October 25, 2026 · Gaming & Entertainment Daily Digest
A roundup of gaming and entertainment developments compiled for October 25, 2026, with summaries, links, and commentary.
I. Publishers and Releases
1. Phantom Blade Zero lists a roughly 145 GB install ahead of preload (release)
Summary:
IT Home reported on October 25 that S-GAME said that evening Phantom Blade Zero will open preload at 10:00 on October 27 and published install guidance: put the game on an SSD, expect a roughly 145 GB install, reserve at least 300 GB because of how preload works, and update the graphics driver. The same report says the game unlocks at 10:00 on October 29 on PS5 and PC, with a China digital standard edition at 268 yuan and a deluxe edition at 328 yuan, and a PS5 disc planned for 2027. A DoNews brief the same day matched those times, the size, the platforms, and the prices. S-GAME is developing and publishing the Unreal Engine 5 wuxia action RPG itself.
Links:
Commentary:
What is new today is the preload clock and the install size; both reports still put the unlock at 10:00 on October 29.
2. Hankyung: Krafton is working toward a first Brazil subsidiary in January (expansion)
Summary:
The Korea Economic Daily reported on October 25 that, according to industry sources, Krafton is pushing to establish a Brazil subsidiary with January next year as the target. It would be the company's first South American entity, alongside offices it already has in the United States, Japan, China, and India. The report says Krafton created a Brazil strategy development unit under Kim Hyo-seop (김효섭), former CEO of predecessor Bluehole, to set a longer-term plan for Brazil and South America. It also says a company official met local partners at Brasil Game Show in Sao Paulo on October 9-12 and checked how incorporation was progressing. Brazil won PUBG Nations Cup 2026 in June, the first time a Brazilian side had done so. The Korea Creative Content Agency figure cited for Brazil's game-industry compound annual growth is 8.9 percent, against a world figure of 5.6 percent in the same article. The piece puts South Korea's game-usage rate at 74.4 percent in 2022 and 50.2 percent in 2025, and cites the UN's 2025 World Population Prospects for a Latin America and Caribbean median age of 32.7 and a population above 600 million. NC sent staff to the show for the first time; the report says that visit had not yet become a concrete business plan.
Links:
Commentary:
This is a newspaper account of industry talk and a show meeting, not a Krafton release saying the subsidiary already exists; January is the target named in the piece.
3. Katana ZERO's developer says the DLC is now the size of a full sequel (update)
Summary:
GamesRadar reported on October 25 that Askiisoft's Justin Stander posted on October 22 that he is still working on the Katana ZERO DLC and wrote: "We made it bigger. It's the size of a full sequel, plus a soundtrack of over 30+ new songs." The post promised more updates and gave no release date. GamesRadar notes that an April 2025 teaser said "Still coming. Still free," and that the project is still being described as DLC rather than a game that has been split off as its own sequel. Gematsu carried the same quote on October 22 and said the new post does not make clear whether the free plan still holds. The original game, from Askiisoft and Devolver Digital, is more than seven years old.
Links:
Commentary:
The new post fixes the scope and a soundtrack of more than 30 songs; price still rests on the 2025 teaser, which this update did not repeat, and there is still no date.
4. Jinghe: 篮球少女：飞跃巅峰 reaches No. 12 on a China iOS grossing chart (charts)
Summary:
A Jinghe weekly published on NetEase on October 25 says Lingxi Interactive's anime-style basketball raising game 篮球少女：飞跃巅峰 opened on October 23, had already topped China's iOS free chart before launch, and rose to No. 12 on the grossing chart on October 25. The report says the player coaches a girls' high-school basketball team through a roguelike multi-loop raise, with matches played through tactic cards and live decisions, and that the game has an official NBA collaboration plus a 200-pull offer on day one. The column places the launch in Lingxi's push beyond titles such as 三国志·战略版 and does not attach a revenue figure to the rank.
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Commentary:
No. 12 is the October 25 grossing slot in this weekly; the piece does not name the chart vendor, and the rank is not a revenue number.
