The dust is still settling over Xbox's "big reset" cuts, and will continue to settle for many weeks to come just yet.

Microsoft CFO Amy Hood has led a massive job culling across the firm, with almost 5,000 staffers set to lose their roles over the next fiscal year. 3,200 of those will be in Xbox alone, with some escaping as divestitures. Remaining studios have been "gutted" by some accounts, with massive reductions at Obsidian and id Software, despite success stories in Grounded 2 and DOOM: The Dark Ages.

The silver lining for some is that Xbox execs spent the past few weeks finding buyers for studios Microsoft's CFO lined up to otherwise shut down. One of those is Undead Labs, makers of State of Decay, who have been through hell and back to get to where they are today.

Undead Labs was founded in 2009 and acquired in 2018, as Xbox sought to bolster its exclusive content spread for Xbox. The integration was immediately met with problems.

Undead Labs leader, co-founder, and World of Warcraft alumnus Jeff Strain left the studio in 2019 not long after the acquisition, and then the firm was immediately hit with lockdown regimes heading straight into the Covid-19 pandemic. The disruption was palpable.

Unable to properly incubate State of Decay 3, Undead Labs worked on free updates for State of Decay 2 as Microsoft struggled to properly integrate the studio and teams. Despite State of Decay 3 being announced in 2020, it wouldn't actually enter full development until far later.

These should be mitigating factors when Microsoft's bean counters were looking at ways to reduce costs. But, in Microsoft's typical, disappointingly short-sighted fashion, Microsoft seems oddly unaware of the potential it has in the palm of its hands.

Indeed, as of writing, State of Decay 3 is presently the 28th most wishlisted game on Steam, and comes in higher than Halo Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day both. As far as Xbox games go, State of Decay 3 is second only behind big-budget blockbuster Fable.

State of Decay 3 was by far my most anticipated Xbox game this side of Clockwork Revolution. The early alpha glimpses we've gotten look incredible, and as an evolving multiplayer title, it has the painfully obvious potential alongside games like Grounded and Sea of Thieves.

It's utterly absurd and frustrating that Microsoft, for whatever reason, weren't able to give them just a bit more time and subsidize their own mistakes. Microsoft banks billions of dollars annually, and there's really no excuse for the disruption and havoc it is imparting onto its teams.

I'm not naïve. I know quite painfully well that in order to get paid, you have to have a business that makes money — at least eventually. But at the same time, Microsoft is also among hyperscalers chasing AI infrastructure expenditure based on theoretical growth, using the models of companies funded entirely by theoretical money.

Of all the cutbacks and nonsensical choices Microsoft has made this week, State of Decay 3 above all, for me, underpins how Microsoft's fiscal management policies all too often make for hasty self-defeating mistakes.

There are arguably projects at Xbox that shouldn't have been greenlit, and there are strategic decisions made that remain utterly questionable for sure — but Microsoft is making so many baffling choices to pay for those mistakes. For me, the fact Xbox has been forced to divest State of Decay 3 really represents the apex of Microsoft's generalized ignorance.

In the future, I look forward to writing about how studios like Undead Labs expanded and became success stories free of Microsoft. But there are many hundreds of developers who might not be so lucky.

Perhaps the thousands of employees that remain at Xbox will benefit from a more focused Xbox managerial structure not spreading themselves so thinly, but it remains to be seen. And perhaps I actually am being naïve here.

Microsoft has created an environment where every FY end in July, we're writing articles like this. Being reminded of missed opportunities, and the human costs of Microsoft's legendarily short-sighted impatience.

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Microsoft has announced another new recovery method for Windows 11 PCs that will allow users to reinstall the OS using the cloud. The new recovery tool is called Cloud Rebuild which will restore a PC to a "clean, known-good state by performing an entire OS reinstall."

The new Cloud Rebuild feature will download the Windows OS along with your devices drivers, and seamlessly install them during the recovery process so that your device is fully functional once the OS reinstalled, all without needing an external USB install drive.

"Unlike Reset this PC, Cloud rebuild downloads both the target Windows image and the device's drivers from Windows Update, so the device comes back fully functional without USB media, without a custom image, and without depending on the health of the currently installed OS."

Reset this PC has had its own cloud download option for a while, but that feature is only useful when the Windows OS is bootable, and acquires drivers from the device locally. In scenarios where the OS has become unbootable, the new Cloud Rebuild option will be a life saver.

Cloud Rebuild also doesn't include an option to maintain apps and files. Reset this PC includes an option to maintain all your data across the reset, but Cloud Rebuild is strictly for reinstalling the Windows OS as a clean slate with device drivers.

The new Cloud Rebuild recovery option is now rolling out in preview to Windows Insiders in the latest Windows 11 preview builds, so it's not generally available just yet but it should begin rolling out to everyone in the coming months.

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World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo fans have been curious what Xbox's plans might be for Blizzard, acquired as part of the Activision deal a few years ago.

Blizzard has been on a tear over the last year, and is arguably one of Microsoft's biggest and brightest spots in an otherwise incredibly challenging environment. Overwatch has resurged, World of Warcraft just had a successful expansion launch, and Diablo 4 delivered its highest-rated launch in years with its Lord of Hatred DLC. BlizzCon is just around the corner, where fans are expecting news on the long-rumored StarCraft shooter as well.

Microsoft announced today that it's cutting over 6,000 roles across its business, with 3,200 being reduced at Xbox alone. So far, it seems like ZeniMax has borne the brunt of the reductions, although other studios like Obsidian have also seen huge cutbacks. Microsoft has divested a further four studios, with another one pending. Xbox's platform team has seen losses across engineering and sales, although Xbox hardware development has emerged largely unscathed.

What might Xbox have in store for Blizzard?

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma previously noted an intent to focus on Microsoft's biggest gaming franchises, such as Halo, and Fallout. Given that Blizzard's franchises are quite easily among the biggest and most profitable in Microsoft's portfolio, I would suggest maintaining Blizzard is well within the purview of this new structure.

In a note to staff today, our sources shared this email from Blizzard President Johanna Faries, which suggested that more information will come down the line.

I'm told there are no plans to cancel BlizzCon for example. I'm also told that Blizzard franchises have a range of transmedia TV and film projects that also fit within Asha Sharma's current model for Xbox's future.

Sources suggest to me that Blizzard saw comparatively minimal reductions as part of today's big "Xbox reset" cuts, although it's unclear what might happen in the near to midterm future. Microsoft signalled that some of its reductions would take place throughout the rest of the year, following this initial 1,500 tranche (which includes the studio divestitures).

Internally, many are criticizing the structure of these layoffs. Since now, many will be forced to spend the weeks and months ahead wondering if they'll still have a job when all this is said and done. That's not exactly the best environment to be working in, to put it lightly.

We'll be sure to keep you updated you on Microsoft's plans for Blizzard, positive or negative, as we learn more.

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To say that times are difficult for developers under the banner of Microsoft and Xbox would be an understatement. On Monday morning, the publisher initiated a mass layoff wave of 4,800 cuts throughout the firm, with a whopping 3,200 of them — 1,600 now, and 1,600 over the course of the next 12 months — hitting the Xbox division and its studios.

The layoffs are very widespread and are affecting all of Xbox's development teams, with four in particular being divested and Marvel's Blade dev Arkane Lyon also reportedly at risk of closure or being split off from Microsoft. Some groups have also been hit considerably harder than others, and one of these appears to be the developers at ZeniMax and Bethesda, the stewards of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, and other major Xbox properties.

A Bloomberg report suggests ZeniMax and Bethesda have been hit "significantly" by the cuts, and that their studios "will face a significant overhaul" as they pivot to focus on core IPs like Wolfenstein, Quake, and the aforementioned franchises.

In response to the massive surge of layoffs, the official labor union of Bethesda Game Studios has voiced frustrations with the reduction in force on social media. I think it best if you read its message in full, so I've both copied and embedded the complete thread below:

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?

— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T21:29:27.360Z

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.

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?

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.

— Bethesda Game Studios Union

The union's strongly critical comments bring cuts from the past several years to mind, referencing other waves of mass layoffs that have struck Microsoft and Xbox such as 10,000 in 2023, additional cuts in early 2025, and last year's infamous game cancelations and closure of The Initiative that came with 9,000 additional discharges across the firm's workforce.

These new layoffs are the latest in a brutal series of cuts that have plagued the gaming industry since 2022, with game publishers worldwide dismissing countless developers after overinvestments in gaming during the pandemic and amid economic challenges such as the onset of tariffs and the ongoing memory and hardware crisis caused by AI.

Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma has said that Microsoft has "overextended" with Xbox, leading to the current situation in which layoffs like these represent "necessary changes." Bethesda's union seems to disagree, but either way, it's heartbreaking to see so many developers that build the games we love get their lives upended by massive corporate reorganizations like this one.

As I've written so many times before covering layoffs like these, I sincerely hope that everyone affected is able to find new and stable work as quickly as possible, and that they're given proper severance packages and ample support.

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Raise your hand if you've heard this one before: a third-party file management app beat File Explorer to the punch. This time, it's with a clever Tree View that rolled out to Files with an update to version 4.2.

In the latest version of Files, the sidebar includes a view that displays folders in an expandable hierarchy. If you're like me and use subfolders to organize your files, Tree View is an incredible addition.

The update to version 4.2 is large and includes several other additions, including a new Open With flyout and improvements to how the breadcrumb bar appears.

Here's a quick summary of what's new in Files version 4.2 sorted into categories. The app's website has a detailed change log covering the same updates:

Navigation & Multi-Pane Upgrades

• Tree View sidebar: Browse folders in an expandable hierarchy directly from the sidebar.
• Drag a tab to create a new pane: Split your view by dragging a tab to the side, top, or bottom of the file area.
• Open folders in the other pane: Right-click a folder to launch it directly into your secondary pane.
• Open in new pane improvements: Reorganized context menus and Command Palette options give you control over how a new pane is arranged.
• Breadcrumb bar improvements: Adds a cleaner chevron design and new right-click context options to open specific folders in new tabs, windows, or panes.

UI & Quality of Life Tweaks

• Open With toolbar flyout: Quick access to compatible apps directly from your customized toolbar.
• Always show file extensions when renaming: Extensions stay visible while editing a file's name.
• Media file metadata improvements: You can now add metadata to fields that were previously empty.
• Search in Toolbar Customization: A new search box makes finding and adding specific toolbar actions easier.
• Layout scrolling: Cycle through different layout modes using Ctrl + scroll wheel.
• Reverse tab scroll direction: A new setting lets you flip the mouse-wheel behavior when scrolling over the tab bar.
• Improved tab tear-off: Dragging a tab out to create a new window now launches the window exactly where you dropped it.
• Improved continue where you left off: Startup behavior is more reliable.
• Network Discovery banner: Displays a warning on the Network page if locations are missing because Windows Network Discovery is turned off.

Other Notable Highlights

• Windows Fonts folder: Items inside this directory now show proper font thumbnails.
• Archive selection: Creating a new archive now automatically selects it.
• File In Use dialog: Added a "Skip" button.

I'm a big fan of Files, not just as a replacement to Windows 11's built-in File Explorer, but as a showcase of design and features. The developer of Files often experiments with new designs to improve usability or functionality within the app.

There are plenty of File Explorer alternatives, like File Pilot that's now in beta. But I have an affinity for Files. It's a gorgeous app that integrates features and design elements that are often adopted by Microsoft later. Using Files is like looking at an alternate dimension in which Microsoft cares about consistency and design.

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Microsoft and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a massive restructuring for the gaming brand on Monday morning, with reports indicating that 1,600 roles have been cut immediately with another 1,600 layoffs planned throughout the next 12 months. In total, 3,200 Xbox staffers will be affected, with 4,800 cuts in total hitting Microsoft overall.

These reductions are coming across the entirety of the Xbox Game Studios publishing wing, though some studios will be affected more than others. Notably, though, Compulsion Games (South of Midnight), Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts, Keeper, Kiln), Ninja Theory (Hellblade, Senua), and Undead Labs (State of Decay 3) are all splitting off from Microsoft entirely (though thankfully, they're not closing and their work-in-progress projects will remain in development).

Reportedly, another group of developers that's been hit particularly hard by the layoffs are the teams at Bethesda and ZeniMax, known for their work on legendary franchises like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Quake.

According to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, ZeniMax/Bethesda "will face a significant overhaul" as a result of these cuts, and will be driven to focus on the aforementioned IPs that stand as its "biggest franchises." It's notable that it won't only work on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, though, as I've noticed lots of recent rumors suggested that might be the case.

Many of those rumors stemmed from a report in which it was said Sharma wants Xbox to "move faster" with its core franchises, with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls directly named alongside Halo.

"ZeniMax will be impacted significantly by the reorganization but will NOT be reduced to only Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, despite rumors over the last few weeks," Schreier wrote in a post on Bluesky. "The publisher will also still work on Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake."

It's worth noting that the fate of one ZeniMax team, Arkane Lyon, is currently unclear. Arkane is developing Marvel's Blade, which has reportedly been delayed and is "running over budget." We've previously reported that Microsoft is negotiating with the French government to figure out a path forward for the studio and avoid closure while hopefully also keeping the game alive, but that's all we know for now.

In 2024, Microsoft and Xbox shuttered ZeniMax/Bethesda developers Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall), Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), and Tango Gameworks (Ghostwire: Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush), with PUBG's Krafton stepping in to save the latter studio from the axe.

I'm glad that ZeniMax/Bethesda will still be able to explore new projects for its big properties outside of behemoth franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, though the situation with Arkane and the layoffs overall are still terribly unfortunate. Developers that have worked together in these teams for years and years are being let go, further adding to the devastating number of 2022-2026 video game cuts we've already seen.

Notably, The Elder Scrolls Online's content roadmap is "shifting" due to layoffs at ZeniMax Online Studios. Bethesda Game Studios, meanwhile, remains focused on The Elder Scrolls 6 as far as we know, which is still "a long ways off."

