Microsoft has announced a new program called the Voluntary Exit Offer that it's extending to thousands of workers at the company, including people on the Xbox team.

Microsoft is doing this to shed employees, but the messaging is that a program like this could be appealing to someone who was already thinking about leaving and can now do so with a pay package.

Microsoft shared the high-level details of the Voluntary Exit Offer on its blog, and Bloomberg had more insight. The report said 60,000 workers are eligible for the Voluntary Exit Offer, and this works out to more than 25% of Microsoft's entire workforce.

Xbox is undergoing big changes.

Bloomberg reported that Xbox is one of the divisions of Microsoft whose employees can leave the company via the Voluntary Exit Offer, along with Windows, Copilot, and finance teams. The report said people working on Microsoft's efforts in data centers, sales, marketing, cyber security, and quantum computing are not eligible.

Microsoft made this announcement just two days before it releases its next earnings report on October 28. The technology giant is spending hundreds of billions of dollars in its massive AI push, and many in the investment community have questioned if that level of capital expenditure makes sense.

In April this year, Microsoft offered a Voluntary Retirement Program, and it offered severance pay, ongoing stock vesting, and extended health benefits. About 33% of eligible workers took that deal. Mass layoffs came in July, affecting nearly 5,000 people, including major cuts at Xbox. Terms of the new Voluntary Exit Offer are not available, but a spokesperson told Bloomberg that those who take the offer will receive benefits similar to a severance package.

For Xbox specifically, it was reported that further layoffs could be announced in October, with another round set for November, and then another in January 2027. However, The Verge's Tom Warren said the October layoffs at Xbox are not happening this month, but will occur later. Xbox has been undergoing a "reset" under the leadership of CEO Asha Sharma, and this has included mass layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations, among other dramatic moves.

These changes are happening at Microsoft amid huge surges in revenue and profitability for the company. For the latest period, Microsoft reported $90 billion in revenue (up 18%) and a profit of $35.8 billion (up 22%). As mentioned, the newest data will be revealed on October 28, so keep checking back for more.

CEO Satya Nadella addressed the seemingly discordant nature of cutting staff so massively at a time when the company is making so much money. In a memo, he said, "This is the enigma of success."

Nintendo has announced a new Indie World Showcase for October 28 at 7 AM PT /  10 AM ET. The broadcast will run about 15 minutes and, like previous streams, will focus on a wide range of games from third-party Nintendo partners. As usual, you can catch the showcase through Nintendo's official YouTube channel.

"Tune in for roughly 15 minutes of new announcements and updates on indie games coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch," Nintendo's announcement read.

Nintendo's last Indie World Showcase was held back in March 2026, and it showed off several upcoming games at the time. Many of these have already been released, including the high-energy Denshattack, a port of the underrated twin-stick shooter Minishoot' Adventures, and the shadow drop of one of 2025's best games, Blue Prince.

Short and sweet, the Indie World Showcase offers a broader look at the smaller games coming to Switch consoles. The end of the year is fast approaching, and Nintendo's 2026 holiday-season blockbuster will be a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was heavily featured in September's The Legend of Zelda 40th anniversary Nintendo Direct, alongside other Zelda-centric announcements.

The Wolf Among Us 2 is finally landing in 2027, and if you want to catch up on what many consider one of Telltale Games' best exports, you can grab The Wolf Among Us Remastered on October 29. It's the original game spruced up for new hardware and enhanced with several extras, but is it a necessary purchase? Yes and no, depending on what you expect from this package.

GameSpot senior video producer Jean-Luc Seipke went hands-on with the remaster, and in the video below, you can hear their thoughts on this Telltale classic. So how much of a difference does 13 years make? With The Wolf Among Us Remastered, Telltale has focused on subtle improvements across the board. The goal was to retain the original game's look and feel while improving lighting, adding new animations where needed, making the protagonist Bigby's werewolf transformation more intimidating, and making other nuanced tweaks under the hood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID8iK3dvUo8

Compared to the original, the difference isn't night and day, but the extra work adds a new visual layer to a game that already had a timeless look thanks to its strong art direction. If you're unfamiliar with the source material, The Wolf Among Us adapts Fables, an award-winning comic book series that ran for 13 years and chronicled the exploits of a secret society of exiled fairy tale characters in New York. A big hit for DC's Vertigo imprint, the series ran from 2002-2015 and made a short-lived comeback in 2022.

Beyond the graphical update, The Wolf Among Us Remastered also packs plenty of extra content. Noir Mode dresses the game in a monochrome filter, adds several deleted and extended scenes, and lets you go behind the scenes with developer commentary, concept art, interviews, and other archival materials. If that content doesn't matter to you, then the remaster might not be a necessary upgrade.

That said, Telltale is launching the game at an attractive $25 price, with a launch-week discount and even deeper savings if you already own the game. So for a few bucks more, the remastered edition is the more tempting offer, and Telltale says that it won't remove the original game from storefronts either. Progress in The Wolf Among Us Remastered will also affect how the story plays out in The Wolf Among Us 2, but as of now, we haven't heard back from Telltale on whether choices made in the original game will carry over. 

