The Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 key art has reportedly been leaked online. Although many players initially believed the artwork was fake, prominent dataminer HYPEX now says it is likely legitimate. If accurate, the leak reveals every major Fortnite Override collab, including KingdomHearts, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Sonic, and more.
Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 Collabs Reportedly Leaked
Screenshot: Epic Games, Square Enix
A leaked image of the Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 key art recently surfaced on social media and reportedly reveals all upcoming Fortnite Override collabs. The artwork features numerous gaming legends, including Crash Bandicoot, Pac-Man, Spyro the Dragon and Megaman.
While the leaked key art initially had many players divided over whether it was real, prominent dataminer HYPEX says it is likely legitimate after an official Fortnite Sonic comic book also surfaced early online. The character’s design in the comics appears to match his appearance in the leaked Override image.
Here is the full list of Fortnite Override collabs coming to Chapter 7 Season 4 according to the leaked key art:
All Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 Collabs
Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, and Tails
Kingdom Hearts (Sora and a Keyblade)
Mega Man
Pac-Man
Persona 5 (Joker)
Beyond Good & Evil (Jade)
Spyro the Dragon
Crash Bandicoot
99 Nights in the Forest (Roblox)
Tetris
Screamer (Hiroshi Jackson)
Street Fighte
The Witcher
Tomb Raider
Halo
Honkai: Star Rail
Leaked Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 Key Art Is Reportedly Unfinished
Screenshot: Epic Games
One reason some players initially believed the leaked Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 key art was fake is that parts of the artwork appeared unfinished. For example, Pac-Man was missing his eyes. However, it now appears that the image is a WIP, or work-in-progress, version of the season’s key art. It is still unclear how an unfinished image like this could have leaked online in the first place.
Even so, the artwork being incomplete is a bit strange, given that Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 launches in just five days on August 20. Epic Games is also releasing the first official Fortnite Override trailer on August 16, which will likely feature the completed season key art and confirm the upcoming gaming legends crossovers.
Regardless, HYPEX believes the leaked Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 4 key art is likely real due to the newly discovered Sonic comicbook. Still, players should take the full collab lineup with a major grain of salt until Epic Games officially confirms which characters are coming to the new Fortnite Override season launching later this week.
The Claw EX. I rather like the purple. 3D-printed stand not included.
As The Verge's resident handheld reviewer, I have nearly every portable gaming PC on a shelf in my house. The MSI Claw 8 EX AI Plus is now the first one I reach for. Thanks to a next-gen Intel chip and improved MSI design, the Claw EX is the most powerful handheld that truly feels portable. It's the handheld with the longest battery life, and the first Windows handheld I can trust to sleep and wake reliably.
Like the Steam Deck, when I press the power button, my game is always right where I left off. Unlike the Steam Deck, it can hibernate for days without losing a significant amount of charge.
A screenshot of Oxenfree II: Lost Signals from Night School Studio. | Image: Night School / Netflix
Netflix plans to shut down two of its gaming studios, as reported by Game File and Variety, as it makes a bigger shift toward party games and titles streamed to TVs.
One of the studios being shut down is Night School Studio, creators of the Oxenfree series. Netflix bought Night School in 2021, and it just released a horror experience called Unhinged for TVs and launched a mobile game in 2025 tied to Black Mirror. The other studio that's set to close is Helsinki-based Moonloot Games, which was created in 2022.
Netflix's big push into TV-based games kicked off late last year and was a pivot from a mobile-focused approach that featured presti …
2K is launching a new AAA game development studio, Small Axe Studios, with an ambitious goal: to build the company's "next blockbuster sports franchise," according to a LinkedIn post.
The post doesn't explicitly say what sport this new game will focus on. But an image included in the post features what appears to be a mockup soccer badge, indicating that Small Axe might be making a soccer game that goes head-to-head with EA Sports FC. The Small Axe website also lists senior staffers with experience working on EA's FIFA series (the former name of EA Sports FC), including studio head Aaron McHardy, who once led that franchise.
Going into my demo of Marvel's Wolverine, I mainly wanted to try out the game's very bloody combat. And it is delightfully bloody. But after two-ish hours of slashing and stabbing (and parrying!) enemies with Wolverine's claws, I left surprised - despite no previous attachment to the character, I was deeply endeared to Logan himself.
