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• Latest news Double Fine's first post‑Xbox project is comedy bus sim Thank You Bus Driver

  Double Fine Productions, the studio founded by Tim Schafer, is developing Thank You Bus Driver, a comedic bus‑driving simulator. This is the studio's first game since it left Xbox, marking a new independent phase for the team. The project signals Double Fine is pursuing smaller, offbeat concepts after its time with Microsoft.

• Latest news Xbox caps cloud streaming at 15 hours for Game Pass Ultimate users

  Xbox has implemented a 15‑hour cap on cloud streaming for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. Microsoft determined that streaming beyond 15 hours per subscriber makes Xbox Cloud Gaming unprofitable, so it introduced the limit. The cap restricts heavy users' access to continuous cloud play and is intended to control operating costs for the service.

• Latest news Hideki Kamiya says he is 100% serious about reviving Scalebound

  Hideki Kamiya, a director at PlatinumGames, says he is 100% serious about bringing back Scalebound. Scalebound is a dragon-focused action game that Microsoft/Xbox canceled in January 2017 after several years of development. Kamiya’s public commitment is a direct confirmation from the game's director that PlatinumGames' leadership is pursuing a return for the previously shelved title.

• Latest news Xbox adds hard monthly limits to paid cloud gaming; extra hours available in Store

  Xbox announced it will impose firm monthly time limits on its paid cloud gaming streaming service beginning in November. Players who reach their monthly cap can purchase additional streaming hours from the Xbox Store. The change enforces explicit monthly streaming allowances for paying customers and provides a paid option to extend playtime.

• Latest news Xbox will cap Game Pass cloud gaming hours in November and sell extra hours

  Microsoft will impose monthly time limits on Xbox Cloud Gaming for Game Pass subscribers starting in November, replacing previously unlimited streaming for eligible users. Caps are tiered by subscription: Ultimate 15 hours, Premium 10 hours, Essential 5 hours, and players who run out must buy additional cloud playtime through the Xbox Store. The change opens cloud purchases to non-Game Pass users, is presented as a cost-saving measure, and is expected to affect about 4% of Game Pass subscribers.

• Latest news Playtest of lo-fi RPG A Short Quest revives Morrowind-era weirdness; full release next year

  A Short Quest held a public playtest that drops players into a small lo-fi first-person RPG world packed with odd, unmarked interactions and emergent encounters. The playtester met talking trees that assign delivery tasks, ponds that demand three jumps for a blueberry, a glyph cipher in a mine, a hostile ghost wizard, a mountain-plank duel, and crafted a staff from a recovered magical ember. The game deliberately omits quest logs and map markers, requiring players to experiment with items and mechanics such as parrying with a broken sword and filling blue squares under the health bar to cast spells. The full game is scheduled for release next year and aims to recapture the goofy, discovery-driven spirit of early Elder Scrolls titles.

• Latest news Xbox caps Game Pass cloud streaming to 5–15 hours monthly and adds paid top-ups

  Microsoft will limit monthly cloud-streaming hours for Game Pass starting in November: 15 hours for Ultimate, 10 hours for Premium and 5 hours for Essential. Subscribers can buy additional hours, and people without Game Pass will be able to purchase cloud playtime through the Xbox Store. The change is intended to contain rising Azure cloud-gaming costs and is expected to affect about 4% of Game Pass subscribers.

• Latest news Metro 2039 revealed: 4A Games returns to a war-torn Moscow in 2039

  4A Games officially revealed Metro 2039 on April 16, 2026 during Xbox First Look. The next entry in the post-apocalyptic shooter series is set in the radioactive husk of Moscow in the year 2039, where survivors have spent 25 years fighting and transforming the Metro into a war machine. Gameplay and story details were shown at the reveal, positioning this as the next major chapter in the Metro franchise.

• Latest news Xbox CEO: AI-driven GPU demand helped push up console prices; Series S now $500

  Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said Microsoft’s push into AI and broader GPU demand have contributed to higher console prices. The cheapest new Xbox, the Series S, now retails for $500 — $200 more than its 2020 launch price — and Sharma says Microsoft must balance performance with efficiency and affordability for the next generation. Microsoft’s upcoming Helix platform may be a family of devices rather than a single console, and the company plans to give players more choice in how they buy and play amid a hardware-component crisis.

• Latest news Xbox CEO won’t confirm whether Project Helix will include a disc drive

  Xbox CEO Asha Sharma declined to confirm whether the company’s next console, codenamed Project Helix, will include a disc drive. The presence or absence of a disc drive determines whether players can use physical game discs and previously purchased discs from older Xbox generations. That decision affects backward compatibility and consumers’ ability to buy, play, and resell physical games.

