Microsoft is laying off around 260 Xbox employees today, as part of an ongoing "reset" of its gaming business. 1,600 Xbox employees were impacted by layoffs in July, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma describing the cuts as "the most significant restructure in Xbox history." Today's layoffs are part of the 3,200 roles that were previously […]
The Verge•Tom Warren22 Sept
Halo will now be developed by Activision, while 343 retains a small support team for existing games
Microsoft is announcing a massive restructuring of its Xbox studios today, months after laying off 1,600 Xbox employees and selling off studios. The latest changes will see Activision take on the Halo and Sea of Thieves franchises, as well as Age of Empires. Microsoft is also laying off around 268 Xbox employees as part of […]
The Verge•Tom Warren22 Sept
Microsoft has today confirmed that the next mainline Halo game will be developed by Call of Duty maker Activision, with mass layoffs hitting Halo Studios amid a significant restructure of its Xbox studios setup.
IGN•Wesley Yin-Poole22 Sept
A week after an announcement-laden BlizzCon 2026, and days after what appears to be an enormously popular beta for World of Warcraft: Forever , cuts at Blizzard by Xbox are said to be "imminent". Read more
Reports say Xbox CEO Asha Sharma will consolidate game studios and cut jobs this week, including moving Halo to Activision Blizzard
Xbox has reportedly been asking some players whether physical disc support would be a feature they'd want to see in its next console.
PlayStation 5, Xbox, PC; Remedy A surprisingly conventional game from a famously weird developer, this sequel to 2019’s Control is accomplished but safe This is an arthouse action game from Finnish developer Remedy, masters of exactly this type of thing. It’s a sequel, however, so not only must it clear the high bar that its strikingly distinctive predecessor has set – it must also ideally arrive with a bushel of new ideas. There are clear and valuable strengths here in character progression and the lustrous presentation of its paranormal world, but Resonant doesn’t feel as enjoyably recondite or expansive in its influences as 2019’s Control did. As you wander New York brandishing supernatural abilities against glowing orange foes, the sad sense creeps in that you might be playing any number of games. As paranormal event survivor Jesse Faden, your journey through the original Control was like a sequence of playable Twilight Zone episodes, battling prosaic household objects with supernatural properties that teased and twisted reality inside an endlessly fascinating supernatural government bureau called the Oldest House. You’d navigate architecturally impossible spaces bridging the subconscious and the bricks-and-mortar world, in order to defeat a malevolent fridge. That’s broadly true again in Resonant, albeit with diminishing returns. This time you’re playing as Jesse’s brother Dylan, waking up after years of containment in the Oldest House to find its contents have escaped into downtown Manhattan. So you head out of the interesting place, and into a setting you’ve explored before in Marvel’s Spider-Man , The Division , Max Payne , and others ad infinitum. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Phil Iwaniuk22 Sept
Xbox is reportedly preparing to lay off hundreds more people this week as the company plans to consolidate several of its studios. Read more
Elite in form AND function.
IGN•Eric Song21 Sept
Blizzard has confirmed its open-world StarCraft shooter "won't be exclusive" to Xbox platforms when it launches in 2030.
IGN•Michael Cripe21 Sept
To use a sports analogy, Hideo Kojima is like a superstar athlete whose previous team (PlayStation) dropped him for, reportedly, salary-cap reasons. Xbox was all too happy to sign him, and unsurprisingly, they trotted him out at the Tokyo Game Show as the new face of the franchise. As they should. If this really was a sports team, a giant banner featuring Kojima’s face would be hung up on the outside of the stadium, and his jersey would be sold at the team shop.
IGN•Ryan McCaffrey21 Sept
Newegg is hosting a bundle that includes Microsoft’s wireless Xbox controller (in black) and a $50 digital Xbox gift card together for $80. Given that this model typically sits around $50 to $60 depending on the color you want, this is a fantastic value since it essentially knocks its price down to $30. Another way […]
The Verge•Cameron Faulkner21 Sept
Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima has spoken about a number of topics concerning Sony's sudden shocking decision to back away from publishing his tactical espionage project, Physint . It was a decision made in June, and though Kojima was able to convince Xbox to pick up the Metal Gear successor and continue funding and publishing it, the transition raised a lot of questions. Read more
The fact that you can slice up the Fall of 2007 in so many different ways – best Xbox season ever, best PC season ever, best November ever – and the argument for its unmatched brilliance still holds up is iron-clad proof that it is, indisputably, the best season in video game history.
IGN•Ryan McCaffrey21 Sept
Microsoft has filed a patent for a system that allows PC and Xbox games to serve advertisements during game sessions, seemingly without disrupting gameplay. Read more
PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox; Arbitrary Metric The latest work from the team behind Paratopic is part compulsive time-loop management sim, part eerie subterranean adventure Fetch the chair from storage. Deliver a message that causes disgust. Clean vomit in the afternoon and pour another glass in the evening. In Roman Sands RE:Build, you provide concierge service to delirious, broken people who couldn’t care less about the sweat on your forehead and the bags under your eyes. In this reimagining of the 2019 visual novel Roman Sands, crafted by the team behind the Americana horror road trip Paratopic, you’re trapped in a beach resort and tethered in a time loop. The task is deceivingly simple: fulfil menial directives from four gluttonous individuals, unlock tools and items to open more rooms and then do it all over again. Continue reading...
The Guardian•Diego Nicolás Argüello21 Sept
Xbox mode is akin to Big Picture Mode, where you get a gaming-friendly interface that works well with a controller.
After it was announced that Sony was dropping Hideo Kojima's Physint, and that instead the Metal Gear Solid creator's latest title would be coming to Xbox, there were a flurry of rumors about the falling out. Bloomberg reported that the decision was driven by a number of factors, including missed deadlines, budget and profitability concerns, […]
The Verge•Terrence O’Brien20 Sept
Last week, we learned that Sony "stepped away" from Kojima Production's previously PlayStation-exclusive "action espionage" game Physint. Following the announcement, which saw Xbox take over publishing duties for the in-development title, a new report has claimed Sony's decision was the result of concerns over "budget, potential profitability and exclusivity". Read more