The biggest PC gaming stories of the week

Even in these pre-E3 doldrums there's loads of news happening in PC gaming. Let's get right into it.

 • Sony and Microsoft team up to develop 'game and content-streaming services'

Streaming technology could transform the entire games industry, so the fact that Sony and Microsoft are sharing resources is big news. I can see a world where, instead of buying games, we subscribe to publishers and stream their products to any device we like. What would that mean for PC gaming?

 • Denuvo piracy protection is getting cracked faster and faster

The anti-piracy arms race continues. If solutions like Denuvo fail to stand up we could see creators adopt more draconian approaches. Rage 2 didn't last a day.

 •  Red Dead Redemption 2 PC appears on a programmer's LinkedIn page

If/when this comes out we're going to have to rewrite our analysis of the best horses on PC.

 •  Dota Underlords trademarked by Valve

An Artifact rebrand? An action RPG? Another, different card game? A new game from Valve is always exciting news.

 •  Wolfenstein studio 'actively working' to eliminate crunch

It can only be positive that workplace practices are being openly discussed. Having said that, a healthy work environment should be the norm rather than a badge of honour. 

 • This old BBC video about making the first GTA is a treasure 

Love to see reporters wade into covering videogames without quite knowing enough to pull it off. I've never heard of a studio referred to as a 'plant' before.

•  Apex Legends and KFC had an argument

Speaking of crunch, this ended up being a very effective bit of marketing for KFC when a Respawn dev politely countered a meme tweet.

 •  Here's the PC Gaming Show 2019 lineup so far

It's happening! We've got loads of exciting reveals planned.

More things that happened this week

•  The Steam Summer Sale is coming
•  John Wick turns up in Fortnite
•  Bungie is nerfing some of Destiny 2's most powerful exotics
•  Here's what PC memory looks like after setting a world speed record
•  This old BBC video about making the first GTA is a treasure
•  The Division 2's first raid is now live—without matchmaking
•  How it feels to flame out on Hearthstone's biggest stage
•  The Epic Game Store's first big sale is live
•  The Grimrock devs reveal their next game, Druidstone
•  Review embargoes dropped for Rage 2 and Total War: Three Kingdoms

Tweet of the week

I'm using my power as this week's curator to introduce a temporary new segment celebrating this very good Twitter account that plays games to address the simple but very important question: can you pet the dog?

Around the (virtual) office

E3 preparations are well under way. Spreadsheets are filling up with appointments as we brace ourselves for the massive amount of news that will land in just a few weeks. In the meantime we've opened another big spreadsheet to house the Top 100, our annual list of the best PC games you should play right now. There are almost 50 games vying for a place in the list that didn't make the cut in 2018—some are new games, others are over 20 years old. Many hours of team discussion lie ahead.

Meanwhile Lauren Morton took revenge on an ancient enemy and Joanna tried to play Overwatch with a very weird keyboard. Fraser has been looking ahead to World of Warcraft's Rise of Azshara update, which sounds a lot larger than expected. I have been grinding out exotic quests in preparation for Destiny 2's Season of Opulence.

Also Evan has handily reminded me to play Sunless Skies, especially ahead of Top 100 discussions. I might wire my PC up to the TV this weekend and play this cool interactive book about space boats.

And that's a wrap. Thanks as ever for reading and have a great weekend. May your drops be exotic and K/D ratios ever favourable.

To stay up-to-date on PC Gamer's news and features, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook, subscribe to our newsletter, or just refresh the homepage waiting for whatever happens next.