer on Dune: Awakening, takes over once the reorganization is complete. Casais framed the move as a consequence of Dune: Awakening finishing full production: “Dune: Awakening has been the biggest project we have ever undertaken, requiring many years of significant development resources across our studios. Moving from full production into long-term post-launch development and operations requires a different organization.”

Funcom’s press release said the restructuring “guarantees Funcom’s focus on Dune: Awakening and Conan Exiles going forward.” The size of the organization will shrink; the company declined to share a number “out of respect for the employees involved.” CCO Joel Bylos told GamesIndustry last month the studio is “not ready to start a new game.” This is Funcom’s second post-launch round tied to Dune: Awakening after a cut in October 2025 and the closure of acquired studio The Outsiders (Metal: Hellsinger). Tencent, which bought Funcom in 2020, has been taking a “more assertive” approach with its portfolio, divesting Splash Damage, Bulkhead Studios and Secret Mode over the past 18 months. Funcom Restructures Around Survival Games as CEO Rui Casais to Depart has the full statement and the Tencent pattern.

Publishers are shedding in-development work to support what they already ship. CDPR’s Project Hadar is years from pre-production on 33 developers; DayZ creator Dean Hall open-sourced his Brutal Engine last week as his studio wound down its project; Konami’s leadership told investors this week that AI will not “significantly” affect game development. Each of those signals points at a different problem (a project too early, an engine without a game, a publisher philosophy), but the Funcom case is the largest single one this week: a studio reorganizing around two survival games instead of any new IP, on the same week Tencent confirmed it is pruning its whole portfolio. Players will feel it most directly if either live game sees scope trims on previously promised content.

Also happening

• MW4 campaign reviews begin with IGN calling it “the best Modern Warfare since its 2019 reboot.” IGN’s Simon Cardy logged about seven hours across the 16 missions and singled out a D-Day-style Korean beach landing, an airfield character-switching escape, and a snow-shrouded “Stranded” mission that borrows from DMZ extraction. Variety ran the full cast interview with narrative director Jeff Negas (Naughty Dog alum): Barry Sloane as Price, Samuel Roukin as Ghost, Elliot Knight as Gaz, Young Mazino as Private Park, Rya Kihlstedt as Laswell, María Elisa Camargo as Garza, Prisca Kim as Ri Ju-Young (“quiet power,” per Negas), and Mads Mikkelsen as The Archer. The review also notes the campaign’s full mission count (16) and approximate seven-hour length. MW4 Campaign Reviews Begin: IGN Calls It ‘Best MW Since 2019’ has Cardy’s full Review In Progress and the Variety quotes.
• GTA 6 receives CERO Z in Japan, matching GTA V. The Japan PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store pages now show the 18-plus-only rating with content icons for “Crime” (犯罪) and “Violence” (暴力) after more than a month at “Pending Review.” Japan pre-orders are live: Standard ¥9,800, Ultimate ¥12,280 (tax-included) ahead of the global November 19, 2026 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The rating lines up with ESRB Mature 17, PEGI 18, and the Australian and New Zealand descriptors that include “Sex Scenes.” GTA 6’s CERO Z Rating in Japan, Matching GTA V has the storefront change and the per-region comparison.
• Microsoft refreshes Gaming Task View for Xbox Mode on Windows 11. Windows 11 Release Preview builds 26200.9807 and 26300.9807 (KB5127936) shipped October 16 with a new in-game navigation bar that surfaces Exit to Desktop and Power Options. The Verge’s Tom Warren first flagged the change on X. The release notes also touch the File Explorer right-click menu, Magnifier’s per-monitor zoom, Math reading in Narrator, and a Cloud rebuild recovery option that re-downloads Windows 11 via Windows Update without USB media. Microsoft Refreshes Gaming Task View for Xbox Mode on Windows 11 has the full release notes and the handheld-PC angle.
• No Rest for the Wicked 1.0 lands in March 2027 on PC and PS5. Moon Studios confirmed the date in a new “Wicked Inside” showcase. The 1.0 update adds a brand-new class system (24 classes, 362 traits), six faction questlines (Severed Hand, Sacrament Guard, Unspoken and three more), and a Cerim Cores upgrade layer that “roughly doubles the size of the game.” The Early Access base price has hovered at $39.99 since 2024. No Xbox Series X|S date yet. No Rest for the Wicked 1.0 Lands in March 2027 on PC and PS5 has the class-system breakdown and the Early Access player count.
• The Oliver Twins reveal The Eggcellent Dizzy Collection. Philip and Andrew Oliver unveiled a three-game compilation (Dizzy the Adventurer, Go Dizzy Go, Panic Dizzy) on a “mega 16-bit cartridge” at Crash Live in Coventry on Friday, the start of a year-long run-up to Dizzy’s 40th anniversary in 2027. Codemasters published the original Dizzy in 1987 when the twins were teenagers; the series spawned more than 25 titles across home computers and consoles. A Kickstarter preview page is live, but no release window, price, or specific cartridge hardware (Evercade or bespoke) has been confirmed. The Eggcellent Dizzy Collection for the 40th Anniversary has the announcement and the Kickstarter link.

The week in studios walking it back

Out today

A light Saturday on the launch calendar. C#4R4CT3R’s Rain98 demo (free, English) hits Steam today, a 1998-Tokyo Lo-Fi psychological suspense adventure whose full game targets a 2026 release window. Cluttermancer: Tidy Up the Nightmare Alley also opens its free Steam demo at 6 PM CEST ahead of Steam Next Fest starting October 19, with Early Access confirmed for early 2027. The bigger wave starts Monday with the Helldivers 2: Scope of Authority Warbond on October 20 and The Killing Stone on October 21. Oct 22 is the next big day: PEAK climbs onto PS5, Cult of the Lamb hits Switch 2 (Switch 1 owners get a free upgrade), Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves gets its Switch 2 version, Final Fantasy Resonance launches on PS5 / Xbox / Switch / PC, Hitman: Absolution lands on Switch 2 via Feral Interactive, and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort ships. Oct 23 is MW4 day on PS5 / Xbox / PC / Switch 2 plus One Piece: Grand Gourmet on Switch / PC / mobile. Full release calendar.

Deal of the day

Hogwarts Legacy for $5.99 on Steam (90% off, ends October 22). The 2023 open-world Harry Potter RPG from Avalanche Software and Warner Bros. Games sits at 84 on Metacritic, and $5.99 is the lowest it has been in our recent tracking. Cyberpunk 2077 is also 70% off at $17.99 through October 26, and 007 First Light is $41.99 (40% off) through October 22 if you want the IO Interactive shooter. Batman: Arkham Collection is 85% off at $8.99 through October 22 for the trilogy-and-knight pack. If you only pick one today, Hogwarts Legacy is the bigger save.

One more thing

GeoGuessr’s HorrorGuessr Halloween mode is free in the browser and on Steam through November 16, 2026, no Pro subscription required. The trick is the same as the base game (random Street View locations you have to pin to a world map) with a monster called the Bllack Pano chasing you across the map; each wrong guess deals damage, the monster gets faster every day you survive, and a boss every five days caps the 30-day roguelike run. One of the eleven bosses flips Street View upside down, per the Automaton write-up. It is the closest a 100-million-player casual game has come to testing a roguelike survival mode on its own loop. If it sticks, expect a winter or spring mode next – and probably a few more free modes on top of the Pro subscription.

Edited by the Pixel Herald newsroom.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report