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April Fool's Day is back again, offering a slate of jokes, gags, knee-slappers, and occasional bouts of confusion as those of us who have to wrangle this stuff are forced to expend way too much mental energy debating whether an announcement is real, or just not very funny. It's rough out there, folks.
Each year on this day we round up the best (of whatever lands in our inbox), and this year is no different. What is different in 2026, possibly, is the vibe: April Fool's Day is always a fairly big deal in this business, as companies large and small rush to promote themselves and their products with carefully crafted lighthearted fun™. But this year feels quieter and more reserved, and I can't help thinking that the absolute state of it all is responsible.
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A had a split-second of panic when I saw a new Witcher 3 trailer drop—still waiting for that surprise new content—before remembering what day it is. Sure enough, "What if the horse... was the controller?" isn't a serious concept, although honestly I bet CD Projekt would make serious bank on it if it was. (Bonus points for the "Roach on a roof" callback.)
Crusader Kings Super Sampling
Paradox brings the power of AI to Crusader Kings 3 with CKSS, delivering previously unseen levels of visual fidelity to its deep, intricate strategy simulations.
An AI companion for your AI companion, so you can ignore your AI companion without feeling bad about it
At first blush it sounds like Razer is dunking on the whole "AI companion" thing, which sounds like an April Fool's gag in its own right, and by extension the broader AI biz itself, the primary driver of the RAMpocalypse and various other indignities and horrors being visited upon PC gaming and humanity at large. But no, it's actually selling them. What a world.
PalWorld Dating Simulator
This one is a bit unusual because it's not an April Fool's joke. It began as one in 2024, but a year later, presumably facing tremendous sicko pressure, PocketPair decided to actually make the thing—it's got a Steam page and everything. Development continues, although there's still no release date.
World of Warcraft is getting Mythic+++ dungeons, Hardcore Housing, and dwarves with tails
Blizzard brings back its traditional big patch notes for World of Warcraft with a long list of not-really-upcoming changes, some of which don't sound like bad ideas. Dwarves can now have tails if they want to? I bet that'd be a huge hit.
The Owlbrick
RPG studio Owlcat introduces the Owlbrick, the first game console designed to specifically play CRPGs. Controllers, keyboard, and mouse are supported, and it runs up to 60 fps at 8K resolution, mostly. Set to launch in 2026, "depending on the global components market situation or other factors." This all sounds so oddly familiar...
Peak replaces "help" with "kick"
Because helping comrades is for the weak.
🟦LANDFALL DAY🟦KICK replaces HELP in Peak 🏔️Because today is not the day for friends. pic.twitter.com/io1cpJNGmtApril 1, 2026
Satisfactory finally gets the man it needs
The in-game avatar in Satisfactory is a woman, and that's just not fair. Men deserve representation too! And now we're finally getting what we deserve: Jason, the man that Satisfactory has lacked for so long. Boys, this one's for you. I hope you're satisfied.
Sega modernizes its logo
We’re excited to announce that we’re making our SEGA logo 3% more blue. We hope you enjoy this upgrade. Please take a moment to familiarise yourself with the new look.
— @sega-west.bsky.social (@sega-west.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-04-01T19:38:10.790Z
Long overdue, if you ask me.
The smallest Call of Duty map in history
Full credit to Treyarch: After tweeting an easy throwaway joke about a Black Ops 7 map contained in a single room, the studio went ahead and actually made the thing. And despite being a longtime hater of small maps, PC Gamer's duty caller Morgan Park found himself charmed by it.
"The best and really only strategy is to start firing as soon as you spawn, aim for corners where other players appear, and hope to rack up a five-kill streak before someone does the same to you," Morgan wrote. "One could argue this is Call of Duty distilled to its purest form: a performative battle where nobody actually cares about the outcome, because all that matters is points."
He also pointed out that this one is good for grinders: He got 57 kills and levelled up twice in a single five-minute match.
Bubsy feet pics
I saved the best for last, and I'm not kidding: It's Bubsy feet pics, available exclusively through his OnlyPaws account. You don't even have to subscribe—the feet pics are free, and yes, they are also real, sorry—but you can, while you're there, donate to The Wildcat Sanctuary, a non-profit rescue "for exploited, aging, and illegally-owned wild cats."
The April Fool's gags are still rolling, so we'll be adding more over the course of they day as we run across them. If you see anyone good ones, let us know in the comments!
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