Clockwork Revolution isn't going to feature an overly annoying companion, thankfully, with inXile Entertainment founder and Fallout veteran Brian Fargo confirming as much.

We've all played games with less-than-ideal companions. From too much hand-holding to generally pesky personalities, there's no shortage of qualities that can make gameplay a bit of a slog to get through. The Legend of Zelda immediately springs to mind for me, with the ever-loathed (and beloved) Navi, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond's Myles Mackenzie, the notoriously annoying sidekick of protagonist Samus.

Much to the gaming community's delight, however, Clockwork Revolution won't feature a companion that makes you want to connect your head with the desk – Fargo, studio head and game producer, reassures us of this in a new online post.
"Been getting questions about the companion in Clockwork Revolution. Rest assured: I LOATHE companions that point out the obvious because they think players are dumb," he writes.

"Ours only speaks when it knows something you couldn't or has something genuinely funny to say. Kept rare on purpose. Hoping by the end you say, 'I wish she talked more, not less.'" That'd certainly be the day, eh?

As for why Fargo and fellow developers at inXile chose to make their companion (presumably Prentice, the flying, foul-mouthed automaton described by publisher Xbox Game Studios last month) that way, basically, it has to do with retro games and how Fargo feels they treated their players.

"My philosophy goes all the way back to the '80s," as he explains in response to a fan agreeing that they're "so tired" of spoiler-laden companions.

"Even when the audience was truly younger than today, we always treated them with intelligence, and we never regretted doing so." That makes a lot of sense – and explains why older games feel more "difficult" in contrast.

I'm personally thrilled to learn Prentice won't be as hand-holdy, but I suppose we'll have to wait and see just how far that goes when Clockwork Revolution releases in 2027.

Time-bending RPG from Fallout veteran has choices that "take a long time to catch up with you."

Ex-The Elder Scrolls Online senior encounter designer Morgan Goin was one of the devs let go from Zenimax Online Studios and says she can't see how the studio can maintain the same cadence of updates going forward.

Microsoft kicked off its fifth batch of layoffs since spending $75 billion on acquiring Activision Blizzard in 2023. Since then Microsoft has effectively had yearly layoffs each July, with Zenimax Online Studios – which was hit in a major way last year's layoffs, resulting in the cancellation of Project Blackbird and several high-profile departures from the company – being one of the biggest hits for of this year's wave alongside Doom developer id Software, as up to half of the devs behind Bethesda's MMO have reportedly lost their jobs.

While Bethesda did try to damage control this somewhat with a statement saying its team is the same size as in 2015, devs are painting a different story. Speaking to BBC News, Goin says she was "blindsided" by the sheer number of cuts and estimates that some disciplines at the studio have been reduced to a quarter of their pre-layoffs size. Goin adds, "We're not going to be able to put out the amount of content at the speed that we were… or anything approaching that."

Andrew Young, a senior content designer on Elder Scrolls Online from 2012 until 2024, said the MMO "basically funded other failing projects." While nothing specific was mentioned, The Elder Scrolls Blades and Legends didn't exactly light the world on fire, but it could be in reference to any number of underperforming Zenimax titles (two bad Wolfenstein spinoffs releasing on the same day, anyone?).

Like with last year's layoffs, Zenimax Online Studios is losing several high-profile staff as a result of this year's cuts, with studio head Joseph Burba, Elder Scrolls Online executive producer Susan Kath, studio game director Rich Lambert, and production director Ala Diaz all reportedly leaving the company.

Making Fallout and Elder Scrolls games will "be harder than ever now" following Xbox cuts, say laid-off Bethesda devs calling loss of institutional knowledge "staggering"

Bethesda Game Studios – and, in particular, ZeniMax Online Studios – have felt the impact of Microsoft's recent plan to cut over 3,200 employees at Xbox, with the company's union representatives reporting a loss of "dozens of programmers, artists, designers and testers."

It's no secret that the layoffs have torn through Bethesda and its Elder Scrolls Online studio, which has been hit particularly hard.

An MMO team that grew over time to quite mind-boggling figures has now been reduced to the same size it boasted over a decade ago, leaving remaining developers – and fans – concerned about the future. Those affected didn't just include devs, however… leadership has faced the chopping block, too, apparently.

We learn as much from Game File, which reportedly obtained a copy of the official notice from ZeniMax Online Studios regarding its plans to "transition" to new leadership "over the next few months" – leadership that consists of company veterans.

Leads departing include studio head Joseph Burba (who has a 14-year history at the company and was just appointed to his role last July), Elder Scrolls Online executive producer Susan Kath, studio game director Rich Lambert, and production director Ala Diaz.

They "will remain in place during the transition period to help ensure a smooth handoff," however.

As for who will step in to take the helm, head of business operations Joshua Henderson will run ZeniMax Online Studios alongside Nick Giacomini, who was just promoted to Elder Scrolls Online game director last August.

In their statement, the former leaders note that they predict "growth" for the MMO.

"We have tremendous confidence in Josh and Nick," they write, "the future of this studio, and the continued growth of ESO. With exciting experiences still ahead for our players as we wrap up work for Update 51 and beyond, we believe that your passion, creativity, and commitment to each other and the community will continue serving as the heartbeat of ESO."

It's bittersweet – especially after some 200+ losses at the studio.

Here's hoping that the affected developers are able to land on their feet, and ZeniMax Online Studios can pick up the pieces somehow – these certainly aren't easy times in the industry, and the impact is more evident than ever.

Making Fallout and Elder Scrolls games will "be harder than ever now" following Xbox cuts, say laid-off Bethesda devs calling loss of institutional knowledge "staggering"

Xbox subsidiary Obsidian got butchered along with most of the parent company's children during mass layoffs earlier this month, making the original Fallout: New Vegas team even more scarce. New Vegas writer Chris Avellone did the math, and it looks like only 16 of Fallout: New Vegas' total 73 developers still work at Obsidian.

"Some of the ex-NV developers were among those laid off last week, unfortunately," Avellone explains in a July 14 Twitter post on the topic. 21-year veteran art director Dan Alpert was impacted, as was animator Shon Stewart, and assistant art director Paul Fish. "Shon in particular was a big surprise when I heard about it," says Avellone, "he's a great animator."

But many New Vegas developers had already been long gone from Obsidian. Character artist Kevin Manning has spent the last seven years at Riot Games, for example, junior artist Megan Morse hasn't worked at Obsidian since 2012 and is currently an artist at Exodus studio Archetype, and Avellone himself left Obsidian – which he co-founded – in 2015. He's currently fiddling with secret "other projects, including RPGs," he says on Twitter.

Obsidian is now toiling over a new Fallout game – which may or may not be the new Fallout game we already knew about, Fallout 5 – after Xbox canceled its planned sequel to 2025 action-RPG Avowed. So while it isn't exactly thrilling news that only 20% of Fallout: New Vegas developers have jobs at Obsidian after 16 years of layoffs, game cancellations, new opportunities, and plain, old life, it's not a big surprise to me, either.

Fallout co-creator Tim Cain returned to Obsidian in 2025 for an unrevealed project, and co-creator Leonard Boyarsky has spent the last decade at Obsidian. This doesn't satisfy the people on Twitter who begged Avellone for his Obsidian stats to begin with, but so little does.

"I wasn't sure about a few people on the list, so this may get revised," Avellone adds on Twitter. "Still, better than nothing and a lot better than yelling back and forth."

Fallout: New Vegas writer says he feels "embarrassed" by some of the Fallout TV show dialogue, but has no notes for "really cool" Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.

Despite a statement from the studio, former id Software staff don't see how the studio can possibly make another game in its id Tech engine after a majority of the devs at the Texas-based studio were laid off.

Last week, after much conversation about what state the legendary studio is left in after 136 of its 185 developers were laid off by Microsoft, id Software released a statement on Twitter. "While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for," the post reads, saying "The team today is about the same size we were when making Doom 2016."

While the Doom 2016 line may be true, the cost of game development is rapidly increasing compared to even ten years ago. And given the comments from developers affected by these layoffs, like Derek Best, former principal VFX artist, who said, "Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size," many saw this as potential damage control from higher-ups at the studio.

Speaking to Game Developer, a source impacted by the cuts at id Software says, "Does Microsoft care? Absolutely not. And they seem to actually put some level of effort and care into making it as painful as possible."

Another dev let go last week told the outlet "They've just gotten rid of all the people who could ever fix, maintain, or change [id Tech], so it's most likely going to end up in the in the trash can," and while Microsoft commented on word that only one staff member remained at the Texas studio working on id Tech, they did not specify how many were working on the engine, which is also used by Wolfenstein developer Machine Games.

The developer continues, "The institutional knowledge [that has been lost] on the id Tech side is immense... I cannot imagine a path forward where they make another game in id Tech."

And yet, word is Bethesda is planning to focus on its biggest franchises going forward, and while The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 are likely the priority for Bethesda Game Studios, Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein – three series made in id Tech – are apparently included in that focus. I'm not sure I see the thought process behind Xbox's decision with that one.

"There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft," says Doom dev: "They have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don't even think that they're aware of"

An id Software developer says there is no benefit to being owned by Microsoft after the Xbox-owned developer faced mass layoffs one day before the launch of a new Doom DLC expansion.

Speaking to Gamedeveloper, the unnamed source at the Doom developer explained, "They [Microsoft] didn't even wait to see if the product is successful before they got rid of the team."

And had Microsoft waited, it would've seen that Doom: The Dark Ages' Revelation DLC has netted rave reviews on Steam and is one of the top-rated games of 2026 on Opencritic.

Reports say the studio has seen 136 of its 185 developers laid off by Microsoft, in its fifth round of mass layoffs since spending 75 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. Despite the publisher apparently pushing Bethesda to make more Doom games, Xbox saw fit to seemingly gut the team behind the iconic franchise.

"There are no benefits to being owned by Microsoft," the developer continues. "In fact, they have destroyed immense amounts of value that I don't even think that they're aware of."

Unfortunately, even if you release a good and successful game now, you're still not safe. Doom: The Dark Ages was the "biggest launch in id's history" when it launched in 2025, and just over a year later, id has reportedly been made a shell of its former self.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft is in the process of letting go of 51 developers at Ubisoft Barcelona, right as Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced was is released. One Gamedeveloper source echoed this, saying, "It feels like we put a good product out and it just has zero effect on your longevity in the industry."

There really aren't many studios left with the legacy of id Software – the studio that revolutionized the FPS, which would then go on to become the biggest genre in the world for a time – and it's a studio that has never really had any major missteps either. It's a shame to think that years of knowledge might be lost as 136 developers seek out new employment in an industry with fewer jobs to go around.

"Great job Microsoft": Former id Software artist says the legendary dev has been "relegated to support studio size" after Xbox's strategy of "nuking a team into the dirt"

There's too much carnage to keep up with – Xbox is in the middle of chopping up 3,200 jobs, Ubisoft's on track to have made a total of 4,000 layoffs since 2022, and Embracer is now indistinguishable from a natural disaster, having laid waste to $2 billion-worth of acquisitions by closing, canceling, and setting fire to everything unlucky enough to be in its path. Helldivers 2 studio Arrowhead QA manager Dave Gallacher has seen it all, and he despises it.

"Each structural point of our industry is controlled by money and those with it have been greedy morons for the past 10+ years," Gallacher, who spent 10 years at DICE before joining Arrowhead this summer, says in a LinkedIn thread discussing worker-owned studios as the possible answer to mass layoffs. "How Ubisoft and Embracer leadership aren't in prison absolutely eludes me for their shady tactics, and the victims are very much these thousands of talented developers we're hoping can summon money out of the ether to start studios."

That's a painful analysis, but Gallacher has clearly been working with it for a while. Last week, as Xbox began culling thousands of positions and leaving studios bleeding out the neck, Gallacher said in another LinkedIn post, "For the past 3 years, I've used the phrase 'this year is going to be a bloodbath,' relating to the games industry. And somehow it gets worse each year."

"Where is that money going?" he continues. "A deluded CEO speaking of reaching 'billions of players' whilst pouring the newly pilfered wages of talented Devs into the plagiarism machine (AI). Absolute darkest timeline shit."

Microsoft. Ubisoft. Embracer. EA, Gallacher's former employer, which reportedly laid off Battlefield 6 devs after they helped make a game that sold 20 million copies. Epic Games, which exterminated more than 1,000 jobs in March after being disappointed its $26 billion game Fortnite is waning in popularity. There's not a single angel among these video game industry behemoths, only vultures.

Since I read and write about layoffs and game cancellations nearly every day, recently, I find it difficult to feel anything toward it that resembles optimism. I also play video games for fun every day, and my own headlines about money and lost jobs knock around the back of my head while I grapple with the fact that, despite everything, I still love playing video games.

"Some parts continue to drive obsessive behaviour, some parts make you want to go play in traffic," Gallacher said earlier this week in another post about the video game industry. "It's complicated." There's not much else to say – just, if Ubisoft and Embracer leadership ever do go to prison like Gallacher fantasizes, I think it should be the one from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Sony's attack on physical goods spreads to Crunchyroll as it adds a $14 subscription requirement just to access its store.

id Software producer Andrew Willis can only see one way through the Microsoft mess as the company begins executing its plans to bulldoze 3,200 jobs at Xbox: studios owned by workers, rather than executives who don't mind setting fire to, say, 3,200 jobs.

Willis mourned the layoffs – which already impacted 136 of id Software's total 185 staff members – in a LinkedIn post earlier this week, calling the layoffs an "incomprehensible decision," and remarking that "the game industry is being run by people who do not fundamentally understand anything about it, not even how it generates value or profit." He's decided in a new post, then, that "the only way to fix the video game industry at this point is for developer owned studios to start rising from these studio closures and layoffs."

Doom studio id Software, of course, was originally created by Doom's developers in 1991, but Willis also seems in favor of true worker cooperatives where all of a business' employees double as owners who can guide direction. A co-op is not impervious to problems – worker-owned Dead Cells developer Motion Twin had a public falling out with the game's lead dev after a disagreement in 2024, for example – but I think many people would prefer interpersonal drama to receiving an email from a CEO you've never met informing you that something like 3,531,840 more people in your field have just been laid off.

So, Willis, who also helped lead id Software's unionization efforts in 2025, says, "We've got to learn from the past, be fiscally responsibly, and create an environment of sustainable growth (though growth should be a byproduct of success, not a goal in and of itself)."

"Its the only path forward I can see," he reiterates. "These large publishers and monopolies have proven themselves terrible stewards and somehow even worse financial managers." To his point, although Microsoft Gaming had already eliminated 2,500 jobs in 2024, and Microsoft killed about 15,000 more jobs in 2025, Xbox began 2026 with its overall revenue 9% down in a hole.

"If the people who create the value own that value, good things will follow," Willis concludes. Makes sense to me.

Microsoft lays off Bethesda vet behind Todd Howard's "crazy" Fallout 4 idea, "too many Skyrim weapons to count," the Dwemer, and Mudcrabs – and he may leave games altogether.

The Elder Scrolls Online team is unfortunately part of Microsoft's ongoing plan to cut 3,200 employees at Xbox, leaving the developers behind the Bethesda MMO far fewer in number than before.

In fact, the team is apparently as small as it was about a decade ago, when the game only really began to take off after its shaky launch – or, at least, that's what prominent community figure Baratron, who helps run the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages and its Discord, reports.

He reveals as much in a new message, explaining that he learned the news from associate design director Jason Barnes and associate director of community management Jessica Folsom.

It came during the past weekend's Elder Scrolls Online Tavern event in Hesse, Germany, where fans and developers gathered to celebrate the MMO.

"This is important," writes Baratron. "According to both Jason Barnes (Associate Design Director) and Jessica Folsom (Associate Director of Community Management), Zenimax Online Studios is now at the same size as it was when they made both Wrothgar and Summerset."

That's shocking, to say the least – but he doesn't seem to think it's a bad thing. After all, "both are highly acclaimed DLCs," as the UESP admin puts it. "So while the layoffs are extremely upsetting for everyone involved (of course including players), this is not necessarily the end of new content or the game going into maintenance mode."