Whichever version you choose, you're going to have a good time. The Wolf Among Us is an all-time classic from the Telltale library, and the remaster looks like a fun way to relive that story--or experience it for the first time--before the big bad wolf huffs and puffs down the door for his return next year.

A BioShock movie at Netflix remains in development, its director has confirmed, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll ever be made. Francis Lawrence confirmed to The Direct that he hopes to make the BioShock movie, but "it's tricky on a couple fronts."

Lawrence said he is "definitely active" in working on the BioShock movie, but "it is a tough nut to crack that world and that story."

"You are the character when you play the game, and so creating that character from scratch into that world that, you know, quite honestly, is pretty batsh** in a most amazing way," he said. "It's tricky. So we're getting there, and we're getting close, which is great."

The BioShock movie was originally set to be a large-scale production, but when Netflix film chief Dan Lin came in, the project was scaled back. Lin recently left Netflix amid a major shakeup at the streaming giant, as did longtime chief content officer Bela Bajaria. Former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice is now the new chief content officer, and Lawrence hopes the management shakeups do not affect the BioShock movie in a big way, but nothing is ever certain in Hollywood.

"I would love nothing more than to be able to make that movie," Lawrence said of BioShock. "So still working on it. And then, you have also just the Netflix of it all because Netflix right now has had regime changes and just all of that kind of nonsense that I don't like to have to deal with or have to. So we'll see. Hopefully we'll figure it out."

Lawrence's latest project is the Hunger Games movie Sunrise on the Reaping, which releases in November. Asked if BioShock would be his next project, Lawrence said, "You never know." He said working on multiple films simultaneously creates a "horse race" kind of scenario where factors like the script, talent availability, and production realities need to align for projects to go ahead.

Curiously, BioShock producer Roy Lee said the BioShock movie is planned to coincide with the release of a new BioShock game. Lee did not name any specific games outright, but Take-Two recently reiterated that the long-in-development BioShock 4 will see the light of day … some day. 

The final Magic: The Gathering expansion of 2026, Star Trek, is sending Wizards Of The Coast's card game to the final frontier. Along with the main set and pre-constructed Commander decks will be a full set of Star Trek themed Secret Lair drops, as GameSpot can now exclusively reveal the Secret Lair X Star Trek Set Phasers To Superdrop, which launches November 9 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

Six drops will be part of the Set Phaser To Superdrop offering, each one themed around the people, places, and technology of the Star Trek universe. Each drop will cost $40 in foil and $30 in non-foil, while supplies last.

Below, we have an exclusive look at five of those six drops, as well as a bonus card available to those who pick up multiple drops.

First, here's Secret Lair X Star Trek Set Phasers To Superdrop: Beam Me Up!

• Eerie Interlude as "Beam Us Up" (Reversible)
• Momentary Blink (Reversible)
• Essence Flux as "Materialize" (Reversible)
• Conjurer's Closet as "The Transporter" (Reversible)

The Beam Us Up drop features four cards themed around "blinking" permanents--or removing them from the board, then immediately bringing them back to re-use any "enters the battlefield" effects.

All four cards are reversible, with one side depicting Star Trek characters in the wilds of space, and the other showing them back in the safety of their starship, in the same pose as the first side.

The next drop is Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop: KHAAAAAAAAN!

• Wrath of the Skies as "Best Served Cold"
• Commandeer
• Illusionist's Gambit as "Reliant's Betrayal"
• Buried Alive
• Genesis Wave
• Fracture

The KHAAAAAAAAN Superdrop features six cards all themed around the 1982 hit film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Each card highlights scenes and moments from the movie, including Ricardo Montalbán's iconic portrayal of the titular villain Khan Noonien Singh.

The third drop is Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop: Lower Decks!

• Inti, Seneschal of the Sun as "Mariner, Breaching Protocol"
• Kambal, Profiteering Mayor as "Boimler, Citing Protocol"
• Silas Renn, Seeker Adept as "Rutherford, Rebuilding the Past"
• Thrasios, Triton Hero as "Tendi, Exploring the Future"
• Weatherlight as "U.S.S. Cerritos, California-Class"

As the name suggests, this drop features characters from Star Trek: Lower Decks, along with the show's cartoon style. This drop marks the Secret Lair debut for both Silas Renn, Seeker Adept and Thrasios, Triton Hero, which made their MTG debuts in 2016.

The fourth drop is Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop: tlhIngan maH!

• Demand Answers (Reversible)
• Relentless Assault (Reversible)
• Seething Song (Reversible)
• War's Toll (Reversible)
• Warstorm Surge (Reversible)

This drop is all about the Klingons, with five cards showing the proud warrior race in action. Like the Beam Us Up drop, each card in the tlhIngan maH drop is reversible, with one side written in English and the other written in the iconic Klingon language.

The final drop included in today's reveal is Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop: New Worlds!

• 2x Plains
• 2x Island
• 2x Swamp
• 2x Mountain
• 2x Forest

The New Worlds drop focuses on the many different planets Star Trek's officers have visited over the years, presented here as the five basic lands. The drop will include two of each land, which feature the artwork of longtime Magic artist Alayna Danner.