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Amid Xbox's restructuring efforts, which will see more than 3,200 jobs cut between now and 2027, with 1,500 layoffs happening immediately, the company has also outlined a bold vision for its future. That's not all, Xbox is also set to part ways with at least four studios, but unlike Sony's closures, these teams are being given a second chance, with some becoming independent and others finding new homes under different publishers. If you haven't caught up with the news yet, Compulsion, Double Fine, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory are among those affected, while Arkane Lyon's future is a little more complicated. You can read more about Arkane here.

Within Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's statement, she said:

"These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one... this year we'll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates."

Alongside those comments, Sharma also stated:

"I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027"

To put that into perspective, Xbox currently reaches around one billion players annually. Meanwhile, Steam has roughly 147 million monthly active users, while PlayStation sits at around 125 million monthly active users. Reaching one billion players every single day would require Xbox to grow far beyond anything we've seen from the gaming industry so far.

I'm not entirely sure how Sharma expects to achieve that outside of expanding into regions where Xbox currently has little or no official presence. That includes parts of Africa, South America, and, believe it or not, large parts of Europe, including countries such as Romania. Xbox also doesn't officially operate in markets including Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. There are, of course, legal and regulatory hurdles that make expansion into some of these regions difficult, but beyond reaching more countries, I'm struggling to see what else could realistically get Xbox anywhere close to that figure.

Another take would be that Sharma doesn't refer to "players" directly, but instead says that the goal is that Xbox "entertains more than a billion people each day." That reading could expand beyond gaming into other features that Xbox currently supports, like Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, YouTube TV, HBO Max, Jellyfin, PLEX, and the other dozen or so media apps that people use daily.

That more liberal reading of using an Xbox daily is certainly more achievable, at least once you cumulatively sell a billion Xbox consoles.

Maybe I'm missing something, though. If you've got ideas on how Xbox could realistically reach one billion daily players, let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Several weeks after Xbox admitted it's "overextended" with its business and it was reported that Microsoft would begin "major layoffs" in July, those cuts have now begun to hit the firm. In total, 4,800 roles are being eliminated, with 3,200 of them — roughly 67% — being Xbox game dev positions.

Amid the mass layoffs, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has addressed the situation in a letter to staff that was also shared publicly, writing that the Xbox team's reduction is a painful but ultimately necessary step in working to "reset" the brand.

Notably, Sharma also revealed that she'll now have direct oversight over Minecraft developer Mojang Studios as well as Candy Crush maker King; both games have "increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players." She also says that "They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to Xbox."

Though Sharma didn't mention any specific plans for Mojang and King moving forward, a new report from Game File notes that according to a source familiar with Microsoft's plans, the new CEO feels that Xbox and the company have "massively underinvested" in Minecraft, and wants to correct this.

Game File's source explained that about six years ago, Minecraft's size and popularity was on par with Roblox, the widely available free-to-play platform for community-made games and content. Since then, however, it's estimated that Roblox has invested in its growth roughly five times as much as Microsoft has in Minecraft's, and that Minecraft's success has gone towards funding other Xbox projects instead of its own further success.

Minecraft, though still enjoyed by droves of players worldwide, has — along with countless other titles and platforms — been eclipsed by Roblox. In 2025, it grew so large that it surpassed the player engagement of Steam, PlayStation, and Fortnite combined, and was responsible for a whopping 67% of the gaming industry's total growth last year.

A specific reason for why King and the Candy Crush team will now directly report to Sharma as well wasn't reported, though I imagine it's because Candy Crush, like Minecraft, has lost ground to Roblox's rise to domination. After all, Roblox competes directly with the legendary mobile game since it's available to play on iOS and Android.

I don't play Candy Crush and can't speak to how well it's been maintained, though I've long held the view that Minecraft's live-service support is rather poor, with meaningful additions to the sandbox survival game coming far too slowly. Perhaps with Sharma's stewardship, that will change.

I'm confident one area of focus for the Xbox CEO will be reinforcing Minecraft's more social aspects, given her own background developing social platforms like Messenger. It's worth noting that this spring, Mojang announced that Minecraft: Java Edition will soon get a Friends List and peer-to-peer support, both of which are features that will make multiplayer easier and more convenient to engage with.

Do you believe Asha Sharma will successfully help Minecraft (and Candy Crush) grow and improve moving forward? Let me know what you think down below, and in our poll.

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Xbox’s restructuring is here, and we’ve got all the details, which you can find here. I also recently covered reports that State of Decay 3 may no longer be destined for Game Pass, but today we’re talking about Marvel’s Blade, a project whose future is looking increasingly uncertain.

It wasn’t long ago that my colleague Jez Corden reported Arkane had new leadership under Jerk Gustafsson from MachineGames. While that change actually happened last year and was only made public recently, it initially seemed like a positive sign for the studio. Unfortunately, that optimism has faded.

Now, thanks to new reporting, we know Microsoft is in discussions with the French government "to try and figure out a path forward for the legendary Dishonored maker, with the goal of saving Arkane from closure," while also hoping to keep Blade in development.

Additional reporting from The Verge also claims that Blade is "running over budget." With discussions involving the French government potentially taking months, the future of both Arkane and Marvel's Blade remains very much uncertain.

It’s also revealed that Blade has been delayed, in addition to its budget issues, so it really isn’t looking good for the Marvel franchise.

Outside of State of Decay 3 from Undead Labs, which was my most anticipated game from the affected studios, which includes Compulsion and Double Fine, Blade was probably the project I was most curious about. I mean, it's Blade. Sony has Spider-Man, so Xbox having its own Marvel game always felt like a great fit.

This latest update is concerning, though. Blade has reportedly been in development for over five years, and if it's now running over budget, it's hard not to worry. Given the current state of the industry, it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify projects that spend years in development only to run into repeated delays and budget issues.

As difficult as all this news has been, I genuinely hope everyone affected across Xbox is able to land on their feet. I also hope Xbox can steady the ship and come out stronger on the other side. With that said, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Microsoft Flight Simulator is a criminally underrated game, mostly because of the implied skill ceiling that realistic sims usually demand. However, it's actually extremely approachable thanks to a wide array of difficulty-tweaking options and a decent training segment that masquerades as a virtual flight school. Of course, a purpose-built controller can also help you feel immersed, but it's a confusing category for newcomers.

So, at the peak of last summer, I met with the engineers and peripheral designers at Honeycomb Aeronautical to see their latest entry-level flight sticks, HOTAS setups, and accompanying rudder pedals, with the mission of attracting new players. However, I was far more interested in a prototype Xbox-style joypad lying on a desk, covered with minuscule throttles and levers, instantly calling it "the coolest f—ing thing I've seen".

That great work-in-progress evolved into the game-changing Echo Aviation Controller, and one of my sole complaints was the lack of Xbox console support (though I knew it was planned for the future). Well, the future is now, as Honeycomb Aeronautical recently announced the Echo Aviation Controller XPC — compatible with XBOX Series X|S and, naturally, Windows PC — with plans to start shipping "from Fall this year".

Now, I usually wouldn't give much time to a standard press release — especially one without a concrete release date — but Honeycomb gets a pass for delivering exactly what I wanted. You'll get TMR and Hall-Effect sensors for drift-free inputs, alongside the strangely addictive experience of flying a replica plane with dedicated controls for landing gear, parking brakes, and flaps. It's more alluring than you might think.

It might look a bit strange at first glance, almost like two controllers fused together, but I warmed up to it extremely quickly, and I still use the original when I'm playing MSFS 2024 on PC over some of the best flight sticks. The only real downside to this XPC edition is that it could make the PC-only Echo somewhat defunct, depending on how much you crave Xbox-style face buttons. I've reached out to the company for any comments they may have on that.

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The dreaded Xbox layoffs have finally been confirmed, and they're pretty brutal. While the restructuring may have been necessary from a business perspective, seeing people lose their jobs is never easy. There's not much I can say other than hoping everyone affected is able to land on their feet.

One of the studios caught up in the restructuring is Undead Labs, the developer behind one of Xbox's most anticipated upcoming games, State of Decay 3.

State of Decay 3 is actually Xbox's most wishlisted game on Steam and currently sits among the platform's top 30 most wishlisted titles. As part of Xbox's restructuring, however, Undead Labs is reportedly being sold to a new owner. That's certainly better than simply shutting the studio down altogether, which is Sony’s go-to strategy, but I can't help feeling that Xbox has missed the mark with Undead Labs specifically.

Fans of Xbox Game Pass may also be disappointed by another reported detail. According to Game File, State of Decay 3 "will not obligate the game to any Xbox-controlling terms, such as having to be on Game Pass."

While that doesn't necessarily mean State of Decay 3 won't launch on Game Pass, it does mean the new owner won't be contractually required to put it there. Depending on who acquires the studio, that could have a significant impact on where and how the game is ultimately released.

As someone who grew up playing Call of Duty Zombies, I've always been a fan of zombie games, including the previous State of Decay titles. State of Decay 3 was certainly one of the Xbox games I was looking forward to the most.

While I'm glad the studio will still exist and, hopefully, get to ship the game, I can't help but feel Xbox has missed a huge opportunity here. Out of Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs, all of which are affected by the restructuring, Undead Labs was the studio that had the most promise, at least to me. Knowing it likely won't be part of Xbox going forward just feels like a massive missed opportunity.

Maybe that's just me, though. Let me know what you think in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Microsoft just confirmed layoffs that affect close to 2.1% of the company's workforce. 4,800 roles are being eliminated. Amy Coleman, Microsoft EVP and Chief People Officer, shared the news with employees in a letter that's also published on Microsoft's official blog.

The vast majority of the eliminated roles are from Xbox and gaming-related divisions. Our Managing Editor Jez Corden covered those cuts that make up the largest single staff reduction in Xbox history.

Other layoffs come mostly from Microsoft's Commercial business.

The total number of layoffs was reduced by more than 30% of eligible employees accepting voluntary retirement.

Coleman emphasized that the roles that were just eliminated are not being replaced by AI. But in the next sentence, Coleman discussed how AI is reshaping work.

"I also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI. At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done. Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves."

Coleman was quick to declare that AI is not replacing roles, but the EVP and Chief People Officer mentioned AI several times in the letter. On top of AI shifting how companies work, it's become a focus of training at Microsoft.

"As mentioned above, we are working on alternative solutions to job eliminations, and beyond this, we will continue to invest in equipping employees with new skills, including in AI," said Coleman.

While Coleman did not blame AI for the layoffs, Microsoft leaders past and present have said AI will affect employees across sectors.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said that AI may replace jobs, though those comments were made in a general sense and not related to the recent layoffs at Microsoft (as a reminder, Gates is not involved in operations at the company).

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said that AI will replace white-collar jobs in the next 12-18 months.

Even if these specific layoffs will not see roles replaced by AI, it's clear that AI is shaping workforces and that it will likely cause roles to be eliminated in the future.

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Amid a historic 3,200-person layoff across Xbox, starting with the 1600 initial layoffs today, our sources confirm the hardware team is seeing the fewest reductions, with a heavy focus on out-engineering the global tech supply crisis.

While today's brutal restructure at Xbox marks a devastating shift for the studios under its umbrella, we can report that at least for now, Microsoft's console ecosystem is surprisingly secure.

According to internal sources, Xbox's dedicated hardware division will see the fewest reductions in the multi-wave layoff event announced by CEO Asha Sharma today. Crucially, the highly anticipated next-generation console, codenamed Helix, remains entirely safe and on track.

RELATED: Xbox's big "reset" cuts: Compulsion, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory to leave Xbox — 3,200 roles to be removed

Rebuilding Xbox around the console players

In Sharma's directive to "rebuild the core", she has spoken plainly about the financial reality at Xbox. That Xbox's rapid software acquisitions and experimental Game Pass bets have failed to yield the margins expected.

To course-correct, Xbox is now pivoting back to its most reliable revenue generator: dedicated console users.

By shielding the hardware division from the brunt of these 3200 role cuts, Xbox hopes to ensure that the physical gateway to its ecosystem remains intact. If it intends to return to aggressive growth in the future, it needs competitive hardware as the foundation.

Battling the ongoing memory crisis

It's no secret that the road to Project Helix isn't without its significant hurdles. The consumer tech industry is currently gripped by a severe global memory availability crisis, which has sharply increased baseline manufacturing costs for next-gen silicon and storage solutions.

Rather than scaling back the console's scope or delaying its timeline, our sources indicate that Xbox’s hardware engineers are trying to tackle margin pressure through aggressive innovation to reduce the total cost of materials.

While the team is largely being spared the mass cuts hitting the software teams, they will still no doubt need to adapt to the operating model as laid out by Sharma, Divisions are being streamlined down to fewer than five layers of management, down from fourteen. Sharma has vowed "we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend."

With Helen Chiang stepping into the newly created COO role to oversee end-to-end profit and loss, the hardware division now has a clear mandate: deliver a powerhouse next-gen machine that is financially viable from day one. If console is indeed the most profitable user base, it makes sense to focus here, but can they pull it off?

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Xbox's expected cuts are here, as CEO Asha Sharma delivers on previous warnings that "hard decisions" were on the way.

Microsoft's gaming division is joining broader cuts at the firm, which will see thousands of roles eliminated from across the company in the near to medium term. Preliminary sourcing suggests the initial wave will see 1,500 staffers impacted at Xbox alone, with a total of 3,200 through FY27.

In an email to staff, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described how Xbox Game Studios are a whole is currently losing 64 cents for every dollar invested in the current climate.

"We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27."

As part of the cuts, Microsoft has reached deals with four studios to either go independent or join new management, saving them from closure.

Compulsion, known for South of Midnight, will be acquired by management and go independent again. Double Fine Productions will also go independent, led by Tim Schafer. Undead Labs and Ninja Theory will be acquired by new publishers. Sources told us over the weekend that both Ninja Theory's Senua and Labs' State of Decay 3 will remain fully in production as part of the divestiture deals.

