Star Wars Zero Company released in late August, and the game has evidently found an audience, as market-data firm Alinea Analytics estimates that the game has sold 1 million units.

Writing on Twitter, analyst Rhys Elliott shared the estimate, which heavily favors PC. Roughly 70% of sales were on PC--unsurprising given the turn-based-tactics genre--with PlayStation following at roughly 20% and Xbox at about 10%. Elliott called its performance thus far "respectable for the genre and during such a crowded period" that also saw the launch of games like Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker.

Elliott also noted, however, that Zero Company's appeal is almost entirely to Western audiences, with less than 5% of the game's players being in Asia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrvlMbozAs

The news comes weeks after developer Bit Reactor furloughed a large portion of its staff, and it isn't yet clear when or if they will be able to resume their work at the studio. Having Zero Company perform well commercially would presumably make publisher EA more interested in a sequel, but it also comes at a very strange time for the company, which was just taken private as part of a deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.

Regardless, Star Wars Zero Company is definitely worth playing if you're a fan of XCOM-style games. In our 8/10 Star Wars Zero Company review, Steve Watts said, "Developer Bit Reactor set higher ambitions than simply slapping a Star Wars skin on a template," praising its tweaks to the XCOM formula.

Zach Cregger, the director of the newly released Resident Evil movie, has revealed his top four favorite video games, and he made some solid choices.

Before he listed off his top four to Regal, Cregger said they came "off the top of my head," so if he had more time, he might have chosen other games. Or he may not have. In any event, here are the games that Cregger singled out as his four faves:

• The Binding Of Isaac
• Dark Souls 3
• Resident Evil 4
• The Last of Us 2

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Xdpkc_h1kLM

People are saying that Cregger earned his "gamer cred" for these specific choices (via GamesRadar). His Dark Souls 3 pick was not surprising given Cregger was known to stream the game on Twitch over the years. It's also not surprising that he called out Resident Evil 4, as he borrowed from that game for his movie. In the same interview, Resident Evil actor Austin Abrams, who plays Bryan, said Cregger asked him to play Resident Evil 2, 4, and 7 to prepare for the movie.

Cregger received a lot of backlash from core fans of the Resident Evil series over the direcion he took the movie and how it didn't feature any stories or characters from the games. He said he was naive to think fans would embrace his ideas. Things seemed to work out for Cregger in the end, as Resident Evil scored fantastic reviews and had a gigantic opening weekend at the box office.

Steven Adams of the NBA's Houston Rockets has predicted that all the major professional sports leagues will experience a dip in quality this November because top athletes will be too focused on GTA 6.

Speaking to press, Adams said, "Look at the NFL, look at all the leagues, and watch them plummet. Just for the month of November, performance is gonna go down."

He went on to say things should get back to normal after athletes finish the game. "It should come back up though; most of the boys will get it done. Hopefully they finish the game," he said.

Adams went on to say that other aspects of professional sports leagues will suffer, too, including coaching and scouting efforts that he said will be "horrendous," but "just for November."

Adams is obviously not being totally serious here, but GTA 6 is indeed one of the most highly anticipated game releases ever, and a lot of people--including pro athletes--are going to play it. We'll have to check back in November to see if athletes playing the game had any adverse effect on stats, however.

Before this, an NFL player blamed his on-field struggles on video games, while NFL QB Kyler Murray is known for playing too much Call of Duty.

https://twitter.com/gta6_premium/status/2102476846902415849?s=46

Adams has previously discussed his interest in video games, singling out titles like Dota 2 and Smite as some of his favorites. "I'm more of a nerd," he told TMZ.

GTA 6 releases on November 19. The Rockets do not play that day, but there are four games that day across the NBA. November 19 is also a Week 11 Thursday Night Football day.

Nintendo is officially 137 years old today, and while that's an odd number to celebrate, it's certainly an impressive one. While it's a leading producer of video games and gaming hardware, the company originally started life as a maker of hanafuda playing cards in 1889, evolving with the times to eventually become a gaming powerhouse. But to put its age into perspective, it's worth looking at things that Nintendo predates.

That makes for a long list, but the biggest surprise, as pointed out online, is that Nintendo is literally older than sliced bread. Technically, this would make sliced bread the best thing since Nintendo, and for double-technicality points, we're referring to commercial pre-sliced bread. According to the history books, pre-sliced bread made its commercial debut 38 years later, on July 7, 1928, when the Missouri-based Chillicothe Baking Company began using Otto Frederick Rohwedder's bread-slicing machine to deliver tasty portions of the household staple to customers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhw8BfVO_EY

Historically, Nintendo also beat the public opening of the Eiffel Tower (June 1893) and the Wright Brothers' first flight (1903), and it outlasted the Ottoman Empire. It also has a big lead on the invention of penicillin (1928), chocolate chip cookies (1938), bubble wrap (1957), and the greatest movie of all time, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim (2013). If there's anything that equals the historical significance of Nintendo, that would be Vincent Van Gogh's iconic Starry Night painting, which was created the same year that Nintendo was formed.

