COGconnected

Stadium owners once treated esports like a noisy side room at a trade show. Now the room has naming rights, media deals, academy coaches, and teenagers who know every roster move before breakfast. The money is not random. Clubs, leagues, carmakers, and broadcasters see a format that sells live attention, the same scarce product that keeps football and basketball rich.

Starsand Island Review Having logged dozens of hours into Starsand Island during its Early Access run, I went into the full 1.0 release with a clear sense of what worked. Plus a list of rough edges I hoped Seed Sparkle Lab would smooth out. Now, with the full release expanding onto new platforms like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2 (complete with mouse control support for DIY building), the island is livelier and more feature-packed than ever.

Statista’s market forecast put revenue in Australia’s mobile games market on course to reach US$1.72 billion in 2025. That number tells you something about where play happens now, and it’s rarely at a desk. It’s on a phone, held in one hand, in the ten or fifteen minutes you have spare.

Get Ready to Rob Houses in GRAMPAGE: LIFE AT 67 StickyStoneStudio has announced GRAMPAGE: LIFE AT 67, a 1-4 player coopetition heist comedy coming to PC via Steam. The game puts players in the shoes of broke retirees who decide their pensions are not enough to support the retirement they want, leading them to an unusual solution: robbing houses.

Solve the Cases in Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game Nintendo Switch players will finally get to solve some charming cases as Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is heading to the console on September 3, 2026. Amplified Games Ltd and Posh Cat Studio have confirmed that the game will be available for £9.99 / $9.99 / €9.99, with players able to wishlist it ahead of launch. Little Problems is the debut game from Posh Cat Studio, a small female-led developer based in Indonesia.

Nearly 17 million Australians visited a games website or app in June 2025, according to Ipsos iris data, and the average session ran to roughly 20 minutes a day. That tells you something simple about how we play now. We fit gaming into the gaps: the train ride, the queue, the quiet half hour after dinner. It’s the same instinct that draws players to a quick vegas stars referral when they want a promotion ready and waiting rather than a long search through the fine print. Baccarat has taken note.

Prepare to Step Inside a Medieval Library in Monk Took Book SquarePlay Games has announced that Monk Took Book, its cozy-creepy library management game, will launch on PC via Steam on Thursday, September 3. The game will be available for under $10, and you can wishlist it right now on the platform. Monk Took Book puts players inside a medieval library filled with hundreds of books that need to be organised, stacked and, most importantly, remembered.

Unravel the Secrets in The World Well: Blood of Caro Publisher Beep Japan, Inc., 2P Games, and developer NimParth have officially released The World Well: Blood of Caro worldwide on Steam. To mark the launch, players can also grab the game at a 10% discount until September 1, 2026. The game follows 4, a hardened Caro survivor who has spent her life dealing with violence and discrimination.

Pre-Purchase Kernel Hearts Right Now Kernel Hearts is making a special appearance in Fortnite ahead of its September launch, with protagonist Fernet now available as an exclusive outfit for players who pre-purchase the game through the Epic Games Store. The promotion is part of the Epic Games Store’s program designed to help developers reach a wider audience through Fortnite. You can check out the official reveal trailer below to get a sneak peek of it.

Witness the Final Chapter in Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy Remothered: Red Nun’s Legacy, the third and final chapter in the Remothered survival-horror series, will launch on October 27 for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Stormind Games is bringing the psychological horror experience to players just in time for Halloween. The game follows Susan, whose daughter mysteriously disappears inside an isolated residence near Mount Etna.