There's a question mark over Arkane and Blade, however. Microsoft is engaging the French government to try and figure out a path forward for the legendary Dishonored maker — with the goal of saving Arkane from closure, and keeping Blade in production. Right now, we can only hope Arkane finds a suitor to help keep the Dishonored and Blade maker afloat.

Beyond that, to meet the reductions Sharma has described every department at Xbox will see some form of layoffs and restructuring. Microsoft's executive layers want to reduce middle management across the board, in attempts to help Xbox move more quickly. Minecraft and Candy Crush's King will begin reporting in to Xbox's c-suite directly, for example, with a view of making them more competitive against incumbents like Roblox and things like Monopoly Go respectively.

There's also an effort to bring some of Xbox's remaining studios into closer collaboration, focusing on some of the firm's bigger franchises and potential. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been transparent about wanting to focus on things like Halo and Fallout. We could see studios like Obsidian dust off their Fallout mantle, for example.

What about Xbox hardware? It has been suggested to me that Xbox's hardware team will see the least amount of reductions, with Microsoft still intent on shipping Xbox hardware and Xbox Helix.

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Helix console has been in production for some time, although the structural equations have been hit hard by the memory availability crisis gripping all of consumer tech. Regardless, I'm told Microsoft will soldier on with Helix and Xbox hardware in general. Microsoft is still intent on following Xbox CEO Sharma's plan to "rebuild the core," with a focus on Xbox's most profitable users: those on console.

A sad day for Xbox, and the industry in general

It's painful to me that Microsoft's bean counters wouldn't let Xbox hang on just a bit longer with some of these studios. It's hardly Undead Labs' fault that their integrations were defeated by Covid lockdowns and previous management leaving. State of Decay 3 for example has more wishlists on Steam than some of Xbox's other tentpole projects. It easily, in my view, has potential to be even bigger than similar multiplayer titles like Grounded or Sea of Thieves. It has been a long and expensive road to get here for sure ... but the rewards were literally just around the corner. Couldn't Microsoft have stayed the course just a bit longer on some of this stuff? Microsoft's penchant for giving up at the last hurdle is ceaselessly irritating.

Xbox gave some of its studios freedom to explore new IPs and experimental titles, which while virtuous, potentially hurt their capability to return positive news to those higher-ups working the spreadsheets. It's also difficult to argue against Asha Sharma's notes to staff about not wanting to compete with indie developers. It is a strange universe where Microsoft, the juggernaut, is building games that would otherwise be produced by comparatively far, far smaller teams with non-existent marketing budgets.

It's hard to deny that Xbox has massively dropped the ball on things like Fallout and Halo. Hindsight is 20/20, but imagine if the Fallout TV show had a mainline Fallout game to complement its popularity? Cyberpunk 2077 just hit 40 million copies sold, and is seeing another player count bump from integrations in Wuthering Waves and Cyberpunk Edgerunners Season 2 on Netflix.

RELATED: Xbox, please let your studios cook
RELATED: Inside Xbox's margin crush

Some of these plans revolve around laying the ground work to take advantage of these squandered opportunities. It should lead to a stronger Xbox in the years to come. But at the same time, it's staffers paying the price for previous decisions — whether owing to managerial mistakes, evolving user behavior, or macro-economic factors that nobody could really predict. It's not fair, is it? For all those impacted, it's just another round of needless chaos in our cold, AI-funny-money-powered economy.

"These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one," Asha Sharma noted to employees. "The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates."

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Microsoft has apparently heard the complaints that make it clear not everyone wants AI in their daily meetings. An upcoming change will make it possible to disable Copilot, Facilitator, and meeting recap within Teams.

Before you get excited about vanquishing the AI features, only licensed meeting organizers will be able to toggle the features on or off.

Here's the planned timeline for the release of the controls:

• Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early July 2026 (previously early June) and expect to complete by mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June).
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June) and expect to complete by end-of-July 2026 (previously late June).

Microsoft sent word of the changes through the Microsoft 365 Message Center. If you're not an admin, you can read them through the Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive.

All versions of Teams will be affected by the change (desktop, web, and mobile).

Meeting AI is a collection of features within Teams. It includes Copilot, Facilitator, and Intelligent recap. Admins can disable all Meeting AI features with a single toggle or enable or disable tools individually.

While it's easy to criticize AI, and there are times for it, these Teams features can be useful. Facilitator can provide information to address knowledge gaps automatically. Intelligent recap uses AI to take notes, create summaries, and gather highlights.

But as is the case with many AI features, people want the option to disable them. The new options coming to Teams make that much easier for admins.

When used as a way to enhance the work of a person, AI can improve productivity. But when people over rely on AI, quality suffers. Earlier this year, analyst Dennis Xu joked about banning AI use on Friday afternoons.

Xu's comments were tongue-in-check, but the general idea was that people would be too lazy on a Friday afternoon to double-check work completed by AI tools.

Considering that even Microsoft researchers suggest AI chatbots get "dumber" the longer you talk to them, it makes sense to give meeting organizers simple toggles to disable AI in Teams.

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Appreciate how hard it is to write the name Erling Haaland and literally anything nice. The World Cup star plays for Manchester City, whom I am programmed to despise, as well as England's next opponents, Norway.

But, I know a man of undoubted class when I see one, and Haaland fits that bill because, like us, he's an XBOX man. Some of the games he's playing won't be too surprising, but at least one of them might be.

The video below via yoxic on X walks us through Haaland's Xbox, some of his favorite games, and yes, as a man of class, he also has the Xbox Series X mini fridge.

I had a mild panic when I read the caption before seeing the video before calming down when "Modern Warfare 2" does, in fact, refer to the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy, not the reboot. I've met plenty of people who would agree on the old game and essentially nobody who would pass such lofty praise on the newer one.

There's no surprise to hear GTA 6 is most anticipated, though, fun fact, Haaland was only 13 when GTA 5 was first released. In the time between games he's grown up and become the most feared striker on the planet. Puts it into perspective how long we've been waiting!

Shoutout for Minecraft, too, another of the titles taking its place on Haaland's XBOX alongside the extremely obvious EA FC games.

Reaction on social media is plentiful, but the replies tagging Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and marketing chief Aaron Greenberg feel valid. One of the best known football players on the planet is basically doing free marketing here. If XBOX has any sense, they'll reach out about a partnership. Lord knows we could use some positivity.

There's a precedent for that, too. Darts sensation Luke Littler is also a proud XBOX player, which was soon followed up by an official partnership. All the youngsters out there that love Erling Haaland need to know he loves XBOX. It's a no-brainer!

That's enough from me, though. Time to lock in on the World Cup Quarter-Finals. England vs. Norway. We've got to get the man back home and on his XBOX as soon as possible!

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Euro Truck Simulator 2 (and its USA-centric counterpart, American Truck Simulator) is the world's most popular trucking simulation game on PC, and console ports for Xbox and PlayStation are even in the works. As the name suggests, the theme has always been about hauling trailers across realistic recreations of famous cities, but a teased "Project Coaches" add-on is getting closer to mixing that up.

Yes, the big trucking simulator game is getting a Coaches DLC on Steam that'll add drivable coach buses from real-world manufacturers like Scania, Volvo, and MAN. We don't know how much the DLC will cost, and its developers at SCS Software reiterate that anything it shows is "still a work in progress", so the specifics on how its in-world passengers will behave might change before release.

We've known details about in-world bus stations for a while, but a new gameplay video on YouTube shows how everything is coming together with footage of the MAN Lions Coach set to the nostalgic soundtrack of SCS Software's Bus Driver from 2007. The twist on passenger replacements for cargo is garnering mostly positive reactions so far, but it simultaneously highlights a feature that's still strangely missing: rigid trucks.

Rigid-chassis trucks have been missing from both versions of SCS Software's truck simulator since launch, with the only solutions coming from community-made mods. You've probably seen these types of trucks driving around your own town; they're a more compact alternative to the longer, hauled trailers that you'll see in the game's traditional selection. Coaches, if larger, still handle on the road in the same fashion, so this feels like a slightly unusual release order.

Despite frustrations among some Steam players that the Coaches DLC might be receiving priority over new truck types, Euro Truck Simulator 2 nevertheless maintains an "Overwhelmingly Positive" standing with over 140,000 English reviews. It's still the most realistic option for PC gamers on Windows 10/11 and SteamOS — thanks to its "Steam Deck Verified" status — and one of the easiest games to recommend when paired with an appropriate wheel.

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It's no secret that the modern video game industry is in somewhat of an identity and budget crisis. Massive AAA publishers are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars and up to a decade of development time into hyper-polished blockbusters, many of which fail to recoup the ballooning costs. On the other hand, we have feel-good stories like this one about this year's breakout indie hit, Meccha Chameleon, which just announced it has achieved 15 million sales on Steam in less than a month.

What is Meccha Chameleon?

Two indie developers in Japan reportedly spent two months, yes, only two months, slapping together this janky $5 party game about painting human chameleons, and it's done the impossible by capturing millions of players' attention.

Creator 'lemorion_1224' and programmer Haganeiro originally met in the Fortnite custom map creator community, and together came up with this wacky, extreme hide-and-seek concept.

Players have plain white bodies and must spray-paint themselves to match the textures of the walls and surroundings to hide from the seekers. I've even seen one environment that's modeled after the Backrooms, so it's a Gen Z clip-worthy beast of a game. It seems incredibly simple, but the trajectory of the game's success is every indie developer's dream scenario. It even utilizes free assets, for which the creator has expressed support for the game taking off.

Meccha Chameleon launched on Steam on June 9, 2026, for the modest price of $4.79, and took only 4 days to shatter 1 million copies sold purely by organic word of mouth and viral Twitch clips. It's the latest in a trend of 'friendslop' games, not a derogatory term, but meaning a game where the fun is made organically by playing with a group of pals (and tends to be a low-budget title). Think Schedule 1 as another example.

As of June 26, they hit 10 million copies sold, and today they announced the milestone of 15 million copies just under a month after launch. At the game's peak, it reached 340,000 concurrent players and outperformed Overwatch and Apex Legends.

Now, as inspiring as Meccha Chameleon's success is, it's vital to remember that not everyone can be the next Balatro or Among Us. Tens of thousands of indie games flood Steam each year, and a heartbreakingly small percentage of those ever make enough money to sustain their creators. That said, when a game this cheap does strike lightning, it's something to be celebrated, and I'm going to download immediately and check the game out myself!

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Sony's announcement that it will cease physical disc production by January 2028 has had a seismic impact on the gaming industry,. As players look forward to a disc-less future with the arrival of the PlayStation 6 (and the likelihood that Xbox Helix will follow suit), everyone has been weighing in on the debate at a volume I've not seen before.

Celebrities like comedian Trevor Noah have weighed in, and even fast food outlets like KFC and Dominos have jumped on the bandwagon, but now one of the industries most legendary creator, Hideo Kojima has weighed in.

Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza Film Festival in Italy, Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Kojima expressed deep anxiety over the erasure of physical media. His translated remarks have been widely ciculated by Genki_JPN on X and we can be pretty certain the translation is correct given it's been reposted by Kojima himself.

"You don't actually possess the data"

Kojima, a notoriously devout cinephile and physical media collector, didn't hold back when asked his thoughts on the industry-wide push toward digital distribution.

"Since production is ending in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad.

Currently, I’ve been buying up a lot of Blu-rays, such as various movies, and CDs too. The situation is different for games, as they are downloaded to the hard drive, that means the game data remains on your own hardware.

However, if things shift to streaming in the future, that won’t be the case anymore. With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere, and you essentially just have the right to turn the tap, and when you do, the data flows out. That’s how movies work on these platforms, right? You don't download the data, you access it directly through a subscription.

And the consequence of that is that you don't actually possess the data yourself. There are companies that own these servers and let you 'turn the tap' for a monthly fee. However, with nations, politics and various ways of thinking, one naturally has to consider the possibility that if there is a change, the data inside will stop being distributed.

And if that happens you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you like. That is what is frightening. So, what is happening to video games in 2028, might also happen to movies. I’d like everyone to keep that in mind."

"We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved."

This isn't the first time Kojima has spoken out about the move to online-only access for entertainment. His posts from 2001 have been circulating again, when he had a very similar warning to us all:

"Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative. Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off.

We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That's what I'm afraid of. This is not greed."

Kojima's words directly mirror the concerns of today's gamers. When Sony first revealed the timeline within which it plans to kill off physical game discs, the immediate outcry centered around consumer choice and market control. Without a secondhand disc market, publishers gain total authority over pricing, forcing players to rely entirely on the PlayStation storefront sales. Whether you have already made the move to digital or not, this will impact the price of games for everyone.

We have already seen the consequences of the "turned off tap" that Kojima warns us of. Sony recently sparked fury by revoking consumer access to over 500 paid digital movies, proving that digital ownership is merely a temporary license.

While the PC ecosystem has safely transitioned to digital due to its open nature, community modding, and DRM-free options like GOG, consoles remain strictly gated communities.

How long will corporations acquiesce to gamers' wants and needs?

Microsoft's upcoming next-gen "roject Helix console is also highly likely to drop the disc drive, but they are building a bridge. New details regarding Xbox's "Positron" disc-to-digital program suggest a seamless system where physical discs can be permanently converted into digital licenses tied to your Microsoft Account.

Amidst all the corporate doom and gloom, there are still minor victories for collectors. Halo Studios recently confirmed that the highly anticipated Halo: Campaign Evolved remake will actually ship on an actual physical disc for both Xbox and PlayStation boxes.

But as Kojima heavily implies, these anomalies will soon become a relic of the past. When the servers go dark, and the corporate giants decide to twist the valve shut, players will finally realize the true cost of convenience.

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Xbox is celebrating it's 25th anniversary this year, something that's easy to forget within the deluge of seemingly bad news right now. While they've already announced the snazzy Xbox Series X25 as a homage to the original Xbox, I do wonder if there will be more for fans that doesn't include laying down a wedge of cash. Something not unlike the Xbox Year in Review but for our entire time with Xbox.