Baratron assures that there's more reason to think the end of Elder Scrolls Online isn't near, too.

"Also Nick Giacomini (Game Director) and Susan Kath (Studio Executive Producer) are specifically not at the ESO Tavern because they're working on the new Roadmap of when content will be released," he states. "It really is not the end yet."

It's a bit of bittersweet, good-and-bad news, all things considered – the layoffs, obviously, are not nice to hear about… but it's reassuring that they don't spell the demise of the MMO.

Here's hoping any and all affected developers are able to land on their feet, and The Elder Scrolls Online proves to have a brighter future than fans expect following the upsetting news circulating recently.

"There's really no one left": Former Elder Scrolls Online dev says the MMO "basically funded other failing projects" as Microsoft guts the studio

Former PlayStation head Shawn Layden has urged Asha Sharma at Xbox to decide whether it wants to be a publisher or a platform holder.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Layden says, "There's two roads," when it comes to what Microsoft can do, that is "be a competitive platform rival in the marketplace with PlayStation, or the biggest game publisher in the world, which based on all their acquisitions, they're either there or they're very close to it."

However, Microsoft's inconsistent decision making has seen the Xbox brand try to be both, as it went all-in on releasing its games on PS5, before running it back with the likes of Gears of War E-Day,

"Those two roads do not converge," Layden says, adding, "to be a platform and to be a very well-supported, well-accepted, well-selling platform, you need exclusive content." He explains, "Nintendo needs its Mario and its Zelda, and PlayStation needs Crash Bandicoot and Astro Bot and Kratos and Horizon, all of that." Granted, Crash Bandicoot is now owned by Xbox, but he was the de facto PlayStation mascot for its early years.

He adds, "If you're going to be the biggest publisher in the world, which is not a bad ambition - I'm sure there's gold on them there hills - you have to bring your stuff on every platform. Multi-platform is almost a prerequisite."

Layden explains, "When I was running PlayStation Studios, even in our biggest year, we never got over maybe 22 percent market share," and that the remainder was made up primarily by the biggest third-party publishers.

"As a first-party platform, our job was almost not to be the biggest game publisher in the world." Layden adds, "I wasn't making games so I could steal market share from EA or steal market share from Activision. My job was to make games that made the pie bigger, and my opportunity was in growing it out."

Unfortunately, right now the only consistent thing from Xbox is that people will be laid off in droves on a pretty much yearly basis, if the five rounds of layoffs since the Activision Blizzard purchase are anything to go by. And while Microsoft is bound to release Call of Duty on other platforms for a while yet, the idea of spending disgusting amounts of money to own the biggest franchises in the world and then still releasing them for your rivals is somewhat confusing.

id Software co-founder says "my 'Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand' statement isn't aging well" after the Doom maker lost 136 of its 185 staff to layoffs

The Xbox reset announced on July 6 is the biggest, most controversial restructure in the Microsoft division's history. The broad strokes are simple: Xbox is cutting 3,200 jobs, 1,600 of them being immediate layoffs, in a spate of studio spin-outs and redundancies off the back of low profit margins. The company has become unhealthy, according to CEO Asha Sharma, with the restructure aimed at "reset[ting] our content portfolio".

Basically, Xbox is paring back its output to its highest-earning franchises and will be rerouting money and people into them. But with each new day bringing more numbers, outrage, and insights into Sharma's "Resetting Xbox" announcement, I can't be the only one who feels the picture is getting foggier by the hour.

Here, I'm going to go through everything we know so far about the Xbox restructure, from the studios being sold back to themselves as independent developers to the layoffs and consultancy periods we know of right now. I'll touch on how Xbox managed to get here in the first place, and what the reset might mean for all the upcoming Xbox Series X games now that development teams have been cut or divested entirely.

Layoffs

Xbox announced 1,600 immediate "role eliminations" in the first stage of its reset, with the majority coming from ZeniMax studios Bethesda, ZeniMax Online, and id Software, with further instant cuts made at Obsidian.

After receiving a notice from the Texan Workforce Committee, Game Developer reported that 136 jobs in total have been cut from id Software, with a further 22 being made at Bethesda Game Works. This brings us to 158 job losses under the ZeniMax umbrella at the time of writing.

Studio exits

As part of the Xbox Reset, CEO Asha Sharma has announced that four Microsoft-owned studios "will leave Xbox to new management," meaning they are to be sold and will no longer be part of Xbox's in-house developer cohort. In addition, Arkane Studios (Dishonored, Deathloop, Redfall) has entered "required consultation" in Lyon, France, to decide the developer's future.

The four Xbox studios being sold as part of the reset are:

1. Compulsion Games (We Happy Few, South of Midnight)
2. Double Fine (Psychonauts, Psychonauts 2)
3. Ninja Theory (Hellblade, Hellblade 2)
4. Undead Labs (State of Decay, State of Decay 2)

What does the reset mean for future Xbox games?

With the Xbox reset impacting multiple studios with games either in active or conceptual development, the severity will depend upon whether the teams have been cut or the studios themselves sold on.

As Compulsion and Double Fine are being sold back to themselves as independent developers, each will leave Xbox with " their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games" intact according to Sharma's announcement.

Compulsion confirmed in a post on Blue Sky that it will keep the rights to games shipped under Xbox, including last year's dreamy South of Midnight, and Double Fine reiterated that it will also regain full rights to its back catalogue too.

Meanwhile, it looks like Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will retain "funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3" after being divested and sold off to new management. Senua was only recently announced at Summer Game Fest 2026, and State of Decay 3 has been in development for six years and is finally slated to launch in February 2027. It also leaves another question in the air: whether State of Decay 3 will launch on Game Pass at all, let alone on day one, now that Undead Labs is splitting from Xbox.

Aside from slashing its workface, another goal of the Xbox reset is to course-correct the division's poor profit margin by reinvesting time and manpower into flagship franchises. This means Obsidian has had to scrap plans for Avowed 2 altogether, allegedly working on a new Fallout game instead. Off the back of that, Bethesda will continue working on The Elder Scrolls 6 as one of the key tentpole franchises remaining under Xbox, while there's been no mention of Fable 4 developer Playground Games in any of the announcements so far.

Most intriguing to me right now is what will become of Marvel's Blade, which is in development at Arkane. Xbox has revealed very little about Arkane's "required consultation" period, including whether it intends to make redundancies or sell the studio off entirely, so I'll have to get back to you on that one.

As for why any of this was necessary in the first place, I've already touched on the lack of profitability Xbox is experiencing at the moment. But according to Reuters, Microsoft is axing 4,800 jobs across the whole company ("more than 2% of their global workforce") to finance its AI spending. It seems Xbox is just bearing the brunt of that figure. AI is one of Microsoft's biggest interests at the moment, and with Xbox boss Sharma announcing her role as an "external advisor" to the US Federal Reserve on "productivity and jobs" in the wake of AI technologies, it's all starting to sound a little circular.

Xbox claims that reports of there being only one person in Texas left working on id Software's id Tech engine are inaccurate.

Reports emerged that as part of the devastating layoffs at id Software – which saw 136 of the studio's 185 staff members laid off – the team working on the id Tech engine was affected massively. Yesterday, it was claimed that this was so widespread that only one person was left working on the engine at id Software's main Richardson, Texas studio. However, in a statement given to Kotaku, an Xbox spokesperson says this is inaccurate

"There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations," the spokesperson says , adding: "Reports that there's only one person left in Texas are inaccurate." That being said, it is unconfirmed just how many people are left working on the tech.

Kotaku's source said they weren't sure how the engine could be patched due to the breadth of the layoffs, saying: "The institutional knowledge is just not there." The same source said: "id Tech as a technology is probably dead forever."

Derek Best, former principal VFX artist at id Software who worked on the latest Doom trilogy as part of his 12 year tenure at the studio, claimed the studio has been relegated "to support studio size," while saying Microsoft was responsible for "nuking a team into the dirt" and "throwing out massive technological achievements."

Alongside these comments, Best noted that "the VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer." As for the engine, he also mentioned that "the engine programmer responsible for the massive gains in VFX pipeline improvements (like all the particle editor work) was let go as well," adding that "all devs that had Houdini knowledge for procedural modeling or cached animations were wiped out." Best said: "All the work for Doom: The Dark Ages in that program has gone to waste with no one to carry it on."

Pitches for a co-op Doom, a new Perfect Dark, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk game were cooking at id Software before Microsoft layoffs reportedly led to 136 job cuts.

id Software co-founder John Carmack has reacted to the massive layoffs under Microsoft, which have reportedly led to the majority of the studio losing their jobs.

"I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs." Carmack says in a thread on Twitter. "My 'Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand' statement isn't aging well," he says, adding "this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month."

Carmack explains: "I'm saddened, but I can't muster anger or outrage over it. I don't have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft's perspective." He says, "I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios," in reference to a Bloomberg report (via PC Gamer) that claims that profits from Minecraft had been used to prop up less successful studios under the Xbox banner.

However, Carmack is taking a bit more pragmatic approach when it comes to the layoffs, even if they are coming from a company that made $281.7 billion in 2025. "To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved," Carmack adds, saying, "You can't rule out the possibility that executives are idiots, but that shouldn't be your default belief. I don't think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from id games."

Carmack then speculates on different approaches that could've been taken like different pricing or marketing – and one could argue giving away Doom: The Dark Ages, a $70 game, for the price of a subscription fee probably didn't help it sell.

Former principal VFX artist at id Software, Derek Best said earlier this week that Microsoft has nuked "a team into the dirt" and relegated them "to support studio size." But despite this, Carmack believes, "The game isn't over yet, and I hope the studio rallies through." Fellow id co-founder John Romero also commented on the layoffs, calling them "devastating" while praising the developers who carried on id's legacy after the founders left, saying: "The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people."

Pitches for a co-op Doom, a new Perfect Dark, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk game were cooking at id Software before Microsoft layoffs reportedly led to 136 job cuts.

id Software's massive layoffs have turned the iconic FPS developers into effectively a support studio, according to a developer affected by the job cuts.

Despite the word that Xbox is apparently pushing Bethesda to work on tentpole franchises like Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein – as well as to get the likes of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 out sooner, which has apparently resulted in Obsidian canceling an Avowed sequel to work on a Fallout game – Microsoft has decided to absolutely decimate Doom and Quake developer id Software. Word is that the studio has seen 136 of its 185 developers laid off by Microsoft, with word that the id Tech engine team is now a single employee.

Derek Best, former principal VFX artist at id Software – who worked at the company from 2014 until he was laid off this week – posted on LinkedIn (via VGC) about the layoffs.

"A little over 12 years ended unceremoniously the day before the DLC launch we all crunched to get out the door." He continues, "I'm still in shock at how brutal the layoff cuts were," saying that "Collectively decades of knowledge was wiped out of the studio."

Best notes that among the 136 employees affected. "The VFX team was eliminated down to one single artist with no lead or producer."

Best adds, "Great job Microsoft. Nothing says business success like nuking a team into the dirt and relegating them to support studio size while also throwing out massive technological achievements."

It's hard to stress how much the id Tech engine was integral to almost every Quake game as well as the modern Doom games.

Not to mention the IW Engine and Treyarch NGL engines used for Call of Duty titles are based on idTech 3 after it was used for the first Call of Duty game. And most recently, Indiana Jones and The Great Circle proved how good it is for other genres, with the adventure game looking gorgeous and running smoothly. And I can't expect whatever Xbox has planned for Doom or Quake in Unreal Engine to feel quite as right.

Still, it's not about Doom or Quake feeling right at the end of the day. It's about 136 jobs being lost and one of the most important studios in the history of gaming being hollowed out by its owner, and the decades of technical knowledge leaving the studio with those employees.

Pitches for a co-op Doom, a new Perfect Dark, and a John Wick-inspired cyberpunk game were cooking at id Software before Microsoft layoffs reportedly led to 136 job cuts

Doom developer id Software was reportedly pitching various projects before a majority of the studio was laid off, including a new Perfect Dark, a John Wick-inspired game, and a multiplayer Doom game.

As reported by GamesBeat – which has interviewed now-former employees about the massive layoffs at id Software that have reportedly seen 136 of its 185 developers laid off by Xbox – after finishing Doom: The Dark Ages' Revelations DLC, the studio wasn't working on a major project, and was in the midst of pitching various ideas, which unfortunately left it in a vulnerable position. These projects apparently included an original game called Fury, a new Perfect Dark, and a multiplayer-focused Doom title.

Fury is reportedly a project that studio co-director Hugo Martin proposed, and blended sci-fi, noir and cyberpunk elements with Gun Fu combat in the vein of the John Wick film series. Another apparent candidate was a western robot survival game with the codename Ironwood. Meanwhile, Doom reportedly had pitches for multiplayer, co-op, and DLC projects for the series that never materialized.

There was also a Perfect Dark pitch reportedly being worked on with a presentation given and concept art in the works. The series hasn't had a release since the Xbox 360 launch title, with the rebooted project from The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics canceled last year as part of what seems like now-yearly mass layoffs at Xbox.

However, none of these projects are likely to ever come to light. Reports out of Bethesda claim that Xbox is apparently pushing the company to get the likes of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 out sooner, and that alongside those two, the company is to focus on tentpole franchises like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake.

Of course, I don't really understand why you would absolutely gut the company responsible for Doom and Quake (as well as the studio that made Wolfenstein's most influential title: Wolfenstein 3D) if you wanted to focus on those series, but Xbox and Microsoft decisions don't always make the most sense. Previously, Matt Booty (then head of Xbox Game Studios, now executive vice president and chief content officer of Xbox) said "we need smaller games that give us prestige and awards," a day after closing Tango Gameworks, which had released Hi-Fi Rush – a smaller game that gave Xbox prestige and awards.

John Romero praises the devs who carried on id Software's legacy as Microsoft reportedly lays off half of the studio.

The fallout from the bloodbath that is this week's unprecedented cuts to Microsoft's gaming division, which saw 1,600 Xbox employees lose their jobs immediately and will ultimately result in 3,200 cut jobs before the end of fiscal year 2027, continues with another high-profile departure. We're now learning that 27-year Bethesda veteran and lead character artist Christiane Meister, who worked on the Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76, has been let go.

The news was spotted by Elder Scrolls scholar Lady Nerevar (via PC Gamer), and confirmed via Meister's LinkedIn, which now reflects that the developer is a "former" Bethesda character artist and now open to work. "I was in charge of design, creation, and management of character art assets throughout all of the Elder Scrolls projects, starting with Morrowind to our latest title, Skyrim," reads her bio.

Of course, there's an unfathomable human toll to any mass layoff, but the loss of such an enduring talent – Meister wrote in a 2022 blog post about redesigning Skyrim's Khajiit and Argonians, as well as the game's horses – really underscores the fundamental level at which Xbox is willing to cut core talent behind its most beloved IP, despite the company's renewed focus on those tentpole franchises.

Meister isn't the only veteran losing her job, as Xbox's latest layoff blitz has impacted a 37-year Microsoft veteran who served as lead of the Xbox Backward Compatibility program for Xbox 360 games on Xbox One, Kevin LaChappelle.

It makes sense then that groups like the Bethesda Game Studios Union are sounding the alarm on what it calls a "cycle of cuts in pursuit of ever-greater profits," and one which I'll note isn't exclusive to Microsoft or Xbox. The games industry has been in a years-long downsizing crisis for years now with little sign of slowing down. Firings like Meister's not only come across particularly callous but also chip away at the visual identity of franchises gamers have depended on for invaluable escapism for decades.

Fallout and Elder Scrolls union says Bethesda layoffs didn't hurt Microsoft's "14 layers of management" – "We lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers and testers"

Xbox is in the midst of an aggressive recalibration. CEO Asha Sharma is pursuing a "reset" of the content portfolio. Compulsion Games and Double Fine have regained their independence, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have been sold; thousands of jobs have been cut across Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, and Xbox Game Studios. We're still getting a grasp on how severely individual studios are impacted, although some appear significant.

