Despite some shortcomings, I have Stellar Blade to thank for reigniting my love of action games. I’m getting older with each passing year, and I need a good action fix every now and then to turn my brain off and enjoy slaying a variety of enemies. Stellar Blade delivers exactly that. If you’re like me, well, you won’t want to miss out on this great deal, with Stellar Blade cheaper than ever on PC.
You play as Eve, who is sent alongside a group of super-soldier siblings down to a post-apocalyptic Earth to defeat the Naytibas. With humanity taking to space for safety, Eve’s goal is to defeat the powerful Alpha Naytibas and their leader, known as the Elder Naytiba, in the hope of saving what remains of humanity. Unsurprisingly, things go wrong fairly quickly.
Stellar Blade manages to capture the same intensity of a hack-and-slash game while blending it with action-RPG elements that help it sit somewhere between the two genres. Narratively, it isn’t the strongest game out there, but its excellent combat helps it stand out as one of PlayStation’s most distinctive action games. And I’m thankful it managed to come to PC, too.
I’m, unsurprisingly, not the only one who likes it. In our Stellar Blade review, Imran Khan gave the game an 8/10, saying, “I came away from Stellar Blade having enjoyed the game quite a bit despite its foibles on the back of its incredibly strong systems.” If you’ve been looking for something to fill that Nier-sized hole in your heart, Stellar Blade may not be perfect, but it’s pretty damn good.
Thankfully, there’s also a sequel coming, with Blood Rain being self-published by the developer this time around. Hopefully, that means we won’t have to wait for a PlayStation timed-exclusivity window to lapse and can instead enjoy it on PC at the same time as everyone else.
You don’t have to go too far into the atmosphere to get a banging deal on Stellar Blade, as I’ve got it right here. For a limited time, you can grab a Steam key for the game for just $36.59 / £30.49 at Fanatical. That’s the perfect time to finally give it a try, and you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy it while waiting for the sequel.
So, if you want to make your Eve-ning a great time, make sure to grab this discount while you can.
Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom. This story was created in collaboration with Fanatical’s deals team.
With Paramount CEO David Ellison overcoming the final hurdle blocking his expansion of the Paramount media empire, the billionaire media executive announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the newly merged entity combining Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be named Skydance.
The announcement comes after the company entered into a consent decree to settle antitrust claims brought by a group of 12 state attorneys general, who had sued in July over concerns that the merger would concentrate too much control over news networks, cable TV and the film industry. With the last legal opposition cleared, the path was open to finalize the massive the $111 billion merger on Sept. 21.
“Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for bold, quality storytelling,” Ellison posted on Friday. “We wanted a name that would give the combined company an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight.”
There was a year-long bidding battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, leaving Ellison as the top bidder after Netflix dropped out. The name Skydance comes from Ellison’s love of aviation and aerobatic “skydancing.” David’s father is Larry Ellison, co-founder and CTO of Oracle, and one of the richest people in the world.
What once was the peak, is now just the beginning.
Paramount and Warner Bros. shaped over a century of culture. By combining them, we aren’t rewriting history — we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine. Together, we are Skydance: a creative-first home for… pic.twitter.com/uInLRY3IrE
A Hollywood empire of studios, news, networks and streamers
As viewers, it’s unclear how streaming content from Warner Bros., HBO and Paramount via apps like HBO Max and Paramount Plus will change. But the merger will undeniably affect employees at the mega media company, now one of the largest in history. Much of the legal opposition concerned their fate, and the consent decree attempted to safeguard employment, film production and distribution and consumer pricing.
In practice, employees usually lose out in corporate consolidation, regardless of protections. Harvard Business Review estimated that up to 30% of workers get laid off in mergers like these, where there’s a significant overlap in the business, though that oft-cited figure is from 2017.