Well, we needn't wait to see if Xbox has such a thing in store, because the folks over at True Achievements have done it again with its #Xbox25 Milestones tool. Simply click here to be taken to True Achievements and link your Microsoft account, and you'll see all of your stats in one neat timeline and infographic from the start of your journey with the Xbox 360 (when achievements were first introduced).

A blast from MY past

The True Achievements #Xbox25 Milestone infographic is displayed within an Xbox 360 Blades dashboard skin for maximum nostalgia, and is a really cool reminder of my own journey with the Xbox ecosystem.

I never actually owned an OG Xbox myself, and was staunchly PlayStation up until my 4-year-old (at the time) decided to put around 7 discs into my PlayStation 3 at once, rendering it overfed and useless.

My infographic reflects this: the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, but I didn't unlock an achievement on it until this incident in 2012. At the time, because the PS3 had a Blu-ray player, it was cheaper to get a second-hand Xbox 360 instead, and I never looked back.

I'm also reminded that the first game I 100% completed on Xbox was Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure in August 2013. So, obviously, I'll be among the many excited for this to become a backward-compatible title, if such a thing is possible!
Would love to know your guys most interesting stats from the Xbox 360 era up until now, leave a comment below with your results or jump into our subreddit (link below) and share your own infographics!

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Xbox is having major changes, slated to go live in full this Monday from what we've heard.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been signalling for weeks that Xbox's studios need a "reset." As Microsoft's gaming empire has struggled in the new economy, Xbox is pursuing a variety of cuts, sell-offs, and potential team mergers in order to reduce costs. Studios like Undead Labs, Double Fine, Compulsion, and others have reportedly been in negotiations with Xbox about what their futures' look like, and for some, that future might be bleak in the short term.

The Verge reported that one of those studios up for negotiations was Arkane Studios, currently working on Marvel's Blade. Arkane is known for Dishonored and Death Loop, but has struggled to find its footing arguably under Microsoft. Blade was a chance to change that, but The Verge's reporting suggested that Microsoft was actually considering closing the studio.

This latest update suggests that Microsoft may have found an alternative path.

Spotted by Timur222 on X early this morning, it seems that MachineGames co-founder and studio director Jerk Gustafsson has taken over leadership of Arkane Studios. Arkane's president, Leonard Bendel, has resigned. The leadership change over happened a few days ago, on June 30th, according to a legal notice on French enterprise information site Pappers.fr.

Indeed, at least from my end, I've heard there's no plans to actually end development on Blade, although there's clearly some major potential restructuring going on here.

Arkane is based in France, with MachineGames based in Sweden. Microsoft is investing in MachineGames following the success of Indiana Jones, but also on the basis of the popularity of the Wolfenstein franchise. Indeed, Microsoft is actually developing a TV show based on Wolfenstein with the Fallout TV producers for Amazon — which fits heavily into Asha Sharma's trans-media vision for Xbox. Wolfenstein 3 is in production to that end, according to our sources, with the goal of the TV show and game complimenting each other Fallout TV-style.

What this leadership change means for Arkane overall remains to be seen. Xbox is expected to join Microsoft in general with broad cuts from as early as Monday next week. Every studio and team is likely to be impacted in some form, as are teams across Windows, Azure, and so on more broadly.

Could this leadership change signal that Arkane is going to merge with MachineGames to forge a bigger overall studio? Is Jerk Gustafsson being promoted across with the intent of the studios remaining separate? It's hard to say for sure right now. Given the holiday weekend in the United States, I doubt we'll be able to get comment from Microsoft in the near term.

In any case, I'm choosing to take this as a positive sign for Blade and Arkane, despite rumors of its potential closure.

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I’m sure most Xbox fans, especially those who go as far back as the Xbox 360, remember the absolute tragedy that was the Red Ring of Death. Millions of Xbox 360 consoles made their way into homes, only to later overheat and fail, leading many owners to come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful DIY fixes.

In the end, it cost Microsoft more than $1.15 billion, though despite the disaster, it didn't stop the Xbox 360 from becoming Xbox's most successful console generation to date. So, how does Valve's new Steam Machine fit into all of this? Well, the Steam Machine has a front-facing LED light bar that serves a variety of purposes, including indicating downloads and hardware status.

Over on the Steam Machine subreddit, though, user me_hill reported what appears to be the system's first "Red Line of Death." According to the user, they were playing No Man's Sky, installed a system update, and the machine was subsequently bricked. According to Valve's own Steam Support page, it appears the user has experienced a GPU failure.

Given that the GPU is soldered to the motherboard, it's not something the average user can repair. To add insult to injury, some Reddit users joked that they were "beta testing" the hardware for everyone else.

Fortunately, this appears to be an isolated incident for now, and hopefully it stays that way. It would be a real shame for Valve's $1,000 mid-powered device to suffer anything resembling the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death fiasco.

Believe it or not, I actually really want a Steam Machine. That said, stories like this make me glad I'm waiting, even if my biggest reservation is still the price. I just can't justify spending $1,000 on the hardware, and while I know it's probably unrealistic, I'd be much more tempted if it were closer to the $500 mark.

Hopefully Valve can get the affected user back up and running with a replacement or repair. With that said, let me know whether stories like this put you off buying a Steam Machine, or if you're still keen to get your hands on one. Share your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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CD Projekt Red has announced on X that Cyberpunk 2077, its open-world dystopian sci-fi RPG, has hit a new sales milestone of selling over 40 million copies worldwide, whether individually or as part of its Ultimate Edition bundle.

This news comes on the heels of the recently revealed teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners 2, the long-awaited sequel to the popular anime series that helped redeem Cyberpunk 2077 in the eyes of the public after its infamous launch in 2020.

Other factors that helped redeem Cyberpunk 2077 were constant post-launch updates that removed all the game's bugs and balance issues and an epic DLC expansion that added tons of new content while rebalancing the base game.

Of course, the biggest factor was fans who never gave up on the game, whom CD Projekt Red thanks in its message for their support in helping Cyberpunk 2077 reach this sales milestone.

CD Projekt Red isn't finished with the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, however, as it gears up to prepare a sequel while developing Witcher 4, both of which will be released sometime in the far distant future.

What do you think of Cyberpunk 2077 selling over 40 million copies? Do you think the game deserves this accolade, and are you still playing Cyberpunk 2077 in 2026 if you played it at launch?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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Minecraft is probably the most iconic game in the world. It's the one with all the blocks, where creativity comes alive. For a long time, though, players on Minecraft's Bedrock Edition were missing one of the game's most important accessibility features, despite it having been available in Java Edition for years.

In fact, as a Java player, I had no idea it hadn't already made its way to Bedrock. I'm talking, of course, about the new closed captions.

For those unfamiliar, they're an accessibility feature that provides both text and visual cues for sounds happening around you. Whether it's footsteps, a door opening, or that dreaded creeper sneaking up behind you, closed captions help you better understand your surroundings without relying solely on audio.

To enable closed captions in Minecraft Bedrock Edition:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Open Accessibility.
3. Enable Closed Captions and adjust the settings to your liking.

I'm all for accessibility features like this. They don't negatively affect anyone who chooses not to use them, but they can make a huge difference for players who are deaf or hard of hearing, process audio differently, or simply need a little extra help enjoying the game. Features like these allow more people to experience games without barriers, and that's only ever a good thing.

I haven't actually played Minecraft in a while myself, although the annual two-week Minecraft phase seems to come for all of us eventually. Not too long ago I covered a fan-made Halo modpack for Minecraft, and as a lifelong Halo fan, that definitely caught my attention, so I might jump into that soon.

That said, there are so many great games releasing lately that it's hard to stick with just one, let alone go back to Minecraft. Even so, it's a game I've been playing since the early beta days, long before Microsoft owned the franchise, so I know it's only a matter of time before I end up jumping back in.

Enough about my thoughts, though. I'd love to hear what you think about this feature and whether it'll make a difference to the way you play Minecraft. Let me know in the comments below, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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In the midst of a tumultuous week for gaming thanks to Sony killing physical PlayStation Discs and shutting down the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita digital stores, we could all use some new good news for a change.

For horror game fans, Bloober Team is here to provide that good news, as it has revealed a new gameplay dev diary trailer for Cronos: Lazarus, an upcoming DLC expansion for its hit survival horror game, Cronos: The New Dawn.

In this expansion, you get to play as the Warden, a mysterious character who aided the player throughout the base game with new tech and clues for the story's mysteries.

Cronos: Lazarus will take you on a journey where you will get to experience the Warden's past while taking on a secret mission the Collective organization does not want you to complete, even if it has to kill you to prevent its secrets from being uncovered.

According to the dev diary trailer, the DLC expansion will be a lot more action-based than the base game, which played out like a classic survival horror game where you had to carefully manage your resources and check around every corner for enemy ambushes.

As the Warden, you will be granted a host of powerful weapons to blast enemies into bits with and new abilities to improve your chances of survival, like teleportation to avoid incoming attacks or deploying holographic decoys to distract enemies.

Don't take this to mean the DLC will be easy, however. Thanks to these new toys, enemies in Cronos: Lazarus will be more numerous and aggressive to deal with than in the base game, and underestimating them will get you killed fast.

To make matters worse, the Collective has dispatched a hunter to eliminate you similarly to Mr. X from Resident Evil 2, so you will need to master the Warden's arsenal quickly if you hope to live to see another day.

Windows Central's take

The base game of Cronos: The New Dawn was one of our favorite Xbox titles of 2025 and one of Bloober Team's finest games released thus far, along with its excellent Silent Hill 2 remake.

Our long-time survival horror fan, Jez Corden, even gave Cronos: The New Dawn a perfect 5/5 review for its insane story filled with twists to the sci-fi genre, gameplay that was satisfyingly panic-inducing without making your character feel too incompetent or too overpowered, and sublime art direction and performance.

With this new DLC that looks to be taking inspiration from more action-oriented horror titles like Resident Evil 4, we can't wait to jump back into the horrifying world of Cronos and finally learn the history of one of its most memorable characters when Cronos: Lazarus releases during Fall 2026 on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.

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Microsoft Edge just became a bit more like Google Chrome, but in a way people will probably like. Following a recent update, you can now sign in to Edge with a Google account, allowing you to bring your bookmarks, history, and other content into Edge with less work.

The change is part of a controlled rollout that began with version 150.0.4078.48 of Edge. It may take some time for it to roll out to your system.

We've known about this addition for a while. A Microsoft 365 Roadmap entry revealed the update last month. But now, it is shipping to everyone rather than just being in the works.

The full release notes break down all the changes.

Microsoft Edge (July 2026 Update): Feature Updates

• Clarify choices surrounding third-party cookie settings. Language under 'Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies' is updated to better describe the choices users have when managing third-party cookies.
• Sign in to Edge with a Google account. Users can now sign in to Microsoft Edge using a Google account in addition to a Microsoft account from the profile menu and Edge sign-in screen. Available for Windows and macOS devices. Admins can control availability of this feature using the NonMicrosoftAccountSignInEnabled policy. Note: This is a controlled feature rollout. If you don't see this feature, check back as we continue our rollout.
• Intune MAM Protected Downloads. The protected downloads feature for Intune MAM now saves downloaded files to the 'Documents > Microsoft Edge > Downloads' folder in OneDrive.
• Enterprise WebView2 runtime downgrade via DowngradeVersion policy. Starting with Microsoft Edge version 150, enterprises can actively use the 'DowngradeVersion' policy to downgrade WebView2 applications. Administrators can temporarily roll back specific applications to a previous WebView2 Evergreen Runtime version (N-1 or N-2) using the new 'DowngradeVersion' policy in msedgewebview2.admx. The policy allows enterprises to mitigate critical regressions by specifying per-application executable-to-version mappings. The Edge Updater installs the target version side-by-side, and the WebView2 Loader redirects targeted applications accordingly. Downgrades automatically expire with each new WebView2 release. Applications pinned to N-1 remain on the same version (now becoming N-2) and automatically update in the next release, while applications pinned to N-2 revert to the current Evergreen Runtime. The policy applies only to enterprise-managed devices (domain-joined or MDM-enrolled). For more information, see Microsoft Edge WebView2 Policy Documentation.
• Update to the "View in File Explorer" feature. When the ConfigureViewInFileExplorer policy is enabled, the View in File Explorer feature can be used in SharePoint document libraries. Microsoft Edge has updated the feature to enforce additional validation and restrictions when triggered by webpages to improve security.
• Security Update Alerts in the Edge management service. Administrators can choose a severity threshold and receive alerts when a new Microsoft Edge update includes security fixes that meet or exceed that level, including zero-day fixes. This helps organizations quickly identify updates that may require attention while avoiding unnecessary notifications for routine releases. Note: This experience is in public preview and is available by opting in to Targeted Release in the Microsoft 365 admin center. For more information, see Monitoring dashboard.

Microsoft also shared some reminders about changes to Edge, including the Sidebar app list being retired.

Originally, Microsoft did not plan to integrate Google services into Microsoft Edge. But the company seems to have shifted its stance following feedback over the years.

You don't need a Microsoft account to use Edge, but until now, you did need one to sync your data. Supporting Google account sign-ins lets you have a fuller browsing experience without having to use a Microsoft account.

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World Update 22 for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was first revealed during the Xbox Showcase at Summer Game Fest, due for release on July 4, aka America's 250th birthday.

It made total sense since it's a very American update, but even better is that it's already live in advance of the holiday weekend.

World Update 22: US National Parks is a free update to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 for all players on Xbox, PC, and PS5. To get it, simply make sure you've got the latest version of the simulator and grab the World Update 22 package from the marketplace.

World Update 22 brings with it 30 new locations focused on national parks across the United States, from the Grand Canyon to the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore, and many, many more.

There are also three new guided tours to take in, at Bryce Canyon, Grand Teton, and the Grand Canyon. Not only do we get the stunning new locations, but the Goodyear Blimp is also added as a new free aircraft to fly.

This is probably one of the most visually impressive updates to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 to date, showing off some of the most stunning parts of the United States.