• Latest news Playground Games and Xbox estimate Fable's main story at 15–20 hours

  Xbox and developer Playground Games estimate the main story of Fable will take about 15–20 hours to complete. The figure is presented as a rough guideline for the game's primary campaign rather than total playtime. This gives players a baseline for expected time investment in a single playthrough of the core narrative.

• Latest news Gamescom demo reveals early combat encounters in new Fable

  At Gamescom, a 30-minute closed-door demo of the new Fable focused exclusively on combat. The early-game quest pairs the player with an NPC named Humphry through an abandoned mine filled with undead skeletons and wraiths, then into a misty bog that ends in a boss fight. The demo demonstrates the game's combat encounters, encounter variety, and pacing for opening sections, highlighting a refined combat system.

• Latest news Gears of War: E-Day adds a Lancer prototype to reconcile Emergence Day lore

  Developer The Coalition inserted a prototype Lancer into Gears of War: E-Day to resolve a lore mismatch that places the iconic chainsaw-equipped weapon one year after Emergence Day. Franchise lore credits Marcus Fenix's father with creating the Lancer a year after E-Day, so the game shows an earlier prototype that ties into those origins. The campaign borrows a creation scene and dialogue from the 2008 novel Gears of War: The Aspho Fields to maintain continuity.

• Latest news Xbox will let players convert physical discs into digital entitlements, rollout Aug 31

  Microsoft will let Xbox users add physical game discs to their digital libraries so the game can be played without the disc. The feature starts rolling out to Xbox Insiders on August 31 and will begin with a few thousand titles. Claimed discs can be played via Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming with cloud saves; the physical disc remains usable and the claim can be revoked by the disc owner. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced the change on X, where the announcement drew large public engagement.

• Latest news Xbox's Asha Sharma urges industry to improve console affordability and choice

  Xbox head Asha Sharma said the games industry must innovate on affordability and efficiency as component prices balloon. She reinforced expectations that Microsoft may take a different approach with the next generation of consoles and called for more choice for console buyers. The push matters because rising component costs risk higher retail prices and reduced accessibility for consumers.

• Latest news Xbox to let players digitise 1,000 physical Xbox One and Series X games

  Xbox announced a disc-to-digital feature that converts physical Xbox One and Series X game discs into digital licenses. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the system will initially support 1,000 titles and that the resulting digital licence moves with the physical disc. This lets the next owner of a disc take advantage of the same disc-to-digital conversion, preserving value for physical game owners.

• Latest news State of Decay 3 to run closed beta before end of 2026; registration open

  Undead Labs will run a closed beta playtest for State of Decay 3 before the end of 2026 and is accepting registrations now. The beta will expand access over time to stress-test the game's largest map and untethered multiplayer. This follows a May alpha that tested four-player co-op, new base-building and resource systems, and comes after Microsoft sold Undead Labs to an undisclosed buyer during its studio reset.

• Latest news Xbox launches disc-to-digital for Xbox One and Series X; license tied to disc

  Microsoft introduced a disc-to-digital system that lets players claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported physical game disc on Xbox One or Xbox Series X. The entitlement provides the same benefits as a digital purchase—play without a disc, Xbox Play Anywhere access, and Xbox Cloud Gaming where offered—while the physical disc still works. The digital license is tied to the specific disc and transfers if the disc is handed to another user; the program covers thousands of games and does not support disc-less consoles like Xbox Series S.

• Latest news Undead Labs to run State of Decay 3 closed beta in 2026 after leaving Xbox

  Undead Labs announced a closed beta for State of Decay 3 scheduled for sometime in 2026. The announcement came weeks after the studio separated from Xbox. The update confirms development will continue under Undead Labs and provides the first public testing timeline since the split.

• Latest news Metro 2039 trailer shows photoreal visuals and raises PC performance concerns

  4A Games released a new Metro 2039 gameplay trailer that highlights photoreal graphics and return-to-form mechanics like gun customization, mask wiping, and stealth kills. The visuals show high-frequency detail and soft lighting that make outdoor scenes look photographic, prompting concerns about whether typical PCs can run the game smoothly amid ongoing hardware shortages. Metro 2039 will be a console title running on Xbox Series S, uses 4A’s proprietary engine, has no release date yet, and a playable demo is available at Gamescom in Germany this week.

• Latest news Gravhounds is a co-op sci-fi colony-builder launching early access Nov 2

  Indie studio Octopus Panic revealed Gravhounds at Gamescom Opening Night Live: a sci-fi action-builder where genetically engineered, doglike humanoids colonize hostile alien worlds. The game supports 1–4 players with both solo and co-op campaigns focused on resource building, upgrades, and combat against alien forces. Gravhounds enters early access on November 2 for PC and Xbox Series X|S and will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass; the early-access period will run at least six months as the developer expands toward version 1.0.

