10 WEIRD Gaming Stories of April 2026

April 2026 brought a series of bizarre gaming stories, cataloged and sorted by Game Ranks. Starting at number 10, Coinbase released a commercial titled "Your Way Out," featuring a low-poly, PS2-era video game aesthetic. It depicts an NPC breaking free from a pre-programmed life by investing in crypto. What's truly weird is that this isn't CGI; it uses live actors, choreographed movements, hand-painted costumes, and low-resolution textures to create the illusion, making it an impressively unique cryptocurrency ad. At number nine, Pete Hines, a longtime Bethesda marketing boss, explained his 2023 departure from the company. He stated he left to avoid witnessing Bethesda "get damaged, broken apart, mistreated, and abused" due to the Microsoft acquisition. This "spicy exit interview" showed unexpected integrity from a marketing professional, especially after Starfield's launch. Despite his criticisms, Hines remained complimentary towards Todd Howard. Number eight celebrates Pearl Abyss for giving its employees a $3,400 bonus after Crimson Desert sold 5 million copies in four weeks. Unlike many successful game companies that follow success with layoffs, Pearl Abyss chose to reward its entire staff for their hard work and the game's global enthusiasm. At number seven, the Kickstarter for Ashes of Creation, which raised over $3.2 million, has ended disastrously. The studio is now gone, and employees are not receiving their checks. Allegations, though denied by founder Steve Sheriff, suggest a significant portion of the Kickstarter funds was used to finance his "lavish lifestyle," including private chefs and luxury items. Sheriff claims he resigned due to ethical disagreements with the board, a potentially ironic stance given the circumstances. Number six brings us to the continuing saga of a Fallout New Vegas remake or remaster. Former Obsidian creative head Chris Avellone claims Bethesda lacks the engineering know-how and the original source code or tools. He alleges that Obsidian boss Feargus Urquhart once declined a $10,000 milestone payment that would have included turning over the source code to Bethesda. Given the substantial resources Bethesda has, offering only $10,000 for such a crucial asset seems "lame." At number five, Blizzard won an injunction against Turtle WoW, a popular World of Warcraft private server project. This means another fan-made effort to preserve and remix old-school Azeroth has been shut down due to intellectual property law. Turtle WoW was an unofficial "classic plus" version of vanilla WoW, offering custom content that Blizzard never officially added. Number four details a bizarre incident where a Japanese Kickstarter equivalent, Obgo, mistakenly wired half of a developer's $340,000 raised funds to a different client. Jiro Eishi, the developer of Shibuja Scramble, is now suing Obgo CEO Kazuo Okada, who promised full payment by September 16th of last year, but has not delivered. The game is still being made with help from Tokyo Land Corporation. At number three, Xbox Game Pass cut its prices after a previous hike, which was allegedly due to new Call of Duty games no longer launching day one on the service. This means players must now pay full price for new Call of Duty titles. Apparently, putting Black Ops 6 on Game Pass cost Microsoft around $300 million in lost sales. Number two discusses Phantom Blade Zero's developer pulling support for DLSS5, stating a belief that "human artistry is not merely a means for creating value. It is the value itself." While the sentiment is appreciated given the backlash against AI in gaming, the timing suggests it might be a calculated publicity stunt rather than a purely principled stand. Finally, at number one, a hilarious hacker story involving Rockstar. Hackers demanded a ransom to prevent the public release of financial and specific company information. However, the leaked data revealed Rockstar's business was far more profitable and healthy than investors realized, leading to an increase in Take-Two Interactive stock purchases—a highly unusual outcome for a ransomware attack.