A full 25 years after the launch of Microsoft's first-ever Xbox console, it's arguably quite fitting that one of the firm's largest new game releases in 2026 is Halo: Campaign Evolved — a remake of the original Halo title that launched with that system, helped propel it into the video game zeitgeist, and kicked off what would grow to become one of the most recognizable science fiction franchises in all of entertainment.

Despite being a colossal Halo fan, I couldn't help but have a bit of a tepid response to Campaign Evolved when Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) announced it last year, largely because I'm more interested in Halo Infinite getting a proper follow up and also because Halo: Combat Evolved already got a remaster in 2011.

Still, I resolved to give the new remake a fair shake, as Combat Evolved Anniversary radically and controversially changed the first game's atmosphere in ways I disliked, and Campaign Evolved is notable for being the first Halo project built on Unreal Engine 5. Plus, it also features a three brand new prequel missions in which the Master Chief and the fan-favorite Sergeant Johnson go on a covert operation, introducing a new self-contained story.

Thus, I went into an opportunity to review it with an open mind, hoping for a more faithful modernization of the original experience, a successful adaptation of the series' unique gameplay feel to a new engine, and fun and fresh content to dive into. And now that I've played through the game extensively, I'm happy to report that the remake offers all of this — though I'd be lying if I said it hasn't left me wanting in some ways.

This review was conducted with the Windows PC version of Halo: Campaign Evolved, and made possible thanks to an Xbox PC review code provided by Microsoft and Xbox. The company did not see the contents of this review before publication.

Halo: Campaign Evolved review — Story

The Master Chief's adventure across Alpha Halo in which the crew of the downed UNSC Pillar of Autumn fight for humanity's survival against both the alien Covenant empire and the grotesque parasitic Flood threat remains largely unchanged in Campaign Evolved.

There are a few minor tweaks to the narrative and there's a bit of new dialogue here and there — along with rerecorded voice lines from Steve Downes (Master Chief), Jen Taylor (Cortana), and others — but overall, this story is identical to the one first told 25 years ago, with no radical changes to speak of.

What has changed, though, is how much of it is presented, as the remake features bespoke pre-rendered cinematics instead of the original game's in-engine cutscenes. I feel that all but one of these were done fairly well, though some of the transitions between them and gameplay can be rather abrupt and shots occasionally linger longer than you'd expect them to. Regardless, they generally look great, though I do ultimately prefer the original scenes.

As for Operation: METEORITE — the story that unfolds over the course of the three new prequel missions in which Chief and Sergeant Johnson infiltrate a Covenant ship to learn where the heart of the alien dominion lies — its narrative is solid, though some of its dialogue was dramatically campy to the point where I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Even so, its characters and plot are perfectly serviceable, and I'm curious to see if a loose thread it ends with will be woven into another tale in the future.

Halo: Campaign Evolved review — Gameplay

Gameplay changes are one of the key things that distinguish remakes from remasters like Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary that strictly update visuals and audio, and Campaign Evolved makes several that elevate the original experience.

For starters, many mechanics, enemy behaviors, and types introduced in Halo's sequels have been implemented in Campaign Evolved, including sprinting, vehicle hijacking and seat-swapping, overcharged Plasma Pistol shots temporarily disabling vehicles, suicide Grunts, Jackal snipers, and Flood tank forms. Also, you can hold onto powerups like the Overshield or Active Camo and use them when desired, rather than when picking them up.

Together with weapons like the Energy Sword, Fuel Rod Gun, SMG, Beam Rifle, Needle Rifle, and Sentinel Beam that weren't available in the classic title, these additions deepen the sandbox and spice up Combat Evolved's encounters without making them feel wildly different. Crucially, their inclusion is carefully balanced and remarkably thoughtful, and made for a truly great playthrough (I recommend Heroic difficulty for the best balance of challenge and satisfying gameplay flow).

Campaign Evolved also makes a variety of changes to level design, with those made in the latter half of the game — including the infamous The Library mission — far more significant compared to others. One of the biggest issues with the original Halo is that its later levels are woefully repetitive and excessively reuse locations from past missions, and that's been addressed wonderfully with a variety of creative new spaces here. I'm a fan of every single rework in the remake, and I expect many others will feel similarly.

I also very much enjoyed playing through the three new prequel missions, which have the iconic Battle Rifle and notably throw the Covenant's Brutes — ape-like berserker shock troops — into the mix. Similar to their past iterations, Brutes have their own set of weapons (Spiker, Brute Plasma Rifle) and fill a tanky melee brawler role. This time around, though, they also have a frenzy mechanic you can engage with (for spoiler reasons, I won't go into detail about how to do so).

Causing a Brute to frenzy will fully heal it and drive it into an enraged state, during which it throws its weapon away and starts sprinting after you to pummel you with lethal melee attacks. However, it will also target other Covenant units while frenzied, which can make it easier to contend with large groups of foes. Figuring out when to frenzy Brutes and avoid doing so added an engaging layer of strategy to Operation: METEORITE that I loved.

By default, Brutes are exclusively found in the new missions, though you can find a Skull — one of 42 in the remake — that makes them spawn in the main campaign as well. These Skulls allow you to shake up gameplay with a huge variety of interesting and wacky modifiers, and are at the heart of the Campaign Remix feature that lets you randomize enemy and weapon placements while also roll for which Skulls you have on or choose them manually.

All in all, I'm extremely pleased with how Campaign Evolved plays, and how replayable it is, too. What frustrates me, however, is that it's a strictly campaign-only experience, without multiplayer of any kind outside of campaign co-op (which does support four players online, up from two in the past). I can understand not having PvP multiplayer given the campaign focus, but for $50, Halo's beloved wave-based PvE mode Firefight should absolutely be here.

The remake's customization system for Master Chief and weapon skins also feels very lazy and tacked on, with no cosmetics available to unlock through actual gameplay. The only way to get them is by preordering or purchasing the $70 Premium Edition ($67.09 at Loaded); not having things players can earn through gameplay achievement is a massive missed opportunity.

Halo: Campaign Evolved review — Presentation and performance

Halo Studios announced back in 2024 that all future Halo projects would be developed with Unreal Engine 5, and Halo: Campaign Evolved is the first game to use it instead of something proprietary like Halo Infinite's Slipspace Engine. Next to developer familiarity with such a widely used tool, increased visual fidelity has long been thought of as one of the largest upsides of that decision, and it's been proven so by this remake.

Campaign Evolved modernizes the classic Xbox flagship in breathtaking detail, with some of the sharpest and most visually striking textures and lighting effects I've ever seen put to screen. Everything from the weapons in Master Chief's hands to the legions of diverse aliens he's tasked with battling through are the best they've ever looked, as are the sights of Alpha Halo's vibrant skyboxes and its dreary Flood-infested depths.

It's truly shocking how much detail the remake manages to cram into each and every level, and the best part is that nearly all of it feels authentic to the original game's visual style. I have my nitpicks — Covenant vehicles are too vibrantly purple and some reload animations lack the style of classic versions, for example — but overall, the game looks phenomenal.

Campaign Evolved's remastered soundtrack is also a treat and is similarly faithful, and notably, versions of tracks from several different Halo games feature in the trio of bonus missions. The sound design is also mostly top notch; melee strikes lack oomph and I don't love the sound of the Magnum and Sniper Rifle, but every other weapon, vehicle, and grenade sounds fantastic, and the way audio reverberates around every hallway, cavern, and battlefield is ear candy.

But while Unreal Engine 5 is at the heart of Halo: Campaign Evolved's terrific presentation, it's a tool that's notorious for its performance issues — and sadly, the remake has some of its own to speak of.

I've been playing the game on my PC that's equipped with an i5-12600K CPU, an RTX 4070 Ti SUPER GPU, and 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and have been running it with Ultra settings with DLSS Super Resolution on an ultrawide 3440x1440 monitor. Generally, I get about 60-80 FPS, which seems about where my rig should be based on the official recommended specs.

However, it's not uncommon that my framerate drops down to the 50s and even into the 40s in larger spaces and engagements, and that can be rather jarring. Turning the settings down some and using Frame Generation can help with this, but even so: expect some FPS dips.

A few of my colleagues here at Windows Central have reported running into performance problems on Xbox as well, with shadows and reflections sometimes looking fuzzy and pixelated on Performance Mode being a particularly noteworthy issue. Hopefully the day one patch for the remake irons wrinkles like these out.

Halo: Campaign Evolved review — Conclusion

I went into Halo: Campaign Evolved with one big question: was it worth making?

In the end, I feel that it was, both to give Combat Evolved a high-quality remake it deserves and to prove Halo on Unreal Engine is a viable path forward for the series (it's also a great introduction to the franchise for PlayStation players, though I doubt we'll ever see Halo on Sony's consoles again).

Halo Studios has accomplished both of those objectives in my view, even though the remake's performance issues do show it has room for improvement when it comes to optimizing the series on Unreal Engine. The absence of additional content like Firefight is also majorly disappointing, as is the underbaked player customization system.

With all that said, Campaign Evolved ultimately delivers an incredible reimagining of the original Halo, enhancing it with jaw-dropping audiovisual presentation, carefully considered gameplay and level additions, an enjoyable new three-mission story, and a suite of over three dozen collectible Skulls for tons of replay value. For $50, I wanted more ... but I've had a ton of fun with what we got.

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Halo: Campaign Evolved finally launches today, in early access at least, and if you're playing on PC and have an NVIDIA graphics card, then you might need this hotfix first.

Specifically, a stability issue has been highlighted for the RTX 50 series using the recent 610.xx version drivers, and since it launches today, a hotfix has been deployed rather than a whole new driver.

As it's a hotfix, you won't be able to just update it through the NVIDIA app on your PC; you'll need to go to the dedicated support page to grab it and install it manually.

The hotfix is also worth grabbing for Path of Exile 2 players, as it addresses a frustrating issue players have been seeing in the game when running under DX12.

"[Path of Exile 2] Fixed intermittent long pauses that could occur after extended gameplay sessions in DX12 mode"

No other games are affected by this hotfix, so if you're not planning to play either of them in the next week or two, you can hold off. NVIDIA will roll these fixes into its next regular driver release so you'll get them fairly soon.

It's also worth making sure you do a clean installation, which honestly, I'd recommend any time you install an updated driver. During the NVIDIA installation process there is a box you can check to do this, or you can use a tool like Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to remove the old ones first. I've seen some issues first-hand over time that were rectified from doing a proper clean installation, and it's no extra work really to do.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is, of course, another remake of the first game in the legendary series. Beyond looking better, it's actually coming with some fresh content, expanding the classic game, and for the first time folks on PlayStation will be able to see what all the fuss is about.

Early access begins today, July 23, with general access on all platforms and Xbox Game Pass beginning on July 28.

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If you'd asked me a couple of days ago, before Xbox's latest news, what games had me excited about PC gaming, there's no way I'd have named BLiNX: The Time Sweeper, Conker: Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, or Fuzion Frenzy.

Alas, here we are. These four classic Xbox games are spearheading the new Xbox backwards compatibility program on Windows PC, with more titles expected to arrive in the future.

Sure, this initiative might seem small today. These are four first-party games without many legal complications. A toe dipped in the water, if you will.

But new information about how Xbox is handling backwards compatibility has emerged since the news first broke, and it has me rethinking the entire situation.

The back-compat OG Xbox games just released on PC are already Xbox 360 games

In a lengthy thread on X, user @XCTdotLIVE explains how the back-compat program currently works.

As it turns out, the store packages are actually labeled as "Xbox360BackwardCompatibil.*," giving us our first clue at what's happening.

XCT.LIVE goes on to explain that, yes, these games are in fact already Xbox 360 games that are running on the Xbox 360 Xenon Fusion (XeFu) emulator.

As they put it, "your 2001 game runs inside the 360's OG-Xbox emulator, inside a 360 running on Windows. Two nested generations of Xbox emulation."

As X user @TheLunarixus notes, this is confirmed by "XEX2/STFS magic and strings in the kernel such as "XENON KERNEL EXITING."

The rabbit hole goes deeper. This is the same sort of wizardry that allows original Xbox games to run on the Xbox One's x86 architecture via layers of Xbox 360 architecture. It's a convoluted way to reach an end goal, but hey, if it works, it works.

This information is really what got my attention. If the foundation is already a working Xbox 360 emulator, 360 games being backwards compatible on PC is more than plausible. In fact, it's probably already almost ready for primetime.

The likelihood of Xbox 360 games on PC just got a lot better

The core statement that "Microsoft made four old Xbox games run on PC" gets a lot more exciting now that I know how everything works. The four OG Xbox games look a lot more like the tip of a much larger technical foundation that's already capable of running 360-era games.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the hardest part about console emulation is the base architecture rather than the games that run on it. So if the base is already capable of handling Xbox 360 games, the path from four OG Xbox titles to a plethora of 360-era games is a lot shorter than it seemed just a few days ago.

The Xbox 360's library is what really gets me excited. I wasn't much of an OG Xbox gamer (I was too busy with PCs), but I had a lot more experience with the 360. It's the generation that landed right when I was graduating high school, and I know I'm far from the only one who considers its library of games to be peak.

If Xbox 360 emulation is indeed on the table, Microsoft's back-compat news stops being a nostalgia play and instead becomes one of the most significant moves Microsoft could make, not just for Game Pass (on which these games are launching), but for game preservation in general.

