May2024
Reaction Xbox's Push Towards 'Microsoft Gaming' Looks More Drastic Than We First Thought
The price of ever-expanding growth
It's been a wild few years over at Team Xbox, with the brand being marked by vast change since the launch of Xbox Series X and S back in late 2020 - which is starting to feel like a lifetime ago now. Huge acquisitions like that of both Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have massively changed how the team now...
News Xbox Exec Provides Reasoning Behind Bethesda Studio Closures
"I’m sharing changes we are making to our Bethesda teams"
We're all somewhat in shock by today's news surrounding the closure of four Bethesda development studios, including the teams behind the likes of Hi-Fi RUSH and Redfall. While it's hard to wrap your head around why Xbox would go out and buy these studios only to shut them down a few years...
News Phil Spencer Set To Take Part In Big Interview After 2024 Xbox Games Showcase
Things are heating up ahead of the big day
Xbox Showcase season is really starting to kick into gear now! We recently got all the details on when exactly the 2024 summer show will take place, and now outlet IGN has announced that it will be hosting an interview with Xbox Boss Phil Spencer right after the show. According to IGN's Xbox guru Ryan...
April2024
News Xbox's Towerborne Beta Is Opening Up To More Players Ahead Of 2024 Launch
"Sign up thru the Insider Program today"
Xbox Game Studios' Towerborne first opened up pre-release playtesting last year, and now the team has announced another expansion to its Insider Program. Developer Stoic will be "opening the doors" to more players "very soon" as the team continues to build towards the game's full launch. At the moment we...
Talking Point What Do You Want To See Xbox Do With State Of Decay 3?
Rumour has it the game could make an appearance soon
Late last week, a certain Jez Corden tweet started to spread around like wildfire - a tweet that some corners of the Xbox community believed was teasing a State of Decay 3 summer showcase appearance. While we felt that the tweet was perhaps a bit too vague to report on, we do think that Undead...
March2024
News Gears Of War Creator Thinks 'The More, The Merrier' In Regards To Getting Gears On PS5
"You know, I think ‘the more, the merrier'"
Xbox has ported a small selection of its games to other platforms recently — as was much publicised last month — however, despite just four titles having been mentioned by Microsoft, fans are still wondering what might be next to move over. And, in a recent interview with Game Rant,
News Xbox Adds More First-Party Games To Boosteroid Cloud Gaming Service
From Bethesda & Xbox Game Studios
Microsoft has today announced another batch of games for Boosteroid; the cloud gaming service involved in one of Xbox's 10-year deals surrounding the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Today's batch of titles are as follows: Deathloop, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death
February2024
Guide Xbox And Microsoft Reveal Full GDC 2024 Schedule
"Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games "
The 2024 Game Developer Conference will take place next month in March and as part of this, both Microsoft and the Xbox team will be there to "engage and empower" developers, publishers as well as technology partners across the globe. "Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to...
News Xbox First-Party Title 'Pentiment' Seems To Run Much Better On PlayStation 5
Update: Director confirms it's "just a bug"
Update: Well, we've got an official answer about this! Pentiment Director Josh Sawyer has confirmed the omission of 120FPS on Xbox is "just a bug", and the feature will added to the Xbox version in the next patch. Original story: Obsidian Entertainment's Pentiment is the first of
News Xbox Influencer Klobrille Shares Impressive Player Numbers For First-Party Lineup
Two games now have over 35 million players!
If Xbox Game Pass helps drive one thing it's huge player numbers - especially for some of the bigger AAA games out there. Naturally, Xbox's own first-party releases get lots of attention on Game Pass — and indeed the platform in general — and influencer Klobrille has gathered some of the team's recent...
Pick One Which 2024 First-Party Game Are You Most Looking Forward To From Xbox?
Let's talk games before tomorrow's 'business update'
We have a super serious day ahead of us tomorrow when Xbox delivers its 'business update' on what's next for the platform, but for today, let's talk about some video games. Putting all of the multiplatform drama aside for a minute here, Xbox has a really good games lineup planned for 2024. As was...
News Xbox Supposedly 'Very Surprised' At The Extent Of The Latest Rumours
Apparently not much is "set in stone"
Rumours about Xbox's future have been circulating online recently, with the company to directly address this in a "business update event" early next week. There have been some pretty wild claims so far, but apparently, nothing is "set in stone" according to Insider Gaming's owner Tom Henderson. He has been...
News 343 Hires New Art Director To Lead 'A Very Exciting New Era' For Halo
"I am incredibly proud to join 343 Industries"
Halo developer 343 Industries appears to making moves for its next major release. Following on from hints last month at an 'unannounced' project being in the works, the team has hired a brand-new art director to lead the series "into a very exciting new era". The news comes from LinkedIn, where former...