The bigger worry, though, is media monopoly. Critics worry that adding CNN to the company’s portfolio could lead to widespread restructuring and corporate upheaval, similar to recent struggles at the CBS News division. Corporate convergence also risks homogenizing news content by potentially suppressing divergent viewpoints — all for minimal reward, given that CBS’s own ratings are reportedly way down.
“If this trend of consolidation continues, we will be left searching dominant media outlets in vain for news and information that challenges the powerful and stands up for people who are struggling to pay monthly bills, put food on the table and engage in local civic life,” nonprofit watchdog Free Press co-CEO Jessica J. González said in a prepared statement earlier this week.
The Block the Merger coalition also posted a follow-up statement: “Allowing the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to move forward with no meaningful structural remedies will cost jobs, mute creativity, weaken independent journalism, and damage our First Amendment rights. The ripples of this merger will be far-reaching, long-lasting, and impossible to contain.”
The Writers Guild of America East and Writers Guild of America West had filed a separate lawsuit to halt the merger, alleging that it was illegal and would harm writers. Once the state attorneys general backed out of the battle, WGA cited an inability to sustain legal costs on its own and dropped its companion lawsuit.
As part of the consent decree, Paramount agreed to establish an oversight board of journalists to protect the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News. Critics have called the oversight board “toothless,” noting that its members are appointed and paid by the company, that its authority is unclear and unbinding, and that final control rests with Ellison.
We reached out to Skydance for comment and didn’t immediately hear back.
Disclosure: Lori Grunin has stock in Paramount from when CNET was owned by CBS.
Lori Grunin
Senior Editor / Computers and Gaming Hardware
I’ve been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handing out buying advice for more than 25 years.
See full bio
Play Your Way – Sneak, hack, create diversions, lure enemies into traps, discover hidden routes, or fight your way through Aurora 5. Every obstacle has multiple solutions.
A True Immersive Sim – Manipulate interconnected systems, exploit environmental hazards, turn security against your enemies, and solve problems creatively.
Mutamods™ – Unlock powerful mutations that enhance stealth, combat, exploration, and mobility. Beware – every upgrade may come with unexpected side effects.
Explore Aurora 5 – Navigate a massive interconnected space station filled with secrets, shortcuts, alternate paths, and hidden areas.
Death, Cloning & Consequences – Death is not the end. Clone yourself, recover your lost gear, and deal with the consequences of repeated resurrection.
IMMERSIVE DISCO-PUNK SPACE-HORROR! You were but a simple janitor, now you are the last hope of all humanity! A space station has been swallowed by a sentient black hole, weird animal and plant hybrids roam the corridors, and even time itself has gone completely mad around you. Navigate with stealth or unleash a blast-tastic odyssey through the cursed station. Will you be the hero Earth needs, or are you groovin’ to save your own soul? The choice is yours!
SURVIVING AURORA 5 The enemies on the station of Aurora 5 are completely different from each other, so you’ve gotta channel your inner mad scientist to outsmart ’em. Survival ain’t just luck; it’s about cracking the code on their behavior, special abilities, and weaknesses. You will also have to deal with a variety of environmental factors. Security systems – for example – can be extremely deadly unless you find a way and turn them into traps or even unlikely allies…
Screenshots
SystemRequirements
Minimum Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4 GB) or AMD Radeon RX 570
DirectX: Version 12
Support the game developers by purchasing the game on Steam
InstallationGuide
TurnOff Your Antivirus Before Installing Any Game
1 :: Download Game 2 :: Extract Game 3 :: Launch The Game 4 :: Have Fun 🙂
Spooky season is here, and all the major streaming services are boosting their horror offerings to appeal to viewers who want to start getting into the Halloween spirit early. As the temperatures drop and the nights get longer, October is the perfect time to make some popcorn, curl up on the couch, and watch some movies designed to give you nightmares.
New streaming offerings this month include true classics and brand-new films, spanning every subgenre including zombies, slashers, body horror, and even some creepy romance. Cue up something on this list, and you can always press pause if it gets so scary you need a break.