Today, Nintendo is worth many billions of dollars thanks to the release of several highly successful consoles, including the Wii and the Switch. In recent years, it has also intensified its efforts to be more than just a video game company, launching new theme parks and slowly releasing more feature film adaptations based on its original IP.

The two Super Mario Bros. movies developed by Illumination have each grossed north of $1 billion at the box office, and the next project is a live-action Legend of Zelda movie.

Microsoft is overhauling its Xbox business in a big--and painful--way. Part of the effort to "reset" Xbox involves enlisting Call of Duty publisher Activision to make the next Halo game. This isn't a spin-off or some kind of other extension of the iconic sci-fi series, but instead the next entry in the main series following 2021's disappointing Halo Infinite. 

Here's what we know about Activision's Halo game, and what comes next for Halo Studios.

What's the new game?

The biggest question is what is the new Halo game from Activision? The announcement from Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty didn't reveal any specifics, but a story from The Hollywood Reporter said it is a "full-feature, mainline installment" in the long-running series.

Activision boss Rob Kostich said in a statement to Game File that Activision is trying to make the "greatest Halo game ever." He said the ambition is to make a game that is "worthy of its universe and legacy, while staying true to what made players love it in the first place."

"It is a bold ambition, one that this franchise deserves. We have already begun assembling a purpose-built team, unique in capability and talent, ready and excited to deliver this next chapter with the community," he added.

Who is developing the new Halo game?

Booty said Microsoft is putting together a "new, purpose-built team" to make the new Halo game at Activision. He also clarified that efforts to make the new Halo game at Activision are "separate from ongoing development and plans for Call of Duty." 

Despite years of speculation that a Call of Duty studio could be assigned to Halo, a new team is being spun up. It remains to be seen if Activision's development of a new Halo game will have any impact on the Call of Duty franchise in terms of its established annual release schedule or if any key individuals will move from CoD development to Halo. 

When can we expect the new Halo game from Activision?

Given the comments from Kostich about assembling a team to make a new Halo game at Activision, it appears it's extremely early days for the game. As such, no one should expect to play it any time soon. Blizzard recently announced a new StarCraft shooter coming in 2030, while Bethesda revealed the unreleased Elder Scrolls 6 in 2018, showing that Xbox as a whole is not averse to confirming plans for games that could be a half decade or more away.

What's happening to Halo Studios and its other games?

According to Booty, a "small team" at Halo Studios will "continue supporting the Halo community and games in-market." Halo Studios is winding down significantly, with numerous staffers losing their jobs.

This is a major shift. People may recall that in October 2024, Microsoft announced that Halo developer 343 changed its name to Halo Studios and outlined plans for multiple new games. Additionally, Halo Studios confirmed that it would develop new Halo games with the Unreal Engine going forward, as opposed to its own proprietary Slipspace game development engine. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDgR1FRJnF8

At the time, many Halo fans saw this as an exciting opportunity for Microsoft to help Halo regain some of its former glory after Halo Infinite missed the mark for many. Microsoft also installed new leadership at Halo Studios, following reports of management issues internally. 

Halo Studios released its first game under that name, Halo: Campaign Evolved, in July 2026, but it was reportedly a commercial disappointment. People were also bewildered by the fact that a remake of the iconic first game had no multiplayer support. To date, it's the one and only release from Halo Studios. 

Given what Booty said about Halo Studios and its new charter, it seems likely that its in-development projects are dead. As for the shift to the Unreal Engine, Activision's Call of Duty games are made with proprietary engines, so those plans could be over as well. 

Some of the games said to have been in the works at Halo Studios included a new live-service game described as being "like Fortnite" and remakes of Halo 2 and Halo 3.

A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the future of Halo Studios when approached by GameSpot. 

Xbox CEO said making Halo popular again is a priority

At Gamescom this year, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the Halo franchise remains "very key" to Xbox and that the company was taking a long-term view about reviving it. "It represents a very key memory structure and way that people want to play,” she told the BBC. “I am focused on that. We’ll have more news to share on Halo going forward.”

Not everyone believes Microsoft can succeed at reviving Halo, including Halo's own co-creator and the designer of Master Chief. Marcus Lehto recently said--prior to the news that Activision is making the next Halo game--that a “big concern” he foresees about reviving Halo is how much it might cost. He said Microsoft making a “fully featured Halo” game would likely cost between $600 and $800 million, and take four or more years to make. 

Halo Infinite.

Lehto, who hasn’t worked on Halo in a long time, said he does not anticipate Microsoft spending that much or taking that much time. Lehto also said a large corporation like Microsoft is a “terribly inefficient machine.” He added that a “smaller indie team driven by seasoned devs, filled with a good mix of newer hungry talent as well, and minimal management layers is probably the only viable way to make a great Halo again.”