Finally, anyone who spends $200 or more on Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop will receive a bonus card: Return of the Wildspeaker as "Transporter Boondoggle!"

Return of the Wildspeaker as 'Transporter Boondoggle"

Secret Lair x Star Trek Set Phasers to Superdrop releases November 9 on the official MTG Secret Lair website. The sixth and final drop of the Superdrop will be "revealed later," according to the official blog post.

The full Star Trek expansion launches November 13 in local game stores and big-box retailers. Prerelease events will take place in local game stores beginning one week earlier, on November 6.

The Call of Duty franchise has now exceeded $40 billion in lifetime franchise revenue, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has confirmed.

She shared this milestone following the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on October 23. "Congrats to the team. And to the players, thank you for being with us," Sharma wrote.

Sharma did not, however, share any insights into how Modern Warfare 4 is performing, or if it was MW4 that pushed Call of Duty over $40 billion. All her statement says is that "now" Call of Duty has reached $40 billion, and that $40 billion is an "incredible milestone."

https://twitter.com/asha_shar/status/2114787993114591335

Whatever the case, $40 billion is a big number. The series debuted 23 years ago in 2003, and has seen new installments annually since. Beyond mainline entries for PC and console, the Call of Duty franchise has expanded into the mobile market and the battle royale genre with Call of Duty: Warzone.

No doubt the $40 billion figure includes sales of the main games, along with in-game content for them, as well as spinoffs and ports. Activision also surely got a fee from Paramount to make the Call of Duty movie, and it's possible this revenue is counted toward the $40 billion total as well.

Activision does not disclose development or marketing budgets for any of its games, including Call of Duty releases, so there is no way to know anything about their profitability levels. Some developers more readily share sales specifics like break-even points, but not Activision.

Activision has relied on the brand power of the Modern Warfare and Black Ops games for a long time, but a brand-new sub-series for Call of Duty is now in the works. In addition to this, Activision will develop new Halo games going forward.

Modern Warfare 4 boasts a very impressive 86 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic currently. For more, check out GameSpot’s MW4 review, which covers the campaign, DMZ, and multiplayer. If you’re just getting started, you may also wanted to check out our rundown of the best MW4 multiplayer loadouts.

Nintendo has announced that Pokemon Unite, its Pokemon-themed MOBA for mobile devices and Switch consoles, will be shutting down on March 23, 2027. The game will go offline just days after the Aeos Crown 2027 tournament, and Nintendo has stopped selling the game's premium in-game currency, Aeos Gems.

"We offer our sincerest gratitude to the many Trainers who have played since service started for the Nintendo Switch version on July 21, 2021," The Pokemon Company and developer TiMi Studio Group announced in a press statement. "We hope you continue to enjoy Pokemon Unite until the final day of service."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFtMRJAc3z8

Pokemon Unite's online matches will be a thing of the past after March, but players can download a new Library update that lets them view their career progress and stats, as well as play practice rounds. While the game had a fairly sizable audience, Pokemon Unite always seemed like a forgotten part of the Pokemon empire, and it failed to make the cut for the 2027 Pokemon World Championships. A fairly serviceable MOBA, it never seemed to catch on like other Pokemon spin-offs, and fans questioned how long it would run before Nintendo pulled the plug.

With the release of the battle-focused Pokemon Champions earlier this year, the writing may have been on the wall for Pokemon Unite, and it'll be joining several other titles in the Nintendo mobile games graveyard like Mario Kart Tour, while Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp transitioned from an online game to a microtransaction-free version that costs $10.

As the year winds down, Pokemon fans can also look forward to a new game in the series: Pokemon Winds and Waves. It's the longest wait yet between mainline entries, but judging from the teasers shown off so far, fans look content to let longtime developer Game Freak cook on this new chapter in the franchise.

Originally set to enter early access on October 27, action-adventure RPG Emberville has been delayed by over two months to January 7, 2027. The last-minute delay gives the team time to make "essential improvements" before Emberville reaches its fans.

The upcoming game mixes Stardew Valley-like farming and community building with action-adventure RPG combat. Trapped in a magical underground dungeon, the player must uncover the truth about their cursed prison while revitalizing the ruined town of Emberville.

Emberville's demo was one of the most played during Steam Next Fest last week; however, player feedback from the demo has led to a last-minute delay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOJmwxZZsX0

"Some of the improvements we want to make are systems changes that can't be done quickly," the Emberville team said, acknowledging feedback from Next Fest players. "Reworking bow combat, for example, would take more time than we had prior to our Early Access release even though the team is working around the clock. After carefully considering our options, we have decided to move the release date and include some essential improvements in the Early Access launch build."

While the game is intended to grow and improve throughout its early access period, with the developer planning to add new content incrementally, the studio wants to reach a certain baseline before it launches.

"Our team has a clear vision for how Emberville will develop throughout early access," the Steam post continues. "On January 7, our goal is to deliver an experience that shows what makes the game distinctive, establishes its core gameplay, and offers a compelling glimpse of how the game will grow throughout early access."

While some players are disappointed by the eleventh-hour delay, others have said they're happy for the Emberville team to take as much time as it needs to get the game up to scratch. Some players have also speculated that Emberville is just the latest game to move its release date in order to avoid losing players to the looming release of GTA 6.