Reportedly, id Software has lost 50% of its staff. It's a shocking development, leaving a pioneering developer – the stewards of the id Tech engine, and creators of Doom and Quake – with drastically lowered capacity. Bethesda Game Studios, id, MachineGames, and ZeniMax Online have apparently been given a mandate to refocus on Bethesda's "strongest franchises", but it's difficult to know where id goes from here.

Doom, Eternal, and The Dark Ages performed admirably, but didn't necessarily rip and tear the market to shreds. Quake Champions launched out of early access in 2022 but failed to gain momentum – arena shooters remain a challenge in an environment dominated by battle royale, extraction, and hero shooters. It's been over seven years since Rage 2.

Common sense would dictate that id shifts to support MachineGames – long rumored to be developing a sequel to 2017's Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. This would make sense: MachineGames has collaborated with other Bethesda studios around Wolfenstein in the past, having launched Cyberpilot and Youngblood with Arkane Lyon in 2019.

There's also external pressure to consider. A live action Wolfenstein television series is in development at Amazon MGM Studios, and given that Asha Sharma recently outlined a trans-media vision for the future of Xbox, it's unlikely that she will want to repeat the mistake made with Fallout: two hugely successful seasons of the show landing without a new Fallout game to meet raised interest.

Speaking of Fallout, id Software could help Xbox pursue its ambition of getting players back into the wasteland a little faster. Given the palpable appetite within the Xbox community for Obsidian to deliver New Vegas 2, I'd rather see id's expertise placed elsewhere. The studio is world renown for making the best feeling shotguns in video games – that would be wasted on V.A.T.S.

Xbox owns arguably the greatest catalogue of shooter franchises in the video game industry. Brink, Call of Duty, Doom, Gears of War, Halo, Overwatch, Perfect Dark, Prey, Quake, Rage, Singularity, Soldier of Fortune, StarCraft, and Wolfenstein to name but a few. If Xbox is serious about wanting to deliver more of its biggest franchises faster, it could do far worse than transition id to Gears or Halo.

Halo 3: ODST proved that Halo can thrive under tonal shifts; perhaps a faster, more furious id instalment would work wonders as Halo Studios gets its arms around the future of the mainline series. But really, id and Gears are a match made in heaven. The series could do far worse than an FPS experiment.

The gritty setting is perfect territory for a grounded, viscerally violent FPS. Don't just take my word for it, Cliff Bleszinski (designer of the original trilogy) toyed with taking Gears in this direction before Epic sold the IP to Microsoft. "I can tell you I wanted to actually consider going first-person with it," he told XboxEra. "I mean, can you imagine chainsawing a Locust in first person?"

I can imagine it, Cliff, and I want to play it. And there's no studio more equipped to make it a reality than id Software. Whether it will be given the opportunity under this new era of Xbox remains to be seen.

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Xbox's latest wave of mass layoffs has been far-reaching across the company and has even impacted one 37-year Microsoft veteran who served as lead of the Xbox Backward Compatibility program for Xbox 360 games on Xbox One.

Kevin LaChappelle, who joined Microsoft in August 1989 and most recently (in 2023) became vice president of Xbox platform, has taken to LinkedIn to confirm that he was part of the 1,600 roles eliminated this week (itself only half of the planned total of 3,200 layoffs that'll be rolling out across the 2027 fiscal year).

"I will add my name to the list of people who were laid off today at Xbox," LaChappelle's post reads. "This ends my 37 years at Microsoft."

Although LaChappelle, by his own description, has "worked in many different parts of the company," he says his "fondest memories are of leading the team of very talented engineers who built the Xbox Backward Compatibility program. Sitting in the auditorium when Phil [Spencer, former Xbox boss] announced the program at E3 2015 was incredible. The audience's reaction was unbelievable."

He's not exaggerating – you can watch the moment that the crowd erupted with excitement in the video below. As Spencer said at the time, the feature had "been consistently at the top" of fans' "request list," but Xbox hadn't even been sure "it was possible." Lo and behold, though, the team led by LaChappelle pulled it off.

This wasn't LaChappelle's only contribution to Xbox, as he also went on to lead "the team who created our Cloud Gaming product."

Going forward, LaChappelle says, "I am a firm believer that all entertainment will eventually become streamed to you wherever you are. I look forward to watching how Xbox evolves going forward and I wish the team nothing but success."

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says "a healthy Xbox could weather" the current storm, but Microsoft's gaming brand is anything but: "Our core has to be healthy."

From the outside looking in, it would appear that Undead Labs is a victim of mismanagement. The team was acquired by Xbox Game Studios in 2018, just weeks after the release of State of Decay 2. A sequel is set to land in 2027 after navigating a turbulent trajectory – revealed before it was ready for public consumption, development stalling during pre-production, challenges in shifting to Unreal Engine 5. The survival shooter finally opened its doors to public alpha testing earlier this spring.

Undead Labs didn't contribute any new games to the ecosystem in eight years. That's an irrefutable fact, which may speak to why Xbox just sold the studio as part of an internal reset. Although that doesn't mean the team hasn't been busy.

State of Decay 2 was a quiet success – amassing 10+ million lifetime players by its fourth anniversary. Undead supported this community with an expansion, multiple updates, new features, and years of refinements. Given how starved PS5 is for new co-op titles, it's shocking SoD2 wasn't part of the first wave of Xbox games to abandon platform-exclusivity. Another error from the prior Xbox administration.

Xbox has historically done a poor job of drawing attention to collaborations across XGS. The Coalition is an Unreal Engine 5 center of excellence. Other teams have made use of Ninja Theory's high-end motion capture studio. Rare provided the networking know-how for Double Fine's Kiln. Blizzard lent its cinematics expertise to Playground for Fable. Obsidian's proprietary dialogue editor is used by various in-development RPGs at Xbox. There's countless other examples.

Just like State of Decay helping bring Grounded to life. Operating with a small budget, Obsidian sought a novel way to achieve its co-op ambitions. And so it turned to Undead Labs, who had developed a system to store world-data as a shareable save file in the cloud. It's what allows multiple players to independently drop into the same persistent world without requiring a community's host to be online.

"It's almost like a pseudo-dedicated server space," Marcus Morgan, Obsidian's VP of operations, told me last year. "It's effectively just a shared cloud save, but you don't need any of the dedicated server infrastructure – or the cost that goes with it."

"The intention behind that was, because we were a small team (there were only like 20 people working on it, and the cost of making it was relatively small) this was a good way to satisfy player's needs," he says, adding: "That stemmed from a collaboration between us and Undead Labs. I have to give a big shout out to that team. They built this tech initially, and then we built upon it."

This 'Shared Save' technology helped Obsidian scale quickly to build more vibrant and collaborative backyards. Eventually, Undead received an expanded 'Shared World' system in return – allowing State of Decay 3 to support far larger communities, no longer constrained by the co-op tethers that plagued its predecessor. It'll be interesting to see whether the tech evolves again in the future.

Still, it's an interesting example of the sort of value that Undead Labs brought to Xbox, and the way the XGS group has been able to leverage wider expertise to bring concepts to life. Eight years without releasing a new game clearly isn't enough for this next era of Xbox, but the legacy of Undead Labs and State of Decay will live on through Grounded 2's ever-expanding Brookhollow Park forever.

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Along with the announced cut of 3,200 employees at Xbox, a number of studios like State of Decay 3 creator Undead Labs have either split from the company or gone independent – which also means, in the case of the zombie survival threequel at least, Game Pass might be off the table.

Just yesterday, Asha Sharma revealed the Microsoft layoffs, noting that Xbox sees three to 10 times lower margins than "comparable platform and publishing businesses." This "significant restructure" of the company also means that several studios – one of which is Undead Labs – are officially moving under other brands or going indie, splitting from Xbox. The State of Decay 3 developer itself will see new management, although it's unclear who just yet.

Although we don't yet know who Undead Labs' new owner will be, part of the exit deal between the team and Xbox may mean State of Decay 3 won't have to launch on Game Pass.

As per a recent report from Game File, while the deal does call for the release of the game, as well as the continued funding required up to that point, it doesn't leave State of Decay 3 obligated to Xbox-controlling terms, like being available on Xbox Game Pass. That's certainly interesting.

It's especially eye-catching as State of Decay 3 was just showcased during June's Xbox Games Showcase 2026, where it finally got a 2027 release date – a date fans had waited six long years to hear about.

The supposed continued funding is always nice to read, but I'm admittedly left wondering what other implications this entire situation might have for the third State of Decay entry. It's difficult to tell.

As for the other companies that will no longer be operating under Xbox, there's Psychonauts dev Double Fine, South of Midnight creator Compulsion Games, Senua studio Ninja Theory, and Arkane – a team that is notably currently working on Marvel's Blade. Management at the latter is "beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options," so it's not yet clear exactly what's happening there.

Some of these, like the first two, are independent now. Meanwhile, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are finding new homes to work within.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says "a healthy Xbox could weather" the current storm, but Microsoft's gaming brand is anything but: "Our core has to be healthy."

Apogee co-founder George Broussard has commented on the latest wave of Xbox layoffs, saying Microsoft not shutting the studios is simply "decent PR" for them while the studios now face new struggles.

As part of what it calls "the most significant restructure in Xbox history," Microsoft, is laying off 3,200 staff from Xbox over the next year, with five studios being sold or spun off as independent developers – including Bethesda studio Arkane, which is still in consultation over its future. Significantly hit from this round of layoffs is reportedly Doom and Quake developer id Software, which is with former Bethesda lead Jeff Gardiner reporting that 95 developers are being let go from the studio – which is reported to have around 200 employees per its LinkedIn.

Developer of one-time Doom rival Duke Nukem 3D Broussard also commented on the id layoffs on Twitter, reporting on what he's heard from the studio about the magnitude of these layoffs. "Tools, programming (except a couple), Quake Champions team, testing team. All gone." Broussard reports, while another quote says "seems like all they left was leadership and art/design. I think Xbox forgot Quakecon is next month."

Broussard adds, "It really does sound as if id is now a support team for Bethesda/others. Rip idTech, which was amazing. Maybe Machine Games will carry it on or maybe it will be dropped for future games? But the read is that id is essentially dead. At least for the time being. Yes, the studio wasn't closed and half still have their jobs. That's great."

As for the four studios Microsoft let go, Broussard says, "One view is this is great. For MS they get decent PR for being 'good guys'. But the truth is that in at least one case (and maybe others), retaining the IP in such a case was written into the original contract when MS purchased them."

So far, it has been confirmed that Double Fine and Compulsion are retaining their IP as part of their independence, with Undead Labs and Ninja Theory still confirmed to be working on State of Decay 3 and Senua, respectively; however, it's not clear if the studio's new owners will also own their franchises.

Broussard adds, "Second, these studios now are out of the MS lifeboat, on their own, and will have [a] short time to find new deals or funding and they will make it or not. Never mind they sold to MS originally to avoid this grind and be 'safe'."

He adds, "Yes, they have a second chance, but more layoffs may simply be deferred and outside the current umbrella of today's layoff round, so MS doesn't really get the bad PR of simply shutting studios down. This means continual worry by the employees and stress for mgmt."

id Software co-founder John Romero has commented on the layoffs, which have reportedly cut the Doom and Quake developer in half.

Xbox is laying off 3,200 staff over the next year as part of what it calls "the most significant restructure in Xbox history," with this marking the fifth wave of layoffs since acquiring Activision Blizzard for $75.4 billion. Hit especially hard from this is ZeniMax Studios – which Microsoft acquired in 2021 – with Arkane set to be spun off or sold (alongside Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Double Fine, and Compulsion Games), while Fallout developer Bethesda Game Studios is reportedly losing 35 staff members.

Bethesda is reportedly pivoting to focus on its "strongest franchises," with reports claiming this is set to include Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein alongside the obvious push for The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. However, shockingly, id Software – one-time Wolfenstein developer and current Doom and Quake shepherds – have reportedly been gutted with layoffs, with former Bethesda project lead Jeff Gardiner reporting that 95 of the around 200 staff members are being let go from the studio.

Romero – whose FPS title was canceled, reportedly by Microsoft last year, which had Romero Games potentially facing closure – reacted to the news on BlueSky, saying, "I’m thinking of everyone at id today, and everyone else affected by yesterday’s layoffs. Romero Games was there a year ago. I know how devastating it is, and my heart's with all of you."

Romero continues, "I know what it feels like to leave id while id goes on. It’s a strange and painful thing to step away from a place that holds so much of your work, friendships and history." He adds, "The people at id have done a great job moving that legacy forward. DOOM, Quake, and Wolfenstein are not easy names to carry on, especially in today’s industry. The last few games showed real care, skill and respect for what those worlds mean to people."

The gutting of id Software is especially confusing in the wake of the news that Bethesda wants to focus on two of its games, but on top of that, the amount of knowledge just lost from the studio with the layoffs reportedly focused on the coders working on the id Tech engine – who are regarded as some of the best in the industry – likely leaves the upcoming Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein games in a worse place than they would have been.

As Bethesda is reportedly hit hard with layoffs from Microsoft, president Jill Braff has apparently told staff of the plan to focus on the company's strongest franchises going forward.

This week, Xbox announced its fifth wave of layoffs since purchasing Activision Blizzard, with this ongoing wave set to see 3,200 staff laid off over the next year. From the sounds of things, Bethesda is going to be one of the most affected targets of these layoffs, with former Bethesda project lead Jeff Gardiner reporting that 35 staff at Bethesda Game Studios are losing their jobs, while id Software is being gutted, reportedly losing 95 staff members.

On top of that, ZeniMax-owned studio Arkane is in the process of "beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options," while Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Double Fine, and Compulsion Games have broken off from Xbox during this latest restructuring, with the latter two going independent.

The layoffs at id Software are a major surprise, as they come alongside reports that Bethesda is set to change focus to its biggest franchises, which reportedly features Doom and Quake – two franchises primarily developed by id Software – alongside the expected push for The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5. While these were first reported by Bloomberg, an internal email from Braff acquired by IGN seems to back this up.

"These shifts also reflect the realities of our industry and business – and our responsibility to ensure Bethesda is operating from a more stable foundation." Braff says, adding: "To be successful in the future, we need to change course. We must strengthen our business, return to sustainable growth, and ensure we can continue investing in our franchises and our players."

She continues, "To best position Bethesda for future growth, we are shifting from a planning model primarily centered on what's next for each independent studio to one that focuses on our strongest franchises." Braff adds, "By working more closely across the organization, sharing expertise and capabilities, and focusing our investments on the opportunities with the greatest potential, we believe we can better support our franchises and IP with meaningful long-term potential."

Of course, one wonders why Microsoft took this long to shift Bethesda's focus and work on getting the next Fallout and Elder Scrolls games out as soon as possible. However, with a significant portion of the talent at id Software affected – which reportedly is focused on the coders working on the id Tech engine – it feels almost antithetical to the studio's plan to focus on its first-person shooter franchises, and evidence of the poor planning from Xbox management that has led us to this point.

As news of Microsoft cutting 3,200 employees at Xbox continues to make headlines, CEO Asha Sharma explains that it's been a long time coming, as the company couldn't weather its growing storm.

In a new statement to Fortune following news of the Xbox layoffs, Sharma provides a bit of insight into what she dubbed "the most significant restructure in Xbox history."

She explains, "In order to grow, we made a bunch of bets… and as we did that, we inherently didn't focus on the core business. The number one measure of your strategy is what you put your resources behind, and we simply spread ourselves too thin."

Part of this new restructuring plan includes Xbox reeling itself back into focusing on its own flagship console – one the company has arguably placed on the sidelines in lieu of Game Pass and other hopeful undertakings – and removing various management layers for more centralized teams.

Overshadowing all this is also the surging cost of hardware – the company announced yet another price hike for its consoles late last month, noting that "console storage and memory prices have increased by more than 2.5x and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027." Interestingly, though, Sharma notes that Xbox potentially could've gotten through this rough patch… had it been "healthy" beforehand.

"A healthy Xbox could weather the shock of the hardware crisis," she admits. "With an unhealthy Xbox, it becomes really challenging, and it accelerates a lot of the changes we need to make."

