Generative AI just won't leave the games industry alone.
Look at this week's batch of business news from the MMO world and its neighbours. Two of the three biggest stories involve gen AI in some form. The third, fittingly enough, is a comic book about humanity fighting off a robot uprising. Whether you find that ironic or just exhausting probably depends on how many AI-related headlines you've already scrolled past this year.
Here's what happened.
Capcom Wants an "AI-Generation Game Engine"
Capcom recently held a tech conference, and the headline announcement was a big one. The publisher plans to turn its in-house RE Engine into what it describes as an "AI-generation game engine." The project carries the codename REX, and Capcom laid out a multi-step plan for getting there.
Star Wars: The Old Republic still hasn't given Masters of the Force a release date.
The update was announced back in August, and the calendar hasn't moved since. But Broadsword, the studio that now runs the long-running BioWare MMORPG, spent part of last week reminding players what's coming. The post reads a lot like the kind of drumbeat studios start just before they're ready to commit to a date. Nothing is confirmed, of course. Still, it's hard to read a fresh feature rundown, a graphics engine progress report, and a new test server phase all landing together as anything other than a team warming up for launch.
If you played Lord of the Rings Online in its early years, you probably know the name Sapience.
Rick "Sapience" Heaton was the game's community manager for six years. He was the person who stood between the players and the studio, relaying news, absorbing complaints and generally keeping Middle-earth's online population informed. He left Turbine, the developer that ran LOTRO at the time, in 2014. More than a decade later, his name is back in front of the community, and the reason is a hard one.
Heaton has been fighting an aggressive cancer for some time. Now a friend of his has set up a fundraiser to help cover the medical bills that have piled up.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is not in a happy place right now. That isn't exactly news to anyone who has been following the game, but a lengthy community Q&A from developer Visionary Realms puts it on the record.
The post is prickly in places. It also doesn't dodge the angrier questions players sent in, and that counts for something. Some answers are blunt and some are defensive. Taken together, they give a clearer picture of where the studio thinks it stands and what it wants to fix first.
No roadmap until the game is fixed
The headline answer for many players will be the one about a roadmap. There isn't one coming soon. The developers returned to this point several times, and their position was the same each time. A roadmap will only arrive once Pantheon is in a more stable and balanced state.
Old School RuneScape got its turn on the RuneFest 2026 stage, and Jagex arrived with a long list. The main RuneScape game had already set out its own plans at the Saturday showcase. Now the older, nostalgia-driven version has a roadmap of its own, and it is a busy one.
There is a catch, though, and anyone who has spent time in OSRS will expect it. Most of what Jagex showed is not locked in. Old School RuneScape has long let its community vote on proposed content, and much of this year's lineup still has to pass those polls. Two pieces are dated and confirmed. Everything else is a pitch to the players.
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