Sony-owned studio Sucker Punch Productions is losing 24 employees in another round of layoffs in the games industry. The studio is behind Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yotei, two first-party PlayStation titles that have been critical and commercial hits.

An Aftermath report claims 24 Sucker Punch staff have lost their jobs. The studio is estimated to have between 190 and 230 staff, depending on the source, meaning Sucker Punch has lost at least 10% of its employees.

"After carefully observing the challenges in the market and reviewing the team needs for our next project, we've decided to make some staffing reductions," an email from studio leadership quoted by Aftermath read. "Several positions across Sucker Punch will be eliminated as a result."

"We know this is a lot to take in, and we want to assure you that we did not make this decision lightly. We have given this a lot of attention and worked to support our affected colleagues during this transition as well as we can," the email continued, adding: "Next week we will go into more details about the future."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d48IWwIRg98

For the past decade, Sucker Punch has worked on its two open-world samurai adventure games, both standout successes in Sony's first-party slate. As of 2022, Ghost of Tsushima had sold over 8 million lifetime copies, while Ghost of Yotei was reported to be Sony's best-selling title on the PS5 as of June 2026.

The studio's latest release was the critically acclaimed Echoes of Sekigahara expansion for Ghost of Yotei, which brought back the first game's protagonist, Jin Sakai.

Prior to Ghost of Tsushima, Sucker Punch developed the Sly Cooper and Infamous series. This isn't the first time the studio has undergone layoffs after a commercially successful release; an unspecified number of layoffs occurred in 2014 following the launch of Infamous Second Son, the same month the expansion First Light was released.

If last week's mysterious Mass Effect: Universe trailer leak wasn't painful enough for you in the wake of BioWare's sudden closure, we've gotten yet another taste of The Game That Could Have Been, this time courtesy of award-winning video game composer Austin Wintory. 

Known for his beautiful and haunting soundtracks for games like Flow, Journey, ABZÛ, Aliens: Fireteam Elite, Sword of The Sea, John Wick Hex, and Hades II, Wintory was also evidently working on the Mass Effect: Universe soundtrack. From the sounds of things, EA and the now-defunct BioWare were considering having Wintory produce the game's OST. And thanks to Wintory, we at least know what the game might have sounded like.

"Mass Effect was my ultimate white whale, my all-time dream project," Wintory wrote in a post on Bluesky. "For the last couple years I'd been in discussion with BioWare & EA to take on the project, and as part of that, I wrote close to 20 minutes of music to explore where the franchise can go next. May as well share it!"

Wintory shared the music alongside an image that reads, "Mass Effect: Universe, the music that might have been."

"So here you go," Wintory added in a follow-up post linking to a YouTube upload of the test-run tracks. "Thank you again to my friends at both BioWare and EA. To even dream in your sandbox was a privilege."

The video features 20 minutes of Wintory's experimental score, featuring seven unique tracks and one remix. Text displayed within the video itself also reveals more about the nature of Wintory's talks with EA and BioWare, along with his inspiration for the soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBO8s_McKjU

"In 2007, when the credits rolled on my first playthrough of Mass Effect, I remember calling a friend and saying, 'I can't believe I already know this will be among my favorite all-time games.' Usually, it takes the passage of time before we can be so sure something truly belongs to the ages, but in this case, the confidence was instantaneous," Wintory wrote. "This trilogy is my most-cherished gaming experience of my lifetime, and as a professional composer, represented my most sought-after 'White Whale.' For me, there is no greater dream project to be part of."

According to Wintory, nothing had been finalized yet, but both EA and BioWare seemed eager to get him on board. So Wintory, in all his love for the franchise, cooked up a little surprise for the Mass Effect: Universe team.

"For the past several years, I'd been in dialogue with people both at BioWare and EA to potentially jump into Mass Effect 5," Wintory explained. "As part of those conversations, I decided to surprise the team by writing/recording a giant love letter to the franchise, with my idea of where it can go next. When I wrote this (in 2025), I knew nothing of what they were planning, so this was a bit narratively speculative. The concept was a direct homage to Jack Wall and Sam Hulick's incredible work on the first game, while leaning even harder on true analog synths, and a more complex integration of the orchestra (almost akin to the hybrid nature of The Matrix)."

While it seems that Mass Effect: Universe will never see the light of day, at least we have the beautiful soundtrack-that-could-have been, for what looked to be an equally beautiful game.

World of Warcraft: Forever's release is just around the corner, but developer Blizzard is making one final pass at the game's racial abilities before launch in response to beta feedback.

In a forum post, WoW community manager Kaivax posted a list of significant changes to many of each race's unique abilities that players expressed concerns about during Forever's beta. Those changes include tweaks to tauren, humans, orcs, dwarves, and Skyborne elves.

"In taking a final pass on these, we've prioritized racial identity, which means that some races will naturally be slightly more effective than others at certain combat roles," Blizzard said. "In some places where we had replaced role or class-focused racials with generic ones, we're rolling those changes back."

https://youtu.be/miSndSl23bI?si=kQoKkM4LGLofOsk-

The exception to that mindset is weapon-specialization abilities, Blizzard said, which existed for humans and orcs both in WoW Classic and early on in Forever's beta and made each race more effective with specific types of weapons.

