For the second week in a row it was gaming news that dominated pop culture headlines, with two business level decisions that left fans feeling despondent over the state of the industry.
Before that, though, one notable death needs to be mentioned. Lovers of classic British sitcoms will likely be sad to hear that Keeping Up Appearances star Dame Patricia Routledge, who played lead character Hyacinth Bucket across five seasons in the 1990s, has passed aged 96. She died in her sleep.
Gaming
The first bit of gaming news may not sound like a big deal. Electronic Arts (EA) was purchased this past week for $55 billion, making it a private company owned by an investor consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s PIF, technology firm Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners under Jared Kushner.
It comes across as the usual high-level business stuff, but as the buyout was made possible by instantly shouldering $20 billion in debt, you can expect that to have an impact on future EA output as the new owners seek to cut costs and make back that immediate loss.
It seems fair to predict that EA will double down on its popular and profitable sports titles, especially those with esports potential, while selling off IP and slashing the studios that projects that fall outside its new focus. In that case, goodbye in advance, BioWare. Thanks for all the RPG goodness.
Xbox and Microsoft have been in the news for studio downsizings (or shutterings) and employee cuts the past few years. This week, though, they made headlines for a different reason: the sudden implementation of a price increase for their Game Pass subscription service, which underwent a renaming and benefits rejig at the same time.
Increases are nothing new, but the price jumps of between 50% and 100%, depending on the membership plan and country, enraged fans. Xbox claimed it was adding more value to justify the increase, but pointing to Cloud gaming and Rewards as enhanced benefits does not apply to markets like South Africa, which are now paying substantially more… for nothing extra.
On the back of the news, enraged fans worldwide reacted by flooding, and crashing, the Unsubscribe from Game Pass page. The negative reaction was so intense that it even made mainstream news, with the likes of the BBC covering the story.
Here’s an at-a-glance indication of the price increases, effective from early November for existing subscribers.
South Africa
| Game Pass Plan | Was | Now |
| Ultimate Standard, now called Premium Core, now called Essential PC | R199 per month R149 per month R79 per month R119 per month | R349 R199 R139 R249 |
USA
| Game Pass Plan | Was | Now |
| Ultimate Standard, now called Premium Core, now called Essential PC | $19.99 per month $14.99 per month $9.99 per month $11.99 per month | $29.99 $14.99 [unchanged] $9.99 [unchanged] $16.49 |
One upbeat piece of gaming news: moving with lightning-quick speed, the KPop Demon Hunters (from the smash-hit animated Sony Animation and Netflix film) are now in Fortnite, and have their own demon-fighting event too. You can purchase the three members of HUNTR/X individually, or get the all-in-one bundle, which is available until 17 October.
Lifestyle
With Comic Con Africa done and dusted a month earlier in 2025, you may be wondering where you can still get your cosplay fix this year, if you’re in Johannesburg at least. Well, there’s ICON this coming weekend, but far larger in scale is rAge, the Really Awesome Gaming Expo.
Coming up on 5 – 7 December on the rooftop level of Fourways Mall, this year’s rAge is hosting six different cosplay competitions, for cosplayers and photographers alike, facilitated by GES Cosplay.
On the returning front, now in its eleventh year, there’s the big daddy event: the GES rAge Annual Cosplay Competition. It’s paired with the Padawan Cosplay Competition, which is focused on kids’ dress-up efforts. Meanwhile, also back is the rAge Masquerade, a celebration of all levels of cosplay, which normally involves a parade.
On the new cosplay attractions front, look out for the performance-driven rAge Lip Sync Cosplay Competition, while there are two photography challenges for the first time, inspired by events at Cosplay World Con. The Cosplay Photography Competition asks photographers to showcase their best shots across three divisions, whereas the On-Site Photography Cosplay Challenge is a high-pressure contest that demands both speed and skill. Here, photographers have 10 minutes to shoot with the same model in the same location, followed by two hours to edit the pics, which will be their contest entry.
Tickets for rAge 2025 can be purchased here, and start at R220 for day passes.
Film
This isn’t the first trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, but it’s the first non-teaser, providing a more in-depth look at the Academy Award-winning filmmaker’s take on Mary Shelley’s gothic horror classic.
Oscar Isaac plays ambitious medical student and scientist Victor Frankenstein, whose attempts at playing God result in a monstrous Creature (Jacob Elordi), who, shunned by his creator and society at large, seeks revenge. Also starring are Mia Goth and Felix Kammerer, with Charles Dance, Christoph Waltz and Ralph Ineson all appearing as well.
Frankenstein debuts on Netflix next month, after Halloween (boo!), on 7 November.
Still on matters of horror, it remains to be seen if The Carpenter’s Son will be controversial or not, but out 14 November is this supernatural horror take on the earlier books of the Bible’s New Testament.
Egyptian-born filmmaker Lotfy Nathan has drawn on his Coptic Christian background to tell the story of Joseph (Nicolas Cage), Mary (FKA twigs) and their teenage son Jesus (Noah Jupe), who have spent years on the run, clinging to their faith. These efforts take strain with the emergence of a mysterious stranger (Isla Johnston), who tries to tempt Jesus away from his destiny.