Gamers, grab your wallets (and maybe a helmet): Black Friday 2025 hit harder than a FromSoft boss this week, and the deals were so wild they might actually be pricing errors—or, you know, retailers finally caving to our collective whining. But that’s just the tip of the loot pile. Let’s break down the week that was, with all the snark, heart, and hard facts you crave.

## Black Friday Madness: Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox Go Nuclear
If you missed out on Zelda amiibo for $10, you either don’t check VainSoftGames daily (shame!) or you blinked. These collectibles, still compatible with the incoming Switch 2, dropped from $30 to $9.99. That’s a 66% drop and the lowest we’ve *ever* seen—yes, lower than summer sales. Riju, Sidon, Tulin, and Yunobo: get ‘em before someone at Nintendo wakes up and fixes the “error.”

Switch 2 deals were everywhere, and Mario’s still king: Super Mario Odyssey (with Switch 2 upgrade) hit $29.99, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door matched at $29.99, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom went 50% off at $30. Even Switch 2 bundles got in on the action, while Walmart and Target undercut Amazon for once—dare I say, this is the year Nintendo finally learned what a sale is?

PlayStation fans scored, too, with the Ghost of Yotei PS5 Bundle down $100 to $499, Spider-Man 2 for $30, and Death Stranding 2: On The Beach at $49.99. Xbox wasn’t left out: Battlefield 6 and Borderlands 4 went half off, and Star Wars Outlaws dropped to $20 (or $40 for the Switch 2 Gold Edition). Even the infamously stubborn Horizon: Forbidden West hit $19.99. If you’re not buying games this week, you’re just being stubborn.

## Not Just Games: TCGs, Accessories, and Board Games Get In On the Fun
Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG collectors, rejoice: Final Fantasy and Avatar booster boxes got their lowest prices ever, and Pokémon tins dropped to $17 at Walmart (if you had Walmart and set your alarm). Even board gamers got love—Catan fell to under $25, Azul to $21, and a slew of Lord of the Rings board games went on Lightning Deal. If you paid full price for Catan this year, condolences.

## Industry Drama: AI Chaos and Game Sales Woes
Now, onto the spicy stuff: GTA 6 “leaks” blew up on social media this week, with millions falling for AI-generated fakes. One creator finally fessed up, claiming it was an “experiment” about AI’s power to blur reality. Reminder: check your sources, people. Meanwhile, Epic’s Tim Sweeney called for Steam to ditch its AI-generated content disclosures, suggesting it’s as pointless as knowing a dev's shampoo brand (Tim, you wild man!).

On the sales front, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 got bodied in Europe, selling 63% fewer copies than Battlefield 6, which is having its best launch ever. Microsoft’s day-one Game Pass strategy might be cannibalizing sales, or maybe CoD’s just lost its juice. Sega blamed “definitive edition” expectations for slow launches—maybe stop re-releasing the same game three times, guys? Paradox wrote off $37 million after Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 flopped, and Ubisoft axed a second Assassin’s Creed Shadows expansion. Ouch.

## Devs, Deals, and Deaths: What Else Made Headlines?
- Udo Kier, legendary actor and Command & Conquer’s Yuri, passed away at 81. Kojima paid heartfelt tribute.
- Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is officially years away, and don’t expect it at The Game Awards. Patience, padawans.
- Lies of P’s director promised “we will not disappoint you all” with Neowiz’s next game. That’s a tall order, but we’re listening.
- Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill “Lost Chapter” got its first trailer—starring Fortnite’s Peely the Banana. Sometimes this industry is just a fever dream.
- Nintendo is buying Bandai Namco Studio Singapore, further consolidating its dev partners. Metroid Prime 4 remains in development limbo.

## Rapid Fire: The Best of the Rest
- Magic, Lorcana, and TCGPlayer are all doing Black Friday promos—if you didn’t snag a deal, you weren’t trying.
- Destiny 2: Renegades is getting a “Star Wars twist” and promises to be more player-friendly after a rough patch.
- Persona and Metaphor’s director says we’re entering “JRPG 3.0” (that’s not a meme, that’s an actual quote).
- Fortnite’s next chapter teases LEGO Ninjago, and the return of the Cube. Peely’s in Kill Bill. What a timeline.

## The Week’s Big Winners (and Losers)
**Winners:** Gamers with money to spend. Black Friday 2025 finally delivered the deals we were owed. Also, anyone who buys Elden Ring for $15 is living their best life.

**Losers:** Call of Duty (Europe thinks you’re mid), and anyone who fell for an AI GTA 6 leak. Also, RIP season passes for Shadows.

That’s it for this week, folks! Enjoy your loot, don’t fall for AI fakes, and keep those receipts handy. Stay tuned to VainSoftGames for more snark, deals, and no-BS breakdowns every week. Happy gaming, and may your backlog be ever in your favor.