I don't know how this all relates to Xbox's "Positron" disc-to-digital program, but I can't imagine the two initiatives won't collide at some point.

Microsoft hasn't yet made anything official, but I'm feeling hopeful

Let me be honest here. Microsoft has been pretty quiet about what's going on behind the back-compat scenes. There's no roadmap, no announced Xbox 360 support, and no timeline for any of it.

The information I received could be wrong (not likely), or Microsoft could have reasons involving licensing, resources, or other priorities that keep it from acting on the Xbox 360 capabilities, even if they do exist.

It's worth pointing out that my colleague, Jez Corden, has teased that "their plans for this longer term are pretty epic" regarding the back-compat program. He knows a lot more about Xbox than I do and generally has plenty of inside information he keeps close to his chest.

In any case, Xbox seems to be making all the right moves at a time when game preservation is a hot topic. Microsoft might have just flipped the switch on one of the biggest customer service endeavors in video game history, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

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NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang seems to be everywhere these days, and there's often an interesting tidbit of history that gets revealed during his appearances.

The latest comes from last week's GiGO Akihabara arcade gaming event, where Huang made an appearance to help celebrate the institution's historic relationship with Sega.

At the event, which was also attended by Sega's current CEO, COO, and former president, Huang expressed his gratitude toward Sega (via Automaton Media) for helping make NVIDIA the tech giant that it is today.

I certainly never knew this, but Huang pins NVIDIA's success today largely on an early investment from the Japanese gaming giant.

One of NVIDIA's earliest mistakes nearly killed the company

NVIDIA began its run in 1993 with Huang at the helm, with a focus on creating GPUs to power 3D games. Unfortunately, at the time, the only 3D games to be found were in arcades.

Daytona USA, one of Sega's smash hits, arrived in North American arcades in 1994, and Huang explains that the NVIDIA team was addicted to the "beautiful 3D graphics and incredible sound."

With a clear goal in mind, Huang's NVIDIA received a stroke of good luck when it was asked by then Sega President Shoichiro Irimajiri to help create the Dreamcast console's GPU.

This isn't what saved NVIDIA. If anything, it nearly killed the company. After about nine months of collaboration, both sides of the partnership realized NVIDIA's tech wasn't going to be a good match for the Dreamcast.

As Huang explains, NVIDIA had been working on "forward texture mapping and curved surfaces," but the Dreamcast needed "inverse texture mapping and polygons.

Huang says he explained the predicament to Irimajiri plainly, and the two companies agreed to part ways. At least on the Dreamcast project.

Here's where history could have gone two ways. Realizing his company was in dire need of funding, Huang asked Irimajiri and Sega for an investment package. It was approved, and Huang says without it, "the company likely wouldn't exist today."

Where would video games be without NVIDIA ... and Sega?

Following Huang's history lesson, he revealed the real reason for his visit to Japan. It appears that the Japanese government and NVIDIA are prepping an announcement for a major partnership involving AI and robotics.

Go figure. NVIDIA is currently the world's most valuable company, and that value is built largely on the back of GPUs designed specifically for AI workloads.

As NVIDIA continues to print money with its AI sector, its gaming division has come under fire recently for its AI-soaked DLSS 5 upscaling technique.

I've been saying for years that AI in games isn't going anywhere, but that doesn't really make it a pill that's any easier to swallow. No matter what you think about NVIDIA, the video game landscape probably wouldn't look anything like it does today without the company that created CUDA and drove the ray tracing revolution with its RTX hardware.

And for that, we can thank an investment from Sega more than 30 years ago.

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I was away from my desk dealing with disastrous flooding for the past two weeks, and during that time, a lot happened in the world of AMD processors.

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D desktop gaming CPU that the company announced at Computex 2026 finally went live on July 16 with an introductory $329 price. Just a couple of days later, the price dropped to $279.99 with a promo code at exclusive retailer Newegg.

Reviews for the Ryzen 7 7700X3D are positive enough that it makes the new chip a reasonable alternative to the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which I'm seeing for as low as $361.99 at Newegg.

That's essentially $100 less for a clocked-down 7800X3D with the same 96MB of 3D V-Cache, the same eight Zen 4 cores, and the same 120W TDP. Not bad at all if you're only looking at the CPU.

Unfortunately, the numbers that matter most aren't on the CPU's page, and it goes to show that no matter how good a deal a new CPU is, memory prices continue to crush PC builds.

What did DDR5 RAM prices look like when the 7800X3D launched?

AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D launched in April 2023 with an MSRP of $449. As a gaming CPU, it was best paired with at least 16GB of RAM, better yet if you could get hold of 32GB or 64GB.

In 2023, DDR5 RAM was experiencing a supply glut, forcing prices down as manufacturers attempted to offload stock. Believe it or not, you could find DDR5-6000 kits with two 16GB sticks for anywhere between $80 and $130. I know; it's hard to believe, and it feels like the ongoing RAM crisis has been underway for a lot longer than that.

Using the top $130 end of that memory range and adding $200 for a motherboard, the cost just a couple years ago for the trio came out to about $780.

Take the $279.99 Ryzen 7 7700X3D CPU, add a conservative $400 for 32GB of DDR5-6000 RAM, and toss in a $200 motherboard, and you're looking at about $900. With memory prices so volatile these days, that number could easily climb to $1,000 or more, especially once Newegg's promotion expires.

What everyone is getting wrong about the Ryzen 7 7700X3D

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D, as a drop-in upgrade to an existing AM5 system with something like a Ryzen 5 7600, remains a great deal. That's assuming you already have a compatible motherboard with compatible DDR5 RAM.

But the part I think a lot of people are missing is that the Ryzen 7 7700X3D as the foundation of an entirely new build is still a terrible value. The number that should influence your next build has to do with memory, no matter what sort of discount is being offered on a CPU.

I appreciate AMD's expanding X3D selection considering they're the chips that almost every PC gamer wants in their build, but AMD could launch five other alternatives and still arrive at the same result: a situation where CPU sales suffer because supporting components are way too expensive.

This is simply a reminder that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than just sticker prices, no matter how attractive they appear. You might be swayed to grab the newest CPU because it's admittedly a great price, but don't forget to pay attention to the variables that really matter when building PCs in 2026.

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It’s hard to really put into words how I feel about Bungie right now. As a lifelong Halo fan, the studio will always have a special place in my heart, but the way it has operated since leaving Xbox has been less than ideal and, honestly, devastating to watch as a fan.

For those out of the loop, Bungie recently shifted its focus away from Destiny in favor of Marathon. Unfortunately, that decision doesn’t appear to be paying off. Marathon recently peaked at around 6,000 concurrent players on Steam, while Destiny 2 reached almost 60,000 during the same period, around 10 times more than Marathon.

It's also worth mentioning that Marathon isn't even within the top 100 most played games on Xbox, behind titles like Gears of War 2 and Fable 3, both of which are Xbox 360 games.

Don’t worry, though, Destiny fans; Bungie has a solution. It’s adding a limited-time PvE mode to Marathon for just two weeks. I’m sure that’ll go over well. In all seriousness, though, I don’t want to make fun of Bungie too much. What’s happened to the studio, especially after the recent layoffs, which are genuinely sad to see.

I really do hope Bungie lands on its feet, whatever that future looks like. Still, the studio’s direction feels increasingly uncertain, and it’s hard not to wonder what happens next for one of gaming’s most iconic developers. It’s not difficult to imagine a future where Bungie ends up as more of a support studio, especially as its valuation continues to decline from the $3.6 billion Sony paid to acquire it.

For context, Sony not too long ago recorded an impairment loss of roughly $766 million against Bungie. In simple terms, that’s an acknowledgment that the studio is now considered less valuable than when Sony acquired it for $3.6 billion. Whether that figure grows in future earnings remains to be seen, but given Bungie’s recent struggles, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

Mind you, this is all without mentioning that Marathon's game director, Joseph Ziegler, has just left Bungie. Although the torch has been passed on, his departure is yet another worrying sign for Marathon's future.

Let me know how you feel about Bungie, the current state of Marathon, and where you think the studio goes from here in the comments below. Also, be sure to take part in our poll!

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These past couple of weeks have been beyond depressing for gamers.

From Sony killing off physical game discs and delisting 500 movies from people with no refunds, to Microsoft culling 3,200 Xbox game devs and repeatedly suspending gamers' accounts for no fault of their own, it's hard to feel optimistic when it feels like the biggest game companies are constantly stabbing their fans in the back while seemingly not giving a single care about preserving digital media.

However, not all hope is lost for legal digital preservation, thanks to GOG.com.

GOG is an unsung hero among digital storefronts, as it sells digital games without Digital Rights Management (DRM). By buying games from GOG.com, you will be able to download a standalone, offline installer for each title, granting you permanent ownership of them.

With this, you can play games offline, back up files, and install them on your hard drive without needing to log in to a store's launcher. Not to mention, you won't have to worry about a game becoming unplayable due to its publisher's dedicated launcher not working (e.g., Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced) or being permanently blocked if it's tied to a compromised Microsoft account.

Not to mention that, in some cases, having DRM restrictions lifted from a game will actually increase its performance so it can achieve higher frame rates for smoother gameplay.

On top of that, GOG states that you can even save the games you buy on their storefront to discs and trade them with your friends, should you wish.

You can download a game's offline installer from a GOG account, create a disc image, and then burn it onto a blank CD-R, DVD-R, or BD-R disc.

Windows Central's take

I was already a fan of GOG as it helped preserve some of my favorite childhood games on PC like Breath of Fire 4 and Dino Crisis 2, but it's now becoming my main go-to storefront for digital PC games in light of recent events.

I'm concerned that the thousands of pounds' worth of games could be taken by corporations who don't care for preserving games or respecting people's digital property. So being able to buy and back them up permanently on my computer or discs via GOG is beyond reassuring and gives me hope that we can still own the games we worked so hard to earn.

So, GOG, you've got yourself a new superfan in me, and I will happily support your "Preservation Program" so we can keep more classic and modern games free of DRM forever because I, for one, do NOT want a gaming future where we own nothing.

What do you think of GOG.com as a digital storefront? Do you think you will be using it more often from now on to permanently preserve your digital game collection, or do you still use other digital storefronts like the Xbox Store?

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

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One week after Microsoft and Xbox began a large series of "reset" 3,200 layoffs across the gaming brand that saw 1,600 devs let go immediately and four studios split from the company, Compulsion Games — one of the teams divested — has now signaled how it intends to move forward.

In a new post on LinkedIn, the studio behind the action-adventure games We Happy Few and 2025's award-winning Xbox title South of Midnight reaffirmed that it will continue on as an independent developer, while also announcing that it's "expanding opportunities to collaborate with studios across the games and entertainment industry."

"With Compulsion Games returning to its roots as an independent developer, we are expanding opportunities to collaborate with studios across the games and entertainment industry," reads Compulsion's statement.

"We invite partners to leverage the talent and creativity of the award-winning team behind South of Midnight, a game that was honored with a BAFTA Award, a Peabody Award, seven Canadian Game Awards, and recognized on multiple ‘Best Games of 2025’ lists," it continued.

Though it wasn't a massive success for Microsoft and Xbox commercially, South of Midnight reviewed quite well with critics and players, and took home several major awards as Compulsion highlights here. We gave it a 4/5 score in our own review, stating that it "delivers a story filled with trauma and beauty, with a gorgeous world that doesn't overstay its welcome."

Notably, in the past, Compulsion contributed to the development of games like Darksiders and Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale in the leadup to its debut puzzle-platform title Contrast. Now, the developer hopes to work with other studios once again.

"With deep experience in creating acclaimed original IP, we bring our artistry, technical expertise and collaborative approach to every project," the announcement adds. "We are excited to support the development of memorable experiences that engage and entertain players around the world."

The layoffs and divestment of Compulsion Games from Xbox came as part of a wider effort from Microsoft to reorganize its gaming business after it "overextended," with Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma pushing for the brand to "move faster" with and focus on its largest properties such as Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo.

Games like South of Midnight that have less selling power than huge established franchises aren't going to mesh well with that strategy, which is ultimately why Microsoft and Xbox cut Compulsion loose. That departure is frustrating to see for many — myself included — as we know it came with layoffs...but, at the very least, I'm glad that the studio will live on.

As for what its developers will end up working on, either on their own or with other teams across the industry? Only time will tell. Whatever's next for Compulsion Games, though, I hope that it will be a project its workers are passionate about, and that it will succeed well enough to give the studio stability in what's become an extremely volatile time for game development.

What kind of game would you like to see Compulsion Games make next? What studio(s) should is partner and collaborate with? Let me know what you think in the comments.

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One of the biggest and most upsetting recent developments in the gaming industry was the sudden and shocking end of Destiny 2, with developer Bungie announcing its conclusion in May before delivering one last content update, Monument of Triumph, in early June. Despite players pushing to keep the series alive, publisher Sony ultimately ended support for Destiny 2 (though it remains playable) and laid off "most of the Destiny team" soon after.

The downfall of a franchise as massive and prominent as Destiny — reportedly caused by poor leadership and financial troubles — was a bombshell to many, including Rebecca Ford, the creative director of Warframe. Digital Extremes' 2013 live-service sci-fi action RPG, one of Destiny 2's biggest rivals, has now outlasted it...but Ford isn't celebrating.

