Nobody watched the TGA show that probably announced one of the biggest games of 2026

Whether you see The Game Awards as a hollow corporate show or an exciting celebration of this year in gaming, you likely missed a bunch of new game announcements that happened during the event. And no, I don’t mean nodding off during Highguard’s reveal.

The Day of the Devs 2025 indie showcase is where all these announcements happened. The showcase streamed online two days before TGA, drawing about 65,000 viewers across the Day of the Devs and TGA channels at the time of writing. That means only three in 1,000 TGA viewers tuned in to watch it.

Day of the Devs offers new and promising indie game developers a free platform to display their games, and the partnership with TGA and Summer Games Fest ensures this happens in front of huge audiences. While the number of people who watched the showcase means most either didn’t hear about Day of the Devs or straight out ignored it, it should’ve been one of the most anticipated moments of the event, as the games featured throughout its 11-year history prove.

Massive indie hits had a spotlight at Day of the Devs

Remember when the Hollow Knight developers were totally anonymous, and nobody knew if their game had any future? Well, I don’t, but the Day of the Devs organizers do, because they showcased Hollow Knight in 2014, three years before the game launched, and 11 years before Silksong was nominated game of the year at TGA.

Other games that Day of the Devs has helped gain visibility and break into the mainstream are Cuphead, Blue Prince, and Cocoon, which were all The Game Awards nominees when they launched. Some memorable gems that didn’t become so popular but are still beloved by indie game fans like myself were also part of the showcase, like Spiritfarer, Untitled Goose Game, and the brutal Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy.

Which Day of the Devs games may dominate 2026

I’m convinced the latest Day of the Devs is hiding the next big indie hit: A game we’ll remember for years to come and that everyone will be praising in 12 months. My crystal ball is broken, so I can’t tell you exactly which game it is, but I have some guesses.

Stretchmancer has the potential to win awards in design and innovation. It kind of gives me Portal vibes, so I also believe it can break into the mainstream if its execution is great. It may be too cartoony and silly for some hardcore—and boring—gamers to take it seriously, but I’m confident about its future. It also seems like the perfect Nintendo Switch 2 game to use the new Joy-Con mouse controls.

Awaysis is on my list to become not a hit with hundreds of thousands of concurrent players, but to be a kind of evergreen game that will come up whenever someone asks what’s a fun game to play with friends on the couch. Like a new Overcooked.

The Dungeon Experience is an extremely weird game in the best sense of the word. You’re guided by a talking crab through a surreal but colorful and funny world full of dungeons. I bet this comedy game will be a hit among Twitch streamers for a few days or weeks. It might just lose in the long run to the co-op physics-based Frog Sqwad.

All I know is that I’m wishlisting it all on Steam, and I hope I have enough time to play them all and say I was a fan before it was cool.

The post Nobody watched the TGA show that probably announced one of the biggest games of 2026 appeared first on Destructoid.

You better watch out, you better not die (in Call of Duty), you better not pout, I’m telling you why: Black Ops 7’s Naughty and Nice event is here.

The latest seasonal holiday event for BO7 is bringing the gifts, or maybe the lumps of coal, depending on how bad you’ve been in CoD this year. But the Naughty & Nice event in BO7 is mostly nice, as it brings along a new free weapon and animated camo for gamers to unlock along the way.

Here’s the full list of challenges and rewards you can get by playing Naughty & Nice.

Black Ops 7 Naughty & Nice event
- Naughty challenges and rewards
- Nice challenges and rewards

Black Ops 7 Naughty & Nice event

There are 10 total challenges to complete in Naughty and Nice, and the two main rewards are the Sokol 545 LMG and Snowfall animated camo. Five challenges are Naughty (sacks of coal) while five are Nice (holiday gifts), and completing the associated challenge allows you to open up whatever is inside (a mystery, for now).

Naughty challenges are for the naughtiest CoD players who only chase down kills and don’t care about wins or objectives, while Nice challenges are for those of you who play for the team and not just the individual accolades. But hey, both are needed and necessary!

All 10 challenges can be completed in either BO7 multiplayer, Zombies, Endgame, or Warzone. Just finishing one of the tasks listed below will unlock the reward for it, including everything from emblems, weapon charms, and a blueprint like the Sweet Tooth Peacekeeper Mk1 blueprint and more.

Several of the challenges have to do with playing limited time modes like Snowfight in multiplayer or Holiday Rush in Warzone, so make sure to be in the holiday spirit before logging on.

Naughty challenges and rewards

Completing all five Naughty challenges unlocks the Sokol 545 LMG.

Naughty Challenge 1
- Multiplayer: Get 200 eliminations
- Zombies: Eliminate 500 zombies in holiday modes
- Endgame: Get 500 eliminations
- Warzone: Get 20 eliminations in Holiday Rush
Naughty Challenge 2
- Multiplayer: Get 10 snowball kills in Snowfight
- Zombies: Eliminate 500 zombies in holiday modes
- Endgame: Use snowballs or Cryo-Freeze to freeze 25 zombies in holiday modes
- Warzone: Get 3 kills with lethals in Holiday Rush
Naughty Challenge 3
- Multiplayer: Get 10 kills with scorestreaks acquired from Care Packages
- Zombies: Get 50 zombie kills using scorestreaks from present boxes in holiday modes
- Endgame: Get 50 kills with scorestreaks
- Warzone: Get 10 kills with killstreaks in Holiday Rush
Naughty Challenge 4
- Multiplayer: Get 25 eliminations using weapons stolen from other players
- Zombies: Steal Loose Change Essence by going prone in front of a Perk machine 5 times
- Endgame: Use vehicles to run over and kill 25 enemies
- Warzone: Get 2 eliminations without dying 5 times in Holiday Rush
Naughty Challenge 5
- Multiplayer: Get 20 kills with fire damage
- Zombies: Kill 50 zombies with fire damage
- Endgame: Perform 5 finishing moves
- Warzone: Get 5 eliminations in a single match 3 times in Holiday Rush

Nice challenges and rewards

Completing all five Nice challenges unlocks the Snowfall animated weapon camo.

Nice Challenge 1
- Multiplayer: Earn 40,000 score in Sleighjacked
- Zombies: Earn 100,000 Essence in holiday modes
- Endgame: Earn 25,000 Power
- Warzone: Pick up 4 regular presents in Holiday Rush
Nice Challenge 2
- Multiplayer: Earn 25,000 Holiday Cheer score in Holiday Havoc
- Zombies: Contribute to 25 Door Buys in holiday modes
- Endgame: Complete 7 assignments
- Warzone: Purchase a golden present in Holiday Rush
Nice Challenge 3
- Multiplayer: Win a match in Sleighjacked and appear in the Winner’s Circle
- Zombies: Open 10 present boxes in Holiday Modes
- Endgame: Clear 5 Guild Strongholds
- Warzone: Purchase 5 Advanced UAV killstreaks from buy stations in Holiday Rush
Nice Challenge 4
- Multiplayer: Get 25 objective kills in objective modes
- Zombies: Drop a Mystery Box item for a teammate by meleeing it
- Endgame: Use the Supply Link ability to resupply 15 armor plates for your squad
- Warzone: Deploy 10 utility boxes in holiday modes
Nice Challenge 5
- Multiplayer: Call in 10 UAV, Counter UAV, Care Package, or HARP scorestreaks
- Zombies: Revive or heal yourself or a teammate 5 times
- Endgame: Use the Crash Cart ability to revive yourself or a teammate 5 times
- Warzone: Revive or buy back 5 squadmates