• Latest news Gears of War: E-Day mirrors Xbox 360 trilogy's combat, characters and gore

  Gears of War: E-Day reproduces the original trilogy’s cover-based combat, returning characters and signature weapons in a way that feels like a direct continuation. Marcus Fenix performs classic actions such as roadie-running to cover and using the Lancer’s chainsaw for brutal melee kills. The game emphasizes visceral gore and familiar enemy encounters, preserving the franchise’s tone while offering little visible departure from the 2008-era formula.

• Latest news Asus ROG Ally X20 debuts at $1,300 with 7.4-inch OLED and 24GB RAM

  Preorders for the Asus ROG Ally X20 are open at the Asus online store and Best Buy with a starting price of $1,300. The X20 upgrades the original handheld with a 7.4-inch 1080p OLED 120Hz HDR display, a translucent shell, and higher-end internals including an AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme CPU, 24GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB storage and an 80Wh battery. The steep price reflects higher component costs driven by a global memory shortage and is mirrored by other handheld makers adjusting or pausing sales.

• Latest news Bethesda artist: Microsoft-era brought yearly layoffs, union holds Save Our Devs rally

  Last week the Communications Workers of America and the Bethesda Game Studios OneBGS union held Save Our Devs rallies across the US, Canada and on Twitch to protest layoffs and demand fair first contracts at Microsoft-owned studios. Bethesda artist Alex Nguyen says layoffs began occurring yearly after Microsoft’s acquisition, eroding institutional knowledge and morale when small specialist teams are cut. Nguyen warned that repeated cuts prevent long-term support projects like Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online from maturing into fan favorites. The comments come amid industry upheaval that included about 1,900 layoffs after Xbox’s acquisition of Blizzard and public statements from Xbox leadership about protecting creative teams.

• Latest news Compulsion Games completes management buyout; IP returned and studio independent

  Compulsion Games has completed a management buyout and is independent again, with Microsoft transferring the studio’s original intellectual property back to Compulsion. Studio management acquired the company and its staff as part of the deal. Purchases of South of Midnight made outside the Xbox digital storefront will no longer send revenue to Microsoft, increasing Compulsion’s share of sales. The exit follows Xbox layoffs and closure concerns and lets Compulsion pursue other partnerships freely.

• Latest news Double Fine gains full IP and publishing rights to its Xbox-era games

  Double Fine confirmed it now owns—or will shortly own—the intellectual property and publishing rights for every game it developed during its seven years under Xbox. The ownership change follows the studio's split from Microsoft earlier this year. This transfer gives Double Fine direct control over distribution, sequels and monetization of those titles.

• Latest news Double Fine regains IP and full publishing revenue after leaving Xbox

  Double Fine completed its exit from Xbox and is now an independent studio. The company regained publishing rights and intellectual property for games it developed under Microsoft and receives all revenue when those games sell. The studio will launch an Amnesia Fortnight Kickstarter this month, film the jam as a documentary, and use Kickstarter proceeds plus game revenue to extend its runway while pitching new projects.

• Latest news Compulsion Games completes management buyout and regains IP from Microsoft

  Compulsion Games has left Microsoft after a management-led buyout in which the studio’s management acquired the company and staff and Microsoft transferred Compulsion’s intellectual property back to the studio. Steam now lists Compulsion as the developer and publisher of South of Midnight, so Steam sales revenue for that game will go to Compulsion rather than Xbox. Some developers left after warnings the studio faced closure, but most senior staff stayed and part of the team is already working on an unannounced game begun before the split. Compulsion is meeting potential partners to replace Microsoft’s financial backing.

• Latest news Xbox Insider Update Adds Selective Save Deletion and Home-Screen Controls

  Xbox is rolling out a new console update to Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead Insider rings that adds selective save management, home-screen customization, and improved profile info. Players can view, sort and delete individual local game saves by size, remove Recent Games/App tiles (including Play History), and enable an immersive background mode that hides the UI with a right-thumbstick press. The update also surfaces detailed badge unlock info, awards a Day One badge for Xbox One launch players, and automatically removes purchased games from wishlists, giving users more control over storage and personalization.

• Latest news Former Arkane Leads Open Studio, Blame Live‑service Push and Pandemic for Redfall

  Harvey Smith (Redfall director) and Ben Horne (Redfall producer) left Arkane and founded Black Pony Immersive to make imaginative first‑person action‑RPGs. They say Redfall struggled because the team tried to graft games‑as‑a‑service features like day/night mechanics and character classes onto Arkane’s design during the live‑service boom. COVID‑19, the Great Resignation and remote work disrupted development and contributed to a poorly received launch. Microsoft closed Arkane Austin and laid off the team, but a small group was allowed back to release a 1.4 update that the leads say substantially improved the game.