II. Platforms and Regulation
5. An alpha launcher signs jailbroken PS5s into Steam (platform)
Summary:
Tom's Hardware reported on October 25 that Playden for PS5, a GitHub port of a macOS launcher, can sign a Steam account in on a jailbroken PlayStation 5 and install games from that library onto the console. Launching a title sets up a private Windows environment through prospero-win, a PS5 port of Wine, then builds a separate PS5 app so the game appears as its own home-screen tile; files, settings, and crashes stay isolated from the launcher and from other games. The creator says the project is still in alpha. The report quotes one user whose game crashed after launch and another who played Portal without a mouse cursor and without Esc opening the menu. The creator's compatibility list includes American Truck Simulator, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, GTA: Vice City, Left 4 Dead 2, and Team Fortress 2, among others. The project describes itself as an unofficial Steam client that Valve does not support, with the risk left on the user.
Links:
Commentary:
What holds is alpha status, a jailbreak requirement, and no Valve endorsement; the compatibility list is the author's, not a Sony or Valve certification.
6. Illinois moves to put 50,141 video-gaming terminals under self-exclusion (regulation)
Summary:
CDC Gaming reported on October 25 that the Illinois Gaming Board has proposed rules bringing the state's video-gaming terminals into the existing self-exclusion program. Problem gamblers can already bar themselves from casinos, sportsbooks, and fantasy contests; the proposal would let people enroll through identity checks at VGT redemption terminals. Administrator Marcus Fruchter called the integration a gaming-integrity and public-health priority and said nothing like it has been done at this scale. The report cites IGB figures of 8,800 licensed locations, 50,141 terminals, and more than $2.9 billion wagered in September. After the board approved the proposed rule on Thursday, Fruchter said it would line video gaming's problem-gambling protections up with casinos and sports wagering and set guardrails as the business moves toward digital payments. Operators could choose to offer cashless play and rewards through patron accounts, with age and identity checks, privacy and security controls, and KYC and anti-money-laundering requirements, and every account would have to let the patron set responsible-gaming limits. After the IGB vote, the rulemaking still goes to the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules before it can take effect.
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Commentary:
Sunday's story is a proposed rule the board approved on Thursday; 50,141 terminals and $2.9 billion are the installed base and September handle, and the rule is not in force yet.
III. Streaming and Esports
7. Reelgood: Peacock's Crystal Lake led weekly streaming through October 21 (streaming)
Summary:
Media Play News reported on October 25 that Reelgood data put Peacock's new horror series Crystal Lake, starring Linda Cardellini, at No. 1 in streaming for the week ended October 21. It finished ahead of two Prime Video titles, with the Stephen King series Carrie at No. 2. Netflix's Josh Hartnett thriller Below and Ben Affleck's ransom drama Animals were No. 4 and No. 5. The list then has Disney+'s VisionQuest at No. 6 and Disclosure Day at No. 7, followed by Apple TV's Tenzing, Paramount+'s MobLand, and HBO Max's Nathan For You. The window stops on October 21, so it is not a live chart for October 25.
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Commentary:
This is a weekly Reelgood chart published on Sunday; the ranks belong to the week ended October 21, not to a single-day audience on the 25th.
8. Worlds 2026 Swiss day two: the LPL wins three, and four No. 1 seeds sit at 0-2 (esports)
Summary:
Hotspawn's October 25 recap says day two of the 2026 World Championship Swiss stage finished eight best-of-ones. After an 0-4 opening round, the LPL won three: Top Esports over Anyone's Legend, Invictus Gaming over Team Secret Whales, and Bilibili Gaming over Team Liquid, which left Anyone's Legend at 0-2. In the LCK matches, Gen.G beat Hanwha Life Esports and Dplus KIA turned a game on T1 at about the 40-minute mark. LYON beat Karmine Corp, Movistar KOI beat CTBC Flying Oyster, and G2 beat LOS. At the end of the day the 2-0 teams were Gen.G, LYON, Dplus KIA, and Movistar KOI; the 0-2 teams were LOS, Team Secret Whales, Team Liquid, and Anyone's Legend. Sheep Esports recorded the round-three draw the same day: October 25 has best-of-ones between Hanwha Life and Invictus Gaming and between G2 and Top Esports, plus best-of-threes between Movistar KOI and Dplus KIA and between Gen.G and LYON, with those winners going straight to the knockout stage. The 0-2 elimination series, LOS versus Team Secret Whales and Team Liquid versus Anyone's Legend, are on October 26.