That's understandable – as per her own words, Xbox sees three to 10 times lower margins than "comparable platform and publishing businesses," after all. Those aren't great numbers for what was once a leading name in hardware, to say the least.

Sharma says that turning Xbox back to its former glory will take time, however. According to her, executives are toying with new business models for the company's hardware, too, like expansions to consumer programs that lower financial barriers (think "buy now, pay later") and making Xbox more available on mobile and PC to reach a wider breadth of players.

She concludes, "Our core has to be healthy, and that will be necessary but not sufficient."

Here's hoping Microsoft and Xbox in particular manage to turn things around. Plenty of folks – and studios – depend on it, and it's not difficult to see that Sharma's right about the health of the company.

Xbox parts ways with 4 studios, with South of Midnight and Psychonauts devs going independent as Arkane begins "required consultation" to "review potential strategic options."

As Microsoft officially drops layoffs on Xbox in its biggest restructuring ever, developers from beloved studios are reacting with shock, frustration, and in the case of the Bethesda Game Studios Union, solidarity with employees being made redundant.

The BGS Union says it's tired of workers on the ground paying for the mistakes of the top-level executive suite, time and time again.

"In what is becoming a stressful annual routine, Microsoft has decided to lay off thousands, including MANY of us at Bethesda Games Studios. With over 10k developers already cut from previous rounds, those at the top have deemed that insufficient in fixing their mistakes," reads a Bluesky post from the workers union.

"Today we say goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues and to hundreds more across Xbox, including folks that have worked at Bethesda Games Studios for decades. When will this cycle of cuts in pursuit of ever-greater profits end?"

In an anticipated but nonetheless upsetting announcement, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma today revealed her big "reset" plan for Microsoft's long fledgling gaming branch: all in all, 3,200 jobs are being cut over the course of fiscal year 2027, 1,600 of which have been made immediately redundant.

Meanwhile, at least four studios are splitting off, with Compulsion Games and Double Fine going independent and Ninja Theory and Undead Labs entering "terms to join new ownership." Finally, the broadest overview of Xbox's big downsizing involves "potential strategic options" for Dishonored and Deathloop studio Arkane, words I'm sure are providing utmost comfort to the developers working there.

In her reasoning for Xbox's latest layoff blitz, Sharma points to weak operating margins, an overstuffed portfolio of AAA and indie studios and acquisitions that didn't pay off, and lower than expected returns on Game Pass and multiplatform investments.

Because of our One BGS union, we have the right to negotiate over the impacts of these layoffs, helping secure stronger severance packages and better support for those leaving the company.We will do everything we can to make sure our friends are properly taken care of.

— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T20:13:11.556Z

The question of when will enough truly be enough is on the minds of millions of game developers, journalists, and fans growing increasingly weary of studio closures, layoffs, and game cancelations in one of the most turbulent periods the games industry has ever faced. Although it can be hard to think of a major video game developer, publisher, or hardware manufacturer that hasn't seen cuts in the last few years, the latest 20% reduction in Xbox's overall workforce stands out as one of the most egregious in recent memory.

The workers being forced to leave Bethesda Game Studios are in the comparatively advantageous position of being protected by a union contract, which can often stipulate more favorable severance terms relative to a non-union job being made redundant – yet another argument for organized labor in the industry.

"Because of our One BGS union, we have the right to negotiate over the impacts of these layoffs, helping secure stronger severance packages and better support for those leaving the company," the union adds. "We will do everything we can to make sure our friends are properly taken care of."

Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake will reportedly join Fallout and Elder Scrolls as Bethesda owner ZeniMax switches focus to its largest franchises amid Xbox restructure

Despite rumors that Xbox was looking to have Bethesda owner ZeniMax focus on Fallout and Elder Scrolls, the company will reportedly also be working on other franchises as part of an overhaul amid Xbox's major restructuring.

While Xbox is considering "potential strategic options" for Arkane, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have been purchased by currently unknown buyers, while Double Fine and Compulsion Games are going independent. As part of its ongoing wave of layoffs which will see 3,200 staff laid off over the next year (the company's fifth wave of layoffs since the purchase of Activision Blizzard) – Bethesda owner ZeniMax is reportedly also going through an overhaul to see it focus on the biggest franchises under its banner.

Last month, rumors emerged that Xbox is reportedly pushing the company to get the likes of The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 out sooner, but other franchises are reportedly set to be worked on alongside them. As reported by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, ZeniMax will apparently pivot to focus on its biggest franchises, including Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, alongside its iconic FPS trio Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake, amid a significant overhaul.

Notably, Quake and Wolfenstein haven't had new entries in around a decade, since Quake Champions and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus released in 2017 (although two Wolfenstein spinoffs did release in 2019 to a negative-to-mixed reception).

However, despite the news that these franchises will be developed, Schreier reports that Quake and Doom developer (as well as one-time Wolfenstein developer) id Software will be cutting "a significant number of staff" today alongside ZeniMax Online Studios – which faced a game cancellation alongside layoffs almost exactly a year ago.

It's unclear whether the franchises will be worked on by other studios under the ZeniMax banner, however Wolfenstein developer Machine Games is seemingly unaffected by today's wave of layoffs.

It's been confirmed that four Xbox-owned studios are breaking free from Microsoft ownership amid the "most significant restructure in XBOX history," while "required consultation" begins with management of Arkane.

In a memo sent to Xbox staff today, CEO Asha Sharma reveals that South of Midnight studio Compulsion Games and Psychonauts developer Double Fine are both going independent. Meanwhile, Senua studio Ninja Theory and State of Decay dev Undead Labs will be getting new owners, while management of Marvel's Blade studio Arkane is "beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options."

Sharma writes: "Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3."

In the memo, Sharma admits that from 2018, "we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined." Acknowledging that the company is competing "not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios," Sharma says "it is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio."

All this comes as Sharma outlines plans to "reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27," with around 1,600 members of staff being laid off today. "We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects," she continues. "These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions."

Responding publicly to the news, Compulsion Games has issued a statement clarifying that it will "retain the rights to Contrast, We Happy Few, and our award-winning South of Midnight," and adding that it's "grateful for the years we spent with Xbox." It says: "As an independent studio, we're excited to continue building the distinctive games that define Compulsion while taking the next steps in our journey."

Furthermore, Compulsion is "confident in the future" of the studio "and look forward to this next chapter where one thing will remain constant: we will create unique games that tell important stories, all with the goal of touching the hearts and minds of our players."

Double Fine similarly shares its thanks to Xbox in a statement, both for its support over the years and "for working with us to reach an outcome which preserves our history and culture, and returns ownership of our games to us."

An important update from Compulsion Games.

— @compulsiongames.bsky.social (@compulsiongames.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T14:29:37.785Z

All this comes following weeks of whispers that studios including Double Fine and Compulsion were under threat of closure. It was reported that Microsoft was already planning its split from Ninja Theory when its next game, Senua, was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase only weeks earlier. For those three studios – as well as Undead Labs, which is set to release State of Decay 3 at some point next year – this outcome is quite a relief. Though undoubtedly still unsettling for staff – a number of Compulsion Games employees announced that they were looking for work only a couple of weeks ago – at least the studios aren't closing their doors.

Things are less reassuring when it comes to Dishonored and Deathloop studio Arkane. Clearly, there'll be more news on its fate to follow, but "potential strategic options" doesn't immediately inspire confidence that the devs will be able to continue as normal. It was only a few weeks ago that lead concept artist at the studio, Jean-Luc Monnet, reassured fans that Marvel's Blade is still in development, but a report from The Verge last week which claimed that Microsoft was considering cancelling the game or selling the studio obviously wasn't so comforting.

As reported last week, Obsidian Entertainment appears to be safe from closure amid the Xbox restructuring.

I hope that Clockwork Revolution doesn't mark the end of an era for Xbox. Every time I see it in action, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse into the future of role-playing games.

inXile Entertainment is showcasing an experience built on a foundation of depth and flexibility; an RPG where you're charged with changing the past to take control of your future. Expressive combat and detailed customization combining with a spiraling approach to choice and consequence. If Clockwork Revolution delivers on its potential, it'll show what can be achieved when a talented team is afforded six years to raise its creative ambitions.

Following the Xbox Games Showcase, CEO Asha Sharma announced an internal reset. While she stated that "a reliable pipeline of first- and third-party exclusives and new IP are critical to our success", it was also acknowledged that Xbox has "over extended" itself after expanding too rapidly under old leadership. Rumors of widespread layoffs and studio closures have followed.

I suspect the version of Xbox that exists by 2027 will be one that prioritizes shorter development cycles, less creative risktaking, and a pivoting of resources to support faster deployment of "industry-defining franchises" like Fallout, Forza, Gears, and Halo. Which is to say, it won't necessarily be an environment where something like a Clockwork Revolution is possible.

Clockwork has this neat system built around the lives of companions. As you reach into the past, pulling at threads to reshape the steampunk city of Avalon, the worlds of your favorite characters can change in unexpected ways. "The crew you come back to might not be the same one you left," teases game director Chad Moore. It's a big creative concept layered atop wild time manipulation / displacement powers, and storytelling split across different timelines.

There's a reason Clockwork has been selected as the first Xbox console-exclusive of 2027. It could be a genuine system-seller, the sort the Series X desperately needs. There's also a chance it'll be the last of its kind. Clockwork Revolution will technically mark the first inXile release for Xbox. The team was acquired in 2018, and spent its first two years in the XGS ecosystem shipping Wasteland 3. Six years later, the most ambitious RPG in inXile's history is almost here.

In an era where development is more complicated, expensive, and time intensive than ever, it's going to take that sort of timeframe to create something capable of pushing genre boundaries. My fear is that a changing Xbox, one more brutally responsive to industry pressures, may no longer burden the risk of producing new IP in this way. Clockwork Revolution is among my most anticipated games, I just fear it'll mark the end of Xbox's acquisition misadventure.

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PATCH NOTES: v02.09.2026 – Project Fantasy is in turmoil after a publishing partner, which sources corroborate to be Xbox Game Studios Publishing, pulled funding of the online fantasy RPG from developer IO Interactive.

What's going on with IOI's Project Fantasy?

• IOI announced that its relationship with an "external partner" had ended.
• Losing the backing of this partner has forced IOI to restructure
• Development of Project Fantasy continues as IOI remains "100% committed" to the project

Why is this happening now?

• Xbox is recalibrating its entire business model
• New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is assessing how and where it invests
• Xbox changes are impacting the industry beyond its first-party studios

Developer Comment

Meta Shift:

• IOI has been on a victory lap since the release of 007: First Light.

The studio has had a lot to celebrate right now. First Light is the best Bond game since Goldeneye, Hitman: World of Assassination continues to grow, and there's a remaster of the original Hitman trilogy moves into production with Saber Interactive. The news highlights just how quickly things can change in this industry.

This is another example of Xbox's changing priorities as CEO Asha Sharma attempts to recalibrate the business. Microsoft says that it's "taking a fresh look" at where it invests to ensure it is "focusing on our highest priorities."

For independent studios like IOI, this means the funding thought to be once secure can slip away in an instant – impacting game development timelines and prompting studio layoffs.

Known Issue:

• Very little is known about Project Fantasy, which was first announced in 2023, and that is now unlikely to change any time soon.

When I spoke with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak in June 2026, he told me that development of this new adventure – an online fantasy RPG, one that draws creative inspiration from the 'Fighting Fantasy' books – was progressing well. "Hopefully the world will see the original IP that we're working on, we're going to reveal that soon."

"It might be revealed sooner than you think," Abrak told me a few weeks ago, adding that the prospect was "pretty damn exciting" with IOI finally establishing itself as a studio capable of maintaining multiple projects at once. "I acknowledge that IO Interactive has always been known as the Hitman studio, but I think that's about to change… Who knows what the future of Hitman, Bond, Project Fantasy, and the other exciting things we're working on is going to bring, but our confidence is pretty high right now."

When reached for clarification on whether the studio's plans to reveal Project Fantasy "soon" have changed following recent developments, IOI has no comment beyond the statement it made to the public.

Patch Notes Summary:

• Project Fantasy hasn't been canceled, but it has lost its publisher.

While sources tell GamesRadar+ that the game was due to be revealed soon after years of development and investment, it's likely that the next update we receive on the project will surround who is funding it rather than gameplay details.

IOI could (in theory) support Project Fantasy as an independent studio, or it could seek outside investment in an effort to bring its ambitious multiplayer game to life. For now, it seems like IO's fantasy of becoming a developer who can support multiple IPs at once has become more of a nightmare.

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Xbox is reportedly testing a feature that would let users turn their physical game collections into digital game libraries amid a wider industry shift away from video games on disc.

Today, PlayStation became the first of the big three console makers to unveil a plan to completely stop producing disc-based games in 2028, but the writing's been on the wall for many years now as publishers increasingly choose digital-only releases over the hybrid digital/physical launches that have been the norm for several console generations. Meanwhile, Nintendo's shift toward digital releases and embrace of game-key cards, as well as PlayStation's plan to kill discs entirely and Take-Two's decision to make GTA 6 a digital-only release foretell a bleak future for physical game collectors, but Xbox reportedly has a plan which, in theory, could be a genuine boon for players choosing to embrace all-digital consoles in the future.

The Verge reports that an Xbox disc-to-digital feature is in the testing phase weeks after it found references to "enable Disc2Digital" buried in the Xbox PC app's code. The way it works seems pretty simple. If the version in testing is implemented, owners of a compatible physical game will obtain a digital entitlement by inserting the disc into an Xbox console and installing it.

Digital ownership of the game will be tied to the physical disc and will be transferable from one account to another, meaning you'd be able to trade games with friends and switch profiles just like you would with an actual disc. Naturally, you'll need a Microsoft account to register your disc-to-digital games, but there seem to be relatively few caveats to Xbox's disc-to-digital plan from this limited reporting. The Verge reports that Game Pass subscribers will be able to stream their physical-to-digital games as long as those games are available on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and likewise, if a game is supported by Xbox's Play Anywhere deal, physical Xbox games will be playable on PC via this new system.

As manufacturers seemingly move toward discless consoles – although it's currently unconfirmed whether Xbox's next-gen Project Helix will be digital only – and with older generations of hardware succumbing to inevitable decay, there's a real threat that physical games will become harder and harder to actually play on first-party systems. Microsoft's apparent solution, however, is reportedly in the works for Xbox Series X and Xbox One consoles and won't be available for Xbox 360 and original Xbox games, many of which are compatible with current-gen Xbox hardware.

There's a good chance we'll get the full details from Microsoft itself on Xbox's reported disc-to-digital feature shortly, but in the meantime, I'm more curious to hear if PlayStation has a plan in place for physical collectors considering Sony's the only manufacturer to actually confirm it's ditching discs for the next generation.

PlayStation killing discs is bad for everyone, whether you care about physical games or not

Large-scale layoffs are widely expected at Xbox soon, and funding decisions at the company are already costing game developers their jobs. Xbox has pulled funding from Project Fantasy, the upcoming new IP from Hitman and 007 First Light developer IO Interactive. While IOI says it remains committed to the new game, the funding cut will mean layoffs at the studio.

"A relationship with an external partner on our own IP, Project Fantasy, has come to an end," IO Interactive says in its announcement. "This means we have to adapt to this new reality and its short-term consequences, including staffing decisions, which is what is happening as we write this update, and we are fully committed to supporting those affected through this challenging transition."

While IO Interactive did not specifically name Xbox as the partner involved with Project Fantasy, a spokesperson for Microsoft's gaming brand confirmed it in a statement to Bloomberg. "We're not reducing our overall investment in games," the spokesperson says. "We expect to invest about the same in content as we did last year. What's changing is where we're investing and the kinds of projects we're backing."

Xbox had apparently been set to publish Project Fantasy. The game, which was initially described as a "bold new online fantasy RPG," was first announced in 2023, but few details on it have come since. Today's news comes a month after the launch of 007 First Light, a game which launched to broad acclaim and strong sales, though the future of the series seems to be something of an open question given recent comments from James Bond IP holder Amazon MGM.