Following the announcement that Halo is getting taken over by Activision, Lehto said he was "shocked but not entirely surprised."

https://twitter.com/game_fabricator/status/2102659182944047297 The human impact

Microsoft assigning Halo to Activision has led to pain for the people at Halo Studios. As mentioned, only a "small team" will remain at Halo Studios going forward to support Halo games already in the market. Other people are getting let go, including Halo's esports producer and cinematic director Josh Daniels (who had just been promoted in the past week). Beyond Halo Studios, the 268 layoffs at Xbox this week hit other teams, including Gears of War developer The Coalition, and other parts of the Xbox team. Looking ahead, more Xbox layoffs are coming, and it's prompted people to wonder: "What is Xbox Game Studios at this point?"

Xbox is focusing on franchises

Halo might not be as popular as it once was, but it carries brand recognition and is synonymous with Xbox. Microsoft was unlikely to abandon it completely, and in fact, the company reportedly already--some time ago--assigned Call of Duty developer Sledgehammer to conduct experiments with Halo. That effort has now graduated to Microsoft deciding to make a brand-new Halo game at Activision, so clearly the company sees potential. 

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

Earlier this year, Sharma said one of the big bets that Microsoft made to help grow Xbox was developing a "broader portfolio of content." That did not pay off in the way Microsoft expected, and Sharma made the decision to scale back significantly by laying people off, closing or divesting of studios, and cancelling a variety of games. This was all being done to "focus on higher-priority projects," Sharma said, and clearly Halo is one of those, alongside Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, Minecraft, Fable, and Forza, to name a few.

Diablo 5 won't be out until 2029, but Blizzard is already sharing plenty of details on the game following its reveal at BlizzCon earlier this month. The power fantasy of being a demon-slaying warrior is one aspect of the Diablo experience that Blizzard wants to overhaul. Compared to Diablo 4, the developer wants you to feel the might of your newly earned power on the battlefield.

Speaking to PC Gamer, game director Joe Shely explained how players should feel and look more powerful as they level up. "Diablo is a game that, in many ways, is about your character getting stronger and when the monsters get stronger at the same time, especially outside of your control," game director Joe Shely said. "You've filled the experience bar, you get stronger, you should feel awesome now, a wave of light pulses out from you, a bunch of monsters die."

"That's wonderful, but then you're going to go hit some more monsters, and you should feel powerful. And sometimes automatic scaling can get in the way of that feeling, which is so core to it, and that's why this is a really important question. And so, we're going to take a somewhat different approach to that in Diablo 5."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USLXXyEv5ag

In Diablo 4, the game was criticized for having an aggressive layer of level-scaling for enemies. Even if you'd optimized your loadout and equipped optimal skills, there was always that friction between the player and the world, with players pointing out that the diminishing returns on Paragon points and fewer gear upgrades resulted in a frustrating bottleneck for them.

Because of the open-world scaling at launch, there was effectively no area where you could safely farm better gear to help you survive in tougher zones. Blizzard would eventually adjust the system to make Diablo 4 feel less like an uphill treadmill.

How Blizzard plans to properly implement these systems remains to be seen, but you can expect more updates about Diablo 5 to start rolling out next year. Combat is also under the Blizzard microscope as it aims to make it feel better than ever, and the return of set items should also help feed into the game's power fantasy. 

Gears of War: E-Day officially went gold several days ago--indicating that the game is ready to hit its October launch date--but sadly, story director Juan Vaca was caught up in the latest wave of Xbox "reset" layoffs. After posting about the game hittings its new milestone, Vaca revealed that he was one of over 260 people who was impacted by job cuts at Xbox.

"I am part of this round of Microsoft Layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/TV," Vaca wrote on LinkedIn. "If your team needs a director/storyteller please reach out."

Vanca spent over four years at Gears of War: E-Day developer The Coalition, working as a story director. He'd previously interned at Marvel Studios, worked as a narrative designer at Telltale Games, and was employed at Netflix for three years, where he worked on several series. As mentioned above, he's one of hundreds of people affected by the continued reorganization of Xbox, as this week saw further consolidation of its various studios under Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and King.

The fresh round of layoffs has hit first-party developers, management, and central functions teams at Xbox Game Studios, and they come in the wake of 1,600 people being made redundant back in July. They also aren't over yet, as Xbox boss Matt Booty says that Microsoft is only three-quarters of the way done so far and Blizzard is expected to face cuts next.

Another high-profile layoff was that of Halo Studios' cinematic director, Josh Daniels, just a day after he received a promotion. The studio has been heavily impacted by cuts, leaving a small team to focus on supporting current games in the series and the Halo community. As for the next Halo game, it'll be developed by a new team at Activision.

Gears of War: E-Day launches on October 6.

The Halo franchise has a new home at Activision, as Microsoft announced sweeping changes to its Xbox games division this week. As various Xbox studios are being consolidated under new branches of the company, Halo co-creator Marcus Lehto has commented on the series' move to Activision.

"Shocked but not entirely surprised by the news of the Halo Studios closure and moving the franchise to an Activision team," Lehto wrote online. "Wishing the best for all the developers who were affected by this decision. I, as well as you all, am eager to learn more about what’s next."

