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From the scourge of Generative AI to the RAM crisis , from PlayStation axing discs to Xbox cutting legendary studios off at the knees , it seems like gaming is under attack from every angle. The industry is in dire straits, with studios seemingly no longer able to bank on the success of AAA blockbusters or Live Service behemoths like it used to. Even the biggest game ever, the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 , has had a troubled announcement, with its $80 price tag and discless contents getting people’s backs up.

It’s easy to feel helpless when seemingly insurmountable problems hit a medium you love, and speaking out feels like you’re merely howling into the void. But based on historic events, it's true that when enough gamers make themselves heard — and when they vote with their wallets — positive changes can occur, bad decisions can be reversed and better futures can be laid. Hey, even Xbox rolled back its Game Pass price hike (to an extent) .

So we want to hear from you — which issue are you most concerned about? Participate in our poll below and tell everyone what you think. No doubt many if not all of these issues are interconnected. For instance, I can’t help but laugh at the cruel irony of the RAM being used to power the Gen AI tools for the purposes of developing games more cheaply is pushing up the price of the systems for playing those games. Of course, there’s no easy fix to any one of them, but we’ll follow up by dissecting the results and discussing the potential routes to bring gaming out from the dark place it’s currently stuck in.

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VIENNA — The European Union has authorized its naval mission in the Indian Ocean to stop and board Russian shadow fleet tankers suspected of operating under false flags, the bloc announced on Wednesday.

EU member states have authorized Operation Atalanta, the union’s counter-piracy naval mission off the Horn of Africa, to begin conducting flag-verification boardings of vessels suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet in the western Indian Ocean. The decision, announced this week by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, extends to Atalanta a power already exercised by the EU’s Mediterranean mission, Operation Irini.

Kallas made the announcement alongside news that Irini forces had boarded the sanctioned oil tanker MV South Star on July 20, acting on suspicion that the vessel was sailing under a false flag. “Every illicit voyage helps sustain Russia’s war machine. We are matching our sanctions with action at sea,” Kallas said, adding that the Atalanta authorization “further tightens the net.”

The move considerably widens the EU’s geographic reach against the shadow fleet, a loosely defined network of tankers with opaque ownership structures that Moscow uses to sell oil above the Western-imposed price cap. While Irini patrols the Mediterranean, Atalanta operates across the Somali Basin, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba and waters around Oman, and was launched as the EU’s first-ever naval mission in 2008 to combat piracy.

It is separate from the EU mission ASPIDES, which is designed to protect shipping in the Red Sea from attacks by the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels.

The corridor where the mission operates is a critical transit route for tankers carrying Russian crude toward buyers in Asia. Brussels has already sanctioned more than 600 vessels suspected of belonging to the network.

Generally, ships on the high seas cannot simply be stopped and boarded by any third country. However, Article 110 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea permits warships to stop and inspect a vessel only where there is reasonable suspicion it is stateless or flying a flag to which it is not entitled. This falls short of a blanket authority to stop any sanctioned or Russia-linked ship, but flying false flags has been a frequent practice on Russian shadow fleet vessels.

The council decision, the operational plan and the rules of engagement that would spell out exactly how far Atalanta’s new powers extend have so far not been made public.

The approach has already produced results elsewhere. Irini’s flag checks contributed to pressure that culminated in a Cameroon purge of 39 vessels from its shipping registry after investigators uncovered fraudulent paperwork and fake registry websites used to disguise shadow fleet tankers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously denounced such interceptions as “piracy,” underscoring how the expanded mandate is likely to further sharpen tensions between Brussels and Moscow over enforcement at sea.

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New boss Michael Leiters has been tasked with turning around the brand.

Porsche posted a 93 percent decline in operating profit last year.

Tariffs and an over-commitment to EVs have hurt the company.

Volkswagen isn’t the only one trimming headcount in Europe’s largest automaking group. A new report says Porsche is preparing its own round of job cuts, with the supervisory board having signed off on a wider restructuring package to go along with them.

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The German sports car maker is now run by Michael Leiters, who spent just under three years as chief executive of McLaren before taking the job. He replaced Oliver Blume, who had been splitting his attention between the top seats at both VW and Porsche.

Read: Porsche’s Mega SUV Drops EV Plan For V8 Power And An Audi Link

As part of his efforts to turn the company around, Leiters could cut between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs by 2035, in addition to the 3,900 redundancies already announced while Porsche was being helmed by Blume. Reuters reports that plans may be presented to workers next week.

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Porsche has long been one of the VW Group’s best-performing brands, consistently posting strong profits thanks to its higher-priced models. However, it posted a 93 percent drop in operating profit last year, triggered in part by the costs associated with international tariffs, in addition to declining sales in China and its overcommitment to electric powertrains.