The demo, which was held at Insomniac Games' office in Burbank, California, started at the beginning of the game. In this story, Wolverine is rejoining the mutant task force Team X after a few years away in order to fight for his fellow mutants. He's a reluctant hero with rocky relationships and little memory o …
Nintendo's first Fire Emblem game for the Switch 2 is structured in an ambitious way. Unlike the well-loved Three Houses, a strategy game that tasked you with pledging allegiance to a specific faction and seeing their story all the way to the end, the new Fortune's Weave lets you swap between four heroes and their compatriots so you can tackle multiple storylines at once. With Three Houses, I only ever played one path and never went back to experience the others. I hoped that the new game's structure would be a way to see everyone's stories in one playthrough.
After playing 26 hours of Fortune's Weave, which launches on September 17th, I've …
I thought Ghost of Tsushima was areally good game, what with all its razor-sharp samurai action and breathtaking Japanese vistas. I thought its sequel Ghost of Yōtei was pretty damn good too… weird as it was to see local comedian Erika Ishii, a person I have seen get their head shaved live on stage for a few measly improv comedy points, gruffly deliver stone-cold badass lines about revenge. — Read the rest
The 8BitDo mechanical keyboard and dual super buttons. | Image: The Verge
If you’re looking for a mechanical keyboard that can give your desk a touch of retro flair, Amazon has 8BitDo’s Retro Mechanical Keyboard with Dual Super Buttons on sale for $69.99, one of the lowest prices we’ve seen for the bundle. The styling on this keyboard is thorough, with blocky retro legends on the rounded keycaps, and supplementary buttons and detailing to help match the theme.
8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard
This mechanical keyboard is designed to look like Nintendo’s original NES controller, with features like two red customizable buttons. Along with Bluetooth support, it also offers a standard tenkeyless layout with clicky, hot-swappable switches.
Despite how it looks on the outside, the internals on this keyboard are modern, with support for Bluetooth, 2.4GHz, and a USB wired connection, and compatibility with both Windows and Android. The 87-key setup is mounted on white Kailh Box switches for that vintage clicky sound, with a volume knob and function keys for quick controls.
The included dual super buttons connect to the keyboard, and can be programmed to a variety of key combinations and functions without the need for any additional software. These sizable buttons are great for easy access to shortcuts like copy and paste or media shortcuts, and the bundle includes one, but you can connect up to four to a single keyboard.
Other deals to consider
Best Buy has the Aukey 2-in-1 MagSafe Qi2 wireless charging stand discounted to $27.99 (usually $49.99). The stand can charge your iPhone and AirPods at the same time with up to 15W of power, and folds away neatly for travel or to clear desk space.
You can grab a Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge with 512GB of storage at Woot for $669.99, almost half off the retail price of $1,299.99. The phone stands out with its remarkably thin and light design, and still has recent generation smartphone features, like a SnapDragon 8 Elite chipset, 200MP camera, and 6.7-inch 1440p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. Read our review.
The Lego Icons Transformers Soundwave set is on sale at Amazon for $168.96, almost matching its all-time low price. This 1,505-piece set can transform between the character’s robot and cassette player modes without any disassembly, and the included sound effects block helps give this kit a fun twist.
Promotional artwork for Sam Barlow’s Precognition. Looks trippy.
Kinetic Publishing, a new indie publisher from the development team behind the co-op horror game Phasmophobia, just hosted its first games showcase, and it includes five ambitious new titles set to release in 2027 and 2028.
Perhaps the most significant announcement from Kinetic's show is that it's publishing the next game from Telling Lies and Immortality creator Sam Barlow, titled Precognition. (Barlow previously revealed the game as "Project C.") Like other Barlow titles, Precognition will feature FMV-sequences and nonlinear storytelling. Here's the setup:
Players take on the role of Diana, a woman who discovers she can receive vision …
Amazon is fully stepping back from MMOs. After saying last year that it would be halting "a significant amount" of its work on first-party AAA games, "specifically around MMOs," Amazon will be handing over live operations of Throne and Liberty and Lost Ark in the West to other companies, according to announcements on Wednesday. Throne and Liberty will be taken over by FirstSpark Games and NC in Q4 2026. Lost Ark will be run by Smilegate starting in early 2027.
