We have prepared a digest of the main news for September 15, 2026, for Players readers.
Valve launches Steam Frame VR headset
Valve has revealed pricing for its new Steam Frame VR headset, which runs on SteamOS and features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 16GB of RAM.
Chinese Esports Player OTGxhh Becomes the Hearthstone World Championship 2026 Champion
The main Hearthstone tournament of the year, the World Championship 2026, has concluded at the BlizzCon 2026 festival. Chinese player OTGxhh emerged as the champion. In the decisive grand final, he faced his compatriot and defending world champion XiaoT, confidently defeating him with a score of 3:1. It is worth noting that Ukrainian players Incurro and demoshadow, as well as Chinese player Jiuqianyu, were unable to secure visas for the tournament, forcing the organizers to make player substitutions.
Need for Speed Without Streets: How Shift Changed the Legendary Series
On September 15, 2009, Electronic Arts released Need for Speed: Shift — the thirteenth entry in the legendary racing series. At that point, the franchise was already going through a period of active experimentation, but Shift became perhaps one of the most radical ones. Instead of night streets, tuning, police chases, and story-driven crime plots, players were offered professional tracks, licensed cars, and a significantly greater emphasis on realism. For Need for Speed, this was a risky move, as the series was primarily associated with arcade racing; however, it was precisely this experiment that made Shift one of the most unusual entries in the franchise.
Xbox Game Pass May Lose Day 1 Releases and Cloud Gaming
Microsoft is reportedly preparing major changes to Xbox Game Pass in 2027, including the removal of day one releases from the Ultimate subscription.
ARC Raiders Could Scrap Expeditions Entirely
Embark Studios is considering removing the Expeditions system from ARC Raiders altogether. The developers are currently looking for a new and improved approach that could replace the existing mechanic.