Regardless, IO Interactive says it's still going to finish its RPG. "Project Fantasy is a game, a world, and an IP that we absolutely love and remain 100% committed to, now and in the future," its statement insists. "This wonderful universe will see the light of day."

Major changes at Xbox have been expected since June 10, when a message from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty ominously warned of an impending "reset." Some studios may be sold to external buyers, or shut down entirely. Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion Games have all reportedly been on the chopping block, and a new report suggests that Dishonored developer Arkane, which is currently making Marvel's Blade, is also among the studios at risk. Multiple reports indicate that Xbox's layoffs will begin on July 6.

Xbox Game Studios head leaves after less than 2 years: "I'm proud to say we delivered many flawless launches."

So, to recap, Destiny 2 studio Bungie was just smashed over the head with mass layoffs, certain Xbox Game Studios teams are reportedly moving toward the same fate, EA disposed of many Battlefield 6 devs despite selling over 20 million copies, and these are just some of the apocalyptic changes the video game industry has endured since spring. Naturally, even developers unaffected by layoffs are feeling the effects of all the carnage.

One such developer is Cyberpunk 2 associate game director and CD Projekt Red designer Paweł Sasko, who writes in a harrowing Twitter post, "Some days I feel our industry is imploding.

"Teams and game projects are getting slaughtered every second day," Sasko continues, "to the point it's hard to keep up. We are blessed to be still hiring, for all our games." The developer encourages others to browse CD Projekt Red's open job listings, which span multiple departments for titles like The Witcher 4 and the secretive, new IP Hadar.

CD Projekt Red began laying off about 9% of its staff in 2023, so it itself isn't impervious to the destructive past few years that gaming legend Brenda Romero described as "crashier" than the infamous video game crash of 1983. All the more reason, then, for CD Projekt Red developers to be as outspoken about the industry layoff trend as they have been; the studio's localization QA analyst Paula Mackiewicz-Armstrong also urged other devs this April to unionize in response to the "over 1,000" positions at Epic Games impacted by its recent, ruthless batch of layoffs.

Mackiewicz-Armstrong said at the time, "I've seen some hard times and some remarkable changes and improvements that make CDPR a great place to be right now. I just wish others in the industry could have the same." I'm sure many share that sentiment.

Bungie studio head reportedly leaves after 16 years with the company following mass layoffs and Destiny 2 death spiral.

We'd all like The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5 to come out sooner rather than later. To be honest, I'd settle for proper acknowledgement of either at this point. But a former Bethesda developer believes if the RPGs were to come out too quick, fans would get tired of back-to-back releases.

In light of Xbox reportedly pushing the company for faster turnaround on its major releases, Bruce Nesmith, the lead designer on Skyrim and contributor to Starfield, Oblivion, and more, thinks Bethesda going too hard could "risk fan fatigue." In his mind, the dev team needs to find a middle-ground.

"There is an old adage in software development about the process having three corners: resources, time, and quality,” Nesmith says to FRVR. "The studio decides two of them, which determines the third. If you lock down the resources and the schedule, that decides the quality you will achieve. If you lock down the quality and the schedule, that determines the resources you will need to complete the project."

He hammers in that, "You can't dictate all three, only two," and "over-committing to any one of the corners increases friction and becomes less effective." Making the pipeline too long leads to less productivity, as well. "Allowing ten years for a project creates a cycle of endless reinvention and ultimate failure," Nesmith adds.

Having been involved in Bethesda games from Daggerfall through to Starfield, Nesmith considers the sweet spot for launch dates to be shy of half a decade between big games. "Three years felt like the right amount of time to meet fan expectations," he says, adding that actually figuring out what people want is a "moving target."

But in the case of The Elder Scrolls 6, it's been nearly 10 years since Todd Howard first mentioned it, and the status of Fallout 5 is anyone's guess, some 11 years removed from its predecessor. Other studios seem to have similar project timelines.

Naughty Dog is taking around five to seven years per release now, with The Last of Us 2 having come out six years ago. Santa Monica Studio, home of the God of War games, tends towards four years per release, but that could be getting longer; God of War Laufey doesn't yet have a launch window.

Then, of course, we have GTA 6. Triple-A games are starting to take more time, and the tech and manpower involved are becoming larger and larger. So when the next big sequel you're waiting for comes out, make sure to enjoy it, because it might be a while before you get another.

Analysts expect GTA 6 could sell up to 30 million copies at launch, but are unsure if it can "surpass the incredible longevity and massive sales of 5" in the long run.

Hideo Kojima says he was called "crazy" while pitching the concept for his upcoming horror game OD, and only former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer understood what he was trying to do.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Kojima explains that he had trouble getting OD picked up by any publisher since "I pitched to many people, to the big companies, and also to the up-and-coming companies. All of them said the same thing."

Kojima continues, "They said that I'm crazy, and that they really don't understand the concept – that they will not be able to do it."

First unveiled during The Game Awards 2023 (following leaks the prior year as Overdose), OD claims it's going to be a horror experience "no one has ever seen before," and it's being made in collaboration with the likes of horror director Jordan Peele and a larger group of collaborators Kojima is calling his "Avengers." OD's concept (and namesake) is for the player to "overdose" on horror, with Kojima hyping it up as a game that goes "beyond the limit of 'scariness.'"

The idea ultimately appealed to Phil Spencer, who understood the concept and took it on board. Current Xbox CEO Asha Sharma also calls the project a "deeply moving game." She adds, "I've got great artists and creatives that can pick a great game better than I can, and so I want to give it space, but most importantly, I think it just represents another kind of game."

OD currently doesn't have a release date, and outside of a very naked leak and a couple of quick trailers, we really don't know too much about what it has to offer. It seems like the studio was waiting until Death Stranding 2 launched before going all-in on development, as Kojima said his studio was just beginning to work on OD last year. Both OD and Kojima's upcoming stealth game Physint were impacted by the SAG-Aftra strike in 2024, so it'll probably be The Game Awards at the earliest before we see another glimpse of them.

Hideo Kojima recommended Norman Reedus his "favorite" anime, and it sounds like The Walking Dead actor wants to turn it into a live-action movie.

It's been 15 years since a mainline installment to the Gears of War series supported four-player campaign co-op. Developer Epic Games introduced the experiment back in Gears of War 3, the game which chronicled the desperate last stand of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago. It's fitting then that four-player co-op returns as The Coalition prepares to chronicle the origin of the most beloved bromance in video game history.

Gears of War: E-Day is set to launch on October 6, 2026, for PC and Xbox Series X. Players across both platforms will be able to explore the emergence of the Locust together, in either four-player online or two-player split-screen configurations. Creative director Matt Searcy tells me that taking E-Day in this direction wasn't without its technical challenges, but he believes it's the right move for what is undoubtedly the studio's most ambitious entry during its decade-long stewardship of the series.

"I'm not gonna lie, it's a huge investment," says Searcy. "We made the decision to support four player co-op to reflect an aspect of how the core Gears DNA feels. Our stories are almost always about a four-person squad, right?" He's not wrong, and yet it is exceptionally rare for Gears to look all that far beyond the perspective of the Fenix family. That's going to change in E-Day.

"We set a goal from the very beginning of development that we wanted you to be able to play as every single character. So in our campaign, you can pick any of the characters from the story – the story will be told entirely from that perspective, and you'll never leave their side." The characters Searcy is referring to here are, of course, the returning Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago, COG veterans of the Pendulum Wars, alongside the world-weary Mags Carter and rookie Lucas Reyes.

Together they form Bravo Squad, fighting to survive as the city of Kalona crumbles beneath the Locus Horde. "It's a very intimate approach to following a larger world event," Searcy adds. "And it's kind of like Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan, where you're following this group and they aren't always going to be in the right place at the right time."

For Gears of War: E-Day, which has a campaign set entirely in a single city location, making a game that can support up to four players has pushed The Coalition to rethink how it builds environments. "We have had modes that have supported four-player co-op in them in the past and clearly they work, so this was all about building the right spaces at the right sizes. You know, we build to make sure the game plays great in single-player, in two-player co-op, and then in three- and four-player co-op as well."

"We love single-player games, and Gears is built so that you can play it that way and have an amazing time. Our mechanics are designed in single-player, you'll have the squad there with you, and the game will play great if you're on your own. But we really believe in the co-op experience too, as you get to try different tactics and experiment with multiple things at once in our larger combat arenas – it's a lot of fun," says Searcy.

We'll see how the return to four-player co-op campaign works for ourselves come October 6, 2026. Although PlayStation owners won't be able to get in on the action, as Gears of War: E-Day is now an Xbox console exclusive – meaning you'll need a PC, Xbox Series X, or an active Game Pass subscription to be there for the day that Sera changed forever.

Gears of War: E-Day is now a console exclusive, making it one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games of 2026.

Gears of War: E-Day is renovating the 20-year-old foundations that the franchise was built upon. The Coalition made the decision to start from scratch as it faced the daunting task of transitioning to Unreal Engine 5, opting to recreate every single system, mechanic, and art asset anew as it sought to tell the story of Emergence Day – the day that Sera crumbled, as the Locust emerged from beneath the ground and brought a civilization to its knees.

This means that big changes are coming to Gears of War: E-Day. While it's still going to be a heavy-footed, cover-based shooter made in the mold of the games that have come before it, The Coalition is pushing for greater mobility, more verticality, and slicker movement mechanics to bring a greater sense of urgency and anticipation to the gory combat. One unexpected change comes in how Active Reload is being handled.

"Active Reload has always been a massive part of Gears, it's an iconic feature," says creative director Matt Searcy. For those of you who need a refresh, the act of swapping a clip in Gears of War actually kickstarts a small minigame whereby hitting different spots of the reloading mechanism can change the speed in which you're able to get back into combat. "For E-Day, we've moved the Active Reload bar to the middle of the screen by default."

For players who have been with the series for two years, this is no doubt going to be one of those changes that sounds small but has the potential to have a seismic impact on the way that you play – especially if your brain has now been rewired to naturally draw your eyes to the top-right position of the screen when dealing with reloads. The Coalition is aware that some may not appreciate the change.

"You can change the Active Reload position to the top right if that's what you prefer," says Searcy, but explains that this change is borne out of internal playtesting. "We've noticed through our testing that the bar being in the middle of the screen is where people actually use Active Reload the most. It becomes part of their shooting experience."

That isn't the only change The Coalition is making. While prior Gears games would typically have three Active Reload states – regular, perfect, and failed; each with their own positives and pitfalls – E-Day will give certain weapons their own unique Active Reload effects. Searcy points to everybody's favorite shotgun as a great example: "Some weapons will have additional Active Reload mechanics. The Gnasher is back, and you can actually see every single shell being loaded into it. If you want to at any time, you can pull a trigger to stop your reload, keep the two or three shells that you loaded, and then use them on the enemy that's right in front of you – if you're willing to give up your Active bonus."

It's a fascinating change, and one that reflects The Coalition's willingness to rip up the rulebook as it attempts to create a Gears of War game that captures the vibe of the 2006 original whilst making an experience that feels ready for action in 2026. You'll be able to try the Active Reload changes for yourself come October 6, where Gears of War: E-Day lands on PC, Game Pass, and Xbox Series X.

Gears of War: E-Day is now a console exclusive, making it one of the most anticipated upcoming Xbox Series X games of 2026.

Grounded 2 is approaching a meaningful destination on its journey through early access. August 11 marks the launch of a massive new content update, with 'Into the Abyss' opening up the pond for exploration in Brookhollow Park. The community is also expanding, with PS5 players entering the action just as developers Obsidian Entertainment and Eidos Montreal push the survival game to version 0.5. It's going to be a big year for Grounded 2. To learn more about it, and to better understand the challenges of building such a complex project, we sat down with Obsidian legend and Grounded 2 game director Chris Parker.

We spoke this time last year to get into the reveal of Grounded 2. How have you found the last 12 months, as your game moved through the first stages of early access?

Chris Parker, game director: Getting Grounded 2 into early access was a hurdle. But we got it out there and the community has been totally behind it. They loved it, but they also played through all of the content quickly and have been asking when we were going to give them more. So for us on the development side, at both Obsidian and Eidos, our focus has been on getting this done. We've had three major updates since then.

Every time that we think we're done we can take a breath – just one breath, that's all you get, and then we keep going. At the same time, we're constantly processing all the community feedback, and trying with love to figure out how we do as much of it as we can, while recognizing that we can't possibly do all of it. And now we're on the cusp of releasing the largest content update that we've done. It's bigger than Garden, and to be launching on PlayStation 5 effectively makes this our second launch, right? We had the early access launch before, but this is like doing it all over again this summer.

Obsidian has always been very proud of its ability to co-develop Grounded 2 with Eidos, how have you found that collaboration throughout early access?

Chris Parker: I'm the one who has been working with Eidos the longest, because I launched the project with them back when it was in its infancy. They've always been great, but what's interesting about our relationship is that it's not just that we're professional or that we all care deeply about this franchise, but it's that we've learned to continually work together better, and to be stronger as a team over time.

There were a lot of times, getting into early access with the early access of the game, that we had some struggles. We would butt heads on some things, but we would ultimately figure out what the best solution for the game would be and move on. Those things occur less and less often now. What's far more likely to happen is that Eidos comes and pitches something to us, like the story for the pond, and I will just plus-one that with them. Then I'll suggest something and they get excited and plus-one that.

And then at some point, of course, we'll be out of scope and we have to pull it all back again. But it's because we built Grounded 2 into a good place together, everybody is super jazzed about it. We're ready to get in there and make this thing. Ultimately, we just keep getting better at doing this together.

Grounded 2 coming to PS5 feels like a pretty significant milestone?

Chris Parker: Releasing Grounded 2 on PlayStation 5 is huge for us. Obviously, we've been working on it for a while, it's coming out on August 11, and we didn't have the opportunity with Grounded 1 to do this with the PlayStation community. The PS4 and PS5 versions came out a year after 1.0 was released. So almost from day one, we knew that it would be truly amazing to expand the community and include PS5 users.

Getting here and being able to realize that ambition is awesome. Now we have our fingers crossed that PS5 players do want to come into the community, and that they are as genuinely interested in the development of this game as the existing community already is. I think they will, because the Grounded 2 community is super healthy, so we're just excited. It's going to be fun!

Xbox announced it's reinvesting in console exclusivity. Is this something you think about during development, or do you just want your game in as many hands as possible?

Chris Parker: As a game developer, what I want is for the most amount of players to love my game on their platform, whatever that might be. I'm going to put a lot of work into this thing, I'm going to put my heart into it – so I want you to love and enjoy it too. Ultimately, that's it. So there are other people above my pay grade that might have other opinions about what needs to happen with all that. It's not up to me. I'm just going to give it to as many people as I can. And for Grounded 2, I'm just super excited that this time around I get to pull PlayStation 5 players in with me. That's a great thing.

Grounded 2 has enjoyed a strong first year, but how are you thinking about that roadmap moving forward?

Chris Parker: From day one of this project, we had a pretty good idea of how big the park was going to be and a rough idea of how we were going to cut it. We had a solid idea of how many weapons there were going to be and how our weapon tiers were going to work. But the first hurdle was to distill all of that down to get the game into early access – a foundational level of all that stuff, just enough to build everything else on. So then the next steps were to add to the Garden. And I'll be honest with you, our original ambition for the Garden was too big, we had to scale them down a bit, and that content came out stronger as a result.

So yeah, we have ideas for the future, but the most important thing for us right now is the Into the Abyss update that's coming to PS5 and all other platforms on August 11. It's a huge content update with multiple biomes in it, there's a new buggy joining the group, we're bringing back swimming as a gameplay experience, and we're offering some other things that you can do while you're underwater too. We'll be talking about all that later.

How do you balance the need to release big content updates with the demands of a vocal, passionate community?

Chris Parker: A lot of the things that we focus on outside of the big content updates – new regions of the park, bosses, that sort of thing – are things for the community. They are actually more carefully planned, where we see things the community wants and try to deliver that. Custom Game is a good example of that, which is coming back in the 0.5 update. We always wanted to bring it back, but we were like, whatever, we'll bring it back whenever. And the community has been like, 'No, for real guys, we want Custom Game back; come on, give it to us!'

