It's been a week since the romance game Love And Deepspace studio Infold announced it was canceling the addition of one of its new love interests - a werewolf named Valko - but fans of the game are continuing to call for his release. One of the people fighting the good fight is Kurina, who created a real-world tribute to Valko at Anime Expo, which quickly grew with notes and gifts from Love and Deepspace players.

Organizer Kurina told IGN that it all began when she felt devastated by the announcement and then saw on X that Twitter users in China were making trips to Infold's HQ to take the Valko promotional poster gifts of chocolate and flowers.

"Seeing that really moved me. Then I remembered that at Anime Expo 2025 someone had made a Jinu shrine, and I thought, 'Wait... we need to do one for Valko.' From that moment, I dropped everything I had planned. I went to the store, bought supplies, and started building the tribute. I told my friends I was 100% serious about doing this. I also made a video beforehand because I wanted people to have time to bring something if they wanted to."

She says she knew word was spreading when people who had never even played Love and Deepspace were dropping by to ask questions.

"Every time I walked by, someone was there reading the notes, leaving chocolate or drawings, or simply standing there quietly. It slowly became a place where people gathered to talk about Love and Deepspace," she explained.

"It became the place where people shared their stories, talked about where they were when they heard the Valko news, and connected with others who understood exactly how they felt. That was when I realized it had become something much bigger than I ever imagined."

The tribute isn't the only way fans are showing their support for Valko. A petition for his reinstatement has reached 29,364 signatures at the time of writing, and a star has been named after the character. Instagram user Lunarmizuki asked other players to contribute to a wolf charity in China in Valko's name, raising $1243 so far. In Malaysia and New York fans of the game have hired slots on the LED billboards to share Valko footage, and more are being planned around the world. Others are supporting by creating fan art, posting Valko support across social media, boycotting or refusing to spend money in the game, and even playing Valko's official track, Tameless Territory, on repeat on streaming services like Spotify to push it up the charts. In Artist's Alley at Anime Expo, many creators quickly sold out of Valko-related merch.

"For me, Valko represented something new. He was going to be the first new love interest introduced for many of us. We were excited to learn about him, experience his story, create fan art, and welcome him into the community. We also know how much work goes into creating these characters. Infold's GDC presentation this year showed just how much detail and care they put into every love interest," she said.

"That's why this hit so hard. It wasn't just about losing a character. It felt like losing something we had all been looking forward to together."

Kurina also explained that for her, Love and Deepspace marked a time when she decided to focus on content creation as career and reminded her of why she loved anime, gaming and creating.

"It gave me the confidence to stop hiding the things I love and start building something around them. It wasn't just entertainment. It became the catalyst for a completely new chapter in my life."

At the end of Anime Expo Kurina gave contributors the chance to come and take back their items before they left the convention and has taken everything else with her to create a record of the tribute.

"One thing I've noticed about this fandom is how much it inspires people to create. Whether it's fan art, oshikatsu [a Japanese fandom subculture], scrapbooking, journaling, cosplay, or for me, 3D modeling and printing, everyone expresses their love for the game in their own creative way," she said.

"I didn't want the tribute to simply end when Anime Expo was over. Every note, drawing, and message came from someone who wanted to share what Valko and this community meant to them. Right now, some members of the community and I are hoping to preserve as many of those notes as possible, whether that's through a scrapbook or another keepsake. I want people to know that what they left at the tribute mattered and that their messages won't be forgotten."

Currently there's no word from Infold on whether or not the campaign will be successful. Fans are hopeful for news on July 9, the day Valko was originally scheduled to debut.

Rachel Weber is the Head of Editorial Development at IGN and an elder millennial. She's been a professional nerd since 2006 when she got her start on Official PlayStation Magazine in the UK, and has since worked for GamesIndustry.Biz, Rolling Stone and GamesRadar. She loves horror, horror movies, horror games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and her Love and Deepspace boyfriends.

Grand Theft Auto 6 and a slew of Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 games are dominating the best-seller charts at Amazon in the U.S so far this year.

The top five best-selling games of the year at the retail giant are listed as GTA 6, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, Star Fox (2026), Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.

Not far behind as well are 007 First Light, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, Pokémon Legends Z-A, Pokémon Pokopia, and Sonic X Shadow Generations.

So what's the deal? There's an easy explanation for most of these top sellers at Amazon, especially if you're following day-to-day discounts and deals. It's also worth noting that these are strictly the top video games included in the best-seller list, while Amazon also lumps in anything else video game related to the chart, such as gaming gift cards, controllers, and accessories.

GTA 6 is the least surprising addition to this list. Despite it being a download code-in-a-box, this is still going to be the biggest game of the year, even with the ongoing physical vs digital drama that Rockstar and, subsequently, PlayStation have recently ignited.