"While those have a strong fantasy component to them, it is not healthy in the long run for future raid and dungeon loot tables to be evaluated through the lens of 'required' weapon types," Blizzard said. "At the same time, we're doing a tuning pass on some of the remaining passive bonuses to help ensure that they aren't skewing outcomes in a way that limits player preferences." 

Humans, widely viewed by the community as one of the most "optimal" races to pick thanks to their powerful passive abilities, have lost some of their power in combat. Ruthless now only grants 1% critical strike chance instead of 2%. In exchange, their Human Spirit passive has been buffed from 5% to 10%.

Tauren have seen some significant changes, with massive buffs to their unique Plainsrunning ability but a loss to some of their combat effectiveness. Plainsrunning will now grant 2% movement speed per stack up to a max of 60% increased movement speed, at the price of no longer increasing mounted movement speed and the loss of hit chance and crit damage from their Endurance passive. 

Orcs have seen their 1% crit chance removed and replaced with an earlier passive, Command. Now, orcs will deal 5% increased Warlock and Hunter pet damage. Dwarves have had their critical damage passive removed, instead replaced with a 1% chance to hit with attacks and spells.

Last but not least, Forever's newest race, Skyborne elves, have seen some major changes. Their haste bonus from Wind-Blessed has been reduced to 2% from 3%. They also now benefit more from using their Skysight and Read Leyline abilities at elemental convergence or leyline sites, with stronger effects that persist through death.

It's just the latest (and sounds like the last, at least for a while) batch of changes to Forever's various races. Blizzard said these changes, a little over a week before Forever's launch, were to address feedback players had during the beta about some abilities feeling "too generic," while others were "objectively stronger than others." You can read the full racial ablity changes below.

Blizzard looks to be making plenty of changes to Forever in the last stretch before release. It announced last week that it will be getting a new PvP-server option after all, and that the MMORPG's controversial layering system will see improvements in time for launch. WoW: Forever arrives November 4.

WoW: Forever Racial Ability Changes 10/26

• Human
  • Ruthless now increases critical chance by 1% (was 2%).
  • Human Spirit now increases Spirit by 10% (was 5%).
• Dwarf
  • Earth Fury (2% increased critical strike damage and healing) removed.
  • Added: Artisan’s Precision - Increases hit chance with spells and attacks by 1%.
• Tauren
  • Plainsrunning now grants 2% movement speed per stack (was 1%), for a total max increase of 60% (was 30%).
  • Plainsrunning no longer increases mounted movement speed.
  • Endurance no longer provides any modifiers beyond 5% increased Health (no hit chance or critical damage modifiers).
• Orc
  • Savage removed (1% increased critical strike chance).
  • Command re-added, increasing Warlock and Hunter pet damage by 5%.
• Skyborne
  • Wind-Blessed Haste bonus reduced to 2% (was 3%).
  • Read Leyline now increases Mana and Health regeneration by 50% (was 100%), with a 15-second duration. This ability cannot be used while Innervate is active, and will be replaced by Innervate as a more powerful effect.
  • Using Read Leyline at a Ley Line now also grants “Attuned” for 1 hour. While Attuned, the benefit of Read Leyline is increased to 100% regeneration increase. Attuned persists through death.
  • Skysight is now a 15% increased movement speed (was 10%), with a 15-second duration.
  • Using Skysight at an elemental convergence now also grants “Charged” for 1 hour. While Charged, the benefit of Skysight is a 30% movement speed increase. Charged persists through death.

Diablo 4's War Plans system is getting a major upgrade in Season 16, giving players even more control over their endgame activities and rewards.

Developer Blizzard introduced War Plans earlier this year as part of the game's second (and last) expansion, Lord of Hatred. It's an endgame system where players can essentially create a playlist of endgame activities, along the way ranking up those activities via a skill tree to make them even more rewarding.

It was a welcome addition, but unfortunately only gave players minimal control over what activities would appear as part of their plans. Players could also only reroll their War Plans a limited number of times, meaning if you didn't like a particular activity, oftentimes you were stuck having to do it.

All of that looks to be changing in Season 16 with the addition of a new meta-progression system called War Plans Tactics. By completing War Plan activities, players will be able to invest points into the tactics tree to make it so certain activities are more likely to appear and specific types of rewards will drop. How players reroll their War Plans is also changing, with a new currency called Marks of Wisdom that will cap at 20 and should let players reroll their plans more often.

As detailed by Blizzard in a blog post ahead of the season arriving on the Diablo 4 public test realm October 27, players will be able to assign up to three points into each endgame activity and up to three points into different types of rewards. 

"Earn points from completing War Plans activities, then invest these points into nodes to increase the chance of preferred activities or rewards appearing," Blizzard said. "This allows you to tailor your War Plans more closely with both your goals and playstyle."

A look at Diablo 4 Season 16's War Plans Tactics skill tree.