On the contrary, she views the end of Destiny 2, and the way it ended, to be deeply concerning: "It's horrible news, because it shows that even if you care so much, the business side of this industry always gets the last remark," she told GamesRadar+ during an interview at TennoCon 2026.

"Those are the types of stories and experiences that, when you're in a position where you have your own game, your own IP, and you work as hard as you do on it...that's not the first time it's happened, and it'll happen again, where the business aspect of the video game economy makes the decision for you, and it is existentially threatening at every level, because the idea that we aren't in charge of our own goodbye is something I wake up thinking about every single day," she continued.

While this isn't something that private, independent studios have to worry about, these kinds of shutdowns, layoffs, and closures are undoubtedly things that developers operating under a publisher's wing have come to fear more and more in recent years.

One only has to look at last week's events at Xbox for a glaring example of why; Microsoft's gaming brand began a series of 3,200 ongoing layoffs, with 1,600 workers immediately let go and another 1,600 set to be cut over the course of 12 months. Four studios are being divested from Xbox Game Studios as well, and that number could rise to five depending on how negotiations about Arkane Lyon with the French government shake out.

As a result of what Xbox calls a "reset" for an operation that's "not healthy," over half of DOOM dev id Software and over 200 devs at The Elder Scrolls Online maker ZeniMax Online Studios have been discharged, with numerous other teams across Xbox also affected. Bethesda workers fear The Elder Scrolls 6 will be delayed and that Fallout 76 support may not continue, while its union fights back with a Save Our Devs protest this week.

The cuts at Xbox and Bungie are merely the latest in a devastating series of industry layoffs that have continued to pile up since 2022, initiated by overinvestment into gaming during the pandemic and worsened by the impact of tariffs, the hardware crisis, and other socioeconomic factors.

In an era where publishers dismissing thousands of devs and canceling or shutting down projects has become disturbingly routine, Ford is right to see what's happened with Destiny and Bungie as a grim reminder of the current state of the industry. We can only hope that a light at the end of the tunnel isn't too far away.

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The idea of not owning our games and media to do as we wish with has flared up again in recent weeks, thanks to Sony announcing the death of discs for PlayStation. Now it's Ubisoft's turn to remind us that we are but a slave to the system.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced launched just last week, and by all accounts, it was a success. It's reviewed pretty well across the board, with a high rating on Metacritic for both press and users, and Ubisoft reported 2 million sales on launch day.

But then over the weekend Ubisoft left players with a stark reminder of the perils of an all-digital future, especially where DRM is concerned, when the game's offline mode flat out stopped working on PC (via Eurogamer).

The issue stemmed from a Ubisoft Connect outage. No matter where you're buying from, Ubisoft requires Connect in order to function. Console games aren't quite so beholden to it, but on PC, Ubisoft Connect acts as a DRM tool.

Resynced is supposed to require a solitary online connection to validate, and then you'd expect to be able to use the offline mode, right?

Wrong.

The Ubisoft Connect outage didn't last long, but the duration isn't the issue. The fact that this outage took down the offline mode is. For players who have already validated their copy of the game, a Ubisoft Connect server problem should still allow folks to play offline.

Players quickly voiced their frustrations on Reddit and Steam's forums and with good reason. A game with an offline mode should not be taken down like this. Ubisoft promised to make an offline mode for The Crew 2 after the outrage when it shut down the original game in the series, but is this what we're going to expect to deal with?

Offline mode needs to be exactly that. Fully disconnected, no issues playing without a connection, and definitely not affected by DRM or proprietary clients going down. A one-time activation should do what it says. Ironically, there are comments that suggest pirated versions of the game weren't affected by the outage.

It's becoming increasingly attractive to skip these types of games entirely and spend time and money on titles that are DRM-free from somewhere like GOG. Software licensing has always been a thing, but there are other ways.

I recently bought a copy of Project Motor Racing that gave me the entire game's installation files directly from GIANTS Software to install offline, no questions asked.

This Ubisoft Connect debacle just leaves everyone with a bad taste in their mouth.

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Of all the layoffs that came down on Xbox Game Studios developers this week as part of Microsoft and Xbox's 3,200 "reset" cuts and four studio divestments, the ones that hit the DOOM developer id Software were the most shocking to many given the popularity and success of its modern trilogy of games.

It's been reported that well over half of id was axed from Xbox, with 136 developers — 96 at its Texas headquarters and an additional 40 remote workers — let go from the studio. The cuts impacted nearly every department within the developer, including the teams building, maintaining, and improving its id Tech game engine used for a variety of ZeniMax projects.

Individual DOOM devs have shared reactions to the layoffs, though id Software itself hadn't yet shared a response until today. Now it has, with the studio posting a statement to the community on social media to assuage fears about its future under Microsoft and Xbox.

"Thank you for all the support this week. While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for," reads id's letter. "The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward."

"We are focused on supporting each other and team members impacted. We're going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we're looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August," it added.

Notably, this statement confirms our recent, earlier report that in the wake of the layoffs, id Software is now about the size that it was when it released the 2016 DOOM reboot ten years ago, and that the studio isn't in danger of being closed or split away from Microsoft and Xbox.

It also confirms that the developer will still move forward with new games, though it seems unlikely it will have a chance to explore some of its experimental ideas. Still, I expect that we'll see additional DOOM titles from the team, and that it will continue to iterate upon id Tech for the benefit of Wolfenstein dev MachineGames and other studios.

Ultimately, this news is quite relieving to hear from id Software — though to be clear, I'm not downplaying the severity of the cuts in saying that. On the contrary, I'm glad that the developer still has a future under Xbox's wing despite how significantly it was affected by the dismissals.

The layoffs at id represent a large portion of about 440 total cuts across all of ZeniMax and Bethesda, with other teams hit including Bethesda Game Studios (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Starfield) and ZeniMax Online Studios (The Elder Scrolls Online).

Bethesda devs fear that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer crunch and delays because of the layoffs, and the reduction in force at ZeniMax Online Studios has led to "shifting" roadmaps for The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda's official union, OneBGS, plans to protest against the cuts next week with a "Save Our Devs" march.

What are your thoughts on the layoffs at id Software? Do you feel Microsoft and Xbox went too far with them based on everything we know? Share your take in the comments, and vote in the above poll.

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In response to this week's wave of mass Xbox layoffs from Microsoft that have cut 3,200 roles and four studios from the company, union workers at Bethesda Game Studios — the developer behind Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, among other titles — are organizing a protest to fight back.

Several public listings for the rally — titled "Save Our Devs" — have been spotted for Bethesda's various different locations, including its Rockville headquarters and offices in Austin, Dallas, and Montreal. These calls to action confirm that unionized OneBGS staffers are coordinating to march on July 15 next week.

"Microsoft and ZeniMax leadership have made the devastating decision to slash over 440 positions across BGS, ZOS, id, ZWU (QA) and ZeniMax corporate (including CTO and CSUR)," wrote the union. "Because we organized and certified our Unions, we have hard-won legal rights and protections that non-unionized studios simply do not have."

"The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won't let that happen. Our next steps are to mobilize," it continued. "We need every single member visible and unified. To that end, we are announcing our Save Our Devs March across all studios on Wednesday July 15th."

In an email sent to union workers seen by Game Developer, OneBGS has reportedly stated that 35 Bethesda Game Studios devs have been let go in the US, with 12 also laid off in Montreal. This roughly lines up with a previous report that about 50 employees have been laid off from the studio.

Reportedly, "this has had a crushing effect on morale" at Bethesda, with devs fearing that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer delays and crunch as a result of the redundancies. There are also concerns that support for Fallout 76 may end.

Elsewhere under the ZeniMax and Bethesda banner, the cuts go even deeper. Over 200 developers were laid off from The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online Studios, and well over half of DOOM maker id Software has been axed as well — though it's been reported that the situation there isn't as dire as some say. A small comfort.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated the layoffs are part of a "reset" for the Xbox business after it "overextended" with its ambitions; OneBGS claims that Microsoft referred to them as an "entrepreneurial change in the scope of business," which is a notion it's fighting against as it negotiates to have affected developers brought into open roles across Xbox Game Studios.

"While we push that legal fight forward, Microsoft is still legally required right now to sit down with us for 'Effects Bargaining.' This means we have the right to negotiate exactly how these layoffs impact our people, and we are heading to the table to fight for every single affected worker," it explained.

"We are going to be demanding preferential transfers to force Microsoft to place affected BGS workers into open roles across Xbox and Microsoft first, stronger severance and extended healthcare to ensure no one is financially abandoned, as well as recall rights to ensure our laid-off members are the first ones hired back when BGS expands."

"Stay strong, look out for one another, and we look forward to seeing us all marching together on the 15th," concluded the union. Whether next week's protest has a meaningful impact or not remains to be seen, but ultimately, I hope it helps laid off ZeniMax and Bethesda devs find new opportunities and get the best severance and healthcare packages possible.

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Though it launched to scathing criticism and widespread controversy in late 2018 due to lackluster content offerings and severe technical issues, Fallout 76 — Bethesda Game Studios' multiplayer-focused MMO-lite take on the post-apocalyptic RPG series — grew to become fairly popular over time, with the title still enjoying regular content updates and a healthy community eight years later.

In the wake of this week's massive wave of 3,200 Xbox layoffs and four studio divestments, however, there are fears that support for the long-running Appalachian adventure may soon come to an end. Teams under the ZeniMax and Bethesda umbrella have been affected "significantly," including the game's steward, Bethesda Game Studios.

It's been reported that over 50 staffers have been cut from Bethesda across its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland and its office in Dallas, Texas — a reduction in force that has The Elder Scrolls 6 devs fearing crunch on and delays of the long-awaited RPG moving forward. Some also worry that a significant amount of time will have to be spent training contractors to use Bethesda's proprietary tools like the Creation Engine.

Notably, though, one Bethesda developer commented to IGN that they "have no idea how they'll continue updating Fallout 76 without hiring an external studio," which suggests development of the experimental Fallout title could end at some point in the near future.

Another possibility is that Fallout 76 support will ultimately continue, but with its updates and patches being reduced in size and cadence. This appears to be what's happening with The Elder Scrolls Online and ZeniMax Online Studios; content roadmaps for that game are "shifting" after its developer suffered over 200 cuts this week.

We may also see external support for Fallout 76 come, as in a letter sent to staff, Bethesda president Jill Braff emphasized the need for the studio to better support its "strongest franchises" — echoing recent sentiment from Xbox's CEO Asha Sharma that it needs to "move faster" with core IPs like Fallout.

Ending support for the most recent game in the series would arguably go against that goal — especially while the extremely popular Fallout TV show is bringing countless new eyes to the property. With that said, Fallout 76 is now eight years old and isn't massively popular, and with Obsidian now making a new Fallout game, Microsoft may not see much value in continuing to invest resources in the title.

In the end, it's impossible to say what will happen with Fallout 76 moving forward until we hear something official from Microsoft, Xbox, or Bethesda. Based on the aforementioned comment from a developer, though, I do think it's likely that the game's live-service development will change in some way.

Whether it ends up stopping completely or just slowing down remains to be seen, but I can't imagine that this week's cuts won't be reflected in Fallout 76's update cadence somehow.

In the wake of Microsoft's Xbox layoffs, should support for Fallout 76 continue? Or do you think Bethesda should move on from the game? Let me know in the comments, and in the above poll.

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While many different development teams were affected by this week's massive wave of 3,200 Xbox layoffs from Microsoft, studios under the Zenimax and Bethesda banner have reportedly faced some of the most brutal cuts of all. They're going through "a significant overhaul" in their wake, with well over half of DOOM dev id Software axed and over 200 roles removed at The Elder Scrolls Online maker ZeniMax Online Studios.

Bethesda Game Studios — the team behind Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starfield, and the upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6, among other titles — has also been hit, with reports of over 50 of its developers being let go. And according to a new report from IGN, that loss of talent will have a "substantial and cascading effect" on development of the next The Elder Scrolls RPG.

"Their loss will have a substantial and cascading effect on the game and morale of this studio," lamented one Bethesda staffer. "It's been a mix of every discipline: programmers, artists, and designers. One person who's been at the company since Morrowind [the third The Elder Scrolls game released in 2002] was cut," added another.

Those impacted by the layoffs include "key, high-performing people in the trenches" — and those who remain at Bethesda fear that their dismissal will lead to significant complications for The Elder Scrolls 6, including an extensive amount of time spent training contractors, unhealthy amounts of crunch and overtime, and delays for a title that's already reportedly two years away as it is.

"There is a fear that we are going to be replaced by cheaper, contracted labor, or we will hire folks to replace them that will need to be onboarded [due to proprietary tools] resulting in more delays, and we'll need to crunch to make up the time," one Bethesda employee told IGN. Another noted they've heard colleagues have been asked to train new contractors already.

"We've all been very excited and hyped for TES 6 and this has had a crushing effect on morale," said another worker. "We were already running a tight ship and are worried about this delaying the game."

Reportedly, the team working on the RPG will receive support from ZeniMax Online Studios, though it's unclear how extensive of a role the The Elder Scrolls Online studio will play. I can't help but think it will be minor, given the fact that that team just suffered over 200 cuts.

Developers still at Bethesda have been assured they're safe from the 1,600 layoffs of the 3,200 that are coming throughout the next 12 months, though team members worry they'll eventually be let go as well. It's a rational fear, given Microsoft and Xbox's layoff history.