Personally, I can't wait to check out the Grand Canyon Guided Tour. It's been a long time since I saw it in person (it's not exactly local for someone living in the UK) but to date it's one of the most awe-inspiring things I've ever seen. Cliche, perhaps, but I remember being actually speechless walking up to it for the first time.

Exploration like this is one of the things I enjoy the most about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 as well. Flying planes is a lot of fun, but so is where you fly them. Thanks to the detailed recreations in the simulator, it's as close as many of us may ever get to the real deal.

As for the Goodyear Blimp, it'd be rude not to fly it over a stadium, right?!

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To say that Sony's decision to cease production of physical PlayStation game discs sparked controversy would be the understatement of the 2020s.

Almost every gamer under the sun is angry about this decision, and companies in and out of the video game industry have responded with satirical content mocking Sony.

However, this controversy has escalated so quickly that it's even garnered the attention of politicians such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon. This man, who is running for President of France, responded to this event, as well as Grand Theft Auto 6 being digital-only, by citing the dangers of gaming going digital-only with this (translated) proclamation:

"With GTA 6 without a disc in 2026 and Sony's announcement of the end of physical disc sales for games in 2028, the question arises of how we view these products. Tomorrow, you will pay without ever owning anything. No loan, no resale, no guarantee of keeping what we've paid for."

Jean-Luc Mélenchon then states that he is willing to support gamers' right to own the games they purchase by saying, "Video games are not mere merchandise; they are cultural assets, and the law in force must apply to them. We will open the project in 2027. Players have rights too!"

This isn't the first time Jean-Luc Mélenchon has stood up for video games, as, according to @L'insoumission on X, he described them as a "total art that breaks with previous forms of art" in 2022, and has been advocating for them since 2017.

With this controversy reaching mainstream attention, will games going purely digital in 2028 cause other politicians or even world leaders to chime in with their thoughts on the subject?

We surely won't have to wait long for further developments regarding one of the biggest shake-ups in recent gaming history.

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Leaked materials from 2024 have revealed that Microsoft has built a working prototype Copilot OS that is platform agnostic, derived from the Microsoft Edge web browser and runs on top of Windows or Android, focused on the web and agentic experiences.

This project is codenamed Aion, and while its status is currently unknown, the leaked materials confirm that such a project was in active development and reached a stage in which the code was functional. With all the material leaked, we have a pretty good idea about how this OS experience looked and functioned.

According to the leaked materials, Aion is a UI shell built entirely with web tech, using a modified version of the Edge web browser. The interface is Edge, but altered to include desktop-like interfaces and functionality such as a Start menu, Taskbar, and cascading windows.

The documents confirm that Aion was capable of running on top of Windows 11 as a desktop shell replacement, or on AOSP Android. There's also a third compatible OS mentioned called Win3, which sources say was a special modified version of the Windows codebase with less legacy cruft, resulting in a lighter OS experience with faster boot times, longer battery life, and better security at the expense of legacy app support.

Aion seemingly wasn't compatible with legacy Windows apps, with the leaked video mentioning it only running web apps and websites, with tight Windows 365 integration for when users need access to a legacy Windows experience.

The Aion interface was built around Copilot and agentic AI experiences. It features a familiar looking Taskbar along the bottom of the interface, where the system tray and running apps appear. It also features a Start menu, except this time it's powered by Copilot and features a Copilot icon instead of a Windows one.

The Copilot Start menu is where users go to begin tasks, browse the web, or open web apps. The entire interface is built around Copilot, with users interacting with the OS via a multi-modal omnibox that can jumpstart tasks or workflows, find files, browse the web, initiate AI chat, and open web apps.

The new Start menu provides quick access to recent websites and files, and also groups recent activites into Spaces that let you launch multiple activities at once via a single click, curated by Copilot. Web apps will run in their own floating windows like real apps do on Windows, letting users cascade, minimize, and snap them.

The Spaces that Copilot curates also appear in the Taskbar when open. These appear as buckets, highlighted in a different color to let you know that these items are all being grouped together by the AI for picking up where you left off at a later point.

Because Aion only runs web apps, it's capable of understanding the context of everything you have open using Copilot. That means Copilot as an agent is capable of completing tasks on your behalf if asked by the user, and can answer any questions about the things that are open or were recently viewed at any time.

Aion also includes a feature that lets users complete tasks while staying in the flow of chat. For example, if the user wanted to send a summary of a web page to a friend or colleague via email, users could simply ask Copilot to do that, and the agent would pull in an email draft and let the user check it over and send it without ever leaving the Copilot chat interface.

It's unclear if Project Aion is ever intended to ship, or if it'll remain an internal experiment never to see the light of day. So far, we've not seen any official confirmation that a Copilot OS is going ahead. Microsoft recently announced Project Solara, an agentic OS that runs on Windows and Android codebases that utilizes a just-in-time UI approach to generate experiences on the fly.

While not the same, perhaps Microsoft has opted to go in a different direction for its agentic OS vision.

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Halo Studios is back with another community Q&A on Halo Waypoint, and unlike last time, it's packed with genuinely positive news about Halo: Campaign Evolved. Following recent reports that PlayStation is ending physical releases for new games and our reporting that Xbox's Project Helix won't include a disc drive, it almost feels like physical media has been put on life support. Thankfully, Halo Studios has some welcome news for collectors.

If you pick up a physical copy of Halo: Campaign Evolved on Xbox or PlayStation from a retailer, you'll actually get a game disc in the box. That might sound like a small detail, but in an industry that's increasingly replacing discs with download codes, it's a refreshing commitment to players who still value physical ownership, as dwindling of a fanbase as we are.

Halo Studios have also addressed concerns over the game's AI, as in some previews the enemy AI was awkward to say the least. Luckily, it seems Halo Studios has heard our concerns and clarified: "Over the last few weeks, the development team has been polishing and improving elements of the game, including enemy AI behaviors".

Another nice-to-know is that handhelds are addressed, and Halo: Campaign Evolved apparently is optimized enough for Windows handhelds and Valve's Steam Deck.

Last time Halo Studios published a Community Q&A, I ended up going on quite the rant over some of the features I felt were missing, with Theatre mode sitting right at the top of that list. Unfortunately, we're still not getting a proper Theatre mode, but Halo Studios has announced what is probably the next best thing: Machinima mode.

Machinima mode lets players detach into a free camera, lower their weapon, and even continue controlling their Spartan while using the freecam. Better yet, it's available to everyone from the start and isn't locked behind finding a Skull.

It's not quite the full-featured Theatre mode I'd still love to see make a return, but it's a decent compromise, and one that should make creating Halo videos and screenshots much easier than what we were expecting.

As someone who grew up watching and enjoying Halo machinima, whether it was Red vs. Blue or Arby 'n' the Chief, machinima was once a core part of Halo's identity.

It's nice to see Halo Studios providing some extra clarification ahead of launch, and I'm still incredibly excited to finally get my hands on Halo: Campaign Evolved. I'll certainly be doing my best to 100% the game over the coming months, and hopefully these new details help put some fans' minds at ease.

Whether they do or not, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Sony has made the controversial decision to axe production of physical PlayStation games going forward in 2028, sparking massive debates regarding game preservation and whether or not piracy is the only way to preserve them.

This decision has been met with universal vitriol from gamers, mocking the company for what they feel is ultimately Sony shooting themselves in the foot while making funny jokes about it on social media.

Even some of us here at Windows Central are baffled by Sony's decision, asking, "What's the point of a console without discs?" as PC gaming offers more ways to preserve games and allow players to own games they buy without DRM restrictions via GOG, for example.

In fact, it's garnered so much attention that big-brand companies in and outside of the gaming industry have started making various responses to Sony on social media, making fun of the company while supporting gamers who prefer physical media.

First off, we have Domino's Pizza, of all things, making this humorous response mocking Sony's decision on X, stating that they'll be "ceasing production of physical pizzas and shift to production of digital pizzas only" and saying that "Consumers will be able to download our full range of delicious pizza codes, and using the power of imagination, enjoy them in an entirely virtual sense."

One of Domino Pizza's biggest rivals, KFC, also made a similar response on its Spanish X account, saying via translation, "BREAKING NEWS: KFC will stop offering its physical format starting today. Its products can only be consumed through its app in fake PNG format."

The VPN company, ProtonVPN, also responded with a rather hilarious joke announcement on X by saying that it will make its services entirely physical starting April 1st, 2027.

It will send smart employees to your current location to help with FAQs and tech support, and mail encrypted letters, among other funny services meant to mock Sony's decision.

The cybersecurity firm, Malwarebytes, has made a similar joke announcement on X, by stating that starting on April 1st, 2028, it will dispatch a member of its team with an 'M' suit to a customer's house and escort them to their doctor's appointments to stay clean of viruses.

Malwarebytes also stated it will "microwave any fish in the office of any company that leaks your personal data."

Other companies within the video games industry have made similar comments online. For example, Esports Awards made fun of Sony's decision by stating that it will no longer produce physical trophies for Esports winners starting in 2028, while saying that winners will be able to download their trophies as JPEG or PNG images to be put on virtual displays.

The gaming chair manufacturer, RESPAWN, also made a similar joke announcement on X, stating that it will stop producing physical chairs and switch to making digital chairs only, which will be distributed to customers via premium chair codes.

Not all responses are entirely satirical, however. The online rental retailer, GameFly, took to X to announce its disappointment in Sony's decision to axe physical PlayStation games.

It believes in the power of physical entertainment media and will continue to support gamers and collectors who prefer physical media by proclaiming, "We are committed to renting physical media, be it games or movies until they pry the discs from our soft, moisturized hands".

The gaming collectible and vinyl retailer, iam8bit, expressed similar disappointment in Sony regarding this decision on X. iam8bit states that physical games are a vital part of game preservation, ownership, and consumer choices, values which the retailer has believed in for a decade and will continue to do so while proudly shouting "Long live physical media".

Other retailers like Evercade, which specializes in selling consoles compatible with retro games stretching back to the 1980s arcade era, made a parody video of Sony's "Used Game Sharing Instruction" advert from 2013, which has now aged incredibly poorly.

It shows Evercade's employees sharing physical retro games, while promoting their new Evercade Nexus gaming handheld, which uses physical game cartridges to play games instead of relying on digital copies, and it currently supports over 700 classic games including Banjo Kazooie, Tomb Raider, Broken Sword, and more.

There's no doubt that many more companies will respond to Sony regarding this industry-changing decision, both satirical and serious in the weeks to come.

But will these responses, as well as massive gamer backlash, cause Sony to reverse this decision as well as backpedal on its equally controversial decision to close the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita digital stores?

Stay tuned to find out as we keep on further developments regarding whether more companies make similar responses to Sony's decision and what Sony plans to do next.

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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a fantastic game, and I’ll go one further: that’s an understatement. Now, I’m personally not too heavily invested in the Warhammer universe. Unlike my older brother, I just never really got into it; instead, I was a massive Halo fan.

Now, of course, you can absolutely be both, but my brother often reminds me that Master Chief wouldn’t survive in the Warhammer universe, something I completely refuse to believe. I’m not here to settle that debate, though. Instead, I want to highlight an incredible community-made mod by Skykiller, using Halo Reach Sangheili models gained via Draken Warlord, that lets you experience Space Marine 2 from the perspective of one of Halo's most iconic species.

The mod itself, called Sangheili Campaign, adds Halo Reach Elite models to the Space Marine 2 campaign, complete with modified textures, materials, and visual effects to better fit the game's world. In fact, it goes far beyond a simple character swap, replacing nearly every weapon with Halo Reach equivalents, including the Plasma Pistol, Carbine, Needle Rifle, Plasma Repeater, Plasma Rifle, and plenty more. And yes, before you ask, the Energy Sword is there too.

I’d like to say it’s surprising how well this all fits together, but it really isn’t. As a huge Halo fan, and I’m sure many others feel the same, I’ve long believed the franchise has been underutilized. Feel free to disagree with me, but even a former Bungie employee, Niles Sankey shared similar sentiments.

When Halo Wars launched, I was genuinely excited because it felt like the beginning of Halo expanding beyond first-person shooters. Since then, though, we’ve had very little outside of Halo Wars and Halo: Spartan Assault and Spartan Strike. I even loved the look of the canceled Halo Mega Bloks game, and seeing this mod only makes me wish we'd gotten an official Halo game in a similar vein to Space Marine 2. Sadly, we haven't, and I think that's a real shame.

Still, I’d love to hear what you think. Would you want to see Halo branch out into more genres like this, or do you think it should stick to what it knows best? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll above!

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Hideo Kojima, I'm sure, needs no introduction. He rose to fame as the creator of the Metal Gear Solid franchise before leaving Konami to establish his own independent studio, Kojima Productions, which has since gone on to create Death Stranding.

Another thing that needs no introduction is the long-rumored Xbox layoffs, restructuring, and everything that comes with them. While that could reportedly lead to studio closures and Microsoft pulling out of publishing agreements, as we've already seen with IO Interactive's Project Fantasy, there is at least one game that appears to have avoided the chopping block.

To say pulling funding for Kojima's OD would have been beyond idiotic is probably the understatement of the year. Then again, we live in a time where PlayStation has decided to abandon physical media, with Xbox seemingly poised to follow suit, so at this point I'm kind of at a loss and feel like just about anything could happen.

Fortunately, according to a new report from IGN, Kojima's OD is still safe. We actually heard about the game quite recently following the Xbox Games Showcase, when Entertainment Weekly published a full page of interviews and details regarding all things Xbox, and within that, it also included some words from Kojima that gave us a few fresh details. Nothing major, mind you, but enough to confirm the game is progressing well, and perhaps more importantly, that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma remains fully behind the project.

We've also heard reports that Xbox isn't actually reducing its overall investment in games. Instead, it's becoming far more selective about where that money goes. Here's what Xbox told Bloomberg:

"[Xbox is] taking a fresh look at where we invest so we're focusing on our highest priorities... We're not reducing our overall investment in games. 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."