Putting at least one point into Helltides or Nightmare dungeons also grants the choice of increased chances for Greater Helltides and Escalation Nightmare dungeons, respectively. On the reward side, players will be able to make it so they are more likely to earn armor, weapons, jewelry, Obducite, salvage, gems, gold, activity keys, Horadric Cube materials, or Talisman items from activities.

The new tactics system isn't the only change coming to War Plans. A new seasonal War Plans tree, Tyrael's Boons, will also be coming with Season 16. There will be four Tyrael's Boons' paths to invest points into, with Blizzard stating players will be able to choose up to four of the six nodes within each path. Those four paths are:

• Curious Addition: Upgrades the Purveyor of Curiosities to increase the chances for more and higher quality items.
• Merchant of Mystery: Adds a new merchant in Torment difficulties that sell item caches in exchange for Forgotten Souls.
• Scent of Gold: Increases the amount of gold, experience, and materials you earn.
• Trash for Treasure: Reduces transmuting costs, increases chances to earn Obducite and salvage, and can even grant a new Horadric Cube recipe that allows players to upgrade a Tempered Affix on an item into a Greater Affix.

The changes to War Plans look to be the biggest features coming as part of Season 16, but there will additionally be a new type of gear to acquire, Horadric legendaries. These special legendaries will synergize with specific Talisman charms, with Horadric legendary jewelry items even counting for Talisman set bonuses. That should open the door to all kinds of new set and charm combinations that are sure to result in some wild new endgame builds.

Diablo 4 Season 16 will be playable on the PTR until November 3, with the full season set to launch December 1. Though Diablo 4 won't be getting additional expansions, it will get a new class, the Amazon, in the first half of next year.

As for what's next for the franchise, Diablo 5 is slated to arrive in 2029. Blizzard has already revealed three of the game's playable classes and promised it will have more classes at launch than any previous Diablo game.

Helldivers 2 has been a huge hit for developer Arrowhead and publisher Sony, but don't expect a third game in the series anytime soon.

Arrowhead's chief creative officer, Johan Pilestedt, told Rock Paper Shotgun that a sequel would reset "everything" and force the player to "start over." He doesn't want to ask the community to do that, so Arrowhead will instead keep the momentum going with the existing game by offering new content.

"Some studios can treat players like a short-term cash grab," Pilestedt said. "We see players as the actual engine of the game: they're the ones bringing in friends, making memes, and keeping the game alive. When you have an active community doing that, you don’t need a sequel."

He went on to say that the video game industry today is "panicking" because "the old live-service tricks don't work anymore," and that would also apply to a hypothetical Helldivers 3. If Arrowhead were to make a sequel, it would need to be highly differentiated, he said.

"The biggest competitor to a Helldivers 3 would be Helldivers 2. It only makes sense to make a distinct sequel if it’s so different that both games can exist side by side. For now, making Helldivers 2 better every day makes way more sense than throwing away its momentum," he said.

Pilestedt added that 95% of the studio is working on Helldivers 2 right now, with only a small team assigned to work on whatever the team is making next.

While there won't be a third Helldivers game anytime soon, if ever, a Helldivers movie is now in the works. The very large man Alan Ritchson is replacing the very large Aqua(man) Jason Momoa as the film's lead.

Almost six years after launch, Cyberpunk 2077 still has a healthy player base, especially with a new anime spin-off driving people to the Night City source material. The second season of Edgerunners launched last week alongside a beefy update for Cyberpunk 2077, and unsurprisingly, PC player numbers have spiked.

At the time of writing, Cyberpunk 2077 player numbers had surged to 187,215 players on PC via Steam alone. That's the biggest peak since October 2023, when the game received the substantial Update 2.0 and the Phantom Liberty expansion. This new tick in players is likely being experienced on other PC platforms where the game is available (like GOG and the Epic Games Store), as well as on multiple consoles like PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2.

https://twitter.com/CDPROJEKTRED_IR/status/2114719345465287123

With a new update that adds dual-wielding, new cosmetics, customizable cyberware fashion, even more digital tourism, and a new story mission linked to Edgerunners, it's no wonder that player numbers are climbing again. You also can't discount Edgerunners' impact, as the Netflix anime series is likely driving an influx of new players.

The first season of Edgerunners is credited with playing a major role in Cyberpunk 2077's revival after its infamous December 2020 launch, and Edgerunners Season 2 probably makes a good case for returning to the game. CD Projekt Red has also discounted Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition by 70% on Steam, so the entry price is pretty cheap right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErNF1wYKxaI

That increased foot traffic is even bigger this time: after Edgerunners Season 1 launched, Cyberpunk 2077 player numbers on Steam peaked at 136,724 in September 2022. If you want a peek behind the curtain, you can read up on Edgerunners Season 2 has a punk rock vibe, how it ties into the first season, and yes, that is a sneaky Hideo Kojima cameo in the show. Meanwhile, work on Cyberpunk 2 is continuing, and game director Gabe Amatangelo says the sequel is evolving beyond his vision for it.

Arkane Lyon has received a slight reprieve from its looming deadline to find a new buyer, as Microsoft says it is exploring allowing another company to support the developer's efforts to get Marvel's Blade over the finish line.