"The 'survivors' were told they're safe from those next 1,600 but it's not entirely reassuring," one asserted. "Even if that's true, who's to say there's not another 1,600 next year after that? It's had the chilling effect of realizing you don't get to retire off your work at Xbox. Your time ends when you quit or are laid off, that's it."

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Alienware makes gaming laptops and desktops, sure, but the line I enjoy looking at most is its QD-OLED gaming monitors. They're immensely popular after being the first to market in 2022; they're generally well-rated, and they're usually competitively priced.

One of the most popular Alienware gaming monitors is the AW3425DW, and it has now received a significant update for 2026. Dell let me get my hands on the new AW3426DW ultrawide monitor early so I could get a true feel of what it's like, and I'm here to share my thoughts on whether or not it's worth a buy.

Dell had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the Alienware AW3426DW cost?

The AW3426DW launched at $799.99 — which is the same price at which the last-gen AW3425DW made its debut — and it's also launching at £709 in the United Kingdom.

It's worth noting that the older model is currently sitting at $649.99 after a $150 discount, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that price drop stick around now that the new model is here.

Here's a closer look at the specs that make up the Alienware AW3426DW.

A generational upgrade for Alienware's iconic ultrawide

Compared to the older AW3425DW model we reviewed favorably last year, there are several standout improvements in the new AW3426DW.

The main change arrives for the Quantum Dot-Organic Light Emitting Diode (QD-OLED) panel. It's using Samsung's new fifth-gen Penta Tandem tech that was revealed earlier this year, which the company says has twice as long a lifespan as well as 1.3 times better brightness. Text should be easier to read, and there are improvements to dark colors in bright ambient light. More on that below.

Alongside the higher brightness, the monitor now has an anti-reflective coating to better combat glare. And, finally, the refresh rate has been raised from 240Hz to 280Hz.

What I like about the Alienware AW3426DW

From a purely design standpoint, the Alienware AW3426DW hasn't changed much compared to the AW3425DW. Its case has a pleasant Interstellar Indigo color scheme, with minimal interruptions on the back panel.

An Alienware head logo is off to the left of the stand, and there's the secondary AI logo on the other side. These logos are surrounded by venting, altogether offering a clean look.

For a bit of extra jazz, the Alienware head has customizable lighting. The same applies to the monitor's power button on the bottom edge of the casing.

The front of the monitor features Alienware branding, and that's basically it. Bezels are nice and slim, and the rounded stand seems like a perfect pairing.

On that note, the stand is plenty sturdy. It doesn't offer much rotation (this is an ultrawide, after all), but there's enough tilt and swivel to keep me happy. If I were keeping the screen, it'd go onto my MSI dual-arm VESA mount thanks to 100x100mm compatibility.

All OSD settings are controlled with a single joystick. There are a ton of menu options to play around with should you want to tweak the picture, and the monitor includes quite a few presets for different tasks and gaming styles. You can also change shortcuts for easier control.

Smart HDR, Dolby Vision, refresh rates, and much more are all customizable. You can choose how the monitor handles multiple inputs. And, for those who game and work on the same screen, I'm happy to report that the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and Picture-by-Picture (PbP) features work flawlessly.

The older AW3425DW's OSD menu, or "Command Center," had issues with freezing and closing randomly, but I've not seen those issues in the newer AW3426DW model.

How is the Alienware AW3426DW's color and brightness?

Thanks to the new fifth-gen QD-OLED panel, Alienware's flagship line of ultrawide gaming monitors has never looked better.

One of the biggest complaints about the older model was that black colors often appeared purple when in a bright room. That's been significantly improved here, and it seems that no matter how much light is falling on the screen, dark colors remain dark.

This latest model includes a new anti-reflective finish that Dell says reduces glare by up to 30%. I can't test for that precisely, but I can say that the only time I had issues with glare was in a sun-drenched room with direct light hitting the screen. If you're in an office or a gaming room, you should have no issues.

It also helps that brightness has gone up from a 250-nit cap to 300 nits. Whereas the AW3425DW tested for roughly 252 nits of brightness, I saw the AW3426DW hit 330 nits in SDR, and it goes up to about 1,300 nits with HDR enabled. This additional brightness pushes its HDR certification up to VESA DisplayHDR 500.

You can see for yourself the brightness, color, contrast, and white point ratings in the above chart that I pulled from my SpyderX Pro colorimeter.

Color reproduction has actually improved slightly compared to the previous generation. Whereas we previously tested for 97% P3 and 94% AdobeRGB coverage, the new model hits 99% and 95%, respectively. It otherwise remains at 100% sRGB.

Is Alienware's AW3426DW good for gaming?

Thanks to a curved panel, an ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio, a 3440x1440 resolution, a 280Hz refresh rate, and a 0.02ms response time, the Alienware AW3426DW is an outstanding gaming monitor.

The resolution hits the sweet spot for most gamers, and once you go ultrawide, you'll find it's very hard to go back to a 16:9 aspect ratio. The 280Hz refresh rate has plenty of ceiling for high-end performance hardware, and it's fast enough that you shouldn't mind using it for competitive titles.

Because it's an ultrawide with room for (at least) three separate windows, it's also great for productivity. Text is easier to read with this generation of QD-OLED panel, and you might be surprised at how crisp everything looks if you're coming from an older model.

What I dislike about the Alienware AW3426DW

There's not much to dislike about this monitor from a display quality standpoint. But there are some drawbacks you should know about before buying.

The port selection is notably a bit lacking. There's no 3.5mm audio jack (and no built-in speakers), and for data, there's just USB-C (15W) and USB-A, feeding off an upstream USB-B port.

Video inputs include dual HDMI 2.1 with Fixed Rate Link (FRL) for uncompressed 4K@120Hz gaming, but the single DisplayPort is 1.4 standard with Display Stream Compression (DSC). Some newer monitors are shipping with DP 2.1 with less compression, and I'd say it only really matters for enthusiasts.

Should you buy the Alienware AW3426DW?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're looking for a competitively priced ultrawide gaming monitor featuring fifth-gen QD-OLED tech.

✅ You have a gaming PC that can handle a 3440x1440 resolution and that can make use of a 280Hz refresh rate.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You're a competitive gamer who mostly plays at a 16:9 aspect ratio.

❌ You just want a QD-OLED ultrawide and don't care about the generation (go with the AW3425DW from last year that's now usually cheaper).

I loved my time with the Alienware AW3426DW, and it's something I'll recommend to anyone who's searching out a new QD-OLED ultrawide for gaming.

The 280Hz refresh rate is perfect for most people, the fifth-gen panel is better than ever, and the overall design is sleek and balanced.

Although some might complain that the port selection isn't generous enough or that the RGB lighting is lacking, others might not mind those drawbacks nearly as much.

And considering how many perks the monitor has, it's easy to see why this line of monitors from Alienware is so popular. I have to return the review sample, but the AW3426DW is at the top of my list for when it comes time to upgrade.

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While the ZeniMax and Bethesda studio id Software is best known for its DOOM games — including both the classic titles as well as the modern installments DOOM 2016, DOOM Eternal, and DOOM: The Dark Ages — it's explored other properties and ideas in the past, and has reportedly been "toying around" with doing so again.

...That is, until the developer was slammed by layoffs this week that came as part of a larger "reset" for Xbox and its first-party teams that's seen 3,200 roles cut and four studios divested from Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios portfolio.

Early reports suggested that half of id Software was discharged from Microsoft and Xbox, with some follow-up digging indicating that the situation is even worse, as 40 remote employees have reportedly been let go as well.

Described as a "bloodbath" by one former dev, the cuts have seemingly made it extremely unlikely that id's ideas for non-DOOM projects will ever be developed (especially with Xbox directing ZeniMax/Bethesda to focus on core IPs). A new report from GamesBeat, though, gives some insight into what those concepts were.

Aside from a multiplayer-focused DOOM game with co-op, the studio was also considering a game heavily inspired by the John Wick films called Fury, a new entry in the Perfect Dark series, and a survival-focused Western game with robots called Ironwood.

Fury was a new original property pitched by id Software's studio co-director and game director Hugo Martin, with "elements of sci-fi, noir, and Louisiana and Chicago gangsters" and "a modern, cyberpunk-like feel." Notably, it had a "Gun Fu" gameplay style that blended gunplay with martial arts melee combat, and was intended to feel like a playable John Wick movie. It was never greenlit.

Allegedly, id was also exploring the possibility of making a Perfect Dark game. The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot was canceled last year when Microsoft and Xbox shuttered the studio; with nobody else working on a new installment in the 2000s stealth-action shooter series, id considered doing so and reportedly even had concept art drafted.

Finally, there's Ironwood. Very little is known about it other than that it would be set in a Western environment with robots and survival gameplay, though it's been said it would be very similar to the popular HBO TV show Westworld.

Apparently, there were, and are, no plans for a new Quake — another iconic shooter series id created in the '90s.

Personally, I think the concept for Fury sounds incredibly cool, and I'd love to have seen the full id Software team make a Perfect Dark game. With over half the studio now gone, however, the chances of anything other than a DOOM title being made seem extremely slim.

Perhaps one day, several years into the future, id will be able to explore some of these concepts further. With Xbox CEO Asha Sharma aiming to "move faster" with its biggest franchises, though, I doubt that would happen anytime soon.

How are you feeling about Microsoft's mass Xbox layoffs, and the major impact they've had on id Software? I'm curious, so let me know in the comments below as well as in our poll.

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Earlier this week, Microsoft initiated a large wave of 4,800 layoffs that hit the firm's Xbox and gaming divisions particularly hard, with four studio divestitures and 3,200 cuts — 1,600 immediate, and 1,600 more coming in the next 12 months — striking in what's been called a "reset" for the Xbox business.

Though the redundancies have affected teams across all of Xbox, they've impacted certain game studios such as ZeniMax and Bethesda and Obsidian Entertainment quite disproportionately. Another developer that's experienced a severe reduction in force is id Software, the team that creates and oversees the modern DOOM games.

Initially, it was reported that half of the entire studio was laid off as part of Microsoft and Xbox's restructuring — a major and devastating loss of talent that shocked the community and upset developers at id, given the popularity of its games and the potential of the always-evolving id Tech game engine.

According to a new report, however, the total number of layoffs at the Texas-based developer is even larger. At first, it was believed that 96 roles were removed at id. Now, though, Game Developer writes that a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) notice — obtained by the outlet from the Texas Workforce Commission upon request — has revealed that 40 remote workers at the studio have been let go as well.

That brings the total number of id Software cuts up to 136, meaning that the studio's workforce has been hit significantly harder than early reports indicated. Notably, the WARN document also confirmed that 22 staffers have been affected at Bethesda Game Studios' office in Austin, Texas, with 158 Texas employees laid off across both teams.

146 of these workers are reportedly represented by the Communication Workers of America labor union; Bethesda Game Studios has its own union, too, and it's been very vocal about its frustration with this week's redundancies.

With how concerning the news of the loss of half of id was, hearing that an additional 40 workers were laid off on top of that is extremely worrying. I can't help but be fearful about the studio's future, and that it no longer has a headcount sufficient for the efficient development of new DOOM games and other projects moving forward.

The painful irony of the situation is that these cuts have come at the same time id released its new Revelations DLC for its latest game, 2025's DOOM: The Dark Ages. So far, the new expansion has garnered strong reviews, and I'm glad to see it...but it's also heartbreaking to see that many of the creative minds responsible for it, The Dark Ages, and other modern DOOM titles are now gone.

Do you believe that Microsoft and Xbox went too far with the cuts made to id Software? Voice your feelings on the matter in the comments, and vote in our poll as well.

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Shortly after it was reported that Xbox's RPG studio Obsidian Entertainment lost 25% of its workforce to Microsoft's mass Xbox layoffs earlier this week, it's come to light that the developer has moved on from other projects to work on a new Fallout game.

That news comes from a new Bloomberg report that Windows Central can corroborate with our own sources. According to those familiar with the situation at the storied Irvine-based studio, multiple planned projects — including a sequel to 2025's Pillars of Eternity action RPG Avowed — have been canceled to prioritize the Fallout title.

Notably, the team working on the new Fallout game will be led by Josh Sawyer, the game director of Obsidian's legendary 2010 title Fallout: New Vegas that was developed in partnership with Bethesda to fill the gap between 2008's Fallout 3 and 2011's The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. New Vegas is widely considered by many fans to be the series' best RPG, lauded for its writing quality, reactivity to player actions, and deep, systems-driven gameplay design.

Bloomberg reports that previously, Sawyer was working on an RPG that was "similar structurally and thematically to Fallout," but wasn't actually part of the iconic franchise.

It's also been said that Bethesda Game Studios — the steward of the Fallout IP, and the developer behind the creation of Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and the Fallout Shelter spinoff — will work with Obsidian on the new game. At the moment, it's unclear if this means the two studios will directly co-develop it together, or if Bethesda will merely provide support.

Demand for a new mainline Fallout entry is very strong right now, what with Amazon's extremely popular Fallout TV show, now filming its third season, driving significant excitement for and interest in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi property.

With Bethesda largely focused on The Elder Scrolls 6 after Starfield and Fallout 5 a long way off, I'm not surprised to see Microsoft and Xbox direct Obsidian to pivot over to the series. After all, given its experience working on it with New Vegas, you could argue there's not a team better suited for the task...though, Obsidian losing a quarter of its staffers — many of whom are reported to have been senior devs — makes me wonder how many of New Vegas' creators are actually still there.

