Needless to say, this has been an awful week for Xbox, with thousands of developers being let go, several high-profile game cancellations and even a few studio closures. As Microsoft purpotedly began cancelling funding for third-party game projects, some fans became worried about the status of Kojima's upcoming Xbox game, …
Read More »Helldivers 2 won’t be coming to Game Pass
Helldivers 2 launched last year as a PlayStation console exclusive, and as the PC version is also published by PlayStation, it was widely assumed that the game would never come to Xbox. That changed this week with a surprise announcement, but while Helldivers 2 will be on Xbox moving forward, …
Read More »Romero Games could seek a new publisher and reopen
One of the more surprising casualties from last week's Xbox layoffs was Romero Games. Founded by DOOM creator, John Romero, the studio was not owned by Microsoft, nor had any public business ties to the company. However, it turns out that Romero Games was working on a new shooter, with …
Read More »Xbox has reportedly downsized Turn 10 and cancelled Forza Motorsport
This week, Microsoft announced plans to let go of 9000 employees. Various studios within the Xbox unit were impacted, including Turn 10, which reportedly lost as much as half of its employees. Now, an ex employee has made the claim that Forza Motorsport has effectively been cancelled. Former Turn 10 …
Read More »Romero Games cancels new game following Xbox cuts
Since leaving id Software and DOOM behind, John Romero has been operating his own independent studio in Ireland. Over the last couple of years, Romero Games has been working on a new first-person shooter, but now the studio is closing after losing funding from its unnamed publisher. In a statement …
Read More »Zenimax’s unannounced MMO was said to be “going well” prior to its cancellation
In the wake of the latest round of lay-offs at Microsoft, sources revealed that Zenimax’s Project Blackbird MMO was “going well.”
Read More »Helldivers 2 is getting a surprise release on Xbox
Helldivers 2 launched last year as a PlayStation console exclusive, even the PC version of the game is published by PlayStation. With that in mind, it was assumed that the game would never come to Xbox, but as it turns out, it will be, and it will be releasing very …
Read More »Forza studio Turn 10 loses half of its developers
The scope of the layoffs at Xbox studios continues to astound. Following the closure of The Initiative and several game cancellations, it has come to light that Turn 10 has been forced to fire half of its staff. Turn 10 is the studio behind the Forza Motorsport games. Despite these …
Read More »Microsoft closes The Initiative and cancels Perfect Dark reboot
As part of Microsoft's mass lay-off announcements yesterday, the Xbox team made another shocking decision. First-party studio, The Initiative, is closing immediately and the Perfect Dark reboot has been cancelled. The Initiative was announced by Microsoft back in 2019. The studio was billed as Microsoft's ‘AAAA' studio, that's right, quadruple …
Read More »Rumour claims Zenimax MMO and Perfect Dark cancelled
As the news of mass layoffs at Microsoft continues to spread, more details about cancelled games are coming to light. This afternoon, it was reported that Rare's next game, Everwild, has now been cancelled. Now, it looks like the Perfect Dark reboot and a new MMO from Zenimax have also …
Read More »Rare’s Everwild cancelled following Xbox cuts
Following initial rumours from last month, Microsoft has begun announcing its planned job cuts to internal studios. The full scope of the impact is still being determined but around 9000 layoffs are expected. Rare is reported as one of the studios affected, following the cancellation of Everwild. Rare first announced …
Read More »Xbox layoffs to impact King, Zenimax and more
Since completing the $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late 2023, Microsoft has been looking to pump up Xbox's profit margins. That effort has already led to several rounds of job cuts, with another now set to take place this week. Last month it emerged that Microsoft was intending …
Read More »Nine more games announced for Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass
We've reached a new month, which makes it time for another wave of titles for Game Pass. The first half of the month will see nine more games joining the Game Pass library, including the day-one release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 remastered. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 is …
Read More »Hellblade 2 Enhanced Edition brings higher graphics settings to PC
Ninja Theory has been quietly working on improvements for Hellblade 2 since the game's launch a year ago. Now, Hellblade 2 Enhanced Edition is launching and better yet, it will be a free upgrade for owners of the original game. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 Enhanced Edition includes several updates. For …
Read More »Halo Studios teases upcoming announcement planned for October
Following the overhaul of 343 Industries / Halo Studios, the team have teased that the future of the franchise will be shown off this October.