So we talked to Eidos, we did some finagling with the schedules, and we freed up resources to bring Custom Game back sooner. It won't be quite as robust as it was in Grounded 1 at first, but we are getting the big pieces in place and then we'll continue to add to it. So part of our roadmap is looking at something like Custom Game and understanding when we want to finish it, right? We want to do more with buggy progression; we got the first bit of it in with the 'Beat the Heat' update, but when are we going to finish it? So a lot of our roadmap is really about taking something that we have in the game, asking the community what they think about it, and us understanding if they want us to take it further.

Grounded 2 doesn't have a clear 1.0 release date, but it's expected to be on the 2027 gaming release calendar. The 'Into the Abyss' update is coming August 11 to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

Eight years and 68 updates later, the wasteland has never looked better. It's funny to think that few thought that Fallout 76 had a chance of surviving, let alone thriving, back when Bethesda Game Studios first announced its shared-world RPG – assumed to be too vastly out of step with the foundational Fallout experience to succeed.

And yet here we are, with Fallout 76 hosting one of the loveliest communities in all of gaming and providing safe haven for Fallout show fans looking for continuing adventures out in the wilds. Bethesda released a major new Fallout 76 update on June 2, Infestations, so we caught up with creative director Jon Rush and production director Bill LaCoste to get an update from the frontlines of Appalachia.

Talk to me about the Infestations update, what does it bring to Fallout 76?

Jon Rush, creative director: The wasteland is a dangerous place, and sometimes us wastelanders need to be reminded of that. Each update to the game that we've made since launch has kind of been the next chapter, and a lot of the focus has been different groups moving into Appalachia and setting up shop there. But the Super Mutants, the Scorched, and all of those misprogrammed robots are kind of getting tired of that – they want some of these places back. So Infestations unlocks close to 40 unique locations in the game that were once abandoned and are now full of action. Areas that have been taken over by these nefarious groups, and it's up to us Wastelanders to take them back and reclaim the wasteland.

It's still early days yet, but are players already shaping the way you're thinking about this update moving forward?

Jon Rush: You know, Bill and I largely consider ourselves to be pretty good players of our game. When we were playtesting Infestations with our team before release, they were a pretty good challenge. Little did we know, once it went live, people would be mowing through it much quicker than we ever did [Laughter]. So that has given us the next steps forward for making the feature better. So Infestation quests will get harder – much harder. And we have plans to continue improving that feature and expanding on it for the next patch and the one after that, and so on. Player feedback is so important.

This time last year we were talking about Gone Fission, which introduced fishing to Fallout 76. How do you avoid whiplash shifting between such different concepts?

Jon Rush: In the past, I've used the phrase: 'thickening the experience of Fallout 76.' What I mean by that is that we're always looking for ways to enrich existing features and playspaces in the game. Fishing did exactly that. 'Anywhere you can swim, you can fish!' is something you probably heard us say last year – that tells me, as a player, that I should be exploring the whole map again, just to see what kind of stuff can be pulled out of the water. In many ways, that fishing feature inspired what future features will look like, in that they are designed to thicken and enrich that experience.

How does that focus apply forward to what you delivered with Infestations?

Jon Rush: Despite how obviously different Infestations may seem from Gone Fission, they actually aren't that different. Both have experiences that can take place across the entire map, perhaps in places that you haven't ever been to or haven't been to in a while. So really, the main difference here is that there's no water and that the fish fight back [laughter]. So yeah, it's about hitting those same hallmarks of us wanting to enrich the existing play experience in a new way.

To deliver Gone Fission and Infestations in the space of a year, it highlights something that's so core to Fallout – its capacity to be quite whimsical in an otherwise bleak world.

Bill LaCoste, production director: It's all about getting that Fallout feel right. We're looking for a balance between these darker, more serious tones and more levity, humorous moments. It's the balance of these aspects wrapped under a blanket of retro-futuristic Americana that makes Fallout – that's the Fallout sweet spot! It's echoed in the games and in the show, and that's where the stories are most effective. And so as we expand Fallout 76, making new features and crafting new stories, that's something we're always very mindful of.

Given the importance of that Americana vibe, does it rule Fallout 76 from taking wastelanders further afield in future updates?

Jon Rush: Americana provides such a unique timbre to the game and to the tone that, if you removed that, a big part of it may no longer feel like Fallout anymore. That's not to say that there aren't numerous other stories happening in the world outside of the United States that take place in the Fallout universe, but in the way that we present our stories, that Americana element is a crucial element to our world.

Bill LaCoste: There's also this sense of players being able to think about what's happening across other parts of the world on their own, there's some mystique there and we like that. I don't know if there will ever be an expansion beyond America, but I think there's a lot of importance in keeping it that way – so that players can think about what is happening around the world and create their own stories, which the modding community can take advantage of too!

Jon Rush: I mean, let me give a special shout-out to Fallout London! It's great to see people picturing what's happening in other parts of the world at the same time, I think it's fantastic. That's a strength of Fallout – that it can be a spark which ignites all these stories in people's heads, and it's great to explore those.

Bethesda Game Studios released two major Fallout 76 updates since Fallout Season 2 concluded earlier this year, I assume the show has been a motivating force?

Jon Rush: It's been great. It emboldens the team to continue telling great Fallout stories. A strength of the show is that its creators are such huge fans of the IP and of the world, so the stories they're telling are genuinely Fallout in every way. People watch it and they want more of it, so they come to Fallout 3, 4, New Vegas, and 76 to get more of that storytelling. So it emboldens the team to see that kind of reaction. And our community has been so great – so welcoming to all of these new players into the game. I know that's something you wouldn't really expect to see in a wasteland, people being charitable and giving things to each other, but it's been really great.

Bill LaCoste: I think that the big question of 'how do I get more of this' that Jon just noted, it's like 'hey, we have these games that do this!' And I think some of those people are actually surprised when they come into the games, that they are so much like the show – with the same humor and style. Kilter Films and Amazon have done an amazing job with the detail, and with the way that the stories being told are exactly like the Fallout games.

It must be pretty energizing to see so much enthusiasm around the franchise?

Bill LaCoste: I've watched both seasons multiple times now, with other friends and family, and I just never get bored of it. That's a great feeling for us and the team, because we don't ever come into work not wanting to do something with the Fallout universe, to make it better, and to do something new for our fans to keep this world going.

Jon Rush: The Fallout show has brought in new fans of Fallout. It's also brought in new gamers, who can also then go and experience all of the games that everybody else is making! It's funny, I was at a restaurant one time and my phone case says 'Fallout' on the back, and I just put it on the table not even thinking about it. The waiter comes by and he's like, 'oh yeah, you like Fallout too?' So I asked him which game was his favorite, hoping that he would say 76 [laughter]. And he goes 'Wait, there's a game? I just watched the show!' And I'm like, 'Dude, there are multiple games, get in there!' He said he was going to download [Fallout 76] when he got home, and I said, 'yeah, good for you!'

Looking for something else to play? Check out the upcoming Xbox Series X games, or our pick of the best MMOs to play in 2026.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The future of Compulsion Games, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory are unclear. There are reports this week that Xbox is in discussion to shutter all three legendary studios, and rumors that the teams responsible for South of Midnight, Psychonauts, and Hellblade could buy back their independence. At a time where both first-party creative houses – PlayStation Studios and Xbox Game Studios – have shown little hesitation in closing development houses, the idea that these three could walk away seems unlikely. And while no two situations are alike, it isn't unheard of. Just look at Toys for Bob.

"Toys for Bob was acquired by Activision in 2005, and for many years we enjoyed a long and successful partnership," says studio head Paul Yan, who took on the role following the departure of founders Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford in 2020. It wasn't long before Yan was steering Toys for Bob through one of the most challenging periods in its 30 year history. "Covid hit, and the world turned upside down. There were many changes that happened as a result. One was a corporate mandate [at Activision] to support the large blockbuster IPs – Modern Warfare, Warzone, and Overwatch 2, to name just a few."

Before the studio was drawn into the Call of Duty ecosystem, it was doing industry-leading work – breathing new life into the mascots that fuelled the imaginations of an entire generation of millennials. It spearheaded the burgeoning Toys-to-Life genre with the Skylanders series, "an original IP inspired by Spyro" before being given the opportunity to go a step further.

As Yan explains: "We spent time meticulously handcrafting the first three classic Spyro games for the Reignited Trilogy, and we really got an understanding of the character during this period. And then we moved on to Crash Bandicoot, breathing new life into that series with a sequel, as well as an experimental multiplayer spin-off with Crash Team Rumble." It's a period of prolific creativity, where Toys for Bob was able to leverage its growing confidence and expertise into long-overdue platformers.

And then the world changed. "We learned a lot after we shifted into a support structure to assist other teams with various initiatives, games, feature-sets, and updates. We spread into a lot of territories that we weren't familiar with, or at least hadn't spent a lot of time with. We're very proud of the work that we did there, and of all of the collaboration. But if we're being honest with ourselves, we knew that we were just straying too far from the games that we're passionate about – that we're known for. So at that time, in the back of our mind, we knew we wanted to get back to them somehow."

Soon, Activision began to change too. In 2022, as Toys for Bob was supporting Infinity Ward to get Modern Warfare 2 out the door, Xbox announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard King for $68.7 billion. Former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer went on record to say that he was interested in Toys for Bob dusting off older Activision IP, but nothing changed. As the deal closed in 2023, Toys for Bob were locked into supporting development of Overwatch 2 and Modern Warfare 3. Then the Xbox layoffs hit. One of the Toys for Bob studios was shuttered. A month later, it was all change again – the studio secured its freedom.

"In 2023, Microsoft was in the process of acquiring Activision. This was a long, drawn out process which gave us a lot of time to soul search – to ask ourselves, well, how can we get back to the games we're passionate about making? So we got in front of leadership at both the Activision and Xbox level," says Yan. "We proposed a really bold plan. We asked that Toys for Bob would buy back its independence – taking creative, financial and organization control – to spin-off into a separate company. One where we could get back to the games we were known for, and preserve the tight-knit team and the long tenure that we had built up over the years."

There was a major caveat in the proposal. Toys for Bob needed the security of knowing that it would immediately receive funding for a project. So if Toys for Bob was going to spread its wings, it was going to do it with Spyro: the character that had first freed it from the trap of making Disney licensing games with Activision back in the early 00s.

"The other half of the proposal was that the first game we would develop out of the game would be a new title for Xbox, and that it would be based on a concept that we had been stewing on ever since 2018," says Yan. "We learned a lot about Spyro in this time, and we had ideas on where the series could go and how we could evolve the character. So fast forward a bit, and leadership was very supportive of the move and of the game pitch. And for the last two years we've been quietly working on exactly that title: Spyro: A Realm Beyond."

Built in Unreal Engine 5, in development for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X, A Realm Beyond is in many ways a continuation of the iconic Insomniac era of games – with Toys for Bob leveraging everything it learned through remaking that trilogy and then pushing on beyond it. Given how eager Toys for Bob was to regain its independence, I was curious as to why the studio would draw such a hard line in the sand – that it would get what it wanted, only so long as Xbox funded the group as a third-party entity.

Granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation, multiple staffers at Toys for Bob have told me that it would have been 'near suicidal' to reenter the market without a project in active development, and that the arrangement works for everybody involved: the studio regains control of its future and a degree of security; Xbox gets to revive a legacy IP the community is desperate to see return with little risk; and that this could all ultimately lead to a fruitful partnership between the two in the future.

When I spoke with Xbox's executive vice president and chief content officer last week, Matt Booty didn't wholly shut down the question of whether third-party studios could be entrusted to revive other IP that the publisher has in the vault in the future: "I think the answer is there are options to do all kinds of things, and we're certainly looking at those all the time."

I did ask Toys for Bob associate creative director Lou Studdert why the studio went all-in on Spyro, rather than, say, Banjo-Kazooie, and he was clear about the studio's priorities. "Spyro has a deep place in the studio's heart. Having worked through Skylands and the Reignited trilogy, we've always admired that small but mighty underdog story of the character taking on these overwhelming odds – we see ourselves in that a little bit. And, honestly, it was also a no-brainer."

Yan adds: "Going independent meant taking a massive, massive risk. It's taking a bet on ourselves, but we had confidence in making that move [...] Reignited sold over 11 million copies, so there's an audience that showed up for the series."

As my time with Toys for Bob drew to a close, I asked Yan whether there was ever a world where the studio would have pursued independence without the Spyro sequel in place. "The proposal that we had was complex, and that was part of the equation from the beginning. That in order for us to pursue this, we would go independent. Is there a possibility that could have happened in some other alternate timeline?"

"I can't speak to that, but I can say that those two things together are exactly what we proposed," he says. "That Toys for Bob would spin off and have control over the types of games we wanted to focus on, and that Spyro would be number one."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is set to release in 2027, although it doesn't have a confirmed release date. Toys for Bob may be developing the title as an upcoming Xbox Series X game, but it's also set to launch for PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

It's time for Spyro to take flight once again. Developer Toys for Bob would never come outright and say it, but I get the sense that Spyro: A Realm Beyond is trying to pick up where Insomniac Games left the character in Year of the Dragon. It's not like the character has been left to gather dust since the year 2000, he has been on plenty of adventures of differing qualities, but there's something about the vivid colors and ambitious approach to play that's being presented here which recalls the glory days.

Toys for Bob studio head Paul Yan tells me that the team is "building A Realm Beyond from the ground up" as a brand new adventure, one that's built to offer a new entry point into the long running series and speak to "the longtime fans and legacy of who Spyro is." Actor Tom Kenny (best known for his work as SpongeBob SquarePants) is reprising his role as the titular dragon, having voiced the character in Ripto's Rage and Year of the Dragon, as well as Toys for Bob's 2018 Reignited Trilogy.

It's likely that the confident, slightly arrogant, persona that defined Spyro in the original trilogy will go through some changes for A Realm Beyond. As a new antagonist rises across a new and mysterious realm, an older and more boisterous Spyro will be there to meet them.

Associate creative director Lou Studdert can only talk around whether the hero is entering his teenage years: "You know, dragons age differently than people," he laughs. "You've noticed there are some slight adjustments made to reflect that Spyro is really coming into his own. You can see it on his crest, you can see that his wings have gotten significantly bigger… there's more to come on the narrative!"

With Spyro: A Realm Beyond set to release in 2027, it's too early to dig into all the details. What Toys for Bob is willing to talk about is one of the reasons behind Spyro's increased wingspan: "When we realized that we wanted him to fly, those small wings just weren't going to cut it," says Studdert.

It's been a long time since Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and even longer since the classic Insomniac trilogy first landed, so perhaps a little refresher is in order. Spyro's primary form of aerial traversal was a gentle glide from jumps, and in very rare instances, flight under time-pressure in specific mini-levels. Yan says "I always wondered what it would be like if these two experiences could somehow be collapsed into Spyro’s core ability kit," and that question has been at the very heart of A Realm Beyond's design since.

"We started prototyping this game with flight and with a more unique moveset in mind," Studdert adds. "As we started building it out, finding that fun, we then realized that we'd need a bigger sense of scale to support that moveset – and so the world is far more vertical and expansive." The associate creative director stops short of confirming whether A Realm Beyond will run across wider, interconnected spaces or a full open-world – more detail to come there soon, I'm told.

Taking Flight

For now, Toys for Bob is only willing to confirm that "taking to the skies and owning the airtime" is going to be a massive focus for this adventure, with Yan confirming that you'll be able to "experience the freedom of true dragon flight." The pair tell me that figuring out this fantasy is core to what Toys for Bob wants to achieve with this long-awaited sequel, giving you the freedom to take to the skies at a moment's notice, shifting from charges on the ground to graceful flight in the sky on a whim.

"We want a zen-like fluidity, we want chaining of moves and exploration – for you to really be interacting with the environment as this quadruped who is its own unique beast," says Studdert. "Honing in on that feeling, that experience, has been our north star. We want to push the sense of wonder, adventure, and awe that this franchise uniquely delivers."