Bones and All (2022)
Available on Pluto
Run time: 2h 10m
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg
Bones and All puts an especially gory spin on young love by focusing on the budding romance between a pair of cannibals. Maren (Taylor Russell) has a history of biting people, and she sets out on a cross-country road trip in hopes of finding her mother and getting answers about her gruesome cravings. She meets and falls for Lee (Timothée Chalamet), another “eater,” and the two try to build a new life together.
Like Call Me by Your Name, Bones and All is a sensual movie, particularly visually — Guadagnino luxuriates in the kind of big-sky-country vistas that made Andrea Arnold’s similarly summer-break-themed American Honey so memorable, and he lights his leads warmly in the day and with skulking fervor at night. But it’s more remarkable for the way he and Kajganich navigate the push and pull between the story’s romantic elements and horror themes. There’s a big metaphor at play here about how parents, families, and friends enable aberrant behavior until it feels normal, and how being protected from the world can make it hard to properly enter it. And it plays in radically different ways at the same time: both through the lens of two young kids on a romantic road trip, and as two growing monsters seducing and killing other people for food.
Set 31 years after The Shining, Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) as he struggles to cope with memories of his father’s murderous rampage. The adaptation of Stephen King’s book leans further into Danny’s psychic powers as he forges a connection with a girl with “the Shining” and tries to protect her from a brutal vampire
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Image: Paramount Home Media Distribution
Available on Paramount Plus
Run time: 1h 48
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Harvey Keitel, George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino wrote the script for this cult classic, which begins as a crime drama before turning into grindhouse horror. Bank robbers Seth (George Clooney) and Richie Gecko (Tarantino) flee across the Mexican border where they plan to meet a contact at an all-night strip club. When the strippers turn out to be vampires, they have to fight to survive until dawn.
It Follows (2014)
Available on Paramount Plus
Run time: 1h 40m
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary
Another cult hit, It Follows made the most out of a tiny budget. After college student Jay Height (Maika Monroe) has sex with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) for the first time, he reveals she’ll be pursued by a strange entity until she can infect someone else through intercourse. Chased by a force only she can see, Jay seeks answers while trying to buy herself time.
Hokum (2026)
Available on Hulu
Run time:1h 47m
Director:Damian McCarthy
Cast:Adam Scott, Florence Ordesh, Peter Coonan
American author Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) travels to the Irish hotel where his parents honeymooned to scatter their ashes. He discovers the honeymoon suite is locked and supposedly haunted by a witch as he confronts the strange locals and staff and has to face his own past and the place’s secrets.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Image: New Line Cinema
Available on HBO
Run time: 1h 31m
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: John Saxon, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp
Designed to make you afraid of going to sleep, A Nightmare on Elm Street follows a group of teenagers pursued by the undead killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) who can kill by entering their dreams. Considered one of the best horror films ever made, it inspired numerous sequels.
Psycho (1960)
Image: Paramount Pictures
Available on Netflix
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin, Janet Leigh
Even if you haven’t seen Psycho, you probably know the shower scene, which is one of the most famous moments in cinematic history. Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock helped establish the slasher genre with a tale of embezzling secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) who hides out in the remote Bates Motel. But she finds something sinister lurking in the hotel.
Scream (1996)
Available on Pluto
Run time: 1h 51m
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox
A Nightmare on Elm Street director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson mock slasher genre tropes with Scream, where knowing horror trivia can be a matter of life or death. A group of high school students pursued by a costumed killer try to survive using movie logic. Pluto is also streaming the four Scream sequels so you can put on a series marathon.