When Amazon announced the broader strategy shift in October, the developers of a third MMO, New World: Aeternum, announced plans to stop offering new content updates. As of January, y …
The TAC-2 was a famous joystick offered for Commodore's C64, the 8-bit personal computer first sold in 1982, and compatible with the Atari and other systems using the classic 9-pin plug. And now you can buy it again. There are upgrades such as a stronger steel shaft (the original was just a tire valve, according to the press release, which would be typical of the old Commodore) but its otherwise high-fidelity, including the connector (no USB!) — Read the rest
After a former lead writer claimed Saber "replaced me with ChatGPT," CEO Matthew Karch now claims, "Neither Saber nor Unigine have replaced any writers with AI," for the Rideshare "Stimulator" game announced last month, developed by Unigine.
The writer, Stella Sacco, says differently, however, posting on Bluesky that "I was lead writer on this one! And Saber replaced me with ChatGPT midway through development. All the passenger voices were AI too. Either they changed direction at some point or they're not disclosing it on Steam."
Saber describes Rideshare "Stimulator"as an "immersive driving simulation game that puts you behind the wheel …
Did a prototype Microsoft gamepad fall off the back of a truck? We can't say, but a Redditor has legit-looking photos of a prototype Xbox controller that's almost certainly the Xbox Elite Series 3. Incredibly, they claim they bought the pad for $200 on OfferUp.
In May, a Brazilian regulator's leaked images revealed that Xbox Elite 3 would have new two new scroll wheels on the bottom edge, a second wireless mode to connect directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming servers, and a new "Pair Button" that can also switch between those servers and your console.
Where might that pair button live? Today, we have a possible answer: it might sit right next to t …
I'm not fond of bricking my hardware. But I'm very fond of Valve's SteamOS. If you haven't had the opportunity to mess with a Steam Deck or Steam Machine, SteamOS is a deliciously easy-to-use, low-maintenance Linux distribution tuned to work on their hardware with next-to-no maintenance. — Read the rest
The TMR thumbsticks in the ES Max don't feature a complete reimagining of the technology but measure stick movement in a slightly different way that improves performa …
Malta leads fight against EU bid to tax Big Gambling
The tiny Mediterranean island is clashing against the European Parliament and former football legend to oppose the levy.
By GREGORIO SORGI in Paceville, Malta
Photo–Illustration by Natália Delgado/POLITICO
Brussels is bracing for an unusual fight between the EU’s smallest country and a British ex-footballing legend.
Peter Shilton, the England goalkeeper who conceded the “Hand of God” goal from Diego Armando Maradona in 1986, has started a new life as an anti-gambling advocate after overcoming a decades-long addiction.
Despite being a diehard Brexit supporter, he’s become the poster boy of the European Parliament’s push to tax online betting in a bid to raise some much-needed funds to finance the bloc’s next €2 trillion budget.
But the campaign has run into strong opposition from Malta. The tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea, with a population of just over half a million people, is home to a burgeoning betting sector. It says that higher taxes will cripple its gambling industry, boost illegal operators and drive firms outside the bloc.
But Shilton, who lost more than £1 million in betting on horse racing over 45 years and now runs his own gambling addiction charity, dismisses the arguments by Malta and the gambling lobbies as “window dressing.” He’s in favor of higher taxes as he wants to shrink advertising revenue that is used to lure in new gamblers.
“Deep down they’re after everybody’s money. Simple as that,” he told POLITICO during a visit to Brussels in June.
Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton lost more than £1 million in betting on horse racing over 45 years and now runs his own gambling addiction charity. | David Cannon/Allsport/Getty Images
The topic has split the EU’s 27 governments, pitting gambling-heavy Southern European countries against their more supportive Western European peers, led by France. Capitals are already fighting even though the Commission hasn’t yet issued a formal proposal for the possible tax, which would ultimately need to be unanimously approved by governments.
It’s one of numerous budget battle lines being drawn, with Ireland — which is steering the talks as chair of the rotating Council presidency — set to restart negotiations to facilitate an overall deal on the EU budget before the end of the year.
