The November gaming update: A year for shooters, hybrid hardware, and major shifts

Battlefield 6 has become EA’s biggest launch ever, selling over 7 million copies and topping global charts. Steam has revived its hardware line with a new console and VR headset, while Nvidia shifts focus heavily toward AI, raising questions among gamers

The last week of November should be in full swing by the time you read this article, and as we make our way towards the last month of the year, we will spend a lot of time wondering where the time has flown. However, before we immerse ourselves in the mood for existential questions like the flow of time and the purpose of life on earth and others of similar pedigree, there is room for one more month-end update from the industry.

Battlefield 6’s brilliant launch around the same time EA was negotiating its blockbuster sale to a consortium led by the Saudi government and private equity firms Silver Lake and Affinity partners, its subsidiary Dice was launching the latest entry in the Battlefield franchise.

Battlefield 6 is Xbox and PC’s largest selling game this year and the 2nd largest selling title on PlayStation. It is also the largest-selling game in the franchise with over 7 million copies sold in its first three days, eclipsing the 5 million copies sold by Battlefield 1 in its launch week.

The game’s popularity has also seen it register over 750,000 concurrent players on Steam – the new metric for a game’s success.

With EA launching DedSec, the free battle royale dedicated mode for Battlefield 6 this month, things are expected to heat up in the shooter genre. The lukewarm reception to Call of Duty’s Black Ops7 and the surprising success of Arc Raiders makes this great for fans.

Steam’s new hardware, no updated Steam Deck

On November 12, Steam unveiled its new hardware by reviving the “Steam Machine” line of gaming devices, showcasing a new controller, and a VR capable headset, the “Steam Frame.”

All the devices seem to have been created around gamers’ need for customisability.

For example, the Steam Machine, launching in the first quarter of 2026, is a “roughly 6-inch cube” that runs on Steam OS and comes with 16 GB of RAM and two storage configurations: 512 GB and 2 TB. Designed with a 6-core AMD processor, Steam believes the cool and quiet device will support 4K gaming at 60 frames per second through AMD’s FSR technology.

The VR-capable headset, Steam Frame, is designed to offer high-quality streaming by relying on a plug-and-play wireless adapter with dual radios for a stable connection. Valve seem to have made major improvements in the streaming experience by perfecting “foveated streaming,” a novel feature that tracks player’s eyes and offers detail only in the scope of the visible area.

Nvidia’s AI Pivot

To most of us, Nvidia’s claim of enabling AI infrastructure has been a long time coming, considering the large financial commitments made by the firm to the technology since 2022. However, their willingness to move away from being a gaming firm is surprising considering how deeply entrenched they are when it comes to the industry.

Be it the 50 series Blackwell GPUs, DLSS tech, or the custom chip for the Nintendo Switch 2, there is a lot that Nvidia contributes to gaming and draws from the culture.

At a time when their best offerings are increasingly unaffordable for the average gamer, CEO Jensen Huang’s claim that the chipmaker has “entered the virtuous cycle of AI” seems like abandoning long-term consumers in the search for new markets.

How this shift will fare is difficult to estimate, considering the uncertainty surrounding AI sector, but this new branding is the latest sign that Nvidia is all in on AI hardware.