Pick One Which Is Your Favourite Obsidian Game On Xbox?
They've been prolific over the years!
Back in 2018, Xbox made a fairly high-profile purchase when it acquired Obsidian Entertainment, the team behind Fallout: New Vegas, The Outer Worlds and others. Truth be told though, this development studio has been active on Xbox for many years before Microsoft's recent acquisition. The team began its Xbox...
January2024
News Gaming Becomes Microsoft's 'Third Largest Business' In Latest Quarter
It has surpassed Windows with the help of ActiBlizz
It's been a bit of a wild start to the year for Xbox with a Developer Direct, mass layoffs, some record-breaking milestones, and now the
News Shapeshifter Games Apparently 'Co-Developing' Xbox Game Studios Project
Update: Confirmed as Clockwork Revolution
Update: It's now been confirmed by InXile Entertainment that Shapeshifter Games has been working on the upcoming Clockwork Revolution as a "co-development partner". Here's a bit more about the collaboration: "Shortly after Volition closed, we flew to Illinois and worked with Xbox and the then ex-Volition...
Reaction Xbox Developer Direct 2024 Proved That Microsoft's New Format Really Works
Another home run
Well, that's it folks, another Xbox Developer Direct is in the bag after the 2024 event came to a close yesterday evening. It was a fantastic showing all-in-all, with four Xbox studios and one surprise Square Enix appearance packing out a neat livestream that never outstayed its welcome. We didn't get an unexpected shadow release...
Poll Which Was Your Favourite Big Exclusive From Year-Two Of Xbox One?
2014 was a fantastic year for Xbox!
Somehow it's been a whole decade since we were all settling in with our Xbox One consoles! Yep, this time 10 years ago, we were becoming well-accustomed to Xbox One. The year after a big console launch is always a tough one, but we thought Microsoft handled year-two of the Xbox One's lifespan very well indeed. As...
News Sea Of Thieves Season 11 Adds New Underwater 'Diving' Mechanic For Fast Travel
"Explore a redesigned Quest system"
The team at Rare has delivered its deep dive into Sea Of Thieves Season 11, featuring a major change to how quests can be tackled going forward. Yep, the game's new 'Diving' mechanic allows players to effectively fast travel to quests rather than need to sail the high seas towards an objective. This is an...
Talking Point What Are You Hoping To See Over The Next Year From Xbox?
Developer Direct should be the start of another big year
Last year's Xbox Developer Direct event laid down a big marker for 2023 on the platform. The show focused on what Microsoft was hoping to put out that year, and by and large, the team stuck to its plan. However, as we near 2024's event later this week, the next 12 months still seem very up in...
News Starfield And Hi-Fi RUSH Nominated For Multiple D.I.C.E. Awards
Activision Blizzard games are also in the running
Starfield has already picked up some awards, including our own Game of the Year award here at Pure Xbox, and now it's received even more nominations from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. At this year's 27th annual D.I.C.E. Awards, Starfield is in the running for "role-playing game of...
Talking Point Do You Think Xbox Will Ever Stop Making Consoles?
Or will Team Green always make hardware?
It's been an interesting start to the year for Xbox. We have a new Developer Direct announced that makes 2024 on Xbox look quite tantalising indeed, and there've been some great Game Pass announcements already - and we're not even halfway through January! Things are looking good then, especially with that...
News Xbox Studio Double Fine Teases 'Cool Things In Store' Ahead Of 25th Anniversary
"There's tons of fun on the way"
2024 is only just kicking into gear, but Xbox studio Double Fine is already teasing some of what we can expect to see this year and beyond. The Psychonauts 2 developer celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, and it seems to have things planned for this year and its anniversary year. The team isn't quite ready to...
December2023
Pick One Which Is Your Favourite Xbox First-Party Release Of 2023?
Is it Starfield or something else?
Earlier this week we talked about Xbox's first-party lineup for 2023 - asking you for your overall grade of Xbox's output over the last 12 months. At the time of writing a 'Grade B' has been the most popular pick, which is a respectable rating, but now we want to know which release in particular you all liked best...
Feature In The End, Are You Happy With Xbox's First-Party Lineup For 2023?
What have you made of it?
After Xbox's much-documented barren spell in 2022, this year finally delivered some major first-party games to help fill out our 2023 gaming calendars. Largely bolstered by the recent addition of Bethesda alongside Xbox Game Studios, it's been quite a big year for Xbox with several AAA titles gracing the Game Pass library...