Despite being a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror games, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on OD. It is Kojima after all, and I'm glad it's reportedly managed to survive the Xbox funding chopping block. With that said, let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll!

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American Truck Simulator's map keeps getting bigger, and one of the next confirmed DLC packs takes things north of the border into Canada.

It's the first time American Truck Simulator has officially left the United States, and the new British Columbia DLC will tag onto the upper-left side of the map.

There's still no confirmed release date, and it's unlikely to be soon since Illinois hasn't even been here a month. But some new information has been released by SCS Software, and it details locations that will be part of British Columbia.

American Truck Simulator: British Columbia cities listed (so far)

I'll admit the only location I expected to see was Vancouver because my geography is awful, and, well, that's not on the list. At least right now, anyway, but it more than likely will be.

Instead, based on the locations we have been given, there's a spread right across the southern part of British Columbia, from Vancouver Island in the west, all the way across close to the border with Alberta.

Here are all of the confirmed cities for American Truck Simulator's British Columbia DLC.

• Grand Forks
• Creston
• Sparwood
• Invermere
• Golden
• Princeton
• Campbell River

SCS teases on its blog post that there's more to come:

"These are just a few of the many cities and communities you'll be able to discover throughout British Columbia. Our teams are working hard to capture the unique character, industries, and landscapes that make this province such an exciting destination for truckers."

The initial selection does give us an idea of the scale, though, and how it'll integrate with the existing map. It looks like routes will be drivable into Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Following British Columbia, the next two DLCs are already public, with South Dakota and the recently revealed Indiana.

All this comes just days after the first gameplay was shown off for "Project Road Trip," adding regular vehicles into American Truck Simulator.

In the video above you can see the work-in-progress on the Ford F150 pickup, which will be part of the upcoming, but as yet undated, Ford Car Pack DLC.

I'm a recent convert to American Truck Simulator, but right now it's one of my favorite games to play. Nothing beats hitching the trailer and hitting the open road at the end of a long, tiring day in the real world.

I'm just wondering if there will be accurate border controls when the British Columbia DLC drops. I sure hope so.

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Ah yes, one of Xbox's most acclaimed studios, known for games like Fallout: New Vegas, Grounded and The Outer Worlds, is shutting down... oh wait, never mind. It's just the Xbox rumor mill spinning up another baseless claim.

Forgive the sass, but it's becoming exhausting. Yes, I'm fully aware a major shake-up is underway at Xbox, and we all have every right to be on the edge of our seats. At the same time, though, I'd quite like to enjoy my hobby of gaming without feeling like the entire industry is crumbling around me every other day.

The initial rumor that Obsidian could be facing closure came from The Game Business. The rebuttal, however, came from none other than Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, whose reporting is not something to ever bet against.

Schreier took to BlueSky, stating: "Despite a report this morning, I can confirm that Obsidian is not in negotiations to avoid shutting down. Plenty of details are still up in the air surrounding the layoffs (picture will be clear on Monday), but Xbox is keeping Obsidian, according to people familiar with the situation."

For what it's worth, our sources have not once indicated that Obsidian was part of the cadre of studios facing closure or selling, but Schrier's info is all you need here to know that it's likely bogus info.

It seems we won't have to wait much longer to find out what actually happens at Xbox. On the one hand, I'm relieved that the uncertainty might finally be coming to an end. On the other, I'm already worried for my fingers as I frantically cover whatever unfolds. I might have to invest in one of those finger grip strengtheners in preparation ...

I will say, the fact so many people believed Xbox could potentially close Obsidian speaks volumes about the level of distrust currently surrounding the brand. Clearly something within Xbox needs to change. I just hope those impacted by whatever happens land on their feet, and that the damage isn't as severe as many are fearing.

With that said, do let me know your thoughts in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below.

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Despite decades of people calling for "the year of Linux," fresh data from Steam's Hardware Survey for June 2026 suggests Windows is still firmly the norm. Linux's market share fell by 0.30 percent to 3.69%. Yes, that's a relatively small decline, but considering Linux's smaller gains have often been celebrated, I think it's only fair to mention it. To keep things balanced, though, Linux is still well ahead of where it was this time last year, when it sat at just 2.57%.

Before we jump into what we all actually care about (Windows), macOS also saw a small increase, rising by 0.05 percent to 2.21%, up from 1.76% this time last year. I know rattling off percentages can get a little mind-numbing, but there are actually some genuinely interesting trends hiding in this month's data, so let's get into the Windows side of things, because that's where things get particularly interesting.

Looking at Steam's Hardware Survey for June 2026, Windows 11 climbed by another 0.68 percent, while Windows 10 declined by 0.43 points, showing a continued shift toward Windows 11. The modern OS now accounts for 70.44% of Steam users. It's hardly a dramatic jump, but it does suggest more PC gamers are choosing to move to Windows 11 rather than one of the growing number of Linux distro alternatives.

Is anyone calling it "The year of Windows 11"? That's what I'll be calling it for the foreseeable future — I jest, of course. Windows has its fair share of issues and gets plenty of deserved flak online, but Linux has given me a bad experience every time I've had the displeasure of trying it. Despite my frustrations with Windows, it typically does just work, Copilot shenanigans aside.

I always enjoy looking at these kinds of trends across the industry. There's something interesting about seeing what operating systems, hardware, and configurations people are actually using. Somehow, despite Microsoft seemingly shooting itself in the foot several hundred times over, people are still choosing Windows 11.

But let me know your thoughts. Is this really a sign of satisfaction with Windows 11, or are people simply being forced to upgrade as Windows 10 reaches the end of its life? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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It's been a rough week for console gamers. First, Sony announced it's putting an end to physical disc production in 2028, meaning the PlayStation 6 will be strictly digital.

Over on the Xbox side of things, our sources (via Managing Editor Jez Corden) suggest that Microsoft is also leaning away from including a disc drive in its next-gen console.

Sony didn't think gamers were unhappy enough this week, and the company also confirmed that it's shutting down the PS3 and PS Vita digital storefronts as early as August 2026 in some regions. Whatever hasn't been downloaded once the stores disappear is, for all practical purposes, gone.

What's really irking me and countless other gamers is the expected blow to game preservation.

This is exactly the sort of combo knockout that the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has been dreading and warning gamers about for years. The VGHF's director, Frank Cifaldi, wrote a lengthy response to the news on Bluesky.

Statement from VGHF director Frank Cifaldi on the discontinuation of physical PlayStation media, and the closure of the PS3 and PSP digital storefronts.

— @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social (@gamehistoryorg.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T13:18:13.377Z

Cifaldi notes that "museums and archives have been preparing for this future for a while," and that console games pressed to discs have long been a poor way to preserve due mainly to day-one patches downloaded from the cloud (which might not always be available).

Cifaldi's frustration isn't exactly directed at Sony, but rather at the gaming industry as a whole, and what it expects comes next for institutions like the VGHF.

If platforms like PlayStation and Xbox are going to retire physical media and kill old storefronts, the least the games industry could do is help find a legal way to preserve old titles.

Instead, groups like the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) have "repeatedly opposed the efforts of cultural heritage institutions to reform digital copy protection laws to make it easier to do this work."

Alongside the Software Preservation Network (SPN), the VGHF has been putting in work in recent years to create some sort of DMCA exemption for historic archives and libraries.

👉 Subscription gaming is inching toward a world where players own nothing at all

In 2024, the US Copyright Office famously shot down an appeal to grant that sort of exemption, with lawyers stating that there was basically no way to have the correct safeguards around that sort of preservation effort. So what's the next step?

No one thinks game preservation is wrong; the disagreement is over who should be trusted to solve the problem, and so far, there's no clear answer.

What's left for game preservation but piracy?

I'm certainly not the only one who thinks that, in the face of blocked legal efforts, piracy is the only real way to preserve video games.

Responding to a post on Bluesky stating that "piracy is the only extant form of media preservation that exists in games right now," Cifaldi said, "This is accurate."

As the director of a historical video game preservation institution, and someone who has dedicated his entire adult life to this cause, this is accurate. We have attempted to work with the industry's trade organization to find a legal path forward, but they refuse to offer a meaningful alternative.

— @frankcifaldi.bsky.social (@frankcifaldi.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T13:18:13.339Z

I can see an obvious contrast here to the platform I imagine most of our Windows Central readers are already thinking about.

PC gaming has long been a digital medium, but the end of discs was more like a retirement after many years of dutiful service rather than an abrupt end as decided by industry giants.

Because of how open PC gaming has always been, it's much easier to preserve games. GOG does a great job of keeping old games alive. There are plenty of storefronts available with different and overlapping titles. Community efforts and modding revive old games all the time, and emulation is only growing.

The PC I built a few months ago can usually run the games I grew up on decades ago. Consoles, increasingly, can't promise the same thing. Nowhere close, especially with how gated everything is.

👉 As Sony revokes digital licenses and Xbox hints at a discless future — I'm saying a sad farewell to physical software, midnight launches, and second-hand game savings

With one of the biggest perks of console gaming gone, what's left? Ease of use? Sure, but PCs are quickly catching up with Windows Xbox Mode and SteamOS. Low cost? Maybe, but next-gen consoles are going to cost a lot more than I think most people can fathom.

Would you rather see older video games disappear than see them pirated? Do you agree that when there's no legal path forward, the only answer is to break the law? Let me know in the comments section below!

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A leaked video has revealed that Microsoft has explored building a dedicated AI OS powered by Microsoft Edge and a new lightweight Windows codebase called Win3. This exploration was codenamed Aion, and was built around web tech, placing Copilot at the heart of the experience.

The 3 minute video, which my sources say is real, was first leaked on Discord server BetaWiki and provides a handy walkthrough of what looks to be real (but early) working code, showcasing a new desktop UI that features a similar Taskbar along the bottom, Start menu-like interface powered by Copilot, and more.

"Aion is an example of a web-based agent OS that natively builds Copilot into the core of the shell," says the video's narrator. The entire experience is built around Copilot and a multi-modal input box, which is where users go find files, open apps, and browse the web.

The Taskbar includes a unique feature called "Spaces" that automatically groups your apps and sites into a bucket on the Taskbar that you can quickly return to at a later point. These spaces appear in the Start menu too, providing a one-click method of opening multiple things at once.

The video explains that Aion is built around the web, meaning it doesn't run native Windows apps. It only runs web apps and websites, leaning on Windows 365 to remote into a Cloud PC and stream desktop apps if the user needs access to one.

The video does mention that there's a version of Aion that also runs on top of Windows 11, which would presumably support running Windows apps natively. But the version in the video appears to be based on the Win3 version, which sources tell me is a stripped back version of the Windows codebase that does not include support for legacy Win32 apps in exchange for faster updates, longer battery life, and better security.

My sources also say this video is quite old, recorded sometime in 2024, and it's unclear if this was just a Hackathon project or something more. I understand that Aion was experimental in nature, designed to explore what a desktop UX is capable of if built from scratch around an agentic AI. That means it's unclear if Aion is something that Microsoft ever intends to ship.

With that said, it would be surprising if some of the lessons Microsoft has learned from the Aion project aren't already shaping the version of Windows shipping today. While I don't expect Aion to ship as depicted in the video above, agentic OS capabilities are already finding their way into Windows 11.

Microsoft has also recently announced Project Solara, an agentic OS experience that utilizes just-in-time UI to generate experiences as the user asks for it. It runs on both AOSP and Windows, similar to Aion. Perhaps Aion evolved into Solara?

Either way, this is a fascinating look at what what at least one team thought the future of desktop computing could be like with Copilot at the heart of the experience. Given the sheer backlash around Copilot in the last year or two, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft is already rethinking much of this.

Windows Central reached out to Microsoft for comment, but the company declined to provide one.

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Capcom has announced on X that Onimusha: Way of the Sword, the long-awaited continuation of its Onimusha franchise, has changed its release date.

Instead of releasing on September 25, 2026, it will now launch on September 4, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Windows, Steam, and the Epic Games Store.

As a reminder, Onimusha: Way of the Sword is now available to pre-order on digital storefronts, with multiple editions (Standard, Deluxe, and Premium Deluxe) and pre-order bonuses up for grabs:

• Standard Edition – Will only contain the base game.
• Deluxe Edition – Will contain the base game and a Deluxe Kit featuring an alternative cosmetic outfit and gauntlet for Musashi, several charms, and cosmetic sword skins.
• Premium Deluxe Edition – Will contain the base game, Deluxe Kit, and a Premium Kit featuring new alternate costumes for Oni Lady and Okuni, alternate haori coats for Musashi, and a digital mini-soundtrack that has five songs from the game.

If you pre-order any version of the game before September 25, 2026, you will earn in-game Early Adopter Bonus items like Charms and cosmetic weapon skins for your sword.

However, as a result of the new release date, Capcom says that people who have pre-ordered the game on Nintendo Switch 2 digital storefronts will have their pre-orders canceled, so they will need to pre-order it again.

Physical versions of the game on Nintendo Switch 2, on the other hand, will not be canceled.

Windows Central's take

I have a feeling Capcom bumped up the release because the original release date would have had Onimusha: Way of the Sword competing against heavy hitters like Control: Resonant, the console version of Dune Awakening, and Silent Hill: Townfall releasing in the same week.

With its new September 4, 2026 release date, Onimusha: Way of the Sword will be going up against unproven original IPs like Orbitals and The Blood of Dawnwalker.

With this new launch date, the game won't have to worry about being ignored in a crowd of new entries from long-established franchises. That way, it can attract as many newcomers to the series and long-time fans who have been begging for Onimusha's return (along with other dormant Capcom IPs) as possible, which will hopefully help the game find financial success in the long run.

If you're a fan of samurai action games or Capcom games in general, we recommend putting this game on your radar, as it mightily impressed us at Summer Game Fest 2025 for its action-packed gameplay and dark tone.

Plus, the game has a playable demo available for all platforms so you can try it out for yourself and see if it's worth paying for the full game.

