In this week’s newsletter: GTA 6, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Monster Hunter Wilds will bring familiarity – and security – at a time of studio closures, losses and redundancies

During my three-decade career as a games journalist I have written a lot of “most anticipated games of the year” articles, and they nearly always have a familiar theme: “Well, the lineup is dominated by sequels (yawn), but at least there are one or two original titles to look forward to!” From today’s vantage point that ennui over the predictability of the games industry looks incredibly quaint. We didn’t know how good we had it.

The past five years have seen seismic shifts in the mainstream industry, mostly connected to the irresistible rise of “live service” games such as Fortnite, GTA Online and Genshin Impact, which survive over multiple years through voracious subscription models. The biggest are insanely profitable: since its launch in 2017, Fortnite is estimated to have earned $20bn (£15.7bn), maintaining 500 million player accounts into its sixth year. GTA Online still makes an estimated $500m a year (£399m), more than a decade after its initial release.