Read More »Microsoft Game Studios founding member claims “Xbox has no desire” to ship hardware
The past couple years for Xbox has been a bit of a whirlwind. From spending almost $100 billion on acquiring studios to becoming a 3rd-party games publisher, the future of Xbox is somewhat unclear. According to one of the founding members of Microsoft’s Game Studios (who worked at the company since 1995) “it looks like Xbox has no desire or literally can’t ship hardware anymore.”
Read More »The Rogue Prince of Persia is heading to consoles
There is still no release date in sight for the long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake. However, other teams at Ubisoft have been doing fantastic work with the IP in the meantime. Since launching into Early Access last year, The Rogue Prince of Persia has been exclusive to …
Read More »An Elder Scrolls 6 trailer has reportedly been seen by Microsoft employees
Ahead of the Xbox Games Showcase a few weeks ago, a rumour began doing the rounds the day before claiming that an Elder Scrolls 6 trailer was doing the rounds. The event came and went with zero mention of The Elder Scrolls 6, but it does seem that Bethesda is …
Read More »Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced gets official price and release date
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II Enhanced is coming to PS5 (and Xbox/PC) this August – bringing new features, a performance mode and more.
Read More »Skullcandy Crusher Plyr 720 headset brings wireless open-back audio to PC and console
Skullcandy is launching a new entry into the gaming headset market with the launch of the Crusher Plyr 720. This new headset is notable for being the first gaming-focused product to incorporate Skullcandy's patented Crusher multi-sensory bass technology, combined with an open-back design. The Crusher Plyr 720 integrates Skullcandy's new …
Read More »Over 1 million players have wishlisted Resident Evil Requiem
This month, Capcom finally revealed Resident Evil 9. The latest mainline game, officially titled ‘Resident Evil Requiem', isn't due out until next year but fans have been quick to express their interest, with the game being wishlisted over 1 million times. Capcom revealed on its social channels this week that …
Read More »Xbox to be hit with ‘major layoffs’
Since completing the $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late 2023, Microsoft has been looking to pump up Xbox's profit margins. That effort has already led to several rounds of job cuts, with another now set to take place starting this week. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has learned that Microsoft …
Read More »Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition officially announced
Following on from leaks last week, Meta and Microsoft have officially announced the Quest 3S Xbox Edition VR headset. It is a weird collaboration, as Xbox has had very little to do with VR gaming over the past decade. The Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition comes with an Xbox controller, …
Read More »Microsoft offers first look at new universal gaming library for Xbox PC app
As part of the recent announcement of the ROG Xbox Ally, one of the biggest unique-selling-points for the upcoming handheld from Microsoft is its supposed tight integration between hardware and software – with Microsoft promising that players won’t be tied down to a single digital storefront. In aid of this effort, the company has now begun to detail its upcoming ‘Aggregated Gaming Library’ feature.
Read More »PlayStation 6 and next-gen Xbox to use same AMD GPU architecture
The whispers surrounding AMD's next-generation graphics architecture are picking up. While definitive branding remains unknown, with names like UDNA and RDNA 5 still circulating, it's becoming increasingly evident that this architecture represents a significant leap for discrete graphics cards and the semi-custom chips targeting the next-generation game consoles. Kepler_L2 (via …
Read More »Xenia developer shoots down official Xbox emulator rumour
This week has been a bit of a wild one in rumour land. A previously reliable source made the bombshell claim that Microsoft had hired the developers behind the Xenia emulator to work on an official Xbox and Xbox 360 emulation tool for PCs and new devices like the Xbox …
Read More »Gears of War Reloaded gets a second multiplayer playtest this weekend
Gears of War: Reloaded is launching very soon. To ensure the game's multiplayer servers and crossplay functionality are all working correctly, a playtest did take place last weekend, but many encountered issues. As a result, a second playtest weekend is now coming up. The Coalition and Microsoft have confirmed that …
Read More »Microsoft confirms ‘multi-year’ partnership with AMD for next-gen Xbox
At the Xbox Games Showcase last week, Microsoft announced its collaborative PC handheld, the ROG Xbox Ally. Now in a new video shared this week, Xbox president, Sarah Bond, teased the future via a continued partnership with AMD on chips. In an update video this week, Bond confirmed that Xbox …
Read More »Bungie delays Marathon indefinitely
Bungie has been quiet on the subject of Marathon since the game's alpha ended earlier this year. The game had been on track for a September launch but today, Sony and Bungie made the surprise announcement that the game has been delayed indefinitely.
Read More »ROG Xbox Ally’s leaked release date corroborated
Though yet to be officially confirmed, insiders are claiming that Microsoft plans to release their ROG Xbox Ally handhelds in late October.
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