Earlier this year, Leiters said Porsche would lean more heavily into high-margin models like the 911 , while also simplifying its line-up. Importantly, the brand does not intend on boosting volumes as part of its restructuring.

Where Did Things Go Wrong?

Significant amounts of money have been lost on the electric 718 Boxster/Cayman and electric K1 projects. Not only has Porsche walked back its commitment to exclusively build the next-generation Boxster and Cayman as EVs, but its flagship K1 mega SUV will also not be sold solely with an electric powertrain. Instead, it will switch from VW’s Scalable Systems Platform to the Premium Platform Combustion architecture, supporting several V6 and V8 options, as well as numerous hybrids.

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TODAY: In 1888, Raymond Chandler is born.

Kōhei Saitō examines why solutions rooted in capitalism will never stop climate change : “The metabolic relationship between humans and nature was once a cycle—a process that could be represented as a circle. But the movement of capital is one-way.” | Lit Hub Climate Change

Should an author narrate their own audiobook, or should an actor? Maris Kreizman explores the importance of a good performance. | Lit Hub Criticism

Isaac Butler and Rosa Campbell, authors whose recent books focus on the culture wars, discuss censorship, porn, capitalism, and art . | Lit Hub In Conversation

“People are objects, terrified of one another as they wake up to nightmarish scenes.” 5 book reviews you need to read this week . | Book Marks

Jim Downs Considers the work of Heather Cox Richardson, Jill Lepore, Kevin Kruse, and other public historians who remind us why we shouldn’t repeat humanity’s mistakes . | Lit Hub History

Victoria Chang’s TBR includes work by Amina Cain, Karen Solie, Cecily Parks, and more! | Lit Hub Criticism

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for fiction and nonfiction . | Lit Hub Bookstores

“When Dad and I went to Dallas for Mom’s funeral, Dad gave me my own disposable camera with twenty four pictures on it.” Read from Meg Richardson’s new novel, Paradise Pawn. | Lit Hub Fiction

Carey Baraka revisits The Gods Must Be Crazy , the most successful African movie ever made. | Equator

Katie Porter is “closing the door” on her gubernatorial aspirations, and pivoting to… Bookstagram . | The Cut

Oscar Duffield looks at recent English translations of two eighteenth century epic poems originally composed in Gaelic . | Asymptote

As early Nancy Drew and Miss Marple books enter the public domain, it’s time to ask who owns the stories of women detectives. | Los Angeles Review of Books

How backlash to a teen journalist’s reporting forced the staff of a high school paper to lawyer up. | Wired

Emily Laskin translates two pieces from Russian : one by Lesya Lapina on the homophobia of Putin’s Center for Combating Extremism, the other by Sergey Hyugge on “an older, more chill version of the internet.” | The Dial

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As someone who frequently finds themselves embroiled in gargantuan, branching RPGs and spends far too much time in live service romps, I really appreciate a game I don't need to dedicate my life to—a nice palette cleanser that's one and done. And it looks like Star Wars Zero Company falls into that category.

In a recent Discord Q&A , developer Bit Reactor tackled the subject of game length, and while I certainly wouldn't call it short, it does sound pretty manageable. "Depending on your difficulty level and experience with the strategy genre, we estimate about 30-40 hours for the average player to complete the main story campaign," said lead producer Caydence Funk.

We also know it's going to be a linear deal , with no branching paths or romances between operatives. So there are not a whole lot of reasons to dive back in once you've already concluded your Clone Wars misadventure.

There's no New Game+ mode, either, though Funk notes that "players will unlock certain customisation options on subsequent playthroughs". I doubt I'll feel compelled to play again just for some extra customisation options, and honestly without an NG+ mode I feel like Bit Reactor should just give us everything in one playthrough.

At this point, the only thing that would encourage me to play through it multiple times is modding, but nope, there won't be any official mod support .

Aside from the lack of mod support, this isn't miles away from XCOM 2, which was also technically a linear game, though there were plenty of tactical choices you could make, especially in the War of the Chosen expansion with its different factions.

It's probably good news for folks who bounced off Midnight Suns, which was full of platonic relationships for you to develop and a mountain of optional diversions. Personally, I loved all that nonsense, but I'm looking forward to a new tactical romp that doesn't swallow up my life.

Zero Company is a little over a month away, launching on August 27, ending a pretty dry period with few notable releases, aside from a couple of remakes. I am ready for some clone fun.

2026 games : All the upcoming games

Best PC games : Our all-time favorites

Free PC games : Freebie fest

Best FPS games : Finest gunplay

Best RPGs : Grand adventures

Best co-op games : Better together