Freaks (2019)
Photo: Well Go USA
Available on HBO
Run time: 1h 45m
Directors: Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Grace Park, Lexy Kolker
The genre-bending film follows Chloe (Lexy Kolker), a 7-year-old who’s never left her possibly haunted dilapidated suburban home because her father Henry (Emile Hirsch) says there are bad people lurking outside. The mystery of what’s really going on unfurls slowly as Chloe and Henry grapple for control of their fraught lives.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Available on Netflix
Run time: 1h 47m
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Haley Joel Osment
After one of his patients kills himself, child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) sees potential for redemption by helping Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a boy with the ability to see ghosts. They work together to help the dead haunting Cole find peace. The Sixth Sense established M. Night Shyamalan’s penchant for twist endings, and it’s still one of his best.
Modern displays are evolving from passive screens into connected parts of the AV workflow. As explored in AV Technology Manager’s Guide to Display Technologies, today’s systems can receive media, react to metadata, connect with cloud platforms, and adapt content based on real-time information.
Technologies such as AI, IoT, AV-over-IP, integrated SoC displays, LED video walls, and cloud-based tools are creating new possibilities for digital signage, immersive experiences, collaboration, and audience engagement.
The guide highlights everything from a museum using more than 100 laser projectors across nearly 37,000 square feet to LED installations, interactive displays, video walls, and digital storytelling environments. The larger trend is clear: the display is increasingly becoming an intelligent part of the production and content ecosystem rather than simply the place where video appears.
You’ll have to get your phone replaced if it has already lost its signal.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Following a number of complaints about network issues affecting iPhone 18 Pro Max devices, Apple has now confirmed that there is indeed a problem. It appears that the issue has only affected AT&T users in the US, and an iOS update is already available to fix it. That said, the update won’t work for those who have already been affected by the problem. Those will need a hardware replacement, Apple told 9to5Mac.
What Apple says about the AT&T issue
George Mattock/Getty Images
It’s not hard to tell if your phone has the bug. If that’s the case, your iPhone 18 Pro Max will show the “SOS” symbol in the status bar instead of signal bars. Calls, text messages and data over 4G or 5G will also stop working. The good news is that not every iPhone 18 Pro Max owner using AT&T has been affected. Apple says it only affects a “small number” of users, and gave 9to5Mac the following statement:
“We have identified an issue affecting a small number of iPhone 18 Pro Max users on the AT&T network that may cause a device to lose service and be unable to make calls. We released iOS 27.0.1 earlier this week and strongly encourage all iPhone 18 Pro Max users to update now, and are also issuing a carrier settings update today. These updates together are meant to help prevent this issue from occurring.”
Interestingly, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is the only model sold in the US that uses a Qualcomm modem instead of Apple’s own — but it’s unclear whether there’s any direct connection between that and the bug. If you’ve checked the boxes to get an iPhone 18 Pro Max with an AT&T SIM card, here’s what to do. First, update to iOS 27.0.1 as soon as possible. Just go to Settings > General > Software Update and look for the latest version.
If you’ve already updated, it’s also worth checking to see if you have the latest carrier settings. Also in Settings, go to General and tap About to trigger the update. If you don’t see a pop-up about a carrier settings update, you probably already have the latest version. Unfortunately, if your iPhone has already lost its cellular signal, a software update or restore won’t work. You should contact Apple Support or AT&T to request a phone replacement instead.
At 8:35 am Central Time on Friday, October 2, PC Gamer audience development manager Cameron Bald shared a Twitter post by fan account GTA 6 Countdown. Miami’s NBA basketball team, the Heat, is doing a cross-promotion event with Rockstar, “A Night in Vice City.” The team will temporarily rebrand, though from what I can tell it’s as “Vice City” and not “The Vice City Heat,” which feels weird but what do I know.
None of us were particularly enthused by the branding exercise, but noted negative nelly and Glasgow-based PCG online editor, Fraser Brown, took particular umbrage, wondering “Who the hell doesn’t know GTA is coming?” Cameron offered a fairly compelling rebuttal: “The super-casual types who are still on a PS4 and need convincing that GTA 6 is worth getting back into games over.” Lead SEO editor Lauren Morton likened it to a chocolate bar at the checkout counter: This isn’t an exercise in persuasion, but flooding the zone.