While it's still early days, Activision has confirmed that its Halo game will be developed by a "new, purpose-built team," separate from its army of studios responsible for annual Call of Duty games. Halo Studios will still exist, but in a reduced capacity following a fresh wave of layoffs. Going forward, the studio will be focused on supporting the Halo games that have already been released and the wider Halo community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LimYD3Ycwo

The Halo franchise has had several ups and downs, with 2026 also marking the series' 25th anniversary. Previously, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had commented on how Microsoft wants to revive Halo as a tentpole franchise, while Lehto spoke about just how expensive it would be to pull off that resurrection. Lehto also called out the Halo: Combat Evolved remake for being "too heavy-handed–pandering to a new era of players with 0% attention span," and he suggested that remaking Halo would require a radical fresh start.

As the former Halo developer put it, the lore around the game has become "too convoluted," and he believes his idea for a "darker" and "more grounded" Halo game would be the right way to reboot the series, even if it ends up alienating some players. "PvP would be the brains, PvE the heart and soul. It would not be 'everyone's' Halo," Lehto wrote online in August.

In other news related to the latest happenings of the "Xbox reset," Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have merged; things are looking dire for Ninja Theory; and State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs has found a new publisher--while also being forced to start layoffs.

It is officially the fall season in the northern hemisphere, and that means that Halloween is approaching. Mobile game giant Scopely has announced how it's celebrating, and that includes crossovers with KPop Demon Hunters and Ghostbusters in the uber-popular mobile game Monopoly Go.

The "Monster Mash" season, as it's called, runs September 23-November 25. During the event, players can take part in themed minigames and "immersive adventures" featuring Huntr/X and the Saja Boys from KPop Demon Hunters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfx2VOlj4dg

Naturally, music is a big part of the crossover event, with Huntr/X's "Golden" and "How It's Done" appearing in Monopoly Go during the event. There will also be new items to buy from the Blocks Boutique shop, including themed collectibles based on the movie. The characters Rumi, Mira, and Zoey will appear as well.

As for the Ghostbusters crossover, there are Ghostbusters-themed vehicles coming to Monopoly Go, along with locations and characters that will be familiar to fans of the films. And before you even ask, yes, the Proton Blaster is in the update as well.

KPop Demon Hunters comes to Monopoly Go.

Beyond these licensed crossovers, Monopoly Go's Halloween event adds the Luck-O-Lanter, which players can fill with sweet treats they find on the game board. There is also a new "dice duel" feature where players can roll dice for the chance to trick or treat their opponent based on who rolls the higher number.

What's more, the Halloween update celebrates Monopoly Go's Discord community by allowing players to vote to determine which community-made token designs actually get to appear in the game. Also, player-created tokens can now be earned in the game.

Check out the spooky season trailer above to learn more.

StarCraft won't be an Xbox exclusive, though Blizzard isn't exactly making it clear what platforms the newly announced shooter will launch on.

Announced during BlizzCon 2026 with a 2030 release date, Blizzard's StarCraft reboot won't "be exclusive," according to Kotaku, who received a comment from a Blizzard spokesperson. 

What exactly that means, however, is still up for debate. When asked for clarification on whether that means StarCraft would be coming to PlayStation as well as Xbox and PC, Blizzard would only say that calling it an Xbox exclusive would be incorrect, according to Kotaku. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIu2tGCCKQw

Xbox owner Microsoft acquired Blizzard in 2023 as part of its nearly $75.4 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. In recent months, Xbox has pivoted away from its multiplatform release strategy that saw franchises like Forza and Halo make their debut on PS5 to one once again making games, like the upcoming Gears of War: E-Day, Xbox-console exclusives. Xbox announced more layoffs today following even larger cuts from this summer as part of CEO Asha Sharma's "reset." Blizzard has yet to be hit by these more recent layoffs, but reporter Jason Schreier indicated earlier this month it could be next.

Where that leaves Blizzard's various franchises is unclear. It seems safe to assume StarCraft will launch on PC, as that's where all previous StarCraft RTS games are playable. Blizzard is in many ways a PC-first developer, with a decades long history on PC across franchises like Diablo and Warcraft, and even operates its own PC launcher, Battle.net. 

In recent years, more and more Blizzard games have come to consoles. Diablo 4 launched on Switch 2 just last week. In a first for World of Warcraft, the upcoming WoW: Forever will have full controller support, something that is certainly making people think a console version of Blizzard's longrunning MMMORPG is in the cards.

Given Blizzard announced StarCraft so early, it's possible even Blizzard isn't entirely sure what platforms the game will be on. In 2030 there will likely be a new generation of both Xbox and PlayStation hardware, making the question more of whether or not StarCraft will also launch on our current (and by 2030, last-gen) hardware. 

There's still plenty we don't know about the StarCraft shooter, but Blizzard did share a few details in an interview with GameSpot. Creative director Dan Hay said StarCraft is "focusing on single player," that it will be third-person, and players can expect to encounter the Protoss as well as the Zerg. 

World of Warcraft: Forever is reinventing the classic version of Azeroth with all kinds of new content, and if Blizzard does its job, players won't be able to tell the difference between what's old and what's new. 