As for the canceled Avowed sequel? Development on it was reportedly progressing smoothly and Obsidian was planning to announce it in 2027, but in the end, it didn't fit in with Xbox's new "reset" and plans to double down on its largest franchises. Its CEO Asha Sharma recently stated she wants the brand to "move faster" with core IPs like Fallout.

It's been said that some Obsidian devs will continue to work on the sequel with hopes that it will one day be fully greenlit again. Additionally, the studio will continue to develop planned DLC expansions for 2025's The Outer Worlds 2 RPG, as well as content for the Early Access survival game Grounded 2.

Are you excited for Obsidian to make a new Fallout, or would you have preferred it to finish its Avowed sequel? Let me know in our poll above, and in the comments below.

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Original article: This week's huge wave of 4,800 layoffs across Microsoft have brought the largest ever series of cuts to Xbox in the brand's history, with 3,200 roles axed and four studios split away from the company (and with Microsoft also reportedly in talks with the French government to try and find a path forward for Marvel's Blade dev Arkane Lyon as well).

Workers have been affected throughout Xbox teams and its first-party game development studios, with some affected more severely than others. Since news of the cuts came on Monday morning, it's become clear that staffers under the ZeniMax and Bethesda umbrella and at DOOM dev id Software have been hit particularly hard, with the latter losing half of its entire workforce.

Reportedly, another studio that's been battered by Xbox's efforts to "reset" is Obsidian Entertainment, the RPG developer best known for creating the beloved Fallout: New Vegas as well as the Grounded series, Pentiment, Avowed, and The Outer Worlds 2 for Xbox after it was acquired by Microsoft in late 2018. Though it's not shutting down as rumors suggested, it hasn't come through the mass layoffs unscathed.

According to sources in contact with Kotaku, roughly 60-70 employees were laid off from Obsidian — a number that constitutes 25% of the developer's headcount. Affected roles are stated to include "producers, artists, designers, programmers, QA testers, writers, and others," including many senior staff members and the only recruiter at the studio.

It's been said that most of these discharges were a part of the 1,600 immediate cuts that Microsoft made on Monday, with "a few" coming later this year as the firm lays an additional 1,600 Xbox workers off in the next 12 months.

One source told Kotaku that those who remain at Obsidian have concerns about how the studio will be able to proceed with further development on its "huge list of projects" after how steep these cuts have been. There's apparently been no guidance from Microsoft on the matter yet.

Reportedly, the developer plans to continue working on the Early Access survival game Grounded 2 and its two announced DLC story expansions for the open-world sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2. Beyond that, though, it's unclear what Obsidian will do moving forward.

Notably, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently commenting that she wants the brand to "move faster" with its core IPs and directly mentioning Fallout by name alongside The Elder Scrolls and Halo, I can't help but wonder if we'll see Microsoft bring Obsidian back to the post-apocalyptic RPG series. I would be quite excited for that...but a major portion of the studio's senior devs that helped create New Vegas were just let go.

I'll also highlight that these layoffs have come months after Obsidian confirmed it was going through some internal reorganization after recent games like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 failed to meet performance expectations. At the time, I hoped those changes would help the studio develop new games more efficiently. We can only hope that they will ultimately do so, and mitigate the impact of these redundancies.

How do you feel about Microsoft and Xbox reportedly laying off 25% of Obsidian's workforce? Did the firm go too far? Make your voice heard in the poll below, and drop me a comment with your thoughts, too.

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This week saw Microsoft and Xbox initiate the single biggest layoff wave in the gaming brand's history, with 3,200 Xbox and game development roles cut — 1,600 immediately, and another 1,600 throughout the next 12 months — as well as four studios divested from the Xbox Game Studios publishing division.

Alongside those teams and developers at ZeniMax and Bethesda, one studio that's been hit especially hard by the layoffs is id Software, the steward of the iconic and legendary shooter franchise DOOM. It's come to light that roughly half of the entire studio has been discharged, including both game devs and staffers working on its id Tech game engines.

Given the strong success of the DOOM 2016 reboot, DOOM Eternal, and last year's DOOM: The Dark Ages — which has a new Revelations DLC coming out today, one day after the cuts — the fact that id Software has been affected so significantly by the Xbox layoffs has come as a shock to many. Cuts to the id Tech team are surprising as well, as the studio's engine has historically run well and has been used for non-DOOM projects like the Wolfenstein games and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

That shock extends to id's developers themselves, many of whom have taken to social media platforms to express their astonishment and frustrations with the layoffs. One such employee, gameplay animator Skai Chow, has reacted to them with a scathing message for both Microsoft as well as for those "celebrating and worshipping" the cuts as a "move in the right direction."

"For my friends and followers who don't work in game development celebrating and worshipping that the layoffs yesterday were 'necessary for change and a move in the right direction'...I sure hope the sixth round of layoffs is worth our pain and your pleasure," wrote Chow. "After all, things are gonna be different this time around. Right?"

Chow's post features an image that highlights five previous rounds of Microsoft and Xbox layoffs that have come down since early 2023, including 10,000 cuts in January of that year, 1,900 discharges at the start of 2024, the closure of several ZeniMax and Bethesda studios in May that year, and The Initiative and several projects being shuttered in 2025. "We hope our pain was worth it," it's captioned.

The new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma contends that these latest cuts were a difficult but necessary move as part of a "reset" for the brand after it "overextended" with lots of expansion and "overly complex" internal systems.

Regardless of how true that ultimately is or isn't, I can't blame Chow or any other developer for feeling angry and bitter. Throughout the last four years, several thousand layoffs have wracked both Xbox and the wider gaming industry at large following overinvestment in gaming during the pandemic, resulting in extreme volatility and repeated devastating losses of talent.

I don't know what the right path forward is, especially with tariffs and the RAM crisis further complicating matters, but it's clear that the business as it is now isn't sustainable — and Chow is correct to highlight that layoffs haven't yet solved the problem. We can only hope for brighter times as Xbox and the industry reorganize.

Do you believe Microsoft and Xbox have gone too far with the layoffs at id Software? Share your thoughts below, and vote in our poll.

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A massive wave of 4,800 layoffs hit Microsoft on Monday morning this week, with 3,200 of the cuts aimed at Xbox specifically for a "reset" of the firm's gaming business. The restructuring has seen countless game developers let go as well as four studios divested from Microsoft, and individuals working on the Xbox platform itself have been affected as well.

One such staffer is Kevin LaChapelle, Microsoft's vice president of Xbox Platform In a LinkedIn post on Tuesday morning, LaChapelle shared that "I will add my name to the list of people who were laid off today at Xbox," bringing an end to his lengthy 37-year tenure at the company.

LaChapelle has overseen development of Xbox platform software "across cloud, console, and PC" since 2023. Before that, he led the creation and advancement of Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service (previously known as xCloud), and before that he led the team of engineers that built the fan-favorite Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program.

Ever since it was unveiled at E3 2015 during what I'd say is indisputably one of the best moments in Xbox history, Xbox Backwards Compatibility — a feature that lets you play hundreds of Xbox 360 games and even some original Xbox titles on Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S through an emulation layer — has been a colossal hit with fans.

At the time of its release, it also gave the fairly unpopular Xbox One a notable edge over Sony's PlayStation 4 at a time when it sorely needed one. Longtime Xbox gamers were still able to enjoy a rich library of titles from past systems on the latest console natively, whereas the PS4 was incompatible with games made for older PlayStation consoles.

I can't stress enough that the impact LaChapelle has had on Xbox has been huge — and that makes the news he's been laid off all the more upsetting to hear, especially since the Backwards Compatibility Program he led has been revived this year, with many speculating the feature will be overhauled to work with Microsoft's upcoming PC-console hybrid system Project Helix.

"I will add my name to the list of people who were laid off today at Xbox. This ends my 37 years at Microsoft. I have worked in many different parts of the company, and I will say my fondest memories are of leading the team of very talented engineers who built the Xbox Backward Compatibility program," he wrote in his post. "Sitting in the auditorium when [Phil Spencer, former Xbox CEO] announced the program at E3 2015 was incredible. The audience's reaction was unbelievable."

"I followed that with leading the team who created our Cloud Gaming product. I am a firm believer that all entertainment will eventually become streamed to you wherever you are," LaChapelle added. "I look forward to watching how Xbox evolves going forward and I wish the team nothing but success."

Ultimately, I'm very sad to see LaChapelle cut from Microsoft and Xbox, and I hope that he's able to land a new position somewhere soon. I extend that sentiment out to everyone impacted by these mass layoffs that have added to an already-devastating total that's been growing since 2022.

How important is the Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program that LaChapelle led the development of to you? What about Xbox Cloud Gaming? Let me know in the comments, and vote in our poll as well.

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It feels like Xbox and questionable decisions are going hand in hand lately, especially as the company is set to lay off around 3,200 employees throughout FY2027, with roughly 1,600 of those layoffs already taking place yesterday.

I'm still of the opinion that Xbox needed to change and that restructuring was necessary. That doesn't make any of this easy, though, and I imagine experiencing these layoffs is far more painful than simply watching them unfold. I genuinely hope those affected are able to land on their feet.

Looking at id Software, and particularly id Tech, I can't help but feel there's been an enormous amount of wasted potential. Based on the reported layoffs, the new Xbox leadership seemingly saw little value in much of the studio, cutting roughly 50% of its staff, including members of its technology team.

Among those affected was senior programmer Michael Maynard, who spent 21 years at id Software. He took to LinkedIn, saying:

“We created arguably THE BEST first person engine technology in the industry… Yet today, Microsoft/XBOX decided half the team was deemed USELESS and needed to be let go; despite all the amazing work and effort from every designer, programmer, artist, audio specialist, level designer, fx, tech design, and on and on and on… Yes, I was part of the team (roughly 50% of the company) that was let go today. (I was there for OVER 20 years! RAGE through DOOM: Dark Ages) Sad but, I've been doing this (video games) for over 40 years so, not a huge surprise to me. Just really sad that this is how Id Software, the PIONEER/INNOVATOR of FPS action games is relegated to just another "reorganization" of assets.”

Taking to X, is also Skai Chow, Doom: The Dark Ages animator, who simply said:

"We hope our pain was worth it."

It's genuinely surprising to see id Software gutted like this. I've long believed the studio was underutilized, and I'd hoped to see it take a crack at something like Halo one day. Now, I don't even know how it's supposed to continue making DOOM, let alone take on other franchises.

In fact, I'd even have liked to see id Tech positioned to compete with the likes of Unreal Engine. It's a fantastic engine that's massively underused within Xbox, so making it publicly available, with Xbox taking a 5% royalty on game revenue similar to Unreal Engine, feels like it could have been a great opportunity.

Maybe Xbox has a plan that isn't immediately obvious, but from the outside looking in, it's hard to understand how cutting so much of a studio responsible for one of the industry's best FPS franchises sets it up for long-term success, especially since DOOM: The Dark Ages has a new expansion releasing today.

If you think this sucks, or maybe you think this is fine, let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll above.

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Discord is under fire again, surprising absolutely nobody. Following the user verification fiasco not too long ago, the platform has now incorrectly banned around 8000 accounts. In fairness, that's a very small number compared to Discord's more than 200 million monthly active users, but it was enough for the company to publicly address the issue on X.

The controversy began after one user (tallcowyt) highlighted what they claimed was a vulnerability in Discord's AI moderation system. According to the post, the system incorrectly identified any square grid image, including Minecraft inventories and even chessboards, as malicious content, resulting in permanent account bans for affected users.

Taking to X, Discord described what occurred, stating:

“Our systems flag content by matching it against known harmful material... similarity matching can produce false positives... a member of our Trust & Safety team always reviews flagged content before any action is taken”

It's hard to imagine someone reviewing the content and deciding that Minecraft inventories were worthy of a ban, but I digress.

The company also said "the intended behavior is to temporarily pause uploads during that review, not ban the account," but admitted, "We had a bug" that instead issued bans. It also said, "the same bug prevented the ban from being lifted automatically."

According to Discord, "Around 8,200 accounts were affected from May 2026 through last week, plus the 200 more this past weekend," adding, "We've unbanned everyone affected by this bug."

The company acknowledged the impact, saying, "We should have caught this sooner... We're working on better safeguards... and making sure our safety systems don't penalize people who did nothing wrong."

Discord is, of course, currently tied to Xbox Game Pass for those who have a Discord Nitro Subscription, as they're able to get Game Pass Starter edition alongside their subscription.

It is also worth mentioning that in spite of claims that Discord has reinstated everyone's account, the current post on X detailing the issue has a community note that states otherwise.

It is a strange bug, I have to admit, but at least Discord has addressed it and says everyone affected has now been unbanned. I use Discord daily myself, and thankfully, I haven't uploaded any images with checkered patterns, so I've managed to avoid any potential issues.

Still, it's easy to see why incidents like this shake users' confidence in automated moderation, even if they only affect a relatively small number of accounts.

Let me know if you've been impacted by this bug in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll above.

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The Steam Machine is here, and despite an (isolated) issue dubbed the "red line of death" and performance that has been a little underwhelming, those who own the machine seem to be enjoying it. Either way, its egregious $1,000+ price tag is hardly Valve's fault, but rather a reflection of the wider industry as memory prices continue to climb.

