The best and worst (July 25-31): Weekly video game news including Stray, SD Gundam Battle Alliance, and MultiVersus

In video game news, this was certainly an interesting week. Sportskeeda’s Jason Parker is here to cover the highs and lows of the previous week, from games seeing amazing user reviews to an entire nation losing access to play on Steam and Epic Games.

It’s not all the news to come out this week, but it's just a sampling of some important topics to think about. One story that dropped this week is also worth considering is the leak of the PS Plus titles, including Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

It was also a good week for video game releases, with two major titles hitting the Nintendo Switch.

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What interesting video game news stories broke this week?

1) Stray is the highest user-rated Steam game of 2022 thus far

Stray has taken the internet by storm despite being a simple and adorable video game. The game puts players in the paws of an adorable calico cat and has received critical praise. In addition to critical reception, including Sportskeeda’s review, fans around the world rate it highly.

The video game became so popular that it ousted God of War (2018)’s spot on Steam as the most popular game on the platform. Stray has an 8.61 rating based on 42,655 votes. God of War (2018) has an 8.56, with 53,101 votes. The game also enjoys a rank of 49 in the all-time list provided by Steam250, so the game about an adorable cat is doing quite well for itself.

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2) SD Gundam Battle Alliance previewed, demo available now

In other video game news, the SD Gundam Battle Alliance was recently put into the hands of gaming journalists, including Sportskeeda’s Jason Parker. The upcoming game from Bandai Namco is a hack 'n' slash where players try to set timelines from across the Gundam franchise right again, after strange temporal distortions.

It will feature a wide assortment of mobile suits to play with and will also have an online co-op but no couch co-op at this time.

The game demo is now available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox X|S consoles, with the Nintendo Switch demo coming soon. Players will get to try out a few stages set in this “G: Universe” to see what the future holds for them.

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3) PS Plus August titles feature some serious hits

The leak turned out to be accurate, but earlier this week, the video game titles that will be a part of PS Plus Essential for August were alluded to. Little Nightmares, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, and perhaps the biggest of all, Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Thankfully, PlayStation 4 users can download all three of them, so no matter which of the three games they fancy, all will be available. It’s almost time for the previous games to be pulled, though, so it’s not too late to pick those up as well.

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What video game news let down or disappointed fans?

1) MultiVersus developer confirms Bugs Bunny nerfs are coming

Few things frustrate gamers more than the nerfs to their favorite character. Many of the replies on social media were that Bugs Bunny is already not a very good character in MultiVersus.

The developer confirmed that the character will still be fun, but post-EVO, Bugs Bunny is in line to be nerfed or weakened. The response from social media was mixed, though many were frustrated by the reveal.

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2) Epic Store, Steam, and PayPal are all banned in Indonesia

Some devastating news came out of Indonesia this week, courtesy of Daniel “ZhugeEX” Ahmad on Twitter. He revealed that companies who failed to register with Kominfo are now banned in Indonesia.

This included Steam, Epic Games, and PayPal. Kominfo is the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology in Indonesia, making this an important group to register with.

While the blocks by the Indonesian government are not permanent, and Kominfo has reached out to the companies to get things straightened out, fans are furious and upset nonetheless. Some shared ways to get around the ban, while others thought it was a way to further control the gaming sphere.

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Video games that launched in the past week

While only a few games were launched this week, there is at least one potential Game of the Year candidate among them. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 was released, as did Digimon Survive, both of which fans have been waiting for.

Video game releases this week:

• Bear and Breakfast: July 28
• Sweet Transit: July 28
• Digimon Survive: July 29
• Xenoblade Chronicles: July 29

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This was just a small sampling of the gaming news this week. Other stories included sad news like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being delayed indefinitely, among others. Make sure to stay tuned to Sportskeeda for the latest breaking video game news.