Thursday, October 22, 2026 · morning briefing
Five things worth opening a tab for: a confirmed studio closure, a new Nintendo resort, a handmade movie, an actual alt-tab fix, and some useful boundaries for the election feed.
bioware is closing, not merely having another “next chapter”
BioWare’s October 21 statement confirms that the studio is closing and development of the next Mass Effect project is ending. EA’s own announcement says it is closing the studio and Edmonton workspace after deciding not to continue that project.
That distinction matters: this is not a delayed trailer or a rumor about the next game. It is the end of the development effort. The people who made those worlds are the story here, not just the empty slot on a release calendar. A familiar logo can survive on a catalog page; a team cannot be replaced by leaving the logo there.
nintendo has booked the thumb-wrestling resort
Nintendo Switch Sports Resort launches today for Switch 2 only. Nintendo lists twelve motion-control sports, including skateboarding and, yes, thumb wrestling. Up to four people can play locally on one system. The single-player Island Crown mode includes challenges against Mii opponents such as Matt, who apparently continues to have no other appointments.
The useful bit before anybody plans a living-room tournament: this is not a release for the original Switch. Also, Nintendo’s launch update is required for internet features. Let the console do its paperwork before the guests arrive.
wildwood brings the tiny physical objects to a very large screen
LAIKA’s stop-motion fantasy Wildwood opens in U.S. theaters Friday, October 23, according to distributor Fathom’s announcement. Its rescue mission takes a girl into a forbidden forest to find her baby brother. The studio behind Coraline remains professionally committed to making the woods somebody else’s problem.
This is a theatrical release, not a streaming drop. If the appeal is the craft—the puppets, the constructed environments, the improbable amount of work inside one frame—this is the weekend to check local listings.
steam has repaired one of the exits
Valve’s October 21 stable client update fixes Vulkan games hanging after alt-tab in Desktop Mode. Small patch note, very understandable benefit: leaving a game briefly should not become a permanent decision.
Keep that separate from SteamOS 3.9.4 Beta, also posted yesterday. That operating-system update is still in the Beta and Preview channels, and its notes say hibernation is temporarily disabled on Steam Deck because of outstanding driver bugs. A beta announcement is not an instruction to volunteer your evening as a test environment.
the election feed does not need your help spreading nonsense
Bluesky’s new midterm-election guidance draws a useful distinction: political criticism and satire remain welcome; false voting instructions, impersonation and threats do not. The platform says it will label unverified factual claims and premature victory claims, with users able to control how those labels appear.
The practical takeaway is less glamorous than winning a quote-post argument: report harmful material rather than distributing it to a fresh audience, and check voting details with the relevant election office before sharing. A screenshot with an urgent caption is still just a screenshot with an urgent caption.
Sources checked October 22. Featured artwork: Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, © Nintendo, via its official product page.
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