Originally, it was reported that Arkane Lyon had until November 18 to find a new owner or risk the studio being shut down. Microsoft had initially announced that it was divesting itself of the developer--and several others--earlier this year, but under French Law, it was legally required to spend at least three months searching for a new buyer for the studio. Speaking to PC Gamer, a Microsoft representative said that the "consultation period" had been extended by one more month and that it was continuing to "explore options," such as "finding a partner" to support Arkane Lyon.

Last week, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier added that he'd be surprised if Arkane Lyon were actually shut down, as doing so would be expensive for Microsoft.

"Despite all the gloomy headlines today, my understanding is that there are multiple paths actively being explored that would save Arkane Lyon. Anything can happen during negotiations, but at this point I'd be surprised if the studio is shut down. Shutting down a game studio is expensive. Shutting down a French game studio--thanks to labor laws requiring an extended severance period--is VERY expensive. Xbox doesn't want to take on those costs," Schreier wrote.

If plans do fall through, Arkane Lyon's union is lobbying Microsoft to re-employ affected workers within Xbox Game Studios, or face court action. "The redundancy plan must be adapted to the video game market where, currently, the prospects for returning to work are extremely limited," a union representative said to IGN.

After releasing Deathloop, Arkane Lyon revealed at The Game Awards in December 2023 that it was working on Marvel's Blade. Since that announcement, the studio has kept quiet about progress, showing only a handful of concept art images of Blade taking on vampires in Paris. Reportedly, Marvel's Blade was set for a new reveal in early 2027, followed by a Q4 2027 launch.

Microsoft has announced a new way to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass, and it's part of your phone plan.

T-Mobile has announced a new offering called "T-Mix," and it allows users to pick and choose the services they want included in their plan--one of the options is Xbox Game Pass.

Game Pass is now included with T-Mobile.

T-Mix rolls out in November, and at that point, people can choose Game Pass Ultimate or Premium to be included with their phone plan. Microsoft noted in its announcement that this is the first time ever that Xbox Game Pass has been available through a wireless plan in the US.

The T-Mix plans start at $55/month for one line, and this includes one pick that could be Game Pass. T-Mix More is $75/month and includes two picks; T-Mix Loaded is $95/month and includes three picks.

Subscribers can change their picks every three months, and some of the other options beyond Game Pass include Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, YouTube Premium, Google Gemini, ESPN Unlimited, and others. You can visit T-Mobile's website to learn more.

One thing that people may want to be aware of before signing up is that Game Pass itself could be set for a shakeup soon. According to reports, Xbox is plotting a "major overhaul" of the service to give players the ability to choose features à la carte. In April this year, it was reported that Microsoft was preparing to launch a “pick-your-own” version of Game Pass, so the latest reporting tracks with that.

Game Pass was a big bet that did not pay off, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said, so it makes sense to hear she may be planning to overhaul it. She’s already undertaken efforts to change things up, including removing new Call of Duty titles from the program and lowering the price.

Her team is also going to start charging people for more cloud-gaming time, and many are saying this will make Game Pass worse and more expensive.

While Rockstar's GTA 6 won't release until November 19, you can now buy officially licensed GTA 6 coffee from a local company in Miami.

Vice City Bean has partnered with Rockstar Games for a new blend called Leonida, but it's not cheap. A 10oz bag of beans is going for $23, and that's before shipping costs if you don't live close to one of Vice City Bean's three locations in Miami. You can also get the coffee ground course, medium, or fine, depending on your tastes and preferred brewing style.

GTA 6 coffee, now available in Miami.

The Leonida blend is meant to celebrate Miami, which serves as the inspiration for GTA 6's Vice City. Leonida, meanwhile, is GTA 6's version of Florida.

"We've combined a blend of two amazing Colombia and Ethiopia coffees to develop a tasting profile that we feel captures the energy of Miami, vibrant and bold, with some tropical highlights," Vice City Bean said. "This is a medium roast that we are enjoying as a filter coffee, but don't shy away from pulling espresso shots."

Vice City Bean said the Leonida blend is a "limited release," so if you're interested, you may want to order sooner rather than later. Vice City Bean's physical coffee shops have been updated with GTA 6 branding.

In addition to GTA 6 coffee, it appears officially branded GTA 6 beer is on the way, too. This is all part of Rockstar's massive (and controversial) marketing push for GTA 6 in Miami and beyond.

GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The upcoming Call of Duty movie aims to show the "cost of war," according to director Peter Berg. He told ComicBook that the film, set in the Modern Warfare universe, will strive to capture the spirit of those games, which means lots of guns and violence, but also heart and soul.

"So Modern Warfare, if you really look at the missions, and the storylines, and the characters--like Captain Price, and Soap, and Ghost, and Alex--these are complicated humans,” Berg said. “These are not--and no disrespect--cartoon characters or comic books. These are very nuanced storylines; like, there’s a real soul to the Modern Warfare universe," he said.

"And, yes, there’s violence, and there’s hardware, and equipment, and there’s killing--but underneath it I think the game, and the craters of the game, are really looking at the cost of war, the cost of having to be a warrior who’s, for whatever reason, chosen to put himself between real danger and the rest of us, and the burden that these guys carry."

