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Mike Crump (Studio Head at The Coalition) says E-Day will provide a “great foundation" for future games in the series, and insists "the next game will not take nearly as long” to make. via: BBC bbc.com/news/article...

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Gears of War: E-Day off to a pretty good start on XBOX “According to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker it ranked 4th in Xbox global players on October 6th (behind only Fortnite, Roblox and NBA 2K27). The average Xbox player ran the game for over 200 minutes on that day.” via: Mat Piscatella

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• Microsoft also plans to simplify Xbox’s publishing tools and APIs to make it easier for developers to release and manage games across the Xbox ecosystem. • Sharma stressed that Xbox will continue investing in other PC storefronts, including Steam, as long as they reach distinct audiences.

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its user retention is “nearly as good as Steam’s retention.” • Sharma said Microsoft wants to support Battle net “the right way” for its existing community while bringing more first-party and select third-party games to the platform. The Witcher 3 is currently the first major third-party addition.

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 21h

Inside Microsoft's plan to boost Xbox and Battlenet on PC, with more support for 3rd-party publishers, eased cert rules for games, more polish on the back end • Xbox plans to invest more heavily in Battle net as a PC platform, with Sharma saying via: Jez Corden windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/...

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Games Leaving XBOX Game Pass on October 15 • A Plague Tale: Requiem • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 • Crime Scene Cleaner • Donut County • Evil West • Nova Roma (Game Preview) • Pacific Drive • Superball • The Casting of Frank Stone news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/1...

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 21h

New Games coming to XBOX Game Pass Ultimate: • Echo Weaver (9/8) • Forever Ago (10/8) • Battlefield 6 (10/13) • Deep Dish Dungeon (10/13) • Valor Mortis (10/13) • Bluey’s Happy Snaps (10/15) • Chained Beasts (10/15) Premium: • Neon Abyss 2 (10/8) PC: • Beyond These Stars (10/15)

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 21h

Warner Bros. Games Studios and Paramount Games Studio are merging into one unit as part of the Skydance acquisition

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 23h

• This date confirms Tom Warren's information and contradicts the official Xbox communication, which was still aiming for 2026. • The official announcement should arrive this week, with pre-orders opening shortly thereafter. The Verge: www.theverge.com/news/1006650...

theverge.com

Forza Horizon 6 reportedly arriving on PS5 in January.

I reported last month that Microsoft was planning to delay the release of Forza Horizon 6 on PS5 to early 2027. Dealabs now reports that the game will release on January 26th, a date I’ve also been he...

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 23h

RUMOR | Forza Horizon 6 (PS5) releases on January 26, 2027 • The game will also be released in a physical version (on disc), on the same date as the digital version. • It will be sold for €69.99 in Europe and £59.99 in the UK, the same price as on Xbox Series Via: www.dealabs.com/magazine/for...

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Idle Sloth @idlesloth.bsky.social · 23h

Mafia II: Definitive Edition & Mafia III: Definitive Edition are ESRB rated for Xbox Series X|S and PS5 Mafia II: www.esrb.org/ratings/4142... Mafia III: www.esrb.org/ratings/4138...

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UPDATE | Gears of War E-Day has achieved all time peak of over 31K players on Steam Surpassing Multiplayer Beta all time peak of 22K, and E-Day's Early Access all time peak of 20K

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LEAKED | Resident Evil: Requiem writer Haris Orkin accidentally revealed a upcoming story DLC “We have an arc for Spencer in Requiem. They kind of you understand that more and in the DLC for Requiem, you will understand it even further. So yeah! I probably shouldn’t say that, but yeah.”

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Gears of War: E-Day is No. 1 Top Seller on Steam Steamdb: steamdb.info/stats/global...

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• Xbox Game Studios was fantastic. We've had like a 15-year partnership with Microsoft. We'll continue to have, I think, a close relationship with Xbox and proud to to count them as a partner. The people inside of that organization were great. I learned a ton. I always felt supported.

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• “we're something like 25 million franchise players now” • “Our team sitting in Seattle, Washington, we're in in one of the most expensive places in the world to make video games.” • Reducing costs “by supplementing an internal team of experts with great teams from around the world.”

• “Just we wouldn't have achieved any kind of scale. [...] I think even today we've got several thousand people coming through the front door every day.” • “Half of our monthly active users have been in the game for close to two years and a quarter have been in the game for more than five.”

• SOD3 was revealed early because of concern that the studio might have got “swallowed up or divested before we had a chance to present to the world what we were working on.” • “I don't know that we'd be in the place that we are today if not for the Game Pass audience.”

to share as much as he could, he wanted people to be prepared. • SOD2 had 38 updates, most of the updates pushed out ended up being experiments and really informed design for SOD3. • Undead Labs had a small team on the game since the maybe 2020, but development really picked up until around 2022/23

• Currently in the process of issuing stock options to all employees • Undead Labs have signed with a unnamed publisher, rather than bringing in investors. • Holt is excited about existing to serve an audience. • Philp was very transparent about layoffs and going independent with the team. He tried

Philip Holt | Studio Head of Undead Labs | Interview • Reports of Philip being the buyer of Undead Labs are not really true, some of the team created a company (Full Measure) to acquire Undead Labs. That company has several shareholders that are all employees youtube.com/watch?v=mwwJ...

