
Andy Chalk
Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.
Latest articles by Andy Chalk

Furious Destiny 2 players accuse Bungie of secretly moving a stunning free armor set into the Eververse Store so players have to pay real money for it instead
By Andy Chalk published
news The studio desperately needs a win, but seems determined to avoid taking one.

Battlefield 6 devs knew 'everything' would leak from playtests but said the risk was worth it to get feedback from players: 'That had to come at any cost'
By Andy Chalk published
news Ripple Effect was determined to collect all the player data it could, even though it meant accepting that leaks would happen.

Star Citizen fans sigh deeply, rub their foreheads as developer casts doubt on Squadron 42's 2026 release: 'I don't know if we're going to make it'
By Andy Chalk published
news Jared Huckaby clarified that he didn't mean to suggest that Squadron 42 will be delayed out of 2026, he just literally doesn't know what the future holds for any of us.

Balatro's big 1.1 update is delayed to 2026, for a very good reason: 'I'm slow'
By Andy Chalk published
news LocalThunk says he burned out on Balatro development in late 2024, and wants to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Gearbox responds to worries about Borderlands 4's terms of service: 'Take-Two does not use spyware in its games'
By Andy Chalk published
news Previous Borderlands games were review-bombed earlier this year in response to changes in Take-Two's TOS, and Gearbox is looking to avoid a repeat.

FTC targets Google, Meta, X, and others with inquiry into AI chatbot safety: 'Protecting kids online is a top priority'
By Andy Chalk published
news The Federal Trade Commission wants to know what chatbot-makers are doing to "measure, test, and monitor potentially negative impacts" of their products.

Borderlands 4 launches to 'mostly negative' reviews on Steam thanks to widespread performance problems and crashes
By Andy Chalk published
news Despite the problems, the concurrent player numbers are doing really well.

Gabe Newell waxes poetic about his love for the Dota 2 community in a special message for The International: 'People talk s**t at me in chat' and tell him to uninstall the game on a weekly basis
By Andy Chalk published
news But he loves 'em anyway.

Paradox apologizes for botching yet another DLC release: 'It hurts so much when we f**k up like this'
By Andy Chalk published
news Crusader Kings 3: Coronations landed yesterday with a distinct splat.

The 'Phunky Physics' bundle is cooler than it sounds, with 9 great games including Hardspace: Shipbreaker and What the Golf? for just $13
By Andy Chalk published
news The Humble folks have put together another banger.

The US government is 'looking at' the connection between videogames and gun violence, because what else could it possibly be
By Andy Chalk published
news Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, said there are "many things" that could explain the American problem with gun violence, but guns aren't one of them.

OpenAI is backing a new animated feature film 'made largely with AI' to prove it can make films 'faster and cheaper' than Hollywood
By Andy Chalk published
news The AI firm hopes that if Critterz is a hit, it will speed up Hollywood's embrace of AI technology.

Silksong Easter egg hides a secret, super-hard permadeath mode, for those who want to suffer even more
By Andy Chalk published
news Steel Soul mode can be unlocked at any time, and of course it's the Konami code.

Former Xbox VP says Game Pass creates 'weird inner tensions' because a game's popularity can actually damage sales: 'The majority of game adoption on GP comes at the expense of retail revenue'
By Andy Chalk published
news Hi-Fi Rush drew in more than three million players, but that wasn't enough to save Tango Gameworks.

Gearbox boss says Borderlands 4 day-one patch 'does a lot' but warns that players should have 'realistic' expectations about performance: 'Older hardware may not provide buttery smooth performance'
By Andy Chalk published
news It's good advice, really.

Former Bethesda marketing VP says he fought against reusing the Prey name for Arkane's 2017 immersive sim: 'I definitely pissed some people off internally over that'
By Andy Chalk published
news Pete Hines was not happy about the choice because "we spend more time explaining why it's called Prey than we do talking about the game."

Starfield fans are pretty sure Bethesda just dropped the first teaser for the game's second expansion: 'We look forward to the adventures yet to come'
By Andy Chalk published
news What is "Terran Armada?"

Randy Pitchford shares thoughts on the Stop Killing Games campaign, gets very existential: 'It's so sobering to think about the fact that everything will end. Not just us, but literally everything, and I kind of hate that'
By Andy Chalk published
news "I hate the fact that someday, the people that I care about aren't going to be here, and someday I'm not going to be here."

Somehow, MindsEye is not dead: A new update promises to improve performance by removing 'ambient rubbish'
By Andy Chalk published
news A beefy new patch went live today, and Build a Rocket Boy says another one is in the works.

Midjourney's troubles get worse as Warner Bros Discovery sues the AI image generator for copyright infringement
By Andy Chalk published
news Three months after Disney and Universal sued Midjourney, Warner opens a new front.

Silksong is so popular, even people in the Piracy subreddit are encouraging others to just buy it: 'If we can afford to support them, we should'
By Andy Chalk published
news No one escapes Skongmania.

One of my favorite puzzle games ever is free for the week on the Epic Games Store
By Andy Chalk published
news Epic is giving away the magical Monument Valley for the first time ever to kick off its big End of Summer Sale.

Civilization 7 studio Firaxis confirms layoffs as it 'optimizes its development process for adaptability, collaboration, and creativity,' which is somehow even worse than just saying 'agility'
By Andy Chalk published
news 2K Games didn't say how many people have been put out of work, but the list includes well-known veterans of Civilization and Marvel's Midnight Suns.

Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime announces layoffs at his new company Dreamhaven
By Andy Chalk published
news The cuts come less than two weeks after Morhaime reportedly told Dreamhaven employees that the company's "monthly expenses are outpacing revenue."

Roblox to begin using 'facial age estimation technology' on its users, promises to 'limit communication between adults and minors unless they know each other in the real world'
By Andy Chalk published
news The new system, combined with verified IDs and parental consent, "will provide a more accurate measure of a user's age" than what's available now.
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