Microsoft News Articles
Thursday21st May 2026
News 'Luna Abyss' Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass, And Here's What The Reviews Are Saying
Another day one release on XGP!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, single-player 'bullet hell' shooter Luna Abyss joins the library as the latest day one release for the service across Xbox Series X|S, PC and Cloud. Here's a brief description of what to expect from this title: "Luna Abyss is a single player story driven...
Wednesday20th May 2026
News Sony's Summer State Of Play Takes Place Within A Week Of The Xbox Games Showcase 2026
Head-to-head
Microsoft has had the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 locked in for months now, but as is the norm these days, the PlayStation equivalent event has been up in the air - until now. Yep, Sony has today announced that its summer State of Play goes ahead on Tuesday, June 2nd; less than a week before the big Xbox show.
News Xbox Hires New Exec To 'Strengthen The Console Side' Of The Business
A new technology officer has also been appointed
Coming by way of both The Game Business and The Verge (paywalled) this evening, Microsoft has hired a pair of new Xbox executives - including a Chief Strategy Officer to "strengthen the console side of Xbox"; as The Game Business puts it. That new CSO is called Matthew Ball; an industry analyst who...
News Microsoft Appears To Have Made A Small Revision To The Xbox Series X|S Controller
Spotted on the latest LE pad
Amidst reports of a new Xbox Elite Controller and a new Xbox Cloud Gaming pad circulating recently, it looks as though Microsoft has made a small revision to the standard Xbox Series X|S controller - and it's probably not what you're expecting to see. As spotted by an avid fan on
News Forza Horizon 6 Smashes Concurrent Player Record For Xbox Game Studios On Steam
Finishing first place
Less than a week ago, we spoke about how popular Forza Horizon 6 was proving to be in early access on Steam - and to no-one's surprise, that's continued with the full release. In fact, Playground's new racer has now become the most-played Xbox Game Studios title on Steam in terms of concurrent players; a massive achievement for...
News Five Games Are Available Today Across Multiple Tiers Of Xbox Game Pass (May 20)
Lots of new titles on XGP
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, five games are coming to the service across multiple tiers; with three moving over to Premium alongside two new additions to Ultimate, Premium and PC. Here's a look at your new Xbox Game Pass titles for May 20: Dead Static Drive (Console, PC, Cloud) - Premium:...
Tuesday19th May 2026
News Digital Foundry Labels Sony's PS5 Exclusivity Pivot As A 'Defensive Move Against Project Helix'
"It's impossible to view this as good news..."
You may have seen some recent reports that Sony has decided to stop porting its big single-player PS5 exclusives over to PC, via the ever-reliable Jason Schreier. According to the well-connected journalist, PlayStation Studios boss Herman Hulst confirmed the pivot in a recent meeting, as shared this...
News Two New Xbox Series X|S Backgrounds Added To Celebrate The Launch Of Forza Horizon 6
Display your love for FH6 on launch day!
Loving a bit of launch day Forza Horizon 6 on your Xbox Series X|S console? Well, you can now show that love off via a pair of beautiful new dynamic backgrounds that animate some of the game's gorgeous key art. To be clear - one of these dynamic backgrounds has actually been available for just over a week...
News These 13 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (May 20 - June 2)
May going out with a bang!
Microsoft has today unveiled another 13 games coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month and into June 2026, featuring some newly-announced additions such as Jurassic World Evolution 3 and The Outer Worlds: Spa
News Forza Horizon 6 Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass, And Here's What's Coming In Season 1
Details on the first Festival Playlist & Car Pass
Forza Horizon 6 is officially available worldwide, including a day one Xbox Game Pass release! Yep, the Standard Edition of Playground's new racer is out now for all after a good few days of paid early access, and Game Pass Ultimate players can jump in and see what Horizon Japan has to offer. As...
Monday18th May 2026
News Microsoft Announces Fan Feedback Program 'XBOX Player Voice', And It's Now Live
"A simpler way to share feedback"
Since stepping into the role, Xbox boss Asha Sharma has been keen to gather more fan feedback as she begins to shape the future of the brand, and that's now resulted in a new 'XBOX Player Voice' program being announced by Microsoft. Unveiled today via Xbox Wire, XBOX Player Voice is "a new place to collect your...
Even beating out old E3 shows!
Earlier this month, you may remember that Microsoft tested out a new show format in the way of Xbox Presents featuring Stranger than Heaven - but you may not have guessed that it's now become the team's most-viewed YouTube livestream ever, by a country mile. Indeed, as spotted on the
News Xbox Execs Congratulate Forza Horizon 6 Dev On 'Exceptionally Rare' Success
"Very proud of the teams..."
Believe it or not, Forza Horizon 6 isn't even out in its Standard Edition guise yet - despite some amazing reviews being put out there and hundreds of thousands of early access players jumping in already. And now, even some of the Xbox bosses are congratulating the development team before the game's
News Five Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass In Late May 2026
Here's what's leaving soon
Microsoft has revealed the next five games leaving Xbox Game Pass in late May 2026, with all of these being highlighted as "leaving soon" on the official Xbox mobile app. The most notable departure here is definitely Metaphor: ReFantazio; the very-well received Atlus RPG departs the service later this month - alongside...