Announced during BlizzCon 2026, Forever introduces four new zones to Azeroth: the Riverglades, Mount Hjyal, Shen'dralas, and Zephras Isle. In an interview with GameSpot, WoW: Forever senior art director Jeff Parrott and senior game designer Josh Greenfield elaborated on how Blizzard approached developing these all-new zones so that they don't feel out of place in a 22-year old game, as well as how they tried to capture how players "remember" Azeroth looking.

Parrott said the team spent a lot of time looking back at the original, "vanilla" version of WoW and trying to understand how zones were designed back in 2004 when the game first released.

"The team did a great job of just digging in there," Parrott said. "Riverglades is a great example. I think that's a full new zone that we have, and really did a great job of leaning into that Vanilla-era kind of ethos for the design, the flow in the way everything kind of moves through the zone, the quests move you through the zone. It does feel extremely of that era, of that time. So it's really just understanding what we're aiming for and staying faithful to it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buBZRiQXl8U

He said the goal was for Forever's new zones to feel "familiar, but new." 

"It feels like going home," Parrott said. "It feels like a place you've been before. Like, 'Did this exist?' You know, if a player asks, 'Did this exist in the game?' then I think we're in a good spot."

Greenfield added, "Yeah, the temporary Mandela Effect. It's like, 'I'm pretty sure this was there.' It's like, 'No, it wasn't.' 'I'm pretty sure it was.' It's great."

WoW: Forever is adding major visual improvements to old Azeroth. Dramatic lighting upgrades and new water tech give zones a new look while still emphasizing their original feel. Duskwood is spookier than ever, for example, while night elf zones feel even more magical, as rays of sunlight peek through the canopy of the forest. Just like how Blizzard approached developing Forever's new zones, its goal was to invoke the memory of original WoW and how players remember it with the game's visual updates.

"I think one of our core pillars is 'world as the main character,'" Greenfield said. "So how do we make that feel important? We introduce new rendering tech that allows us to kind of better realize water, fog, you know, all that stuff. Just make the world feel alive, more immersive for the players…One of the things that Jeff always says that always really stuck with me is the idea of it not necessarily being WoW the way it actually looked, but the way you remember it.

"When you first see the pretty screenshots of the lighting and rendering and liquids and stuff, and you're like, 'Oh man, that's cool.' But once you're playing it, you really get that immersion that you felt when you first started playing World of Warcraft. And it does feel like, 'This is how I remember it.' Even though if you look at it side by side, it's not, but it feels like it."

WoW: Forever's closed beta is currently live, with the full game set to launch November 4. It will have over 1,000 new quests and full controller support, and while it will introduce plenty of class changes, don't expect Shaman or Warlock tanks anytime soon.

The organizational structure of Xbox has long been complex and unwieldy, and that hasn't changed after the latest wave of changes and layoffs as part of Xbox's "reset." But Microsoft's latest reshuffling of its studios and workforce does prompt the question of what the "Xbox Game Studios" brand even is now, with apparently only a few studios left under that banner.

The Xbox division (formerly named Microsoft Gaming) consists of Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media, and Activision Blizzard, but after some rearranging, Xbox Game Studios appears to only consist of the following companies:

• The Coalition (Gears of War)
• inXile Entertainment (Wasteland, Clockwork Revolution)
• Playground Games (Forza Horizon, Fable)

Not included is Mojang, the Minecraft studio that Microsoft has been leaning heavily on-- that studio now reports directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.

Graphics like this official Xbox Game Studios image from 2019 have aged poorly.

Former studios under the Xbox Game Studios brand include Rare and World's Edge, the developer of Age of Empires, but both now fall under Activision Blizzard. And while it's unclear if Halo Studios as an organization is now formally an Activision Blizzard entity, it's official that Activision is indeed making the next Halo game. Meanwhile, Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment has jumped to Bethesda, and Turn 10 has merged with Playground Games.

ZeniMax now has the following studios:

• Bethesda Game Studios
• id Software
• Obsidian Entertainment
• MachineGames
• ZeniMax Online Studios

Save for King (which also reports directly to Sharma), a few Call of Duty support studios, and whichever team is making the next Halo game, the major teams at Activision Blizzard consist of:

• Beenox
• Blizzard Entertainment
• High Moon Studios
• Infinity Ward
• Raven Software
• Sledgehammer Games
• Rare
• Treyarch
• World's Edge

Technically, all of these development teams are still Xbox studios, and Xbox will continue to publish games from partners, like OD and Physint from Kojima Productions. But the state of "Xbox Game Studios" as its own publishing label is a curiosity.

It's not outside the realm of possibility that Microsoft is doing away with the branding altogether. Since mid-2025, the Xbox website has lacked any dedicated webpages or references to Xbox Game Studios. Contrast that with PlayStation Studios, which has its own page and lists 17 studios under Sony's umbrella.

At its largest, Xbox Game Studios consisted of at least a dozen studios, and now the publisher has been whittled down to just a handful after shutting down or divesting from most of them. The remaining three studios, The Coalition, inXile, and Playground, are all releasing a game within the next year (Gears of War: E-Day, Clockwork Revolution, and Fable, respectively).

