It looks increasingly likely that you'll soon be able to access Xbox Cloud Gaming for free by watching ads, Microsoft has confirmed.

The Verge dropped a report on the upcoming feature earlier this month, suggesting that the new plan will start public testing soon, with a full launch in the coming months. Writing about Xbox's overall business plan following the news that Halo will soon be coming to PlayStation consoles, The New York Times delivered confirmation of the rumored ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier. "A Microsoft official confirmed that the company was also conducting internal tests for free ad-supported cloud access to some games through a program separate from Game Pass," the New York Times article reads.

The original report from The Verge was more thorough on Microsoft's plans for Xbox Cloud Gaming with ads, with the current version of the program being tested internally by Microsoft employees. In its current iteration, users can access some games they already own through cloud gaming, along with eligible Free Play Days games and Xbox Retro Classics games.

Almost a week after high-profile Twitch streamer Emiru was assaulted during a TwitchCon meet-and-greet, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has posted a statement apologizing to the streamer and acknowledging the multiple failures that allowed the incident to happen.

While Twitch posted a statement about the assault shortly after it happened, the company's version of events was strongly disputed by Emiru's own statement about the incident. Clancy has also been called out for his comments on the assault during an interview with Taylor Lorenz, where he seemed to put the onus back on creators to "control [their] community."

Clancy has now posted a personal statement on the Twitch X account, apologizing directly to Emiru and taking responsibility for the incident. "It shouldn’t have happened and we take that very seriously," Clancy said in the statement. "We failed, both in allowing it to occur, and in our response following. We mismanaged our communications about the incident, and that includes the comments I made. I apologize to Emiru for all that took place."

During the Halo World Championships, Microsoft confirmed the long-rumored remake of the first Halo, Halo: Campaign Evolved. It also happens to be the very first Halo game to arrive on PlayStation 5, or any PlayStation platform. Now, Microsoft and Halo Studios have confirmed that all Halo games going forward will be on PlayStation as well as Xbox consoles and PC.

Following the official announcement of Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios community director Brian Jarrard appeared on stage at the Halo World Championships and wore a PlayStation T-shirt while sharing the news about the franchise's multi-platform future.

"It's a huge deal," said Jarrard. "It's a long time coming. We're just super excited to be able to welcome even more players now into the franchise we love, to fall in love with Halo the same way we all did 24 years ago. As a community guy, I know the Halo community is super excited to welcome in their friends as well. It's just going to mean more Halo for everyone. It's really a new era. Halo is on PlayStation going forward, starting with Halo: Campaign Evolved."

The newly announced Halo 1 remake that brings the series to PlayStation for the first time has no multiplayer support. It is a campaign-only experience. Why is that?

Executive producer Damon Conn addressed this in a post on Xbox Wire. "Focusing on the campaign experience means we can concentrate fully on really capturing the atmosphere, tone--the emotional impact of what made the first campaign so special and iconic," Conn said.

While there is no multiplayer in the new Halo: Campaign Evolved, the game delivers some extras that weren't in the original 2001 release, including three new prequel missions and the ability to sprint. The game was made in Unreal Engine 5 and is likely to be followed by a brand-new Halo live-service game.