Fortnite Sucks In Super Meat Boy, Slay the Spire 2 Smashes Records – A Week of Surprises
Epic Games ushers in a new era of crossovers, buying games on the EGS will now grant Fortnite skins. Meanwhile, Slay the Spire 2 sells at a staggering pace, and the community raises alarms about malware on Steam.
Super Meat Boy Jumps Into Fortnite – And This Is Just the Beginning
Epic Games' colossal collaboration machine is gaining steam. After teasing a partnership with Super Meat Boy 3D via three raw meat emojis, it's clear this classic platformer will join the battle royale universe. But this isn't just a standard crossover. It's a signal of a new strategy.
Steve Allison, head of the Epic Games Store, announced in January that the company plans to offer as many as 100 such promotions annually. That's a colossal leap, considering such deals were previously sporadic. The mechanic is simple: you buy a game – like the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem or Crimson Desert – and in the bundle, you get a skin, back bling, or emote for Fortnite. It's a clever way to draw players to its own storefront by offering tangible value in the world's most popular game.
Slay the Spire 2: The Early Access Juggernaut
While Epic fights for digital distribution market share, indie studio Mega Crit shows that a great game can stand on its own. Slay the Spire 2, the sequel to the legendary roguelike deckbuilder, has sold a staggering 3 million copies in just one week of Early Access. It's a result that major AAA studios dream of.
This success is even more impressive given the game is still in active development. The devs have already promised a patch to fix an exploit allowing players to reach absurd health values of one billion points. This is proof of a community engaging with the title at a level that demands swift developer response.
The Dark Side of Steam: FBI Hunts Malware
Not all news is positive, however. The FBI has launched an investigation into games on the Steam platform that spread malware. The list of suspect titles includes names like BlockBlasters, Chemia, and PirateFi. The agency is calling on players who downloaded these games between May 2024 and January 2026 to come forward as victims.
It's a reminder that even on the largest digital distribution platforms, risks lurk. While infected games are a fraction of a percent of Steam's entire library, their presence undermines trust and raises questions about the effectiveness of title verification before publication.
The AI Debate: Voices from Industry Veterans
The topic of artificial intelligence continues to electrify the industry. Jeff Kaplan, former Blizzard boss and Overwatch creator, didn't mince words, calling current AI in game development a "hot mess" and "overconfident in what it tries to deliver." Meanwhile, Garry Newman, creator of Garry's Mod, compared over-relying on AI in programming to... watching too much adult content. In his view, while the tool is powerful, it can lead to the atrophy of creative "muscle."
Meanwhile, Embark Studios (Arc Raiders) admitted it re-recorded AI-generated voice lines, acknowledging "there is a quality difference" and that "a real professional actor is better than AI." It's a valuable contribution to the discussion on where technology should support, not replace, human creativity.