Under Sharma's leadership, Xbox has highlighted its plan to strengthen its brand, with exclusive content as a core part of that initiative. But as its internal publisher shrinks and becomes deemphasized, what even makes an Xbox game an "Xbox game" anymore? Chances are that this distinction will remain hazy until Xbox finishes its brutal reset.

Microsoft's "reset" of the Xbox business entered its next chapter this week with the announcement of 268 more layoffs, along with other drastic organizational and operational changes for the gaming giant.

As part of the announcement, Xbox boss Matt Booty said this latest wave of restructuring, combined with the changes completed in July, brings the company up to "roughly three-quarters of the way through" the planned changes.

In essence, he’s saying that the Xbox “reset” effort isn't over yet, so further layoffs and other changes are expected.

Microsoft's "reset" of the Xbox business is not done yet.

In July, Xbox announced that it was laying off 1,600 people immediately, with a further 1,600 layoffs to come during Microsoft's fiscal year 2027, which ends June 30, 2027. With 1,600 cuts in July and 268 more today, that leaves 1,332 still to come. Even if that math isn't totally accurate given how microsoft tallies things, it's definitely true that many more staff reductions are coming.

According to comments from reporter Jason Schreier this month, layoffs at the Warcraft and Diablo company Blizzard are coming imminently. This would be just after Blizzard made a series of big announcements at BlizzCon.

GameSpot has contacted Microsoft seeking comment on the accounting details for the cuts so far and what could come next.

The latest wave of cuts at Xbox hit Halo Studios, other first-party game developers, and the Xbox Game Studios management and central functions teams. The impact at Halo Studios appears to be significant, as Booty confirmed that the next Halo game is being made at Activision, not Halo Studios.

Why is Microsoft doing this?

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, who took over the job from Phil Spencer just this year, said the Xbox business was in an unhealthy place and needed to be overhauled.

She cited a number of reasons, including Microsoft's big bet on Game Pass simply not working out and the shift away from exclusives promoted by Spencer and Sarah Bond eating away at the overall Xbox business. At the same time that Microsoft spent more on teams, games, and services at Xbox, the company's "core business weakened," Sharma said. Not only that, but the gaming industry has been significantly affected by what Sharma called the "most severe hardware crisis in its history," referencing the memory and component shortages caused by the AI craze. Ironically, Microsoft itself directly and significantly contributed to this.

These factors contributed to a situation in which Sharma felt it was necessary to “reset” the Xbox business through drastic and painful changes. At the same time, part of what's to blame is the fact that Microsoft is a publicly traded company whose shareholders demand endless growth. Sharma said some of the investments and bets made by Spencer and Bond did indeed create "meaningful value," but the line did not go up as fast and far as is required under capitalism.

Microsoft is raking in the money

Microsoft is a gigantic company; it is currently the No. 4 most valuable company on Earth with a valuation of close to $4 trillion. To be sure, gaming is just one part of Microsoft's business, and it's nowhere close to the biggest one.

That being said, for Microsoft's latest quarter, the company brought in $90 billion in revenue and posted a net profit of close to $36 billion. Many have pointed out the seemingly cruel reality of Microsoft posting gigantic profits at the same time it makes drastic cuts.

Even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has acknowledged the apparent incongruence of this reality, saying Microsoft is thriving by every objective measure but still cutting staff due to “the enigma of success.” Needless to say, his comments did not go over well, with one industry expert saying "catastrophic mismanagement" and AI gambits have contributed to the cuts at Xbox in recent times.

World of Warcraft: Forever is bringing big changes to the WoW Classic sandbox, but don't expect to see Shamans or Warlocks tanking, at least at launch.

New roles for classes, like the above-mentioned tanks, as well as Rogue tank and Mage healer, were something Blizzard experimented with in WoW: Classic Season of Discovery. It certainly helped solve the game's tank shortage problem, with more classes than ever before able to taunt enemies and effectively hold aggro.

In an interview with GameSpot, WoW: Forever senior game designer Josh Greenfield said that while the team learned many lessons with Season of Discovery and carried many of those forward into Forever, more "out there" changes like Warlock tank or Mage healer didn't make the jump.

“I think in spirit, a lot of the lessons we learned are carried over, but some of the more out-there things that weren’t originally in original WoW, we tone them back a little bit,” Greenfield said. “Because it’s one of those things…It’s in the name: It’s Forever. We can do a lot of things over years, but we wanted to kind of start from a place where the soul of the class is very coded and original-WoW-centric. But there’s still meaningful changes and really exciting kinds of ways to play, the existing ways to play your class and new ways to play your class. But some of [those], like Warlock tank, Shaman tank, not quite yet, but never say never."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buBZRiQXl8U

Currently in the WoW: Forever beta, the idea of a tank Shaman is much as it was in original WoW: something that is on the cusp of being viable, but is still held back by things like the lack of a true taunt and better damage mitigation. It wouldn't take too many changes for Shaman to become become a proper tank once again, though when or if that will actually happen is up in the air.