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Ubisoft Massive is developing a new game on Snowdrop Engine with heavy emphasis on physics-based destruction and environmental interaction The info comes from job listings. Massive Entertainment is working on an unannounced title in addition to The Division 3 cheathappens.com/ubisoft_deve...

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Nobody at the studio has anything to do with the game Activision is making and knows nothing about it.”

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but it's unclear what might have to be cut or changed. It will be a significant effort for the few remaining employees as entire development teams are gone.” His source says “It sounds like the remaining team and Pierre have no contact with Activision.

evolved update. I'm told a small group has been working on a content update that includes Firefight and Theater modes. I'm also told the plan is to release the content update in December, but plans could change because of the layoffs.” “The top priority is to still release the update in December,

not part of Activision, and there is no current plan to shift any of them over.” “A small team at Halo Studios will continue supporting the Halo community and games in-market.” “Matt Booty told the remaining Halo Studio staff that their priorities are handling Halo Fest and shipping a campaign

Xbox's Final Plan For Halo Studios! “So far, not one single Halo Studios person has gone to Activision. Several leadership people were laid off, but some remain, along with Pierre Hintze and Chris Matthews. Pierre's 30- person "in-market title team" is via: Rebs Gaming youtube.com/watch?v=dSlQ...

New XBOX Gamerpics and Profile theme for Gears of War: E-Day

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Featured: Gears of War: E-Day

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Xbox App on PC has a new start up screen #GearsofWarEDay ⚙️🔥

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Former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is joining the Board of Directors for new Skydance Corp (WB-Paramount merger) hollywoodreporter.com/business/bus...

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Gears of War: E-Day Interview | The Expansion Pass Nicole Fawcette, Aryan Hanbeck & Matt Searcy on: 💀 Making the Locust scary again 💪 Marcus & Dom 📕 Gears lore ⚙️Horde Siege “We just want to make more Gears all the time.” youtube.com/watch?v=5ffo...

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The streaming rights come in November, when Microsoft is opening up access to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

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According to sources familiar with MS’s plans, Xbox has managed to land a deal for the exclusive game streaming rights for Grand Theft Auto VI” “The deal will mean only Xbox Cloud Gaming can stream Grand Theft Auto VI to players at launch, but it’s not clear how long the agreement will be in place”

BREAKING | XBOX has secured exclusive GTA 6 streaming rights “Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told employees that Microsoft is getting ready to do something around Grand Theft Auto VI that “no other platform holder is doing” during an employee all-hands this morning. The Verge theverge.com/report/10058...

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Tracey Landau's Portfolio My work from cancelled Perfect Dark, showing both sci-fi effects and photorealistic environmental VFX. This includes muzzle flashes, sci-fi gadgets, destructibles, smoke, fire, explosions. Few extra seconds of butterflies being animated traceylandau.com/projects/383...

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LEAKED | Perfect Dark — 2 mins of Gameplay Perfect Dark is a cancelled first-person shooter game that was under development by The Initiative and Crystal Dynamics

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STAR WARS: Galactic Racer | Out Now! A runs-based racer in the Outer Rim. Pilot landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers through the unsanctioned Galactic League. Now Available on Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Epic, and Steam Xbox Store: xbox.com/en-us/games/...

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Warhammer Survivors | XBOX Game Pass A fast-paced roguelite survivors game from the Boltgun studio and poncle. Coming to Day One on XBOX Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, PS5, Switch 1/2, and Steam on November 10 DEMO: xbox.com/en-us/games/...

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Xbox Elite Series 3 is Coming Soon | Brad Sams youtube.com/watch?v=jiNt...

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Silver Pines | Reviews 10 - CGMagazine 9.5 - DualShockers 9 - Gaming Boulevard 9 - GamesRadar+ 9 - GameSpew 9 - Gamer Social Club 9 - SteamDeckHQ 9 - Digital Chumps 8 - The Wand Report 8 - Guardian 8 - Power Unlimited Magazine 8 - SECTOR sk 7 - Checkpoint Gaming OC: 87 MC: 85

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will be on the go. There are some things that we are the best in the world to manufacture, and there are other things that will we partner on. So, we will be sharing more about that as our plans develop. The operating system is starting to look really good. We're very excited about this.”

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• Simplifying API for publishing on Xbox to make it easier for developers to ship on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Helix, and Xbox PC “We are moving to a family of devices for Gen-10. There is not one device that fits all. We will certainly have a great console first, but we also know that many players

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Battle net will grow further. • "We will do it the right way for those communities," she said, hinting that Battle net will remain a more curated store compared to the likes of Steam or Xbox PC. • They'll continue to invest in other PC apps where there's a distinct audience, i.e. Steam in general.

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• Gen-10, Xbox Helix, describing it as a "family of devices." • Project Helix: a great console first, but "we also know that many players will be on the go" • Battle net is almost on-par with Steam for user retention, and the recent partnership to bring CD Projekt RED's games like Witcher 3 to

• Xbox still has an opportunity to grow in the space • Xbox doesn't have "the right" to grow beyond console if it can't serve their "most valuable players the right way." • Strengthening Gen-9 consoles (Xbox Series X|S) is key • Xbox Game Pass will get more "flexible for more players" in the future