Fraser Brown
No one in human history has known ball less.
Fraser was not persuaded, doubting the efficacy of the campaign. We got our first indication that something was amiss at 8:54 am. “A basketball stunt is so much more niche than, say, the Netflix trailer,” Fraser argued. Niche? The Miami Heat? The multi-billion dollar NBA franchise with three championship victories to its name? The one that signed LeBron for a while in the 2010s and made everybody mad (I don’t really know ball either)? That Miami Heat?
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Then, the whammy: “I guess it’s gonna land differently with Americans. To me, this is insanely niche. I had to google Miami Heat.“
Brits Who Don’t Know Ball Count: 1
More step forward
I was just logging on to work myself at this time, and was floored at what had transpired. I let Fraser know that this was the most British thing he had ever said. PC Gaming Show editorial director Jake Tucker tried to liken it to the international popularity of British football clubs, which did not help, because Fraser also does not follow footy. Lauren pointed out that Fraser was effectively saying, “I don’t see the marketing value of sports because I don’t follow sports.” Fraser dug in.
“I get using sports teams for marketing, but it feels niche when it’s one local sports team in one country. But maybe Miami Heat is an extremely big deal all over the world. I would never know!”
I pointed out how I’ve seen guys in Russia wearing Chicago Bulls jerseys, to which Fraser responded that he was aware of the Bulls and has even owned merch. If there is one takeaway from this whole debacle, it is not the manifest weakening of America’s global cultural hegemony. It is instead the continued dominance and recognition of America’s finest city, the Windy City. The City of Big Shoulders. Chi-Town, baby. Did you know we have a pope?
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
“I have heard of the Miami Dolphins,” Fraser remarked, perhaps as some manner of conciliatory gesture to his American colleagues, “but only because they featured in Ace Ventura.”
Joshua Wolens
Knows every major and minor participant in the October Revolution and their party affiliation. Does not know ball.
Then, the other shoe dropped: “[To be fair], I also don’t know what a Miami Heat is,” news writer Joshua Wolens, who lives in England, unhelpfully proffered. “But I generally assume I don’t know most of what’s happening in the modern world.”
Brits Who Don’t Know Ball Count: 2
It was around this juncture that Fraser agreed to be subject to a formal write-up on PC Gamer dot com. I am not bullying my coworker. Buffalo-based PCG news writer Lincoln Carpenter helpfully reframed the argument at this time as well: “It’s not so much that the Miami Heat specifically is a big deal. It’s that NBA teams, as a rule, are big deals.” Lincoln also shared Forbes’ estimated valuations of the most expensive NBA teams in the world vs. the most expensive football clubs. For what it’s worth, the basketball teams are more expensive.
At 9:06 am, UK-based social video editor Paul Broughton introduced the new argument that “basketballs are a myth created by 2K to sell their annual videogame,” but I think it would be dishonest of me to add him to the counter. The work chat conversation then moved in different directions, but I was haunted.
Dateline: Lunch
I took my lunch break to play some of the Dark Souls 2 Seamless Co-op mod with PCG senior guides writer Sean Martin and freelance contributor Tyler Colp. I remarked on the Fraser/Miami Heat situation, and how I couldn’t get it out of my head.
“What is the Miami Heat?“Sean sheepishly asked. Sean is also English.
Brits Who Don’t Know Ball Count: 3
Sean Martin
One of the first people in the world to figure out the Ranni Quest in Elden Ring. Did not know what The Miami Heat is.
At almost the exact same time, former PC Gamer editor-in-chief Samuel Roberts, who has returned for some freelance work and is also an Englishman, entered the chat. I thought he was a man of the world. I thought surely he would know ball.
“I learned what they are two hours ago!” Sam informed us. “I’m aware of the Miami Dolphins.” Unlike Fraser, Sam did not come by this knowledge through the works of Jim Carrey, but rather some kind of hazy osmosis through American podcasts. Sam did know about the Bulls though (Chicago baby da Bulls baby etc.)