Some Season of Discovery content that has made its way into Forever. It's been confirmed that certain pieces of the experimental season, like new class quests, the Undermine Reals endgame currency, and even the hidden cozy-sleeping bag quest chain, have made the jump. However, bigger pieces of Season of Discovery-exclusive content, like the Scarlet Enclave raid and the Kharazan Crypts dungeon, won't be in Forever at launch. 

WoW: Forever is a big swing for Blizzard. We went hands-on with the new version of WoW at BlizzCon 2026, and came away impressed at the exciting new changes coming to the classic vision of Azeroth. We even played WoW: Forever on controller, which could be a major game-changer for the MMORPG.

The WoW: Forever beta is currently ongoing for those who preorder the game's new Skyborne elf race, with the game's full release set for November 4. 

As Xbox continues its reset and lays off nearly 300 staff, the company announced that some of its subsidiaries have been shaken up as well. This includes Obsidian Entertainment, which will now operate under Bethesda Softworks.

On September 22, Xbox chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty posted on Xbox's website, outlining a new structure that sees the Bethesda business unit now include Obsidian.

"Bethesda will expand its remit to include Obsidian, which will continue its current projects, including Grounded, as well as the new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios," Booty wrote on Xbox Wire.

This language doesn't appear to suggest that Bethesda gobbled up Obsidian to take ownership over the studio or anything. Instead, it sounds a little closer to the working relationship Bethesda--or rather, the studio's parent company, ZeniMax Media--has with Doom maker id Software.

Obsidian Entertainment--which developed copious RPGs from Neverwinter Nights 2 to Pillars of Eternity to Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords to The Outer Worlds--lost 25% of its staff in July after Xbox's first major reset. This resulted in the Avowed sequel being killed and the acclaimed RPG studio shifting its focus to the Fallout franchise, with a new game in development. It's unclear if this project is Fallout 5 or some spin-off of the long-running series, but alongside whatever Obsidian Entertainment is working on, there are at least three Fallout pies in the oven now.

This isn't the only reshuffling happening at Xbox. Booty also announced that Activision will develop the next Halo, Hellblade developer Ninja Theory will likely close, and the two Forza studios have hit the fusion dance to become one. There's more to come, too, with more layoffs reportedly planned before June 2027.

Big changes are afoot at Microsoft, as the company announced a massive reorganization of its Xbox gaming division. While Activision and Bethesda will expand their remit, adding several studios to their portfolio, Forza series developers Playground and Turn 10 won't be included in the consolidation. Instead, the two developers are joining forces, merging into one developer after years of tag-teaming on games like Forza Horizon and Fable.

"These two studios have been creative and franchise partners for over a decade, and today’s changes will formally move their work into one team," Xbox chief creative officer Matt Booty wrote in a letter to employees. What the letter doesn't precisely mention is if there'll be layoffs at these studios, but we do know that 268 positions at Xbox are being made redundant as part of a previously announced second wave of job cuts. Mergers typically see several roles overlap, so it won't be too surprising to see people let go from both studios as they start the process of becoming a single team.

Playground Games has a storied career, having developed the first Forza Horizon game, released in 2012. Since then, the studio has developed each entry in the franchise, which slowly overtook the main Forza Motorsport series to become one of Xbox's tentpole franchises. Forza Horizon 6 was released earlier this year to positive reviews, and next year will bring a new chapter in the Fable series. Turn 10 Studios is an even older developer, having been established in 2001 to develop racing games for Microsoft Game Studios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuJjIgntefE

Working solely on the Forza Motorsport series--which offered a higher degree of sim-racing realism compared to Playground's arcade-inspired Forza Horizon games--the studio developed eight games in the series. Forza Motorsport launched in 2023 and was envisioned as a new live-service era for the racing game series, but it never really took off. Following massive layoffs in July 2025, Turn 10 Studios announced that it was ending development of new content for Forza Motorsport and began working as a support studio for Playground.

Former Forza Motorsport content coordinator Fred Russell didn't mince his words following those layoffs, saying the team was "no more" and that the studio had been effectively shuttered.

When the R-rated Bloodborne movie was officially announced with YouTuber Seán McLoughlin AKA JackSepticEye signed on as a producer, many wondered what, exactly, his involvement might be. Now, we have a better idea.

Appearing on 100 Questions with Tom Simons (via GamesRadar), McLoughlin said you can think of his role as a producer as a "vibe-checker" for the movie. In essence, McLoughlin said that when he's on calls with stakeholders discussing key elements of the "vetting process" and hiring, he speaks up and helps make decisions.

"I say that my role is that I'm the one being like, 'This is a good idea, this is a bad idea, we shouldn't do this.' But also I'm the one greenlighting who gets hired, and who we work with to make sure that vetting process is good," he said. "You don't want to bring on anyone who has no idea what Bloodborne is. In simpler terms, I'm sort of the vibe-checker to be like, 'Yeah, not that.'"

He went on to say that he's not trying to shepherd the Bloodborne movie to become "the game," or a movie that tries to "one up the game" or compete with it. Instead, McLoughlin said his ambition is to "honor the universe that's there and tell as good a story as I can within it."