Will you be pre-ordering Onimusha: Way of the Sword? Have you had a chance to try out the playable demo yet? If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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KING Art has recently provided Warhammer 40,000 fans with an extensive gameplay demonstration of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, the long-awaited sequel to the classic Dawn of War franchise that hasn't seen a new mainline entry since 2017's Dawn of War III.

This 15-minute-long demonstration video has two of the developers engaging in a 1v1 multiplayer skirmish mode while showing off the game's fast-paced combat and the destructive capabilities of two of the four playable factions: Space Marines and Orks.

For those unaware, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a series of Real-Time Strategy (RTS for short) games based on the iconic tabletop wargame.

What makes this series unique among other games in the genre is that it heavily cuts down on the resource management elements and focuses on purely building armies as fast as possible so you can get to blowing each other in gruesome and explosive grimdark fashion.

As seen in this gameplay deep dive, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 4 will be no different. In this game, buildings construct themselves, and gathering resources to build more units for your army is earned by taking and holding Power Nodes on the map.

As for the factions being played, Space Marines are generally a jack-of-all-trades type of army. They have a wide range of units and vehicles that are tough as nails and can hit enemies twice as hard with an array of destructive weapons built for any situation.

Orks, meanwhile, are bloodthirsty berserkers that specialize in melee combat and can't shoot straight to save their lives. Their main strategy is to build as many units as possible and overwhelm their enemies with an unstoppable "WAAAGH" of axe-wielding, grenade-spamming, Squig-riding maniacs.

Windows Central's take

The original Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War from 2004 holds a special place in my heart as it was not only one of my gateways into the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but it's also one of the few RTS games I ever enjoyed playing as a kid.

As a kid, I was bored gathering resources in games like Age of Empires and Warcraft 3, and just wanted to get to the killing parts (which I shamefully admit got me killed more often than not when playing against friends in multiplayer), so Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War was practically made for me.

So, it warms my heart to see the series retain that kind of gameplay mentality with Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV. The combat looks insanely fast-paced and gloriously brutal, and the amount of units blasting each other on-screen looks nuts (and worried if my PC can handle such chaos on display).

If this is just for the 1v1 multiplayer skirmish mode, I can't imagine how crazy the single-player campaign modes and other multiplayer modes like 2v2 and 3v3 are going to get.

I may suck at RTS games, but after seeing this gameplay demo, I'm willing to learn how to play them properly so I can relive my nostalgia for the Dawn of War series when Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War launches on September 16, 2026, for PC via Steam.

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Xbox Helix is in flux, and it's not entirely Xbox's fault, although it might be their parent company's.

The RAMageddon is here, and everything and anything with a chip in it has seen price increases. PlayStation, Xbox, even the iPhone is getting crazy price increases. The AI build-out is leading to inflated memory prices, as hyperscalers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google race to become key players in the space.

For us, and for Xbox Helix, the downside (are there any upsides?) is price increases. The low-powered Xbox Series S has virtually hit price parity with the launch versions of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

It has huge RAMifications (lol, pun) for Xbox Helix, PlayStation 6, and consumer tech in general. Xbox is already supposedly rethinking the entire console business model as a result.

Rethinking Xbox Helix

So, what's going on with Xbox Helix? Recently, quotes from Xbox's new Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, specifically come from The Game Business, which has some great industry interview content you should definitely check out.

On the topic of wider hardware challenges, specifically around memory, Ball described a scenario where Xbox is effectively rethinking that Helix and the console model in general can actually be in the new economy.

"We are working very hard to rethink everything that we can about Helix, which is a console we are committed to shipping, and we are very cognizant of the ways in which we need to change as a company to make sure it is affordable, to make sure that it’s flexible."

"We are working hard to rethink what the console model can look like, not in an exclusionary way, but in an additive way. [...] But… we are working very hard to figure out the best way to navigate it for a way that works for everyone, that does not ask too much on players, but also doesn’t detract from other investments that we need to make."

So, affordability is top of mind for them. The Steam Machine recently dropped at over $1,000 despite its relatively modest power draw, lending credence to the idea that the PS6 and Xbox Helix could be even more expensive.

Memory costs are not expected to abate in the near future. Lenovo is suggesting that prices will never come down, and they may well be right, given the monopolistic nature of the industry. There's a lawsuit for price fixing going on right now, but I digress.

Previous Xbox President Sarah Bond suggested Xbox Helix would be a premium product. Xbox confirmed it would support installing games from other storefronts, like Steam. That it would also have backwards compatibility with all existing Xbox games, even if it'll be a Windows-first machine.

Herein lies the core dilemma for Xbox, in my view.

An open "Xbox" with Steam, etc. could be insanely expensive ...

How can Xbox subsidize an open "PC?" It destroys the affordability model typically associated with console gaming. Steam itself has said that, since SteamOS is "open" to other stores and isn't a closed box, they have to sell it as a PC.

Xbox is already running into this dilemma with the Xbox Series X|S to some degree. Games that are completely "free" like Fortnite are becoming increasingly prevalent as consumer spending sentiment is squeezed. Since Xbox is selling its hardware at a loss, they are subsidizing some of the biggest games in the world like Roblox and Fortnite, and not receiving a penny. More users than ever are playing free-to-play titles and not spending anything. So, Xbox selling hardware at a loss to this cohort represents effectively giving money away — so that Roblox, Fortnite, etc. can make money. That's obviously not sustainable.

This is why Microsoft and others are exploring ads to help subsidize the cost of the box, particularly when a user is defaulting to "free" games.

But extrapolating from that, what happens if, with Xbox Helix, players default away from Xbox altogether? It's unlikely casual players on Roblox and Fortnite are going to upgrade on day one anyway. But, with Steam on the box, there's a real risk here: What if users bought Xbox Helix, which Microsoft would traditionally sell at a loss, only to play via Steam or the Epic Games Store instead?

In that universe, you'd have to sell Xbox Helix for gaming PC prices. None of this seems viable if the intent is to make Helix affordable. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has previously suggested the plan is to move ahead with an open PC-like Xbox, but I have to wonder how they plan to reconcile that with gunning for affordability.

PlayStation has already suggested that its PS6 will not be sold at a loss. The volumes that PlayStation typically sells consoles allow them to cut competitive deals for components like memory, but even Apple has had trouble keeping costs down lately. Apple has an absolute iron grip over its supply chain; Xbox is comparatively a smaller, far more niche player, even if it can wield its attachment to Microsoft as a bludgeon.

We saw the consequences of being a smaller player in the component supply chain with the Steam Machine, which is far more expensive than people were hoping for.

I can foresee Helix potentially moving in a few different directions here as a result, if not a combination of several.

Here are the possibilities and speculations summarized, and definitely take them as speculation.

• Xbox Helix could be very premium, costing over $1000, due to the memory rout that will continue for years.
• Microsoft will probably use some proprietary tech via AI super resolution and so on to squeeze more juice out of a "cheaper" build to keep costs down.
• Could Xbox Helix end up not being significantly more powerful to cut costs, but instead some kind of Xbox Series X+ or Xbox Series X Pro?
• "Niche" features like the disc drive will be removed to help cut costs.
• Could Microsoft ship a "cheaper" SKU without storage at all so some could leverage their existing Xbox Series X|S CF Express storage cards? Or other existing M2 / NVME drives they have lying around?
• Now that the hardware will be too expensive, Microsoft may be exploring closing the ecosystem again, removing Steam from the equation — otherwise it'll need to be gaming PC-priced.
• Microsoft could do some kind of "deal" with Epic Games Store or other third parties to share revenue. Steam obviously wouldn't do that (it doesn't need or want to help Xbox here.)
• Could Microsoft lock third-party stores behind a paywall or ads to keep the upfront Xbox costs down? (Although this would be monstrously unpopular, I feel.)
• Perhaps Xbox Helix will be closed out of the box, but let you bring your own Windows license to open it up.
• Microsoft will revive Banjo to help sell a billion units. Okay, maybe not on that one.

Xbox's 'X' factor?

Whatever Xbox does with its platform, there needs to be some kind of X factor here. The current Gen-X / Millennial cohort of gamers is aging out of gaming to some degree, and Gen-Z and younger seem to primarily want free-to-play experiences powered by things like Fortnite and Roblox.

The traditional console players have neglected the younger cohorts chasing older, more spendy gamers, and as a result, sacrificed a generation of compound nostalgia.

With Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's social media and platform expertise, I have to wonder if there won't be some kind of "fun" innovations down the line. Under Phil Spencer, Xbox has become a bit of a boring and traditional "software as a service" platform that outsourced the joy to game developers. But historically, platforms have offered a bit more than that — Steam and Nintendo have focused a lot on making their platforms fun and social, while Xbox and PlayStation have generally fled from such things.

One thing is for sure: I don't think Xbox can "win" by simply emulating PlayStation. They need an X factor, some kind of big innovation that cannot be ignored.

Having an Xbox console with Steam support sounds great on paper, but the economics demand hardware profits upfront — will people pay a premium for an Xbox-branded Windows PC? The RAMageddon has destroyed this opportunity potentially. Game Pass never became the X factor Microsoft hoped it would be; neither did Kinect, nor Xbox Play Anywhere, nor Cloud Gaming.

It'll be interesting to see how Xbox finds its way through this incredibly challenging time, where instant gratification is demanded, cheap and affordable mobile access has become the default, and forever-platform games have become dominant. I definitely don't have the answers. I hope Xbox does.

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A new report claims that Xbox's "Positron" disc-to-digital program is a lot more seamless than expected.

A few months ago, code snippets appeared showing that Xbox is working on a disc-to-digital program, although details were thin on the ground. Now, we have a credible report detailing exactly how it could work.

It's a hot topic at present, given that PlayStation just announced it will no longer be supporting discs in any capacity from 2028, and that the PlayStation 6 will not support discs at all. For those with existing disc-based games, they're effectively sat hoping their PS5 will continue to work in perpetuity. But given that PlayStation just killed access to previously-purchased movies and is shutting down the digital stores on the PS Vita and PS3, people are more anxious than ever about forwards and backwards compatibility.

Xbox has been something of a pioneer in the console space here. Its backwards compatibility programs for the Xbox 360 and OG Xbox are industry-leading on console, and it has already pledged to bring everything that runs on Xbox Series X|S to the next-gen Xbox Helix. But a big question mark remains over disc-based games, more so than ever now.

When Positron was inadvertently revealed, many wondered if it would require some form of intermediary to function, such as taking a disc to a retailer or something. But The Verge is reporting that won't be the case.

Simply installing an Xbox game from the disc will attach it to your account and give you the full digital entitlements on your Microsoft Account. You'll be able to access it via Xbox Cloud Gaming, Play Anywhere on the Xbox Ally X, as if you fully owned the digital version of the game. You will reportedly only lose your digital entitlement on that game if you sell the disc or give it away to another Microsoft Account holder.

The Xbox One had a model similar to this in 2013, but the DRM was so aggressive that it required retailers to "unlock" the disc. It sounds like Microsoft has figured out a way to provide digitization at their end, attaching the discs' signature to your account. Although, Microsoft warned testers that some older Xbox One discs may "lack the features needed" to make the system work.

Indeed, this will only work with Xbox One discs and above, so those hoping to digitize Xbox 360 discs are out of luck. Still, if it all works as described here, that would be fantastic news for those who could be left out of digital features such as Xbox Cloud Gaming.

The Verge says that Microsoft hasn't finalized whether to include a disc drive or not on Xbox Helix, but our sources have been hinting at us for months that Microsoft is leaning away from including a disc drive in its next-gen console.

Given that PlayStation is exiting the disc-based market, I would bet money that even if Xbox hadn't already decided on dropping discs, they almost certainly have now. But Xbox's new Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball did say they're "rethinking" everything about Xbox Helix ... so maybe he's a big disc fan? Time will tell. I'm sure Xbox is also monitoring reactions to Sony's uncharacteristically pre-emptive and transparent announcement here.

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I've covered Winhanced quite a few times at this point, most recently when it added achievement support to the launcher UI for Steam, Xbox, and even PlayStation games. If you haven't heard of it, Winhanced is a complete replacement for Xbox Mode on Windows handhelds, acting as a unified launcher for your library across various digital stores, all in one easy-to-navigate interface.

Now, its feature set is expanding once again, bringing with it my most requested addition: a built-in store browser. Honestly, it's something I wasn't even sure was possible, but it's now available in testing for users supporting the project.

The store is still very much a work in progress, so don't expect a perfect experience. At the time of writing it only supports certain currencies, although regional currency support is on the way, but even in its current state it's already incredibly useful. You can browse games, compare prices across multiple storefronts, see if a title is included with Game Pass, and purchase it from whichever store offers the best deal.

So yes, if a game is cheaper on Xbox than Steam, you can simply buy it there instead. It is also worth mentioning that when you purchase games, it opens a web browser where you can complete your purchase; Winhanced does not have access to your payment details.

The launcher also personalizes recommendations, generating suggestions based on what you've been playing, and in my case, after spending plenty of time in Forza Horizon 6, it immediately recommended another racing game. If you'd rather browse for yourself, though, you can search for any game you like or explore categories to discover something new.

Winhanced is also bringing several features out of early access, including back paddle support, SteamGridDB artwork browsing, and RGB controls, meaning they're now considered ready for general use rather than experimental additions.

I've been a big fan of Winhanced for quite some time now. It makes my Xbox Ally X feel much more like a proper console than the Xbox app ever has in Xbox Mode, so if you're interested, I'd definitely recommend checking out the project's Discord and supporting it on Patreon if you can.

With that said, do let me know in the comments if this new store feature is finally enough to get you interested in giving Winhanced a try, or what other features you'd still like to see added. As always, be sure to take part in our poll below!

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The legal troubles surrounding the venerated Grand Theft Auto studio, Rockstar Games, continue to pile up.

Several Rockstar employees (who wished to remain anonymous) stated in an interview with Game Developer that they accuse the company of failing to address gender-based pay inequity, encouraging "crunch culture" in the United Kingdom, using bonus payments against its workforce, and many more issues the company fails to address.