The challenge that Toys for Bob faces with Spyro A Realm Beyond is in knowing how far to push the series without diluting what made it so special to begin with. The studio has exceptional knowledge of this universe, having steered the character through the Reignited trilogy remake (which Yan says sold over 11 million copies) and the beloved Skylanders spin-offs. "We felt this when we worked on Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time as well," says Studdert. "What we like to do when we start working on a new project, especially if it is an established IP, is to really hone in on what emotions it brings out."

"That tension is so real, right?" adds Yan. "I'm proud of the team. They are thinking that through very thoughtfully, and listening to the community as we do. Because you have these two extremes: If you stick too much to nostalgia, then you basically just rehash what's been done before; and on the other extreme, if you innovate too much then all of a sudden players don't recognize the series anymore."

"We learned a lot during the development of Reignited. We've carried a lot of those lessons forward into A Realm Beyond – and obviously they are very different projects, we aren't recreating classics this time. But we've built up a confidence in our instincts for what feels tonally right for this character," says Yan, adding, "and I can't wait for fans to see the direction we're taking the series in."

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is a key new game of 2027 where it's set to take flight on PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

Here's a truth about Gears of War that has persisted since 2006: The folks that love the series' particular style of skittish multiplayer really love it, and everyone else thinks it's a sweaty killing field. I was there for the Xbox Live outages on day one, and have played every instalment since – it's exceptionally rare to find a player who resides on neutral ground. The Marmite effect that Gears multiplayer has is a direct result of design decisions that were cemented into the foundations of the franchise; there has been no solution to the chaotic combination of overpowered shotguns and manipulated cover mechanics.

I suspect that The Coalition is looking to change all that with Gears of War: E-Day. The studio hasn't been afraid to signal that it's making massive alterations to core elements of the series, shifting the position of the Active Reload bar is just the tip of a blood-stained iceberg.

When The Coalition began production of E-Day in Unreal Engine 5, it made the unusual decision to start from an "empty harddrive", as creative director Matt Searcy puts it. Every animation, asset, mechanic, and system has been rebuilt from scratch – giving the studio the excuse it needed to modernize Gears' movement.

"Gears plays best in a city, and Kalona is the ultimate battlefield. Its density, tight streets, mixed with more open spaces let us rethink how a Gear moves through the world. And it created a greater stage for more scale and verticality in combat. Our soldiers are basically giant tanks in armor, they slam into cars while weaving through hails of bullets. We wanted to keep that heaviness but add more fluidity with how you move through the battlefield," says Matt Searcy, creative director.

These changes operate at different scales. Searcy tells me that a subtle change is that "the sprint camera no longer pushes in when you're on a run", with a wider view "helping with the player's ability to move through the world and use a lot more of the entire battlefield." It's easy to understand how having improved readability of combat spaces will impact PvP multiplayer – which Searcy says will comprise "a collection of 4v4 modes and all-new maps set in locations in and around the worn-torn city of Kalona."

The studio has largely demonstrated these changes to core systems and mechanics through the lens of the campaign, a prequel that charts Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago's budding bromance on the days following the first emergence of the Locust Horde.

You're now able to jump and slide, opening up new opportunities to escape enemies and discover flanking routes; new cover mechanics are designed to increase your mobility and lethality in equal measure. It's exceptionally likely that these additions and alterations will be present and accounted for in multiplayer – and that means change is coming to the upcoming Xbox Series X game.

Change Is Good

"We've completely rebuilt our cover and movement systems. There are smoother transitions with a bigger range of cover heights and shapes, including new low-ground cover," he continues. "From sprint you can now slide, which lets you quickly get under objects, slide around corners, and transition more smoothly into cover from a run."

The increased fluidity and mobility at the heart of Gears of War: E-Day's movement has the potential to fundamentally reshape the way we play multiplayer, particularly as Searcy confirms that you won't be able to wall cancel and bounce "the way you've done it in the past."

The creative director is keen to stress that "your relationship with cover, and how you move between it, is still the most important thing to us – cover is life in Gears of War" but it's clear that heightened fluidity will fundamentally alter familiar multiplayer rhythms. The ability to hit low cover and high mantle around more vertical spaces will open more tactical flanking routes, while the ability to more quickly slide under objects and around corners could increase the pace of combat dramatically.

There's also increased destruction, "more than we've ever put into a Gears game" which sees hiding points chip away more dynamically while under concentrated fire. Again, it's unclear if this will transition to multiplayer, but if it does we should be battling in more organic and shifting playspaces.

And then there's the addition of jump, a mechanic introduced to "make the battlefields feel like they have more options and ways to get to a flanking route," Searcy says. "Think of all of this as us taking that classic Gears formula and adding new layers of strategy and traversal to it."

The Coalition is yet to reveal its plans for Gears of War: E-Day multiplayer beyond stressing that Versus will remain "sweaty squad-based PvP" and that the studio plans to support a "seasonal roadmap of killer combat, most of which you can just earn by playing the game – completing in-game challenges, events, and achievements."

All of that sounds great, but it's the way these enhanced movement mechanics intersect with the classic Gears multiplayer experience that has gotten me truly excited. We won't need to wait all that much longer to find out for certain, as Xbox has confirmed that Gears of War: E-Day will run a multiplayer beta split across two weekends, starting on August 6.

Have Your Say: How are you feeling about Gears of War: E-Day now that Xbox Game Studios has announced that it'll be a console exclusive? Vote in our poll, and let us know what you think about the biggest Gears changes in the comments section below.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is making a big change. When its predecessor launched in 2020, it was a compelling side-quest for Mojang – a dungeon crawler which sought to deliver a more accessible entry point to the ARPG genre than the likes of Diablo and Path of Exile. It was a fun experience, although its limited points of exploration made it something of a divergence from what we've come to expect from Minecraft games. So Mojang is making some changes for the new game of 2026.

"In Minecraft Dungeons, we had a simple game loop," says Mans Olson, creative director. "You played a mission through to the end, you got a reward, and then you went back to your camp. In Minecraft Dungeons 2, we have what we call an interconnected world."

Internonnected, but not fully open. Olson stresses that Mojang "is purposefully not calling it an open world" as the studio is still creating a curated-style of game. "It's more of a guided experience that we think works really well for Minecraft," he says, adding: "But you will be free to explore the overworld; Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a lot larger than the first game."

Design director Laura de Llorens tells me that "you can walk from one end of the world to the other" in the upcoming Xbox Series X game, as the team emphasises the importance of exploration – unique and rare items, along with powerful Talismans, can be found by digging into every corner of the map. Speaking of maps, there's been some other changes to the Minecraft Dungeons 2 UI to accommodate the shift in focus. "Up in the right-hand corner we have a little mini-map, and we also have a very beautiful world map as well."

Given the 'All-Ages' framing of Minecraft Dungeons 2, are there any concerns over players getting lost in this interconnected world? Thankfully, a click of the left-thumbstick will enable a 'Guiding Light' (that can be activated by any member of your party, at any time) which will "always assist you in finding the next step in your quest," says de Llorens.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 may not be an open-world game, but it is inching ever closer to reflecting its ARPG ambitions into the original Minecraft style with this new interconnected world. The game is an exceptionally fun time, as you can learn more about in my Minecraft Dungeons 2 hands-on preview.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is out for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X on September 29, 2026.

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says that Xbox's recent moves imply that those involved lack an understanding of how the games industry works.

To give Xbox credit, throughout the 2020's, it's been a perfect example of how to be entirely inconsistent. From deciding to become a multi-platform publisher, to changing its mind with the likes of Gears of War E-Day, only for rumors to emerge that actually, it might change its mind again and that it was nothing more than a way to advertise to an increasingly short-changed Xbox fanbase. And sure, Xbox CSO Matthew Ball denies this, but forgive me if I'm not taking info at face value from a publisher that announced a new Senua game just over a week before reports emerged that Microsoft is apparently planning to close its developer Ninja Theory.

All of this is to say, there's definitely a feeling coming out of Xbox that there's a bit of an identity crisis going on, and when game consultant Tadhg Kelly pointed out some of these recent inconsistencies (via RespawnFirst), the former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios (and former President and CEO of the American branch) Shawn Layden commented on Xbox's recent moves. "At the risk of sounding like a 'hater' (which, I'm really not) the moves evince a basic misunderstanding of how the interactive entertainment world moves," he writes.

Unfortunately, it's hard to argue with Layden's perspective, as the string of seemingly random decisions out of Xbox, as well as things like leadership changes and mixed messaging, have inspired more confusion than hope for the console maker and publisher. Even as someone who hasn't exactly been on team Xbox since the 360 – I mean, why would I be when I can play all of its games on PC and PS5 – a healthy Xbox is better for the industry overall. But a company that has rounds of layoffs and studio closures seemingly as often as it releases games can't really be called healthy, can it?

Microsoft considered cutting Xbox off entirely and making it easier to sell, report says.

There's a lot of pressure bearing down upon Senua's weary shoulders. Ninja Theory announced a new saga at the Xbox Games Showcase, a premium action-adventure that's set to release in 2027. The decision to sacrifice the Hellblade moniker is an interesting one. It's perhaps a signal that Senua has outgrown her own origins, or that the franchise itself has gathered too much baggage.

Hellblade is known for its intimate storytelling, introspective action, and stunning production values. It's also become synonymous with a certain style of play – cinematic to a fault, sometimes puzzling and ponderous. Speaking with Xbox Wire, Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews said that he spent a lot of time exploring the reaction to Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 before his team embarked on its next adventure.

"The resounding feedback, frankly, was that people loved the presentation, the story, the tone, and the atmosphere that we achieved, but they’d just love to be able to engage with Senua at a deeper level, with more gameplay, with more agency."

This introspection has caused Ninja Theory to change the way that it likes to work. Rather than silo small teams across different projects, Matthews has pulled the entire group onto development of Senua – it's the first time a production has been approached this way since 2013's DmC: Devil May Cry. That's been necessary to widen the complexity and fluidity of combat, traversal, and puzzle-solving.

Senua is aiming to be a more rounded package, one shaped by myth and madness as the celtic warrior fights through a fractured vision of purgatory. To reach the afterlife, you'll need to contend with larger groups of enemies and denser playspaces than the series has dared to attempt in the past. "It’s all about taking Senua’s combat and liberating it, so players can really express themselves a lot more."

Say what you will about the combat in Hellblade and its sequel, but I always appreciated its ferocity. The challenge now is retaining that weight whilst increasing Senua's mobility. The combat set has been deepened as Senua faces off against multiple enemies, all occupying space on various verticalities. You'll acquire weapons from slayed monsters, such as short axes which can be thrown, or combine Senua's primary sword with something like a flaming torch for slick dual-wield action. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I was this excited to fight manifestations of destruction, fear, and pain.

It's clear from my first look at Senua that this isn't Ninja Theory returning to its combat-action game roots but I do get the sense that this will be a more balanced action-adventure experience – one that recalls the studio's fine work on Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. The speed in which she's able to traverse environments is clearly increased, and more dynamic too – and I'm not just referring to widened exploration as Senua clambers up and around mountaintops.

Another deft decision sees Ninja Theory resist the impulse to head into open world territories. Senua may feature a map that's twice the size of Hellblade 2, but it's still ostensibly a structured narrative across a larger, wider world. Matthews says that rewarding exploration is a key focus for the team, but that the game is ostensibly a "linear story told through a map built of interconnected locations."

Ninja Theory has always been a leader within Xbox Game Studios with its animation quality, leveraging a world-class motion capture setup at the heart of its headquarters, and there's a sublime quality to the slickness in which Senua is able to channel fluid sword attacks into sharp dashes, blocks, and parries. Feed in an array of special Focus Abilities, and we're looking at something that's ambitious in a different way to anything the studio has released in the eight years since its acquisition.

Senua's Saga

I mention the acquisition, only because I do get the uneasy sense that Senua could be a make or break moment for Ninja Theory. While there's no doubt that production timelines were disrupted by COVID-19, and that the studio has been given leeway to advance its technology and pursue internal experiments like Project Mara, the truth is that it has only shipped two games as a part of Xbox Game Studios – the ill-fated Bleeding Edge (2020) and divisive Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (2024).

Ninja Theory brings prestige to the XGS portfolio. It's a beloved studio that's stacked with talent, a group wielding cutting-edge technology to create standout experiences. I do worry that this isn't enough in the current environment, at a time where new CEO Asha Sharma is signaling both a renewed focus on Xbox's 'industry-defining franchises' and a need to execute an internal restructure.

"We expanded our studio system when we needed a pipeline of content to meet multiple strategies across subscription, streaming, and devices," says Sharma. "In the process, we have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content."

What does this sort of rhetoric ultimately mean for Ninja Theory and Senua's latest saga? It's natural that there's some fear here, given the fate of studios like Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. It's impossible to know for certain of course, but it's difficult to ignore the nagging sense that the decision to realign this character with a more broadly approachable action-adventure frame comes at a critical time for the studio.

Senua is set to release in 2027 as a key upcoming Xbox Series X game. It won't, however, be a console exclusive – and is expected to launch on PC and PS5. For more on the key new games of 2026 and beyond from Xbox, be sure to check out our Summer Games Preview.

I thought I needed a break from action-RPGs. I've been a massive fan of crawling dungeons, hoovering up loot, and clicking enemies into oblivion ever since I discovered Diablo as a kid – the terrifying cover art is still seared into my memory to this very day. But after sinking countless hours into Diablo 4 and its expansions, Path of Exile 2 and its (frankly ridiculous) skill tree, and plenty more indie hits besides, I was ready to give myself some time away from the genre.

And then Minecraft Dungeons 2 came along. Listen, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that the spin-off is as densely populated, visually rich, or challenge oriented as the mass of video games that have gone after the genre crown in the last five years, but there's something delightfully refreshing about Mojang's approach. It's every bit a relaxing introduction to dungeon crawlers, as it is for experienced players to share their love of ARPGs with a new generation of players.

Supporting up-to four player co-op, in both couch and online compositions, there's an ease in which Minecraft Dungeons 2 introduces its action. Familiar mobs from the vanilla Minecraft experience swarm as you beat and bash your way through the horde; loot pours from enemies as they explode off the screen, with dungeons carefully lit for maximum awe as Mojang pours more focus than ever before into making blocky spaces worth exploring.

Exploration is a key focus for Minecraft Dungeons 2, with the sequel earning itself an interconnected overworld that's full of collectibles and hidden talismans to uncover – a new type of item with unique capabilities, scaling once equipped in tandem with your levelling to produce more power and panache. Creative director Måns Olson tells me that Mojang is "purposefully not calling it an open world" although is quick to highlight a richer playspace with more room to dive into the depths of dungeons.

Speaking of dungeons, Mojang has answered your calls for more varied biomes. Minecraft Dungeons 2 will finally let you venture into the Deep Dark, complete with mobs that are unique to the playspace. One such enemy is the Twisted Warden, a towering boss that requires all four fighters to work together in tandem to take it down. I should note that this battle revealed one aspect that Mojang hasn't been able to solve between Minecraft Dungeons and its sequel: It's still exceptionally difficult to track your character in battle once the going gets a little chaotic.

That's also true while traversing the dungeons themselves, particularly as the studio has introduced the ability to jump this time around. In combat, this means you now get a unique jump attack which plays off of the weapon-type you have equipped (enhanced further by certain rarity buffs), although in exploration it means you'll get some light platforming sections with distances that are tough to judge.

Small frustrations with character-tracking and pathfinding aside, there's plenty of neat quality-of-life improvements. Armor is now split across head, chest, legs, and arms as Mojang tries to bring Minecraft Dungeons 2 a little closer to the core Minecraft experience, while the introduction of a mini-inventory system feels like a real game changer. You can now press 'up' on the D-Pad to adjust your weapons, swap in new weapons, and mess around with items actively in-game, rather than pulling everybody into the pause menu. It's a nice touch, one that makes Minecraft Dungeons 2 feel more responsive.