Berg said this is "real stuff," and it demands a movie that respects that. "This is not just ‘Hey, let’s shoot them all up and shoot popcorn!’ Like, there’s a soul underneath it," he said.

Berg went on to say that the Call of Duty movie's writer, Taylor Sheridan, understands this as well. "There will be a very strong soul, and consequence of war within the film, called 'duty,'" he said.

Mark Wahlberg as Marcus Luttrell in Lone Survivor.

Sheridan is also known for his work in the military/war space. One of his most highly acclaimed works is 2015's Sicario, a film that leaves the viewer thinking about moral grey areas, which sounds like what Berg is going for. Sheridan wrote that film, along with other acclaimed movies like Hell or High Water and Wind River. He also created the very Call of Duty-like TV show Lioness.

One of Berg's best-known and most highly acclaimed movies was 2013's Lone Survivor. This film told the story of real-life Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who was the lone survivor of an ambush in Afghanistan. Berg also directed movies based on other real-world tragedies, including Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day.

The Call of Duty movie is set for release in June 2028. It's in the works at David Ellison's Skydance, which just acquired Warner Bros. Discovery, and it will be released theatrically. The newest Call of Duty game, meanwhile, was Modern Warfare 4, which just launched on October 23.

In addition to a Call of Duty movie, a Battlefield movie is in the works as well, with major talent attached.

Bringing From Software's Elden Ring to life on the big screen is no small feat, and it won't be cheap. A new report claims the upcoming Alex Garland-directed film has a whopping budget of nearly $200 million, making it the most expensive movie distributor A24 has ever financed.

While that's not an unrealistic sum for a movie of this nature with so much star power, it is a rare move for A24. The Wall Street Journal reported the figure, and if true, Elden Ring's budget will eclipse A24's most expensive movie to date, the $70 million Marty Supreme. Typically, A24 focuses on producing and distributing films with low production costs, allowing the company to make a tidy profit if the movie is a hit.

While these films won't give the Avatar and Avengers franchises any sleepless nights, the formula is sound overall, but not foolproof. Movies are typically expected to make double their production budgets to be considered box office hits, and in the case of Mary Supreme, that flick has a lifetime global gross of $96 million, well below the $140 million it would have needed to be a success story. Of course, video on demand, Blu-ray sales, streaming deals, and even AI training also factor into overall profitability, but theaters are generally seen as where movies make the biggest commercial impact.

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In comparison, Backrooms was a massive hit for A24. Filmed on a shoestring budget of $10 million, it went on to gross over $197 million at the global box office this year. Could Elden Ring surpass that sum when it hits theaters in March 2028? Nothing is impossible, as several video game adaptations have done very well over the last couple of years. The catch is that movies like Illumination's Super Mario Bros. films, Sonic the Hedgehog, and A Minecraft Movie were geared toward kids, and with parents in tow, that proved a lucrative demographic to target.

Elden Ring doesn't have an official age rating yet, but it is expected to take aim at older audiences with its dark fantasy setting and mature themes. Details on the movie haven't been revealed yet, but A24 confirmed that Warfare’s Kit Connor will star alongside Alien: Romulus and Civil War actress Cailee Spaeny. Meanwhile, 2026 has seen a few video game adaptations hit the silver screen, but with mixed fortunes. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil adaptation was both a critical and a commercial hit, while Street Fighter has been a box office flop--but at least it can say that it was better received than Return to Silent Hill.

Xbox's first-ever chief operating officer, Helen Chiang, has left the company after being promoted to that role just a few months ago under CEO Asha Sharma. In this job, Chiang was assigned to oversee the profitability of Xbox, and it's been looking very bleak for Xbox lately.

Given the timing of her exit, people wondered about the circumstances, and that remains unclear. Sharma confirmed Chiang's departure in a memo to staff, seen by The Verge, saying she is grateful for Chiang's "years of service" at Xbox.

A spokesperson for Microsoft told Windows Central that the company does not "discuss individual personnel matters."

According to a source speaking to Eurogamer, Chiang was "terminated for policy violations." The Verge's Tom Warren backed this up, saying Chiang was cut loose due to a "policy violation," but the exact nature of that is unknown.

In July, Sharma announced that Chiang would become Xbox's first-ever COO, with "end-to-end" responsibility for the financial future of Xbox's content, hardware, platform, and services.

Chiang had worked at Microsoft for 20 years, in that time playing a key role in the creation of Xbox Live and later shepherding Mojang and the lucrative Minecraft franchise. As COO, Chiang was expected to "bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results," Sharma said.

For her part, Sharma said she will have an update to share on the COO position at Xbox at some point, but she didn't divulge more.

The Xbox business was "not healthy" when Sharma took over, she said, and Chiang no doubt had a challenging road ahead of her. As for now, however, people can only speculate as to the real reason she left Xbox.

September was another terrible month for Xbox hardware sales, with sales of the Xbox Series X|S consoles in the US falling to an all-time September low. On the software side, Gears of War: E-Day is looking like a huge flop. In terms of services, Xbox Game Pass is set to get worse and more expensive in November.