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Commentary:
The eight day-two results and the published round-three pairings are the part that is fixed; live scores from the October 25 round-three matches were not used here.
9. PGL Bucharest day two: NAVI sweep FURIA and add 85 VRS points (esports)
Summary:
HLTV reported on October 25 that on day two of the PGL Masters Bucharest 2026 Swiss stage, NAVI beat FURIA, then the world No. 3, by 2-0 on Ancient 13-10 and Dust2 13-5. b1t's series Rating 3.0 was 1.61, on 35 kills and 20 deaths. The win was worth 85 Valve Regional Standings points. HLTV wrote that NAVI closed the day at 2-0 and 11th on the European VRS, with a PGL Major Singapore invite in 99.9 percent of simulations if the team still attends HyperX Retake. The same day FUT swept Liquid on Cache 13-5 and Dust2 13-9, with dem0n at a 1.98 Rating 3.0 on 43 kills, 19 deaths, and 110.8 ADR. HLTV also noted that SunPayus must play five matches for FUT before the November 2 VRS cutoff to replace cmtry, now at Astralis, on the Major invite roster. Two other HLTV match reports that day had Vitality beating The MongolZ 2-0 on Inferno 13-6 and Cache 13-3, and Aurora beating G2 on Cache 13-11 and Inferno 16-14, dropping G2 to 0-2.
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Commentary:
The 85 points and the 99.9 percent figure are HLTV's reading of this result, and the percentage assumes NAVI still play Retake; the Vitality and Aurora scores are from two other HLTV reports the same day.
10. Team Vitality parts with Derke as the Valorant offseason window opens November 2 (esports)
Summary:
VLR.gg's October 25 news list carried Team Vitality's farewell to Nikita "Derke" Sirmitev. THESPIKE dates the organization's announcement to October 24 and says he spent two years with the team; VLR says he joined from FNATIC in October 2024. VLR writes that the 2026 roster finished second in Stage 1, fourth at Masters London, and second at Champions Shanghai, where its only loss was to eventual champion LOUD. THESPIKE says the offseason transfer window opens on November 2 and that Derke's next team has not been announced. VLR lists the roster after his exit as Jamppi, PROFEK, Chronicle, and Sayonara.
Links:
Commentary:
The exit and the Shanghai runner-up finish match both sites; November 2 is the window opening, not a signing date.
Today's Summary
- Phantom Blade Zero's preload opens at 10:00 on October 27, with an install of about 145 GB and a request to reserve at least 300 GB. The same day's reports still put the unlock at 10:00 on October 29 and the China standard edition at 268 yuan. Katana ZERO's developer said on October 22 that the DLC is now the size of a full sequel and includes more than 30 new songs, with no release date.
- The Korea Economic Daily reported that Krafton is aiming to open its first Brazil subsidiary in January and has put former Bluehole CEO Kim Hyo-seop in charge of a new Brazil strategy unit. That is industry reporting plus a show meeting, not a company announcement that the office exists. Jinghe said 篮球少女：飞跃巅峰 reached No. 12 on the grossing chart on October 25 and did not give revenue.
- Playden on a jailbroken PS5 is still an alpha and an unofficial Steam client. Illinois' proposed video-gaming-terminal self-exclusion rule, approved Thursday and reported Sunday, still has to clear JCAR; the base is 50,141 terminals and September handle was above $2.9 billion. Reelgood's week through October 21 put Peacock's Crystal Lake first and Carrie second.
- On Worlds Swiss day two the LPL won three games. Gen.G, LYON, Dplus KIA, and Movistar KOI are 2-0, and the 0-2 elimination series for the four No. 1 seeds in that bracket are on October 26. At PGL Bucharest, NAVI beat FURIA 2-0 for 85 VRS points on HLTV's count, FUT swept Liquid, and Aurora put G2 at 0-2.
Daily Framing:
Today in the gaming and entertainment cycle was a specs-and-draw day: Phantom Blade Zero put a preload size into the install notes, Krafton's Brazil base is still industry reporting, and Worlds and Bucharest laid day-two scores next to the next-round pairings.
This digest is compiled from real-time search results and is for reference only.