The Evolution of Board Games

A new study looks at how board games have changed over the past century. Find out the details. Also, Xbox announced multiple new Fallout games. All this and more of the latest gaming news. Let’s go. 

Xbox Fallout

After announcing massive layoffs last week, Microsoft went into damage control mode by providing updates on one of its more popular franchises, Fallout. 

Microsoft-owned studio Bethesda posted a developer blog, saying “Fallout is one of our biggest priorities today. Fallout 5 remains our long-range destination, and we have multiple Fallout projects in active development right now.”

Bethesda head Todd Howard says Fallout 5 will arrive sometime after the much-anticipated Elder Scrolls 6. No dates were given for either, but both are in development. Bethesda also officially confirmed that remakes of Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas were in production. The Fallout 3 remake was first reported in a Microsoft leak nearly two years ago. Finally Obsidian, the maker of Fallout New Vegas, is also working on a new Fallout game. The studio was reportedly working on Avowed 2 before the announcement. 

Some additional fallout ramifications from the Xbox cuts:

• Multiple members of ZeniMax’s leadership were among those laid off last week. 
• A laid off developer from the Elder Scrolls Online team says players won’t get new content at “anything approaching” the previous rate.
• A new report presents a bleak picture for those working at Xbox studios leading up to the layoffs, with one employee saying “many of us did not know what was happening for weeks.”
• Some Xbox studio leads reportedly "detest" Game Pass and its impact on perception of value.

How have Board Games Changed Over the Past Century?

A new report analyzes how board games have changed over nearly a 100-year span.

The research, entitled From Monopoly to Ark Nova: An Empirical and Cultural History of Modern Board Game Design (1930-2025) looks at how board games have evolved over the past century. The researchers pulled data on 104,640 titles from the BoardGameGeek database and analyzed the changes. Azael Herrero, one of the authors of the study posted some of their findings on BoardGameGeek, which included some interesting facts:

• The number of board games released each decade has risen, with the growth nearly doubling in the 2000s and 2010s.
• Cooperative games have also grown over the past two decades as one of the top mechanics. 
• The playing time of board games has increased from 30 minutes to 45. 
• Solo games or games with single-player variants have become the third most prevalent component in games released since 2020.
• One facet of board games that has remained the same over the decades is the median maximum player count, with Herrero saying “it remains four players in every historical period. Despite enormous changes in production, mechanisms, themes, and audiences, four players continue to represent a central configuration in board game design.”

You can read more of the findings at the links above, or check out the graphics below. On a related note, last week we launched a new segment called Ready One Player where we explore single player board games or game variants. Our first article looked at Hercules and the 12 Labors. Check it out and become a Supporter to receive future Ready One Player articles in your inbox. 

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🤖 AI has made it significantly easier for unscrupulous companies to clone video games.

💰 Grand Theft Auto 6 preorders generated $260 million globally in their first week, and the game is on track to sell 51 million copies at launch. 

🎲 Pathfinder and Starfinder publisher Paizo ended its licensing partnership with Archive Of Nethys. 

⚽ EA Sports FC correctly predicted the FIFA World Cup winner for the fifth time in a row. 

📺 A God Of War television show being produced by Amazon will recast the main character after the actor was injured on the set. 

🏅 Doom is one of the 25 “most influential works of American culture,” according to the Washington Post. 

🤖 Fortnite is allowing creators to add AI voices to non-player characters within the game. 

⚽ Also in Fortnite, former soccer player David Beckham and The Odyssey skins are now available for purchase. 

📱 The free-to-play mobile game Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem is shutting down October 15, 2026. 

🏒 San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini is the EA Sports NHL 27 cover athlete, the youngest player ever to be featured. 

🎭 The writer of LA Noire says actor Jon Hamm was originally considered to play the role of Cole Phelps.

⛳ Netflix launched a minigolf game with Stranger Things, Squid Game and Bridgerton-themed levels. 

👎🏾 After the game sold over 3 million copies, developers who worked on Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced were laid off. 

📱 The cinematic intro for a cancelled Kingdom Hearts mobile game was leaked online. 

👵🏽 PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of Dying Light: The Beast were cancelled because the last generation systems lacked the power to play it. 

👨🏻‍💼 Gamestop now owns nearly 10% of eBay as they attempt a hostile takeover. 

🎞️ A Call of Duty movie is in production, and will take place in the Modern Warfare universe. 

🕹️ The PlayStation 5 fight stick is delayed indefinitely after facing manufacturing issues.

New Releases this week:

Check out our article on 10 new games to play in July. 

7/21: Scarlet Deer Inn (PC)
7/22: Tears of Metal (PC)
7/23: Splatoon Raiders (Switch)
7/23: Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

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