Notably, the Amazon chart shows the Xbox version, but before you get ahead of yourself, I'm fairly sure Amazon's charts work off data for both SKUs (Stock Keeping Unit), so this will include orders for Xbox and PS5.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream's inclusion might surprise some, but the civ-sim has seen some crazy sales figures in the first half of the year, leading Circana's US charts in April, and generating over $41 million in combined physical and projected digital sales. Even more interestingly, Living the Dream also contributed to a 44% year-on-year increase in consumer spending on new physical software in April 2026, reaching $96 million.

Star Fox's inclusion is likely a mix of it being a big Switch 2 exclusive, released in the summer, reviewing well, and Amazon bestowing a $10 discount for anyone buying a physical copy in the run up to release. This purely price matches the new digital to physical price differential that Nintendo has implemented, but Amazon deciding to directly take this on is seemingly prooving quite fruitful for the retail giant so far.

Finally, both Mario + Rabbids, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's inclusions are seemingly the product of recent sale events such as Amazon Prime Day than ran from June 23-26 this year. Mario + Rabbids fell as low as $9.99, and became one of the best selling games of the shopping event.

Metroid Prime 4, on the other hand, is actually still discounted, in fact, and down to $44.99 at Amazon at the time of writing. Its Nintendo Switch version was also discounted during Prime Day, down to $29.99, and is more than likely contributing to the high sale numbers as well.

Over half way through the year, and it does still seem like Nintendo is dominating the Amazon charts for video games. One of the biggest debates surrounding the Switch 2 has been whether the console has a strong enough library of games to warrant the upgrade. Now, over a year into the console’s life cycle, the four out of five of the best selling games on Amazon are all Nintendo exclusives.

We don't have the full sales data from Amazon's "Best Seller" chart, and doesn't take into account other U.S retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and GameStop, alongside global digital storefronts.

But, it does paint a somewhat vague, but undeniably interesting picture as to what consumers are gravitating towards when it comes to buying games as, for the most part, physical purchases from places like Amazon, one of the world's biggest online retailers.

As far as the console ongoing success, it's also hardly surprising. Nintendo Switch 2 also recently ended its first 12 months on sale as the second fastest-selling hardware in U.S. history. Fresh data from Circana revealed that the Switch 2 has a 5.9 million U.S. install base after a year, with only the Game Boy Advance’s 6.5 million units over its first year in the market exceeding it.

Nintendo has said Switch 2 is its fastest-selling hardware ever globally, despite some sales struggles at the back end of 2025 in western markets. Nintendo has also said it will increase the Switch 2's price by $50, raising the console to $499.99 on September 1 due to ongoing market conditions.

Yet, the gaming giant has recently had an incredibly popular "Choose Your Game" bundle up on retailers like Amazon for $499, in which buyers can decide between Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Pokémon Pokopia as a free digital download included with their purchase. That's a $20-$30 saving right now, depending on what game you choose, but up to $80 saved once the console price increase is implemented later this year.

Ultimately, Amazon's charts offer a fascinating snapshot of where consumer interest sits midway through 2026. Nintendo continues to dominate retail shelves, GTA 6 is already proving unstoppable months before launch, despite controversies, and aggressive discounts continue to remain as one of the biggest drivers of game sales, especially for those who care about physical copies, or the increasingly premium cost of gaming.

Whether that continues over the next couple of years remains to be seen. For now, though, one thing is clear: when players have the choice between physical and digital, plenty are still choosing the version that gives them the best deal, and right now, that's often the one sitting in retailer warehouses.

Robert Anderson is IGN's Senior Commerce Editor and resident deals expert on games, collectibles, trading card games, and more. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Bluesky.

Palworld’s hotly anticipated 1.0 update launches this week, on July 10, and now developer Pocketpair has narrowed the release timing down, while issuing existing players an official recommendation on whether they should wipe their data for it.

First up, Palworld 1.0. Pocketpair said it can’t give an exact release time, but it’s planning to launch the updated version of the game around midday on July 10, Japan time. Or, more specifically, 12.30pm Japan time.

“Estimate time, this is NOT 100% the exact launch time,” John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager at Pocketpair, clarified in a Discord post.

Assuming around 12.30pm Japan time, then, that’s 8.30pm PT on July 9, 11.30pm ET on July 9, and 4.30am UK time July 10.

Elsewhere, Bucky told existing Palworld players do not need to wipe their data for 1.0, “but you should.”

“Players can continue their existing saves if they wish, as we want to respect the time and effort you have put in,” Bucky continued in another Discord post. “However, due to the large number of changes to the game, including overhauls to mechanics and new content, we believe that starting a new character will give you the best experience of Palworld!

“We will leave that choice up to you, Pal Tamers!”

It’s been a rollercoaster Early Access ride for Palworld since it arrived on Steam priced $30 and launched straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC in early 2024, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld's launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated. Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP. It later launched the game on PS5.

After Palworld’s huge launch, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of "ripping off" Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went down the patent route. In the initial lawsuit, the two companies called for 5 million yen (approx $30,000) each plus late payment damages, as well as an injunction against Palworld that would block its release. A judgement is expected later this year.

As for Palworld 1.0, Bucky has teased 27 pages of changes and additions for the patch notes. This is going to be a big one.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.