The good news is that Valve has now released official Windows drivers for the Steam Machine, reinforcing that it's still a PC at heart. If you want to install Windows instead of SteamOS, you can, giving you the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want with the Gabecube that you own.

As Valve puts it: "Steam Deck and Steam Machine are PCs, and other applications and OSes can be installed" — there is a catch, however, as Steam hardware still doesn't officially support dual-booting, which may or may not be a deal-breaker for some.

I don't even own a Steam Machine, but I would have liked that flexible OS option if I did. Still, despite this, it's great to see how open Valve is. Providing official Windows drivers is a nice touch, and it's something the company already does for the Steam Deck.

Personally, I wanted Steam Machine to enter the market and provide serious competition for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Unfortunately, that seems to have been wishful thinking on my part, and again, that's through no fault of Valve's. Current market conditions have pushed memory prices to the point where companies are even facing lawsuits over allegations of price-fixing and intentionally restricting supply to keep prices high.

Don't worry, though. I'm sure things can't get much worse — except they can, as I'm sure we're all aware; the memory crisis isn't going anywhere, and we, the consumers, are having to pay the price. But let me know your thoughts on running Windows on Steam Machine by leaving a comment and taking part in our poll below:

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Steam's more-than-generous refund policy is under scrutiny from the developer behind Paddle Paddle Paddle, a game heavily inspired by the "Foddian" genre. These games are designed specifically to frustrate players and are often popular with content creators because of the reactions they generate. I actually own Paddle Paddle Paddle myself and have played it with a friend. It's a co-op game where you paddle a boat through increasingly frustrating obstacles as you make your way downstream.

The game was created by solo developer Zoroarts, who has taken to X to criticize Steam's refund policy after claiming the game has been heavily affected by it, with more than 55,000 refunds. For those unfamiliar, Valve's refund policy generally allows users to refund a game within 14 days of purchase, provided they've played it for less than two hours. On X, the developer argued:

After spotting a review that read, "GREAT GAME, finished within 1:40 hrs (refunded)," the developer took to X to criticize Steam's refund policy, writing:

"This should not be possible @Steam Would be cool if you could finally do something about your refund policy... Got dozens of reviews like that and 21% refund rate even though the Reviews are 90% very positive... Thats over 55,000 Refunds btw..."

Many reviews, including some that recommend the game, openly admit they completed it and then refunded it because they finished within the two-hour window. That does feel a little disingenuous, especially if they genuinely enjoyed the experience. Since the developer spoke out, however, some users have also started leaving negative reviews that appear to focus just as much on his comments as the game itself.

One user wrote:

"Not fun, Short, Sloppy. Beat it under 2 hours and would refund if I could but waited too long to play it, you should if you can"

Another added:

"The Dev keeps crying about his game getting refunded on X despite making "millions" out of a sloppy effort"

Having actually played the game myself and genuinely enjoying it, I decided to keep it, and I do think the developer should look at releasing the game on consoles like Xbox or Nintendo Switch. I will say, though, overall, I think Steam's refund policy is a good one, even if this situation highlights one of its weaknesses.

Personally, I don't think players should be able to complete an entire game and then immediately refund it. That said, I'm not entirely sure how Valve could solve that problem without creating new ones. One idea could be tying refunds to achievements, but that would simply encourage some developers to avoid adding achievements that mark the end of a game.

Perhaps Valve could instead adjust the refund window based on a game's typical completion time or even its price. For example, lower-priced games that can reasonably be completed in a short sitting could have a one-hour refund window instead of two. Even that isn't a perfect solution, though, and it's easy to see how developers could try to design around whatever rules Valve introduces.

Those are just my thoughts, though. I'd love to hear what you think, so let me know in the comments and be sure to take part in our poll above.

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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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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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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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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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Acer's Nitro 65 arrives at a time when the PC market is undergoing major stress caused by RAM, storage, and other component shortages.

Nevertheless, the Nitro 65's pricing remains reasonable, its performance is spot on, the case is far better than I expected, and it uses (mostly) regular parts that you can upgrade or replace yourself without much effort.

I've been using the PC for a couple of weeks, and while it's mainly been a positive experience, there are a couple of quirks that you need to know about before buying.

Acer sent Windows Central a review unit on loan for testing. It had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the Acer Nitro 65 cost?

The Acer Nitro 65 model I'm reviewing, with Ryzen 9 9900X CPU, RTX 5070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB SSD, costs $2,304.99 regularly at Best Buy, although it seems to enjoy frequent sales that drop it closer to $2,100 or less.

I'm always curious to see how that compares to building your own system, so I went ahead and put something together using the same (or as similar as possible) components.

I used a $150 HYTE X50 case (because it's awesome), a $120 motherboard, and left about $200 to $300 for a 1TB SSD. That comes out to $350 to $450 on top of the $1,611 cost at PCPartPicker. Add some RGB case fans and other small accessories, and you're looking at a similar cost compared to building your own system.

If you like the look of the PC but don't need quite as much performance, models with an AMD Ryzen 7 8700F CPU and either an NVIDIA RTX 5060 or an AMD Radeon 9060 XT range from $1,100 to $1,600, depending on available discounts.

Here's a closer look at the specs in the unit I'm reviewing.

Is the Acer Nitro 65 built well with good cable management?

Acer is definitely making money on the Nitro 65, but as I laid out above, the margin isn't as big as some might expect. So, where are the corners being cut to make up the difference?

The first thing that stands out to me is the no-name PSU. It's non-modular, making it harder to upgrade, and it's tough to judge what sort of quality it is.

Acer lists it as 850W 80+ Gold, which just means it's fairly energy efficient and has plenty of power for the installed hardware and for future upgrades. Its actual durability remains questionable. If I were buying this PC, I'd definitely replace the PSU with something else before the one-year warranty ran out.

The other off-brand piece is the Nitro-branded CPU air cooler. But as we'll see, it does a decent job of keeping the 9900X cool under load. If you prefer liquid cooling, the 35L case can easily accommodate the extra hardware.

The good news is that the PC is otherwise well put together and uses standard components that you can buy yourself for upgrades and repairs. No wacky motherboard designs. No off-brand GPUs. No sketchy memory.

Acer uses Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-6000 RGB RAM here in a dual-channel config, the RTX 5070 is a standard Gigabyte WindForce option, and the M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is from Lexar.

Now, there's no guarantee that these exact same components will be used in your model, but I did run some benchmarks to see how the specific parts in my review unit perform. More on that below.

A case for RGB lovers ... with plenty of snazzy glass

Rounded cases seem to be coming into style lately, and the Nitro 65's custom 35L tower is quite attractive. Tempered glass runs from the front to the back along two sides, rounded at the corners. Just below the glass is an embedded RGB strip that diffuses light. It's completely customizable and syncs up with the rest of the lighting.

The other RGB lives in the two main intake fans, the RAM, the CPU cooler fan, and the single exhaust fan. It's more than enough for me, and I appreciate that it can be turned off entirely if not customized to your liking.

Front I/O includes dual USB-A 3.2 (Gen 1) and a single USB-C 3.2 (Gen 1) port, all running at 5Gbps. There's also a 3.5mm audio jack next to the power button. It would be nice to have 10Gbps ports here, but it's not a dealbreaker. The rear I/O is, like a normal PC, dependent on the motherboard and GPU.

Something I love is the inclusion of a magnetic dust cover on the top of the PC. It'd come in most handy with an AiO, but I appreciate it here anyway. The side intake fans have a dual-screen setup — one directly behind the fans and another on the back panel — while the PSU has its own dust cover on the bottom.

These small additions help keep dust out of your PC, and because they're removable, they're much easier to clean than something fixed.

Some pre-built PCs skimp on connectivity, but not here. The Gigabyte motherboard offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 for cutting-edge wireless, and there's a 2.5Gb Ethernet port to handle wired connections.

How is the Nitro 65's cable management and assembly?

The Nitro 65 comes packed with expanding foam around the CPU cooler and GPU, with an extra foam insert around the GPU to keep it stable; it otherwise has no additional support.

There are no evident problems with assembly, and because it's packed in so tightly, I made no adjustments before booting the PC for the first time.

Pulling off the back panel reveals rather tidy cable management. Zip ties are used, so you'll likely need to clip and replace those if you decide to make some internal changes, but there are a couple of Velcro strips thrown in around the main channels.

Because the PSU isn't modular, there's some snarl below the internal riser, but it's not visible from the front.

As for the visible cabling, it's all properly installed with no extra slack that could block airflow. The GPU power cable has its own exit in the PSU riser, and plenty of cutouts around the motherboard should make for easy upgrades in the future.

Overall, it's a clean look behind the glass, and the cabling that's hidden is actually a lot better than I was expecting.

The Nitro 65 keeps cool under pressure

The Nitro 65 has some solid performance hardware inside, and I'm happy to report it keeps its cool under load. The two intake fans point toward the side of the case, but the rounded front glass helps curve that air toward the back.

I ran a Speed Way stress test on components first with the side glass panel removed. The CPU was able to remain between about 60.8 and 61.6 degrees Celsius, while the GPU sat at about 68 to 70 degrees. It came out to 99.2% frame stability.

With the glass panel back in place, I reran the same test. CPU temps climbed to roughly 63 to 65 degrees Celsius, while the GPU hit about 70 to 72 degrees. That's an expected rise, and it's not out of the ordinary. Frame stability fell slightly to 98.8%.

One note on the CPU cooler: the single fan gets a bit louder than I'd like when it's under load, but it seems to even off with sustained effort. Still, it'd be better if Acer used an AiO liquid cooler here as the standard.

Does Acer's Nitro 65 perform as expected?

I'm focusing less on performance here since the PC uses standard components. The RTX 5070 and the Ryzen 9 9900X perform just like they should.

Here are some benchmarks so you can see how the hardware compares to other stuff we've recently tested.

Note that I've included two Ryzen 9 9900X scores in one graph. The higher score comes from testing we did on an open test bench using an NZXT Kraken AiO liquid cooler. That could explain some of the multi-core performance difference.

As for the Lexar GPU, it reached 6,052MB/s read and 5,063MB/s write speeds in my testing. These aren't the fastest speeds ever for a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD, but they're perfectly acceptable for gaming.

I found this PC to load everything quite quickly, no doubt aided by 32GB of DDR5 RAM. I'm also happy to see that there's a minimum of bloatware on the PC, arriving with a rather clean version of Windows 11 Home.

Should you buy the Acer Nitro 65?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're in search of a capable mid-size gaming desktop with decent cooling and strong performance.

✅ You're a fan of RGB lighting.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You'd rather save a bit of money and build your own system.

❌ You'd rather take your games on the go with a laptop or handheld.

Acer's Nitro 65 impressed me in more ways than one. The custom case is gorgeous, especially with that rounded glass front, and it has lots of room inside for future upgrades. The diffused RGB strip around the case adds some flair.

Assembly and cable management are, I'd say, above average for a pre-built, and Acer using standard parts (other than the PSU) is a definite boon for those who like to keep their PC running as long as possible.

👉 Best Desktop PCs of 2026: Our top-rated pre-builts for gaming, work, and home use

Extra touches like removable dust screens, internal RGB lighting, and magnetic panel clasps don't go unnoticed.

Bottom line? If you'd rather not build your own gaming PC, Acer's Nitro 65 is something I recommend. It won't cost much more than buying the parts yourself, and it arrives ready to go as soon as it's unboxed. Acer even tosses in an RGB keyboard and mouse to get you started.

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I imagine that Sony knew its recent announcement that it's ending physical disc production in 2028 would cause backlash, but not likely to this extent. Indeed, the amount of pushback from gamers and game historians is astounding, and the debate is spilling out into adjacent communities.

Browsing the r/pcmasterrace subreddit last night, I came across one thread basically asking "what the point of a console is becoming" now that Sony is going digital-only and Xbox might not be far behind.

That's an excellent question, and one that I've also been pondering for some time. If consoles no longer have a physical library of media that can be owned, shared, and resold, what's the main appeal?

A mid-range PC-esque device that's locked down to one store? That requires subscription fees just to play online? Running software you can't control? Sounds fun!

I know, I'm not exactly being fair to consoles. As the top reply to OP's subreddit question about the point of consoles, it's "ease of use and low barrier to entry" that remain the selling points of Xbox and PlayStation.

Those are good points, but the foundation on which they're built is also quickly eroding.

Microsoft's Xbox Mode for Windows 11 effectively turns your PC into a console experience, exactly as the name suggests. SteamOS, Valve's custom Linux effort that runs on the Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and increasingly other devices, is as smooth as any console UI I've used.

Next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony won't likely be affordable, at least not in the traditional sense. Nearly all components that make up a "PC" are far more expensive than they used to be, and the crisis isn't likely to see any easing AT ALL until early 2028, never mind a complete return to normal.

Unless something miraculous happens, I can't imagine next-gen consoles launching for less than $1,000. You might be effectively paying PC prices for console problems like license revocations, store closures (in the case of PS3 and PS Vita), and other overarching issues with game preservation.

The Steam Machine is pricey, but the perks are worth it

The running joke in the PC gaming community is that we'll spend anything just to keep playing, and there's definitely some truth in that. This willingness to spend has kept the PC market going through recent rough times, and it's why it feels like Valve gets a bit of a pass when it comes to the Steam Machine's pricing.