Into the Depths

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a real breath of fresh air. ARPGs have embraced complexity in the modern era, which is delightful – if you have the time to tumble down wiki rabbit holes and assess every minute details of the hundreds of items which fill your inventory. MD2 feels like the sort of title which has a pick-up-and-play simplicity that's missing in the market, even as design director Laura de Llorens stresses that you can make life more complicated if you want to. "We don't have set classes, but you can combine different items to create your own and make your own playstyle. So you'll be able to do plenty of min-maxing here, if that's what you like to engage in."

With a contiguous, interconnected world that's full of dungeons to delve into, a more responsive and layered combat system, widened opportunities to customize your character, and a visual experience with truly vibrant fidelity, it should come as no surprise that I'm pretty keen to dive into the game proper on September 29, 2026 – that's when Minecraft Dungeons 2 releases for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X.

If there's any room for improvement, it's going to be in the way that Mojang identifies and tracks your character on screen, but with months to go until launch there's still time to refine its pathfinding systems. But if nothing else, it speaks volumes that I'm considering diving back into another ARPG right now after Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred decimated another 20 precious hours. Bring it on, Mojang.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is set to release on September 29, 2026. It's a key upcoming Xbox Series X game, although it's also set to launch for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2. You can learn more about the new Mojang game this week as part of the GamesRadar+ Summer Preview.

Gears of War: E-Day is the video game I have been waiting 10 years for The Coalition to create. It's hard to believe that the series has already been under the stewardship of this studio for a decade, following Epic Games' decision to sell the intellectual property to Xbox in 2014. But you know what they say, time flies when you're dragging a Chainsaw Bayonet through mutating flesh and malfunctioning circuitry.

In that time The Coalition has become a technical powerhouse, has led the Xbox Game Studios transition to Unreal Engine 5, and delivered some pretty entertaining third-person shooters too. Gears of War 4 was a faithful continuation, and Gears 5 a pretty bold experiment in stretching solid foundations across more open-ended environments. I'm a fan, but there have been missteps.

The Swarm never clicked as a forbiddable force that could rival the Locust, and the DeeBees exposed Gears of War's need for ultra-violence to truly sing. Naturally, the introduction of exploration, wider playspaces, and RPG-lite systems in Gears 5 divided the playerbase. And so The Coalition is doing what I always hoped it would – channeling its reverence for the franchise into making the familiar feel fresh again, all while taking us back to the earliest adventures of Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago.

That's what we're getting in Gears of War: E-Day. It's a shooter that wants to honor the legacy of what Gears of War achieved in 2006, all while developing an experience that feels fighting fit as a new game for 2026. Did it take the divisive nature of Gears 5 to push The Coalition in the direction it should arguably have taken right from the outset? The studio has a different perspective.

"We didn't make E-Day as a reaction to Gears 5," says Nicole Fawcette, with the studio brand director stressing she doesn't agree with commentary that suggests The Coalition strayed too far from the Gears formula in 2019. "We're making E-Day because we had an opportunity to make what we wanted to make. We wanted to take on Emergence Day, and to have players rediscover Marcus and Dom, as we made the pivot to a new engine. That's what we wanted to do, and it's exactly what we have done."

Back to the Beginning

Creative director Matt Searcy tells me that "E-day is a return to Gears of War's roots" and an attempt to recapture the vibes of the original trilogy. "The best way we could think to do that was to go back to Sera at its darkest hour: the day the Locust came out of the ground." Emergence Day is an untold story that's long been at the heart of the Gears of War universe, where a populace already beaten down by the Pendulum Wars is brought to its knees as cities crumble and civilization collapses. Searcy adds: "It's such a great place to reimagine the tone of what we think makes Gears great."

Vicious monsters, unbridled brutality, towering architecture, and layered playspaces littered with waist-high debris. Gears of War: E-Day is set entirely in the city of Kalona, following Bravo Squad across three days as it attempts to battle the Locust Horde back to hell. "We put you right into the chaos of E-Day – in the beginning there's no soldiers around, only people getting torn apart by Wretches. You'll experience the moment Marcus and Dom first pick up guns, pulling Snubs out of the trunk of an abandoned police car, before setting off into the city where all hell is breaking loose," says Searcy.

"We believe that Gears plays best in a city," adds art director Aryan Hanbeck, "and that Kalona is the ultimate battlefield." Hanbeck points to the more linear structure and consistent playspace as a big point of difference between E-Day and its predecessor. "Gears 5 was more of a globetrotting adventure, you went from desert to forest and so on. A big way that E-Day differs from Gears 5 (and other Gears games) is that this entire game is set in one location."

"This isn't an open-world game," says Searcy. "Something we learned from Gears 5 is that going out on vehicles doesn't mesh perfectly with Gears, and that the freedom to choose your mission and what you're doing doesn't vibe with Gears either." Searcy tells me that The Coalition is pushing for a tighter alignment between claustrophobic missions and larger combat arenas. "We have very classic mission design – especially on that first night, where you're fighting back-and-forth in the streets – and there are parts of the game where you get these larger arenas, where multiple city blocks open up to you."

These larger missions are described to me as being akin to Black Hawk Dawn. Where "you're on a single mission, you know where your objective is, but how you get there is up to you," says Searcy, who notes that you'll have opportunities to delve deeper into the carnage of the day by assisting civilians and other soldiers if you want to. That's all a part of The Coalition's attempt to channel more player choice into E-Day, something the studio wanted to retain from Gears 5.

"One thing that we learned from Gears 5 is that if we want to give players more choice, and to still feel natural to what Gears is, then we need to do it differently to just giving you a vehicle in an open world. I think Gears 5 was really cool, but if we wanted to hit that core Gears DNA we had to increase the density. We had to make every street corner a combat opportunity," he says.

I've seen more of Gears of War: E-Day than what was shown in the Xbox Games Showcase, and I'm mesmerised by what The Coalition is delivering here. The visual fidelity is out of this world, with E-Day positioning itself as a true late-gen system showcase for the Xbox Series X; Kalona seeming like the perfect playground for Gears' heavy combat, with more fluid movement and vertical playspaces only helping to advance the idea that The Coalition has higher aspirations than ever before.

Starting From Scratch

Putting The Matrix Awakens tech demo and Gears Reloaded remastering experiment to one side, Gears of War: E-Day is the first title from The Coalition to be built natively in Unreal Engine 5. This has given the studio cover to do what it should have done in 2014: rip up the foundations of the franchise in an effort to refine and innovate the mechanics and systems so central to the way that Gears plays.

"We started with an empty hard drive," says Searcy. There are no ported assets in E-Day. Every animation, sound, mechanic, and system has been rebuilt from scratch. We have built a game that feels like Gears but plays like new. Many of us have worked on Gears for over a decade; we know how the cover system works intimately, we understand the importance of it and have built the game around the same pillars that defined the original trilogy, but we approached E-Day like a new game built for 2026."

If there was any fear that Gears of War: E-Day would be a continuation of Gears 5 – albeit with a tighter focus – this dedication to starting afresh should put them to bed. E-Days will play quite unlike any Gears of War game before it, as The Coalition makes some much needed quality-of-life improvements to the way that you shift your weight around these utterly gorgeous combat arenas. "Kalona – with its dense, tight streets and more open spaces – let us rethink how a Gear moves through the world," says Searcy.

"We've completely rebuilt our cover and movement systems, with smoother transitions and a bigger range of cover heights and shapes," he adds. "Our soldiers are basically giant tanks in armor, they slam into cars while weaving through hails of bullets. We wanted to keep that heaviness, but add more fluidity with how you move through the battlefield." Gears of War: E-Day is making fundamental changes as it introduces denser playspaces. You can now dive into low cover and mantle into more vertical positions, introducing more tactical variety to play; the sprint camera no longer pulls into your shoulder, giving more awareness of the world around you, and E-Day will finally let you slide under and into cover for more fluid, kinetic encounters.

The Coalition isn't making changes on the margins for Gears of War: E-Day. It's engineering a series revival that can channel the spirit of the first adventure and still push for genuine evolution of the systems that defined a genre for 20 years. That's why E-Day has been chosen by Xbox Game Studios to lead the return to console exclusivity – a statement of intent that can remind the world of why Xbox was a platform that shouldn't, couldn't be ignored. "We couldn't be more excited to be an Xbox exclusive," Searcy tells me. "Gears and Xbox have been tied so tightly for 20 years now, and it's an honor and a privilege to be seen as a flagship title in this way."

Gears of War: E-Day is coming to PC and Xbox Series X on October 6, 2026. The latest game from The Coalition is one of the key upcoming Xbox games and we'll have more insights to share as part of our Summer Games Preview this week.

Xbox's slate for the next year and beyond is looking bright after its big Xbox Games Showcase, with Spyro: A Realm Beyond being one of the highlights as the iconic purple dragon finally returns with a brand new game for the first time in 18 years. But what about another beloved 3D platformer that's been out of the spotlight for just as long?

Fans have been begging for a new Banjo-Kazooie game for almost two decades at this point, and obviously, Xbox is aware – back in 2023, the now-former Xbox boss Phil Spencer boss teased: "You've seen from our history that we haven't touched every franchise that people would love us to touch – Banjo fans, I hear you."

It may have been a while since that comment, but speaking to GamesRadar+, executive vice president and chief content officer at Xbox, Matt Booty, isn't giving an outright 'no' to the idea. Looking at Spyro's revival, we bring up Xbox's vault of iconic IP – Banjo-Kazooie included – and ask if Booty sees a future where other independent studios (like Spyro: A Realm Beyond's Toys for Bob) could work with the publisher on its legacy franchises.

"We're in the great position that we have our first-party studios, we have first-party publishing, who [get] to work with great partners, like Kojima [Productions], and we also have all of our great third-party partners from around the industry," Booty begins. "We've got ID@Xbox, which brings in so many great partners that are kind of on a different part of their game development journey. It's all of it. So, I think the answer is there are options to do all kinds of things, and we're certainly looking at those all the time."

It's a vague response – obviously, Booty was never going to suddenly confirm that a new Banjo-Kazooie game is in the works – but it offers some reassurance that Xbox is at least considering all the options it has available to it.

Hell, Fable went dormant for long enough – until the announcement of the new Fable, the last main, numbered entry came out in 2010. Even if you're counting all the spin-offs like the now-discontinued collectible card game Fable Fortune, it'll have still been nine years since the last game by the time the new entry launches in February 2027.

For now, only time will tell what the future holds. Xbox is undergoing changes right now under its new leadership, notably changing course from its multiplatform strategy to have more Xbox-exclusive games – at least, some of the time, so it's a period of evolution for the publisher.

Take a look at our roundup of everything announced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 to keep up with all the latest reveals.

Halo: Campaign Evolved has a release date thanks to yesterday's Xbox Games Showcase, and we've also now been shown what we can expect from the game's various different editions, including one slightly baffling choice to make a digital game manual a Premium item.

Depending on how much money you want to spend on Halo: Campaign Evolved, Halo Studios has a number of different options for you when the game launches next month. As well as the Standard Edition, which just includes the game, there's the Premium Edition – which comes with five days of early access as well as some cosmetics, a digital short story, art book, and game manual. The $200 Collector's Edition includes all of those things, too, alongside some physical goodies – "a 12-inch Dark Horse Master Chief statue, light-up LED Cortana chip, Steelbook, three original concept art prints, physical version of the reimagined game manual," and the physical game (if you're on Xbox Series X or PS5, anyway).

As Prima Games points out, it's the digital game manual that's sticking out like a sore thumb here when it comes to the bonus content on offer for the more expensive editions. To give it a bit of room here, Xbox describes it as "a lovingly crafted modern homage to the original Halo: Combat Evolved game manual" that "blends classic presentation with contemporary detail." It adds: "Featuring updated gameplay information, controls, and background lore, the Halo: Campaign Evolved digital game manual is a nostalgic companion for longtime fans and a helpful introductory guide for newcomers stepping onto Alpha Halo for the first time."

So, you'd hope that it has a cool design that makes it feel a bit more like a digital collector's item like the art collections that Deluxe Editions of games – including this Premium Edition – often include. However, it's probably because it's a game manual – you know, a little booklet of information telling you how to play the game, which was once a standard thing included with all titles – that some fans are a bit annoyed, to put it lightly.

"Don't give me something that was industry-standard 20+ years ago under the guise of it being a 'feature.' If shoving it in a premium version is the only way it can be affordable, then don't do it at all. Really dislike this," one user on Reddit writes. "Oh fuck all the way off with this shit. My god. A fucking game manual and you have to pay more for it? An art book makes sense but a game manual?!" says another.

I suspect that most people opting for the Premium Edition will likely be in it for the five days of early access, making Halo: Campaign Evolved playable from July 23 rather than July 28, in which case the digital manual will just appear as a bonus. Bearing in mind that the Premium Edition is an extra $20 on top of the standard price (making it $70), it's a considerable price increase for anyone who does simply want to own all the bonus goodies.

Halo: Campaign Evolved prequel story was written by the award-winning sci-fi author behind some of the best Halo novels.

Halo: Campaign Evolved isn't just a ground-up remake of one of the most formative first-person shooters of all time, it's also an expansion of an iconic story with a separate prequel story titled Operation: Meteorite, and Halo Studios brought in an award-winning sci-fi author to make sure it lives up to the name.

During today's Xbox Showcase 2026 for Summer Game Fest, some footage was shown of Operation: Meteorite's new prequel missions, which will send the Chief and Sgt. Johnson across enemy lines onto a Covenant research vessel for the UNSC and into some sweet looking space combat. "What starts as a simple smash and grab turns more complicated as they encounter more than they bargained for," says community director Brian Jarrard of the three new missions in an Xbox Wire post.

It's natural to be wary of a new team adding chunky narrative elements to such a beloved story, especially when original Halo developer Bungie has long, long moved on, but if anyone's up to the task, it would be NYT bestselling sci-fi author Troy Denning. Denning has written dozens of acclaimed novels going back to the '80s including almost 30 D&D novels, more than a dozen books in the Star Wars expanded universe, and most importantly here, some of the best Halo tie-in novels out there. From 2015 to 2023, Denning wrote the Halo novels Last Light, Retribution, Silent Storm, Oblivion, Shadows of Reach, Divine Wind, and Outcasts.

Jarrard says Denning's "work has helped shape some of the most memorable corners of the Halo universe across multiple acclaimed novels," and that "his involvement helped us ground Operation: METEORITE in the tone, stakes, and military sci-fi texture that players expect from Halo." Basically, they brought in the big guns for these prequel missions, guys, so don't worry.

Halo: Campaign Evolved launches July 28 for PC, Xbox Series X, Game Pass, and PS5.

Here are the best Xbox games you can play right now.

You'd never notice in the frantic new Gears of War: E-Day footage, but hiding under all that dirt and sweat on young Marcus Fenix's face are eyelashes his older self wishes he still had.

In the Gears of War: E-Day Direct that followed the Xbox Games Showcase, we were graced with a close-up look at Marcus Fenix's high-definition mug. While describing the improvements to the character's facial animations (three times more joints!), it was revealed that "Marcus has more detail in his eyelashes than his entire character model did in the original Gears of War on Xbox 360."

It's pitched as an evolution of emotional storytelling in the series, but I think we all know it's really a sign of what was lost when Emergence Day doomed Marcus Fenix's world. The man suddenly had more things to worry about than his killer eyelash game. Years of fighting Locust and scavenging for supplies wore all those extra polygons away, leaving him a sad husk of his former, beautiful self.

That's surely half the reason Microsoft knew it was time to look into the series' past and tell a story of a younger, sexier Marcus Fenix, one with his luscious and detailed eyelashes still intact. The Xbox 360 couldn't handle him at his best, but the Xbox Series X absolutely can.

Honestly, it's going to be hard to look at him the same way again once Gears of War: E-Day is out on October 6. Sure, Microsoft touched up the Gears of War trilogy not that long ago, but after you see what Marcus was working with at his prime it won't be the same. We're going to have to wait another five years for Microsoft to inevitably remake them all—and gift some extra polygons to poor old Marcus Fenix—in a The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered fashion.

Gears of War 6 was considered before The Coalition decided on E-Day, JD Fenix actor says as he pitches a bonkers sequel about Marcus fighting his zombie son