For starters, these employees claim that their compensation packages that Rockstar Games hands out change constantly with little to no justification. This lack of consistency means Rockstar Games' payment rates usually fall below the market rate when compared to other jobs.

The employees also stated the median wages for different genders have vastly widened, and plans to correct that imbalance have been cancelled.

Plus, they say Rockstar Games regulary shift goalposts whenever someone talks to the company about getting a promotion to make it harder for them, and that night shift workers no longer receive extra benefits when working during the late hours.

The anonymous employees say that these issues combined have created an "imbalanced and unjust" environment within Rockstar Games where people aren't getting rightfully paid for their hard work, especially for an upcoming, high-budget game like Grand Theft Auto 6.

To make matters more complicated, these anonymous employees informed Game Developer that RockStar Games has been attempting to normalize crunch culture by baking it into the contracts of its UK staff, forcing them to work many overtime hours for little reward.

Combine this with the potential threat of many Rockstar Games developers being laid off after Grand Theft Auto 6 launches, and union-busting allegations, and it's no wonder that its workers are attempting to unionize to protect their jobs.

When Take-Two Interactive, Grand Theft Auto's publisher, was approached regarding these unionization attempts, one of its spokesmen replied "We strive to make the best games possible by giving our talented teams world-class work environments and ongoing career opportunities. We have fostered a culture which is focused on teamwork, excellence, and kindness, and where we support and reward the team across all levels of the business through competitive compensation and benefits policies. We are proud that as a result, our employee retention is well above the industry standard. We have received a request from a union seeking to discuss voluntary recognition. We value an open and constructive dialogue with all stakeholders and will arrange to meet."

Stay tuned for further updates as we continue to monitor for further developments regarding this chaotic shakeup within Rockstar Games and more news regarding Grand Theft Auto 6, which will be releasing on November 19, 2026 for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

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Microsoft rolled out a bunch of new features for Microsoft Teams in June. Calls, meetings, and Teams Rooms have all received updates. As usual, Microsoft gathered together all the new features in a blog post.

Here are the highlights from June, though the item missing from this list is more interesting than anything listed in the blog post:

• New calling agents
• Brand impersonation protection
• Redesigned in-meeting controls
• Bot detection
• Facilitator in Teams Rooms
• IntelliFrame people labels

Interestingly, Microsoft did not mention the controversial feature in Teams that allows your boss to see where you are when connected to Wi-Fi networks at work.

That feature drew criticism when first announced. Microsoft offered clarification and delayed the rollout, but "workplace check-in via Wi-Fi" is now generally available. The feature was previously known as "Automatic Update of work location."

I'm not sure why the feature was omitted from the post recapping everything that shipped to Teams in June. I thought I may have had my dates mixed up, but the Teams blog post from June 12, 2026 states (emphasis added):

"We’re introducing workplace check-in via Wi-Fi for Microsoft Places and Teams, designed to help employees coordinate in-person work by keeping their workplace location up to date when they’re in the office."

Based on Microsoft's phrasing, it seems like Automatic Update of work location should be included in the roundup.

My favorite new Microsoft Teams features 💬

Advanced file discovery and filters are the biggest addition to Teams for my workflow. The improved contextual search in Teams indexes every file uploaded to a channel. You can then filter for file type, sender, and date within a channel.

Slack has similar functionality and I use it often. I'm happy to see improved filters and file searching in Teams.

I also love the new Quick Share option in Teams. Sharing options can be accessed by hovering, right-clicking, using overflow menus, and using shared tabs. The fact that OneDrive and SharePoint content shared through Quick Share retains permissions helps ensure privacy.

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Many people raised their pitchforks believing that it would be Xbox that ultimately killed physical games. However, as Xbox and Sony continue to trade blows over who can make the most questionable decisions, Sony appears to have thrown Xbox a left hook.

In a new PlayStation Blog post, the company revealed that, and I quote, "physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles."

Ah, it's nice being the market leader. When you're in that position, you can make what I'd consider anti-consumer decisions, and realistically, there's not much anyone can do about it. Within the blog post, Sony explained its reasoning, stating:

"This is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs. This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today."

Personally, I think the bigger motivation is that digital gives Sony far more control over how players buy and access games. If physical releases disappear, the second-hand market largely disappears with them. That means if you've been waiting months for a game to become affordable, you can no longer pick up a used copy from a retailer or even borrow a game from a friend. Instead, you're relying on Sony deciding when, or if, to discount it on the PlayStation Store.

To add insult to injury, however, Sony is also closing digital storefronts for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in July 2027. Now, admittedly, Xbox had already closed the Xbox 360 store awhile back, and I was mad at that too.

All of this does raise the question of whether the next generation of consoles will even include a disc drive on the PlayStation 6, and I think it’s a pretty clear: no. As things stand, I'd be surprised if Sony even offered an optional external disc drive. As for Project Helix, our sources also suggest that Microsoft's next-generation console will drop the disc drive, too.

At least, if reports are true, Xbox are working on a disc to digital scheme which could help make the move to digital an easier pill to swallow (assuming it’s done well).

It's certainly a far cry from the days when PlayStation was mocking Xbox on how to share physical games with friends. Oh, and don't forget to pour one out for game preservation, as that's pretty much dead outside of certain Nintendo Switch 2 games.

Don’t worry though, guys; I’m sure good news is right around the corner and nothing bad is about to happen across the gaming industry. Which of course is sarcasm on my part.

Do let me know your thoughts on all of this in the comments and do be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Microsoft is expected to announce another round of layoffs soon. Less than 2.5% of the company's workforce will be affected, according to sources that spoke with Business Insider. Due Microsoft's size, even that small percentage means thousands of people will be affected.

An SEC filing from June 30, 2025 showed Microsoft had about 228,000 employees. That figure has fluctuated since then, but it gives a gauge of the size of Microsoft's full-time workforce.

Division cuts & AI infrastructure

This round of layoffs will affect thousands of roles across sales, consulting, and within the Xbox division. Microsoft is expected to announce the layoffs next week, though plans are subject to change.

July layoffs have become commonplace for Microsoft because the company's fiscal year starts on July 1. Over 9,000 layoffs were made by Microsoft last July. Microsoft also lays off workers during other times of the year, such as the 6,000 layoffs made in May 2025.

Microsoft is one of many tech giants looking to reduce head count and lower expenses in certain areas. Increased AI spending and the rise of AI has affected jobs at several levels.

Voluntary retirements lowered the impact

This July will reportedly have fewer layoffs because several employees took voluntary retirement. Microsoft offered buyouts to employees level 67 and below in the United States who had 70 or more combined years of service and years of age (for example, someone who was 50 years old who had worked for Microsoft for 20 years).

Roughly 9,000 Microsoft employees were eligible for that buyout and around one third of those eligible took the buyout, according to Business Insider.

Xbox restructuring

Layoffs have been expected, and not simply because they've become an annual occurrence. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is overseeing a restructuring of Xbox, much of which will occur within a 100-day reset.

As is the case with all layoff-related stories, I understand the business decisions that lead to layoffs but feel bad for the employees affected.

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If you’re at all into the Halo modding scene, you'll have likely seen RejectedShotgun on YouTube. They're well known for pulling off what I can only describe as feats of incredible ingenuity, creating mods that many, myself included, thought were impossible.

Before I dive into the details, it's important to mention that this is for Halo 3 on Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and the mod is accessible via Steam Workshop and isn't available on console.

From mods featuring more than 20 vehicles and brand new weapons to Ultimate Forge, which completely reimagines Halo 3's Forge mode with massive sandbox maps, Scarabs, AI spawning, and countless new tools, RejectedShotgun has consistently pushed the limits of what Halo 3 is capable of. Today, though, I'm highlighting their latest project, Permafrost.

Permafrost, to me, feels like a nod to Halo 5's best and only real contribution to the franchise: Warzone. It was a massive objective-based mode that blended Big Team Battle with AI enemies, bosses, and a progression system that made matches feel like they evolved over time.

Thankfully, this is Halo 3, so there are no microtransactions to get in the way. Designed for up to 16 players, Permafrost focuses on large-scale objective gameplay, with each team fighting alongside AI soldiers. It also introduces what creator RejectedShotgun calls a resource economy.

Teams capture plasma batteries scattered across the map to increase their power level, unlocking progressively stronger weapons, equipment, and vehicles as the match unfolds. Players can even call in weapon drop pods and vehicles, giving battles a constant sense of escalation rather than the static sandbox Halo is traditionally known for.

Probably the biggest highlight, though, is just how dynamic every match feels. This isn't a case of loading into a map where the objectives stay the same until someone wins. Teams can capture a teleporter to gain faster access to enemy territory, destroy the opposing team's spire with a MAC strike, and permanently change the battlefield in the process.

Once a spire falls, defenses disappear, objectives move, and the battle shifts into an entirely new phase. Throw in massive vehicles like the Mega Mantis and Pelican, AI battling across the map, and enough explosions to make Michael Bay blush, and it's honestly hard to believe this is all running inside Halo 3.

Now, I love Halo 3. It's my favorite game in the franchise, and I just wanted to highlight what I think is a pretty impressive mod. So, if it looks like something you'd enjoy, be sure to check it out, and as always, do let me know your thoughts in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll below!

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Each day I spend writing about the gaming industry, I find myself thinking, "Surely nothing can surprise me anymore." Yet almost every day, I'm proven wrong. Between soaring prices across the industry and now the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) making me scratch my head during a recent hearing on the Stop Killing Games movement.

For those unfamiliar, Stop Killing Games is a community-led movement that argues publishers shouldn't be able to sell games that later become completely unplayable once their servers are shut down. One recent example is Concord, which became inaccessible after Sony discontinued its online service. Instead, publishers should provide a way for players to continue to access the game, whether via community servers or other means.

During a California State Senate committee hearing on the Protect Our Games Act (AB 1921), Minecraft and Call of Duty were both cited as examples of games that already have community-run servers. The idea is that these servers could help preserve games after official support ends. However, ESA representative Jennifer Gibbons pushed back, arguing that community servers are "illegal" and that the ESA considers them a form of piracy.

Gibbons stated:

"They're illegal, and they are not in any way affiliated with Microsoft... Microsoft for Minecraft has gotten a lot of criticism because of those community servers not employing the same safety standards that Microsoft does on their Minecraft servers."

It's a bizarre point to argue, and I am aware there are safety concerns, but as far as I'm aware, Microsoft has no blanket policy preventing community-run servers. In fact, for games like Minecraft, Mojang itself actually provides official usage guidelines that explain how community servers can operate, including rules around things like monetization and player safety, meaning community-run servers are well within the community's right to host as long as they follow those guidelines.

I also understand that Gibbons said these servers are "not in any way affiliated with Microsoft," which is true, but it still feels like a strange stance given Minecraft's long history of thriving community servers. But is there any substance to this take? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to take part in our poll!

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Perhaps David Gaider needs no introduction, but the former lead narrative designer and writer behind the Dragon Age franchise during his time at BioWare, who has since gone on to co-found Summerfall Studios, had some rather choice words for generative AI. They're words I'm sure many of us can agree with.

In an interview with our sister site GamesRadar+, Gaider pulled no punches when sharing his thoughts on generative AI, describing it as a "virulent plague." However, he also offers an interesting perspective, and one I think many people, especially executives, should pay attention to.

“I think the fact that generative AI is frequently trained on data regardless of whether creators or owners have agreed to have their data pillaged in this manner opens up any use of it to all sorts of future legal issues - even if one chooses to ignore the moral implications, which one really shouldn't.”

Ethical concerns surrounding how AI is trained have existed (and been studied) for quite some time. It's also true that many AI models have been trained on data that critics argue was used without permission. However, these aren't the comments I found most thought-provoking. Instead, it's Gaider's view of AI as a tool, and his belief that it's robbing people of valuable opportunities to learn and develop essential skills.

Gaider says:

“In all my time as a narrative designer I've never once encountered a situation where editing an inferior product took less time than simply throwing it out and redoing it would have or resulted in anything better than mediocre. And while there's potential for AI handling the drudgery, I also think we have to be very careful about not eliminating every task which is useful for training juniors. How are we going to train up the next generation of devs if we eliminate every entry-level task?”

That part in particular that resonated with me. I remember doing my Master’s degree around the time ChatGPT started to exist, and I remember sitting behind people in lectures watching them use it to answer questions. While I absolutely think AI can be a useful tool, it increasingly feels like it's being used to replace our ability to think critically and learn. Even something as simple as researching a topic and finding the answers yourself is beginning to feel like a lost art.

Now, I know Gaider's comments aren't necessarily about AI's broader use in education or everyday life, but it's hard, at least for me, not to draw those comparisons when reading what he had to say.

Gaider also expanded on his thoughts, stating:

“I can't even imagine using it for bigger tasks like programming. How does one bug fix 'vibe coding'? What's the point of creating prototypes with AI when the result is that nobody on the team has actually learned anything about how to make the final product? Why use AI to create concepts which are inevitably going to be soulless and contain errors and which aren't going to be something your own artists can replicate? Why have systems that nobody on your team really knows how they work? I could go on and on.”

Again, it echoes the same concern. If AI is being used in the way Gaider describes, people simply aren't learning. They could end up with a pile of code they don't fully understand, making it much harder to troubleshoot or improve later. I also think that idea extends well beyond programming. It can apply to almost any medium where AI is doing the work for you.

I'm guilty of it myself. I'll sometimes use AI to help me cook something new, and admittedly, I often leave the kitchen realizing I don't actually remember how to recreate the recipe on my own. That may simply be because I'm using it as a set of instructions rather than actively learning the process, but it's a loose comparison that came to mind while reading Gaider's comments.

I'll leave you with Gaider's most striking thoughts on how AI should be treated within the gaming industry: "It should be treated like the virulent plague it is."

I could rant even more given the current state of the industry, but alas, I'd definitely recommend checking out Gaider's last game, Malys. Let me know your thoughts in the comments; I'd genuinely love to discuss this one, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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