Launching at $1,049 for the base model, it's a refined gaming PC that offers a console-like experience for the living room. Valve straight out said the price is caused by component shortages and a lack of subsidies that are found in the console market, and it still sold out immediately.

Free online multiplayer. Access to any storefront you want. Deep sales on games, old and new. Freedom to use the device as a regular PC. Excellent emulation abilities to play old games. I could go on, but I'm sure you see the perks of a PC compared to a console.

It's no wonder that the Steam Machine has already spawned a new market of $1,000-ish compact gaming PCs and custom SFF projects. There's a real audience for this sort of thing, and I expect it will only continue to grow as jaded console gamers make their exit.

Even if you dislike Steam for its own digital ownership rules (or lack thereof), other PC game stores like GOG make it clear that you own whatever you buy, forever. Besides, there are plenty of ways to get your Steam games working without Steam.

And although Xbox is much more geared toward game preservation than PlayStation, it's still not on the same level as PC. The reality is that digital ownership on PC is not the same as digital ownership on console.

Is this the beginning of the end for the console market?

I understand that there's a lot of anger right now regarding game preservation and the overall state of the console market. There are probably going to be a lot of console gamers making a switch to PC in the near future.

However, that doesn't mean I think the console market is going anywhere anytime soon. Sony and Xbox are going to sell a ton of consoles between now and the next generation, and whenever that next gen arrives, it had better be an incredible piece of hardware with some can't-miss exclusives that draw gamers in.

Xbox has already signaled that its next device will be more like a Windows 11 gaming PC than ever before, capable of handling Xbox games, legacy games, and PC software.

I think that's the right move forward, but whether it can actually pull it off remains to be seen. Many will claim that exclusives are still the point of consoles, but if Project Helix is "like a PC," how exclusive will those games really be?

When the physical disc market disappears, and console exclusives increasingly end up on PC anyway, the argument for buying a closed box rather than an open box gets tougher to make.

Why buy a device that will only work while a corporation keeps the servers running? Who wouldn't want to own something you can build, upgrade, and keep going as long as you'd like?

Am I way off the mark here? Am I overlooking other perks of consoles not mentioned here? Let me know in the comments section below!

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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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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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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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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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Xbox looks likely to follow PC gaming by doing away with physical media, and Sony is already taking heat for its plans to stop PlayStation disc production by 2028. Whether or not Microsoft's next-gen, PC-like "Project Helix" console ships with some kind of external disc drive option is up for debate, but we know that Xbox executives are rethinking their strategy around production and shipping, mostly thanks to the unending RAM crisis affecting Xbox console prices.

An understandable knee-jerk reaction across social media has been to quiz PC gamers on why they're comfortable with Steam's approach to digital-only game sales and its implied digital rights management, even if the executable DRM wrapper in Steam is apparently optional. Plus, the popular, if runner-up, GOG maintains its stance on DRM-free digital ownership, though it relies on a proactive backup mentality from buyers.

However, regardless of how any retailer pitches itself as supposedly being on the side of consumers, there's no denying that there's a scary implication for the future of gaming, whether that's on Windows PCs or whatever hybrid consoles come next. Sony already plans to close its digital PS3 and PS Vita store, and has withdrawn ownership of digitally purchased movies for UK gamers, due to "content licensing agreements".

The slow, miserable death of ownership

There's understandable pushback from some gamers, who ask whether physical discs serve a purpose in 2026, with many questioning whether their peers have even bought a game outside digital stores in the last few years. However, our own readers say they'll "miss buying physical games", and I'm firmly in the same boat. Still, the status quo is seemingly shifting to digital purchases (or rentable licenses, depending on who you ask), whether we like it or not.

Besides the obvious benefit of allowing a friend or family member to borrow your games with ease — something Sony is also suffering criticism for on social media, given its previous tongue-in-cheek video response to Xbox's stance at the time — other elements of physical media now feel stranger in their absence as time goes on. Midnight launches, quirky in-box booklets, and money-saving second-hand sales are relics of the past.

At the risk of sounding like a budding applicant for a nursing home, midnight launches were a huge part of the hype surrounding games. Sure, they've been irrelevant for a few years already, but the FOMO effect of seeing hundreds of people queuing to buy a game even piqued my interest in some that I previously had no real desire to play, now replaced by refreshing web browsers to pre-order a digital GTA 6 code for $100.

Even today, after picking up a Switch 2, I'm borrowing Switch 1 cartridges from friends to catch up on Nintendo's modern era, spending a grand total of zero dollars on second-hand titles. Now, as the company moves towards Virtual Game Cards, it feels like this will likely be the last generation that lets me borrow games. Sorry to all the younger siblings out there, but you'll need to buy your own copies — no more hand-me-down goldmines.

Frankly, I rarely even spend the full amount on PC games, opting instead for discounted CD keys from Loaded or somewhere similar. I'm so regularly frustrated when I see pre-owned boxed games grow cheaper — depending on their rarity — while some digital copies remain expensive. From now on, we can only hope for sales events and pray the platform owners never shut down and take our licenses away.

Are you concerned with the disappearance of physical game discs, or are you fine with digital ownership — perhaps as long as there's a plan in place to transfer licenses in the future? I'm interested in takes from both sides, and the justifications for anything in between. Let me know in the comments, because it's certainly a turbulent time for gamers, no matter what opinion you hold.

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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 IV launches on September 16, 2026, for PC via Steam.

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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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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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I, like I'm sure many others were, wanted Valve's Steam Machine to hit the market at a price that shook up the old console space, but at over $1,000 it certainly won’t be doing that.

I'll admit, it's not Valve's fault that it hasn't. Companies like Microsoft and others have contributed to what I can only describe as an absolute f**kery of the memory industry, pushing prices to levels that analysts increasingly believe may never return to normal.

To be fair, though, we're not really here to talk about that. Instead, we're here to discuss the Steam Machine. While Valve initially marketed it as a 4K60 gaming machine, the company has now quietly removed those claims from the product listing page, replacing them with the far softer promise of "Up to 4K gaming with FSR 4.1, thanks to a discrete semi-custom AMD desktop-class CPU and GPU."

Previously the page stated the following:

"4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR, thanks to a discrete, semi-custom AMD desktop-class CPU and GPU."

I'm actually quite impressed by Valve's Steam Machine, but its 4K60fps claims were certainly short-lived once reviewers got their hands on it. Admittedly, Valve always advertised that 4K60 would be achieved with FSR, so it's not as though the company committed some cardinal sin of false advertising, more so they stretched the truth by a noticeable margin.

Based on hands-on testing from reviewers, the Steam Machine appears to have fallen quite a way short of consistently delivering that 4K60 target, even with FSR enabled.

It is, however, nice to see Valve mention FSR 4.1, which I believe is new? Don't quote me on that though. FSR4 is something I covered recently, as many people, myself included, hoped Valve's reference to it in a backend update meant it would eventually come to devices like the Steam Deck, giving its already aging hardware a little more life.

I won't be getting a Steam Machine, at least not until it reaches a price I think it deserves, around $500. At this rate, that might not happen for another decade, and I'll be pushing 40 by then, which is a slightly depressing thought.

But enough about me. What do you think about Valve quietly dropping its 4K60 claim? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and don't forget to take part in our poll!

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In a new report from GameFile, it was revealed that Xbox had been funding 1666: Amsterdam, a new game from the lead creator of Assassin's Creed, Patrice Désilets. However, in a story I'm sure we're all too familiar with, Microsoft reportedly pulled funding, similar to reports surrounding John Romero's game, where Xbox had reportedly met with Romero just a day before deciding to cancel funding.

For those out of the loop, 1666: Amsterdam is still coming out, and it's shaping up to be a story-driven, third-person action adventure spanning multiple time periods. You can even play as a cat, which I can imagine my girlfriend being quite into, considering we have three ourselves.

The game also currently has a 30-minute demo available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. From what I could gather, though, reception to the demo has been a bit mixed online. Interestingly, on release, the game is currently only coming to PC, though I assume consoles will come later; whether that includes Xbox or not is a mystery.

It's hard to say whether Xbox funding and publishing this game would've paid off. The game isn't out yet, and Xbox is currently undergoing a plethora of changes since Asha Sharma became CEO. As I'm sure we're all aware, her first 100 days were largely about scoring wins with fans.

However, the 100 days after that seem as though they may be far bleaker, with a major restructuring looming on the horizon. The results of that restructuring are still unknown, but that hasn't stopped negative rumors from swirling around Xbox, with some being disproven rather quickly. However, it feels like the wave of negativity around Xbox is stronger than ever.

Back to 1666: Amsterdam, though. It'll ultimately be a wait-and-see situation as to whether Xbox made the right decision to pull funding. Given the mixed reception to the demo, they may have made the right call, but it's still a shame to see what feels like a genuine passion project lose backing from what is, ultimately, a company worth trillions.

But let me know your thoughts. Are you excited for 1666: Amsterdam? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Thanks to the rise of AI and its insatiable hunger for all the silicon its manufacturers can get their hands on, the last several months have been very rough for the tech industry and any consumer interested in purchasing new electronics. Ongoing RAM and shortage shortages show no signs of recovery any time soon, with prices continuing to rise and supply continuing to fall.

Gaming is one of many verticals that's been hit hard by the hardware crisis, with Microsoft recently announcing huge Xbox console price hikes that go into effect in August and Valve debuting the Steam Machine with a controversial $1,000+ price tag that was set with current market conditions in mind.

Naturally, many have wondered if PlayStation maker Sony also plans to raise the cost of its PS5 consoles soon — and interestingly, according to an answer from a recent Q&A session within the company, it sounds like a price increase may be in consideration.

"First, we regard hardware as the base for providing the gaming experience, and by offering products such as the PlayStation Portal Remote Player (PS Portal), we aim to provide experiences tailored to users’ play styles beyond the living room, which has traditionally been considered the primary usage environment," Sony replied to a question about hardware prioritization and profitability moving forward.

"As for pricing, it is not realistic for us to absorb all component cost increases, and we have already implemented some price increases outside Japan," the firm continued. "At present, however, sales are proceeding as planned, and we do not believe this has led to a decline in customer demand."

The key takeaway here is that Sony doesn't "intend to sell hardware at significant losses," which suggests that it might follow in Microsoft's and Valve's footsteps by raising the price of PlayStation consoles to offset the ballooning costs of RAM and storage.

"As a principle, we do not intend to sell hardware at significant losses. At the same time, we are carefully monitoring the market and continuing to evaluate our approach," it added. "We believe it is important for us to make every effort to ensure that customers fully understand the value we provide in relation to pricing."

It's worth noting that as Sony mentioned, it's already given the PS5 a price hike once this year, and clearly doesn't want to make them more expensive again. That being said, if component costs continue to become more and more untenable, it may not have a choice if it wants to avoid "significant losses."

All in all, right now is just a bad, bad time for tech hardware, whether you're looking to buy devices or market and sell them to the masses. I don't envy console makers like Microsoft and Sony right now...even if it's not lost on me that these companies have contributed to the problem by helping to fuel the push for AI.

I fear the business has some dark years ahead of it, and that we'll see next-gen consoles like Xbox's Project Helix and the PS6 retail for over $1,000 like the Steam Machine has. I can only hope that won't be true, but according to analyst Joost van Dreunen, "north of a grand is the floor." My hopes aren't exactly high.

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In what I can only assume is one of the first of many similar projects, a 3D-printed Steam Machine clone is making the rounds online. The custom gaming PC comes from Jacob Terkelsen, an AMD AI GPU engineer who recently posted his personal creation on X.

The Terk Box v1.1, as it's known, is a compact mini-ITX build that uses a custom 3D-printed case that you, too, can download and try out if you're so inclined. It's available on Printables alongside a parts list, which was created by a user named 3DCatt.

The custom chassis measures 167mm x 168mm x 225mm (6.5 x 6.6 x 8.8 inches), which puts it very close to the Steam Machine's dimensions. According to the parts list, the custom gaming PC uses a mini-ITX motherboard with a 400W FlexATX power supply unit (PSU).

It's unclear exactly what performance hardware and cooling solution was used for the build, but, as Terkelsen points out, additional ventilation had to be added to the back of the custom PC to keep the RTX 5060 GPU from thermal throttling.

Terkelsen notes that he's working with 3DCatt to improve the design, so it's highly likely that this neat little project will continue to evolve over time.

Considering the Steam Machine's custom AMD GPU with 8GB of VRAM can be lined up with an RTX 3060, the RTX 5060 in the Terk Box represents a rather huge performance uplift. However, it's not all sunny days.

Steam Machine or a custom PC? It might be harder to choose than you think

Since Terkelsen's tweet has been receiving a lot of attention, he returned to add some context about the overall project.

He notes that the cost of this custom Steam Machine is "nowhere close to $1000," which refers to the $1,049 price that Valve set for its new PC. He adds, "People fail to grasp how difficult SFF builds are..."

Terkelsen also clearly states that he recommends "the fully-engineered solution Valve has designed, from the software to the mechanical design."

It's not hard to see why. The Terk Box v1.1 is an interesting project that enthusiasts will get a kick out of, while the Steam Machine is a commercial product that underwent years of revisions and careful tuning. It arrives ready to play, no assembly required.

The worst part, and one that reflects the overall state of the PC component market, is that even a custom build like this costs a lot of money.