Brits Who Don’t Know Ball Count: 4
Samuel Roberts
Can cohost a mean podcast, but never realized that ball is life.
Then things took a turn for the strange. Senior editor Christopher Livingston, who has lived in the United States his entire life (and also Orlando, Florida for five years), revealed that he also probably couldn’t have placed the Heat prior to this morning’s events. Man, what the fuck.
Americans Who Don’t Know Ball Count: 1
Christopher Livingston
I can’t stress enough that I’m not a basketball guy. I don’t know why this lack of Miami Heat brand recognition is bothering me so much. Is this how my UK colleagues feel when I don’t know what a chip sandwich, Mr. Blobby, or a bank holiday is? I feel like I’m being pranked.
I don’t know if memory shortages have permanently killed off the concept of ‘cheap’ gaming PCs, but they have at least beat it into a coma. On the desktop side, inflated RAM, SSDs and graphics card prices continue to inflict karmic pain for our years of “It’s cheaper to build it yourself” smugness, while formerly affordable handheld PCs are either suffering 40%-plus jackups or launching above £1K from the off. And the Steam Machine! The poor, square Steam Machine.
Every few weeks, possibly in denial, I’ll skim through the shops to see what budget games kit actually looks like in this day and age. Across the last five or six rounds, little has changed: the entry point into decent, more-or-less current-spec 1080p play remains stuck in the low quadruple figures, particularly if you’re fully new to PC ownership and need to factor in a monitor and peripherals. There is one exception, assuming you don’t fancy your luck on the secondhand market, but giving it a hands-on appraisal means confronting an ancient hardware foe of mine. And you all know how little I like to have my prejudices challenged.
Still, research suggests that yes, this truly is the most gaming PC you can get for under £999. So, um. Here it goes. May…maybe gaming laptops aren’t so bad.
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will operate as Skydance once their merger closes, Paramount CEO David Ellison announced Friday. Skydance is the name of Ellison’s original film production company.
The roughly $110 billion deal is expected to close October 6. It will combine two major Hollywood studios, Paramount+ and HBO Max, and networks including CBS, CNN, MTV, TBS, Comedy Central, and Food Network. Skydance will also control franchises such as “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones,” the DC Universe, and “Yellowstone.”
The merger followed a drawn-out corporate battle. Netflix had agreed to acquire Warner Bros.’ streaming and studio businesses before the broader Paramount deal moved forward. Twelve states challenged the deal, arguing it could reduce competition and harm consumers and workers, but a judge approved a settlement with the state attorneys general this week.
Ellison said the Paramount and Warner Bros. brands will remain central. “We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one,” he wrote on X. The new name, he said, gives the company “an identity of its own” while letting both studios “remain in the spotlight.”
You finally decide to sell your diamond, but then you remember the small chip near the edge or that scratch on the band you’ve been ignoring for years. Now you’re stuck wondering if that damage to the diamond’s condition will tank your offer or barely matter at all. Not knowing the answer makes it hard to set fair expectations before you even ask for a quote, and it leaves you second-guessing a piece you have owned and known for years.
Buyers actually look at condition in specific, predictable ways, so the guesswork does not need to stick around for long. Some kinds of damage move the price a lot, while other things you might be dreading barely register with a buyer at all.
This article breaks down exactly how your diamond’s current condition shapes the number you actually get offered.
1. Chips Or Cracks in the Stone Lower the Clarity Grade
A diamond’s clarity grade reflects how clean the stone looks when examined at a magnified level, and damage diminishes that clarity in no time at all. A chip near the girdle or crack inside the stone counts as a flaw that wasn’t present at the time of original grading. Even a small amount of damage can push a stone into a lower clarity tier, and this would immediately be apparent to the buyer.