Before this, McLoughlin said he's not trying to make a quick buck with the Bloodborne movie, though if the movie is a success, it stands to reason that he would participate in that given his status as a producer. He has spoken about his extreme passion for the franchise, saying he believes working on the Bloodborne movie is what he was put on this Earth to do.

Bloodborne is not the only From Software game getting a film adaptation, as a live-action Elden Ring is on the way from director Alex Garland and A24.

In the wake of the latest round of reshuffles and retrenchments, Microsoft has confirmed that State of Decay 3 developer, Undead Labs, has reached an agreement with a new publisher that will keep the game alive.

Undead Labs will now continue working on State of Decay 3, with Microsoft confirming that the game will still launch on Xbox Game Pass day-one when its ready. The studio confirmed the news in an announcement of its own, confirming that it is now a completely "independent, employee-owned game development studio."

"We're enormously grateful for our years as part of XBOX and for everything that relationship has made possible," says Philip Holt, Studio Head of Undead Labs. "Microsoft has been part of the State of Decay story from the very beginning, and we’re proud of everything we’ve accomplished together."

Undead Labs was just one of several studios that Microsoft has offloaded in recent months, with Double Fine and Compulsion Games similarly finding futures away from the Xbox publishing arm. Ninja Theory has been less successful; however, the studio now on the brink of closure.

This news comes in the wake of a massive restructure across Microsoft Game Studios, with several studios now moving under new stewardship. Halo will now be developed under the guidance of Activision, with Rare and its current title, Sea of Thieves, following. Obsidian, which is working on a new Fallout, will now report to Bethesda, while Playground Games and Turn 10 are being merged for the future of the Forza franchise.

Ahead of its release in November, the marketing for Grand Theft Auto 6 has begun to take over Miami's Kaseya Center. As part of the campaign, developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take-Two Interactive are decking out the stadium in giant GTA 6 letters that will spell out "Welcome to Vice City" once they're fully installed. It's a big task, and one that requires aerial support, as one chopper has been steadily airlifting them up to their designated spot. Onlookers have been documenting the process and posting clips online of it:

https://twitter.com/SourceVI/status/2102190668479140216 https://twitter.com/DavidVergel97/status/2102385075006353442 https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/2102383683806347447 https://twitter.com/OfficialJoelF/status/2102367371222770015 https://twitter.com/videotech/status/2102383223838048471

The advertising campaign is reportedly valued at almost $1 million for Miami-Dade County (via WLRN), and the funds will go toward developing a plot of land behind the stadium for community use. The deal has been criticized by the county Sheriff’s Office, with Commissioner Bermudez proposing that the funds instead go toward funding gaps in the law division's budget.

Alongside Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, Bermudez also criticized GTA 6 for glorifying crime and the killing of police officers. While you can commit those acts in GTA 6, it looks like getting away with literal murder will be more challenging, as the game's new Wanted and Honor systems will make cops a lot smarter and more persistent when compared to previous games in the series.

Rockstar Games has also officially announced Grand Theft Auto 6: The Album. This is a 34-song collection of original music from performers like Keith Richards, Yung Lean, and Morgan Wallen, and it also includes several licensed tracks. Unlike the game, a physical edition is available to preorder, and it'll be released on November 19, the same day as GTA 6.

In more GTA 6 news, we recently got confirmation that Milton from Office Space is in the game, the limited-edition GTA 6 DualSense controllers are selling fast, and unsurprisingly, a lot of people are planning to take time off of work to play the game when it launches.

It's yet another sad day in the games industry as Xbox's continued gutting of its subsidiaries gets worse, with acclaimed action game studio Ninja Theory headed for the chopping block.

Xbox's chief content officer and executive vice president Matt Booty took to the official Xbox website on September 22 to announce that the Hellblade studio will go forward with the proposed closure.

"Unfortunately, two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through," Booty wrote. "We will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward."

Ninja Theory has developed several games since its founding in March 2000. You might know the studio for Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, DmC: Devil May Cry, or Bleeding Edge. The studio is now best known for the Hellblade series, with Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launching in 2024. There's a third entry in the works planned for 2027, but that may be up in the air with considering the studio's fate.

Although Booty seems to suggest there may be "other paths forward" for Ninja Theory, it appears the plan is to shutter the Hellblade developer--maybe unless another buyer steps forward.

There was a buyer previously, as Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said in July 2026 that Ninja Theory--along with State of Decay 3 developer Undead Labs--had "entered terms to join new ownership with funding."

It's worth noting, though, that the language Xbox is using here doesn't explicitly mean Ninja Theory is closing right this second. Instead, the "consultation with employees" and "continuing to explore other paths forward" are likely in reference to UK law, which requires employers to establish at least a 30-day consultancy period. In that time period, measures to avoid redundancies are to be discussed while giving affected staff time to find new jobs.

At the same time Xbox moves forward with the proposed plan to shutter Ninja Theory, the company continues its reset and further shakes up its subsidiaries. Activision will develop the next Halo, Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios have merged, and Obsidian will operate under Bethesda Game Studios. The aftermath of this latest layoff will see Microsoft cut at least 268 staff after it already laid off 1,600 employees in July.