One last thing — the Terk Box v1.1 runs on Windows 11 with Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE). In reply to some comments, Terkelsen says that "Linux is far better these days, and this build would support Bazzite or CachyOS." Let me know in the comments section below if you agree.

Valve's SteamOS so far only works with AMD GPUs, but Valve has publicly stated that it's working with NVIDIA to bring support to RTX GPUs.

It's clear that we're in the early days of Steam Machine knockoffs, and I expect there to be plenty more arriving in the near future.

(via Hackaday)

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If, by some miracle, you've been living on the moon in a soundproof dome for the last six months, you may not have noticed that gaming hardware has grown extremely expensive, making the hobby a mostly miserable affair for all involved. We first called it the RAM crisis, but the sad reality is that it's now spilling over into storage, and experts are predicting a grim future.

It's shredding PC gaming, as Valve's much-anticipated Steam Machine launched at over $1,000 for its cheapest model — a higher price than most might have expected — with its creators explaining that it "reflects the state of the world". Consumers are flanked at every turn, as anyone planning to buy older generations of memory sees that DDR4 and even DDR3 prices are going up.

It's easy to point fingers at Microsoft, given its undeniable, if somewhat retracted, obsession with AI, whether that's Copilot in Windows or an implementation across its Azure cloud stack. And let's be honest, it's not without irony that XBOX CEO Asha Sharma said that "gaming is becoming unaffordable" just before the brand announced a price increase on its consoles.

Sure enough, Xbox's Matthew Ball agrees that "crisis is the right term", and the effects of expensive RAM will undoubtedly be felt in the lead-up to its next-gen Project Helix console — which supposedly behaves more like a gaming PC — and who knows what its launch price might look like (over a thousand dollars?) In fact, hardware pivots are already appearing in Microsoft's PC hardware, as the Surface Laptop returns with 8GB of RAM to keep costs down.

I know, I'm hardly a beacon of good news or hopeful visions of the future, but this AI bubble will presumably break at some point, and it's good to take stock of what options we actually have. The usual midsummer onslaught of sales events brought some relief with retailer discounts, and pre-built gaming PCs maintain a hint of value throughout. Still, prospective buyers will have to brace for an inevitable sting if they plan to grab something later this year (or into 2027).

If you're interested in console gaming, you're looking at a minimum of $749.99 for a digital Xbox Series X — that's the one without a disc drive — or $499.99 for a similarly discless (and less powerful) Xbox Series S. On Sony's side, a PS5 Pro is now $899.99, or at least $599.99 for a digital base PS5. That's without any games, by the way, and Grand Theft Auto VI recently confirmed a $99 price tag for a code of its Ultimate Edition with all in-game content intact.

Gamers at large are already expected to spend close to $1,000 just to get started. The entire situation is absurd and unfair, but it puts the price of handhelds like MSI's $1,799 Claw 8 EX AI+ into perspective; that's just how much this kind of ultra-enthusiast hardware costs now. The whole thing reminds me of a bygone era of crypto mining that drove up GPU prices, but this time, it's bigger and even more insulting.

So, what are you supposed to do? You can penny-pinch your way through buying discounted and second-hand hardware, or you can submit to a future of subscription-based gaming streamed from the cloud. If you don't already own an Xbox, I'd suggest picking one up before the price increase happens in August, but that's about all you can do. Stay strong, gamers.

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In case you didn't notice (I'm joking, because you definitely did), PC gaming has become a painfully expensive hobby. Amazon Prime Day is supposed to help offset that with massive discounts, but does it really count when it brings components back to near-MSRP levels? We take what we can get, I suppose.

Either way, it's difficult to recommend building your own PC from scratch right now. If you've never tried it, the anxiety of handling now-overinflated RAM will surely feel worse than ever — and that's one of the easiest parts to install. On the bright side, iBUYPOWER has some merciful discounts on pre-builts.

A pre-built gaming PC is just easier

Yeah, I might get some pushback from die-hard gaming PC builders, but I don't have any qualms with a pre-built option. I've been there — installing a CPU for the first time, losing my mind about installing thermal paste correctly (just a pea-sized amount, guys), and stressed about RAM profiles alongside other BIOS options. You don't have to do any of it.

Installing and setting up Windows 11 is the same wherever you go, and iBUYPOWER's decision to ship graphics cards (GPUs) separately isn't as intimidating as it looks. They slot in just like an old-school game cartridge and hold in place with a few screws. That's really all there is to it, and each rig comes with clear instructions anyway. I'd know, I tested a Trace X PC earlier this year. Treat yourself, PC gaming is the best.

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A couple of days ago, I wrote an article about how researchers discovered an "AI stigma" affecting Steam games that disclose the use of AI during development. For me, the most shocking piece of data revealed that established studios with a positive track record see a "catastrophic" 40% to 60% drop in sales when they use AI.

This stat, as well as others proposed in the research by Ross Burton at Game Oracle, raised a big question that our readers have been discussing in the original post's comment section: Is the perceived AI stigma warranted?

Now, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who has never been shy about targeting competing PC games storefront Steam, has waded into the same debate.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Sweeney offered his opinion about Valve's AI disclosure policy. As Sweeney sees it, these disclosures are a "Scarlet Letter" that results in a "hater community trying to kill the game."

It's a rather harsh comparison, but I'm finding it hard to disagree.

Epic's CEO makes some good points about Steam's AI disclosure policy

Let me preface this: Epic Games does not have a strict AI disclosure policy on games that it sells.

As Sweeney explains, his specific grievance with Steam's AI disclosure policy is that developers who want maximum visibility for their game are essentially required to list it on Steam, such is the power and visibility of Valve's storefront.

When that game is listed on Steam, any AI used during development must be disclosed and displayed on the game's Steam page. As noted, Sweeney sees this as something that can lead to sabotage by those opposed to AI.

Sweeney explains that this method is "irresponsible of Valve" and that "it makes it much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success." Developers are essentially stuck in between two poor choices: not using tools that speed up productivity or using tools that result is a stigma against your product.

The choice that Sweeney highlights here is exactly what the Game Oracle research piece set out to uncover. Sweeney isn't defending AI just because he likes AI. He's defending its use by smaller studios that wouldn't otherwise be able to survive.

The Fortnite example explains a lot

Sweeney unsurprisingly understands that some games fail just because they're junk. Like the Game Oracle study, he posits that it's becoming ever more difficult for developers to compete with massive studios that have seemingly unending budgets.

AI tools are perceived as a "great equalizer" in this case, and without them, Sweeney predicts a future where those smaller studios simply die off without receiving aid from AI. "There will always be the exceptions," says Sweeney, but it's the economics of the gaming market that are driving his thoughts.

Oversimplification of how AI is used isn't helping developers

Sweeney definitely knows how games get made, and he notes that a lot of what developers do all day can be considered "drudge work." He notes that at Epic Games, the most useful implementation of AI is to offload those types of tasks, leaving time for more important software and creative development.

This is where there's a noticeable gap between developers and gamers. Sweeney acknowledges that there's some legitimate anger about AI stemming from bad practices early on.

Larian, the studio behind Baldur's Gate 3, is used as an example of how this situation can play out.

Larian was using AI to eliminate drudge work and to create early concepts, but gamers largely didn't accept the nuance. They saw AI, they cried foul, and Larian immediately backtracked.

Do I care if a studio creating games as good as Larian does uses AI to speed up productivity in the early stages of development? Not really. Let me know in the comments below if you disagree.

Epic's CEO has his own stake in AI development

I think Sweeney gets a lot right in this interview, especially surrounding the economic asymmetry that many studios have to overcome by using AI. I'm also on board with the idea that AI disclosure often harms the studios that can least afford a failure.

It's well worth noting that there's some background tension regarding Sweeney and AI. Unreal Engine, which is an Epic product, is used by countless studios. Unreal Engine 6, the latest version, includes deep AI integration, and those AI tools are being pitched to any developer who will listen.

Bottom line? The more accepted AI is in game development, the better off Sweeney's UE6 will do.

My final thoughts on AI use in game development

I honestly can't say if Steam's forced AI disclosures are the correct way forward. I value transparency, and in the current climate, I can imagine a ton of AI witch hunts happening if there wasn't a place where you could reliably check if AI was used.

Sweeney makes good points about AI's reputation problem and how AI disclosures mark certain games for failure, and I wonder if clearer information about how AI is used would help at all.

Let me know what you think about the AI disclosure situation. Is it hurting games that would otherwise be a huge success? Is it rightfully causing pushback against games? Sound off in the comments section below!

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On Thursday morning, bad news that many were fearing unfortunately came to pass, with Destiny 2 and Marathon developer Bungie hit by major layoffs from PlayStation maker Sony, its publisher.

The cuts have affected "a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members." Additionally, it's been confirmed that some Sony workers that assist Bungie have been impacted by the workforce reductions as well.

Though the layoffs were, sadly, somewhat expected — Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2's live-service development last month, and it was recently reported that the developer would soon be struck with "significant" cuts — they're no less devastating for the studio's staff, and represent a large cutback of its resources from Sony.

Notably, separate from Sony CEO Hermen Hulst's memo to his employees on the matter, Bungie itself has also publicly shared a letter about the news to its fans and staff members, both former and current. I've embedded the post below, and the text of the letter has been included below that:

With great sadness, we are announcing a reduction in force as we reorganize Bungie.

As the leaders of Bungie, past and present, we recognize Destiny 2 fell short of expectations these past several years. Following our final content update to Destiny 2, and with our future projects still in early incubation, we unfortunately could not continue operating at our previous size.

We know this decision has a profound impact on the people affected, their families, friends, and teammates. While these changes are necessary to best position the studio now and for the future, that does not lessen the difficulty of this moment or the impact it has on those affected.

Later, we will share more about that future with you all but today is not that day.

Today, we wish to extend our gratitude and compassion to every member of the Bungie team who has been impacted and to those who remain.

We hope you will do the same.

— Bungie

This is the third and largest wave of layoffs that Bungie has faced after being acquired by Sony in 2022, with the studio also hit in October 2023 as well as in July 2024. At the time, 155 employees were shifted from the developer's workforce to Sony's as well.

The letter directly references Destiny 2's gradual decline throughout the last several years, which is all but assured to be the primary reason for the cuts we've seen. It's worth noting that recently, former Bungie and Destiny 2 community manager Liana Ruppert asserted that "A lot of money didn't go into Destiny" due to leadership "greed," leading to a lack of valuable resources for the game's development.

She then reported the lack of adequate funding became so severe that the merger between Bungie and Sony was done as an "emergency acquisition," and that if the PlayStation publisher hadn't absorbed the studio, it would have been "very close to shutting its doors."

We may never know the exact truth of what's happened at Bungie, but one thing is clear: the studio's last few years have been quite tumultuous, and sadly, its employees have suffered as a consequence.

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Original article: Just over a week after it was reported that Bungie — the developer of the 2017 live-service shooter Destiny 2 and this year's extraction shooter Marathon — would soon face "significant" layoffs, major cuts at the studio have now come, having been announced by Sony CEO Hermen Hulst.

Hulst revealed the news in a letter to Sony employees that was also published publicly, writing that the layoffs have impacted "a significant number of employees, including most of the Destiny team and some Marathon team members." Sony teams tasked with supporting Bungie have also been affected.

He went on to explain that "This decision was made only after extensive discussion and careful consideration," and that Sony worked with Bungie's leadership to evaluate its long-term plans, resource demands, and place within the PlayStation portfolio "before concluding that a reduction was necessary to align the studio’s resources with its current priorities and long-term goals."

"What Bungie has accomplished with Destiny over the past decade has been truly remarkable," Hulst wrote, of the space fantasy looter shooter's legacy. "The franchise has left a lasting mark on players and the industry, and everyone who contributed to its success should be proud of what they helped create."

He also made a point of mentioning that "Marathon remains an important part of our portfolio, and we will continue to support the team as they build on the strong foundation established in Season 1 and 2, and as they work on incubation efforts for future projects." Though the sci-fi extraction shooter reboot hasn't been a massive hit for Bungie and PlayStation, it does have a passionate and dedicated community of players.

"Our immediate priority is supporting affected employees through this transition. We are providing transition support and, where possible, working to identify opportunities across SIE and our global network of studios," Hulst continued.

"I want to sincerely thank every affected employee for their hard work, creativity, and contributions to Bungie, SIE, and the broader gaming community," he added. "I know today’s news is deeply difficult not only for those leaving, but for those colleagues and friends that remain. Please take the time you need to process this news and support one another."

These cuts come a month after Bungie announced the end of Destiny 2 development would come with its final Monument of Triumph content update on June 9, capping the title's nine-year lifespan. Though fans passionately rallied to try and save the game and get a Destiny 3 greenlit, there's been no sign that they've influenced Sony's plans.

In the weeks that followed, ex-Bungie community manager Liana Ruppert took to social media to claim that "A lot of money didn't go into Destiny" due to leadership "greed," leading to funding issues for the game. It also came to light that Sony's $3.6 billion merger with Bungie in 2022 was also reportedly an "emergency acquisition" that was necessary to keep the studio afloat.

Ultimately, after everything that's happened and come out in the last several weeks, I had a bad feeling that these steep layoffs were inevitable — and now that they've come down, I can't help but be very worried about Bungie's future as a developer. I also want to extend my best wishes to everyone affected at Sony and Bungie. I hope you're able to find new success in the industry or elsewhere as soon as you can.

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