This drop is important to buyers because clarity is one of the biggest things that sets the price. A diamond that appears clean to the eye may become less appealing if damage is visible, potentially affecting what a buyer is willing to offer. The precise amount of grade shift depends on the location of the damage and its size, as a chip near the center may be more significant than a chip closer to the edge and not seen.
Sellers who intend to sell diamond ring items with visible chips or cracks should anticipate it before they ever request a price quote. A buyer will spot the damage during evaluation no matter what, so it never helps to hide it.
2. Cosmetic Wear on the Band Rarely Lowers the Diamond’s Price
Scratches on a gold or platinum band look bad, but they do not change what the diamond itself is worth. Buyers price the stone and the metal weight on their own, separate from how shiny or scuffed the band looks. Even deep scuff marks stay on the surface and never touch the diamond sitting above them.
Sellers often expect a big discount for a ring that looks worn, and that is where things get surprising. The metal still gets valued for its weight and purity no matter how many small dings sit on the surface. Only the stone’s own condition changes the number, not the ring’s overall look.
Understanding this stops you from assuming your ring is worth less than it really is. A scuffed-up band on a clean, undamaged stone can still bring in a strong offer, so cosmetic wear alone should never talk you out of getting a quote.
3. Repairing the Ring Before Selling Rarely Pays Off
Getting a ring polished or fixed up before selling can feel like the smart move, especially if you want a better number. In most cases when it comes to a diamond’s condition, though, the cost of that repair never comes back to you in the final offer. Buyers care about the stone and metal, not how fresh the ring looks on arrival, and a shiny band will not change what number they write down.
Money spent on prong repairs, band resizing, or professional cleaning usually just eats into your profit instead of adding to it. Since the offer is based on the diamond’s grade and the metal’s value, presentation barely factors in. Repair costs almost always come straight out of your own pocket.
Pointing out cosmetic damage to the buyer costs nothing and works just as well as fixing it yourself. Buyers already expect some wear on a ring that has actually been worn, so saving your money is usually the smarter path.
4. Recertifying a Damaged Stone Can Result in a Lower Grade
Sending an already-certified diamond in for a fresh certificate might sound like a smart extra step. But when a stone has picked up damage since it was first graded, recertifying can actually work against you. A borderline stone can come back with a lower grade than the one printed on your original paperwork, and that new number sticks.
Something to know about a diamond’s condition is that a grade is not locked in forever. It reflects how the stone looks on the day someone checks it, nothing more. A chip, a new inclusion, or even wear near the setting can shift how a grader scores the stone today, even if it looked perfect years ago. Once that new grade gets written down, you cannot go back to using the old one.
Ask a buyer whether your existing paperwork still works before you request anything new. Plenty of older certificates on undamaged stones still hold up fine. Skipping an unnecessary recheck protects the grade you already have.
5. A Diamond’s Condition Is Judged Alongside the Diamond’s 4Cs And Certificate
A buyer never looks at condition all by itself. It gets weighed next to the 4Cs, which are carat, cut, color, and clarity. Your certificate matters here too, since it backs up everything the buyer sees. Even a small bit of damage on an otherwise strong stone can still bring in a solid offer overall.
This mix of factors explains why two damaged stones can sell for very different amounts. A chipped diamond with great color and a high carat weight can still outsell an undamaged stone with poorer overall quality. Condition pushes the price up or down a little, but it does not erase everything else the stone has going for it.
Thinking about your diamond this way makes it much easier to set realistic expectations. Ask a buyer how your specific mix of factors, condition included, adds up to one final offer.
Final Thoughts
A diamond’s condition plays a real role in what your diamond sells for, but it is only one piece of a bigger picture. Chips and cracks can pull the grade down, while cosmetic wear on the band barely moves the needle at all once a buyer looks past the surface and checks the stone itself.
Skipping unnecessary repairs and being upfront about any damage puts you in the strongest position possible before you ever send in a quote request. That honest approach gets you closer to a fair, accurate offer, and it saves you from spending money on fixes that were never going to help in the first place.