That’s no mean feat given Dublin’s task to mesh competing spending priorities into a single budget — financing everything from farmers’ subsidies to foreign aid — that is acceptable for each of the EU’s 27 governments.
National capitals will have to unanimously approve new EU-wide taxes — known as own resources — to pay for soaring defense spending and post-Covid debt repayments if they want to avoid drastically increasing national contributions to Brussels.
Supporters of the gambling levy point to the fact that it would rake in over €13 billion throughout the next budget cycle and — for some, more importantly — address a serious public health issue. An estimated 80 million adults globally have experienced a gambling addiction, according to experts.
“We look on it [gambling] as an illness. It’s something that’s inborn in you and that can be ignited,” Shilton said.
Malta’s game plan
Malta has invested heavily in the gambling industry — including lotteries, betting and casinos increasingly operating online — which now accounts for around 12 percent of its gross domestic product.
These firms have relocated to Malta because of its light-touch licensing regime, business-friendly tax regime and balmy weather.
The country is “as dependent on the online gambling industry as Germany is on cars,” said an EU diplomat, granted anonymity to speak freely.
While gambling firms need local authorization to operate in most other European countries, securing the Maltese license is crucial to access banking services and gain a foothold in the EU market.
Malta-based firms dominated the German and Austrian online gambling markets before national regulators cracked down. This has prompted the Maltese government to refuse to recognize some court rulings and sanctions issued by other EU countries against its gambling firms.
Betting lobbies say they oppose higher gambling rates on the grounds that they will fuel appetite for the illegal market. | Photo illustration by Graeme Robertson/Getty Images
Given its influence, it is hardly surprising that the gambling industry has found a friendly ear among Malta’s politicians in Brussels.
The Maltese president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, last year gave the opening speech at an international gambling conference in Rome that also featured Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio Tajani.
“I’m more than a little proud that it started in my island home of Malta,” she said, referring to SiGMA, a Maltese events company that focuses on online gambling founded by Eman Pulis, a university friend of Metsola.
Betting lobbies say they oppose higher gambling rates on the grounds that they will fuel appetite for the illegal market, away from the grasp of EU rules.
“A higher tax would lead to worse odds for the customers … and it is relevant because access to the illegal markets in Europe is, obviously, one click away,” said secretary general of the European Gaming and Betting Association, Maarten Haijer.
Nicola Matteucci, an economist at the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy who has undertaken extensive research on the gambling sector, argued there is a “point where prices exceed a certain level and the demand [for gambling] diminishes. But it’s not as immediate as suggested by the industry.”
Matteucci said that most gamblers will be undeterred by slightly higher taxes and worse odds as they are not fully rational consumers.
Anti-gambling groups reason instead that higher taxes will reduce the sector’s spending on commercials, preventing would-be punters from getting sucked in to gambling in the first place.
“Higher taxes will therefore mean less gambling advertising overall and many people would regard that as a public benefit,” said Derek Webb, the founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling advocacy group.
Club Med joins Malta
Malta has joined forces with fellow Mediterranean countries — Italy, Portugal and Spain — to challenge the mooted tax which was first proposed by the Parliament’s socialist lawmaker Victor Negrescu, said four diplomats with knowledge of the discussions.
According to the European Commission’s estimates, seen by POLITICO, a 3 percent tax on the net turnover of the online gambling sector would generate an estimated €1.9 billion per year.
With its big online gambling market, Spain is expected to be among the biggest financial losers, should the tax go ahead. It is estimated to be on the hook for €414 million per year, almost a quarter of the total amount. That compares to a projected bill of €165 million per year for Malta— a disproportionality high amount for such a small country.
Portugal is also reluctant to back the levy. It fears that higher taxes would eat into revenue brought in by state-run betting and lotteries that is currently channeled to the charity Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa‘s healthcare and youth support programs, said a Portuguese official.
Meanwhile, given the relatively low uptake of online gambling, Italy’s misgivings have surprised anti-betting advocates. Rome is expected to pay a mere 7 percent of the proposed new levy — a significantly lower proportion than its regular EU budget contributions.
However, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party has previously been receptive to the gambling industry. Last year its MPs passed a resolution encouraging the reversal of a ban on professional football clubs advertising gambling firms.
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