Saturday16th May 2026
News Five Games Are Confirmed For Xbox Game Pass In June 2026 So Far
An early look at what's to come
As we always do around this time of the month, we're taking an early look today at what's ahead for June 2026's Xbox Game Pass selection, with five games currently scheduled to arrive next month. Now, a few of these titles currently don't have a nailed-on release date, but they're scheduled for some point in June, so...
Friday15th May 2026
News 'Dear Asha...' - Xbox Fan Desperately Wants New CEO To Remove Irrelevant Ads From Dashboard
"Please remove these types of ads off my screen."
Xbox's dashboard ads have long been a bit of a sore point amongst the fanbase. We see complaints about them crop up in waves — especially if a particularly annoying advert keeps appearing for various folks — and today, one particular fan has begun pleading to new boss Asha Sharma to be rid of...
News Forza Horizon 6 Is Immensely Popular Already, Even In Early Access
Worth paying a premium for?
It's well-documented at this point that Microsoft first-party games such as Forza Horizon 6 launch day one for Game Pass on Xbox and PC - yet despite that, some releases still perform very well outside of the subscription service. And, well, that seems to be happening with Playground's new open-world racer, and we're not...
Wednesday13th May 2026
News New Console Start-Up Animation Rolling Out To Xbox Insiders, Gamerscore Badges Also Detailed
Say hello to a new Series X|S boot animation!
After Asha Sharma first teased the news last week, Microsoft has revealed that the new console start-up animation is rolling out to Xbox Insiders today, with a full rollout to come to all Series X|S players in the coming weeks. The 'new boot up experience', as the team calls it, features "a new...
News The Top Two Best-Selling Games On Steam Right Now Are Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Titles
Making bank on Steam too
You'd be forgiven for thinking that whenever a game launches into Xbox Game Pass on day one, it probably doesn't sell too well outside of the service - and while that certainly can happen, it's not always the case. Sometimes games are just so popular that they shift plenty of standalone units too, and that seems to be the...
News Forza Horizon 6 Progression Methods Detailed, Including A New 'Horizon Play' Feature
Three main ways to progress
In the build up to Forza Horizon 6, much has been said about the game's progression after concerns about campaign structure following Forza Horizon 5 - and just ahead of launch, the team at Playground Games has gone into more specifics about how you'll progress at Horizon Japan. The studio has split progression into...
Tuesday12th May 2026
News Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 12)
Including two day one releases!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, we've got three games entering the library; two day one releases and one older title that's joining both Game Pass Premium and Ultimate. Here's a closer look at your three new Xbox Game Pass titles for May 12: Black Jacket (Series X|S, PC, Cloud) - Ultimate, PC:...
Monday11th May 2026
News Gears Of War: E-Day Might Release In September 2026 As Xbox Shooter Sponsors Upcoming Event
Gears of War x WWE
As we lead into the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, very little is known about Microsoft's upcoming Gears of War: E-Day release - but a random mention in relation to an upcoming WWE event may well have given us a tease for its launch window ahead of the official E-Day Direct. That's right, ahea
News Xbox Adds Nine Titles To Game Pass Essential In New Surprise Update
Nine additions for essential gaming
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass upd... oh, hang on a minute, Microsoft didn't tell us about these! Yep, over the weekend, nine more titles have been showing up as newly-added to Game Pass Essential, and they haven't yet been formally announced by Microsoft at the time of writing. However, they're all here...
Thursday7th May 2026
News Mixtape Is Your Latest Day One Game Pass Title, And It's Available Today (May 7)
Making a new record?
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today we've got just the one game entering the library, but it's a big one in the form of day one title Mixtape - from the folks behind The Artful Escape. This Life is Strange-esque title has been on our radar for some time now, and we're interested to see how it lands with...
Wednesday6th May 2026
News More Than 50% Of Hardcore Gamers Don't Buy Full-Priced Games Anymore, Survey Finds
Saying no to $70
A new survey has revealed that more than half of hardcore gamers from multiple age groups no longer pay full price for video games, with just 20% of one age range saying that they'd pay full whack for a new release. The survey has been been carried out by IGN, in association with Kantar and UC Berkeley, and subsequently shared by...
News Five Games Are Available Today Across Various Tiers Of Xbox Game Pass (May 6)
Here's what's coming to XGP Premium & Ultimate today
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, we've got five games joining various tiers of the service - two of which are completely new for Game Pass Ultimate players, with the other three moving over to Premium. Here's a quick breakdown of these new XGP additions: Ben 10: Power Trip...
Tuesday5th May 2026
News These 13 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (May 6-19)
The new two weeks of XGP titles!
Microsoft has today unveiled another 13 games coming to Xbox Game Pass later this month, including some newly-announced additions alongside titles we already knew about such as the massive release of Forza Horizon 6. In the table down below is everything coming to Xbox Game Pass from May 6th - 19th - and don't...
News Xbox's Next Call Of Duty Game Won't Release On Last-Gen Consoles For The First Time In 14 Years
13 years of COD for Xbox One
Another year, another Call of Duty game - with Activision's Infinity Ward team at the helm for COD 2026. Whilst the game hasn't been formally revealed yet, we know that it's coming and that it's going to be another Modern Warfare game of some sort, and now an o
News Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 5)
Including a surprise release!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today, we've got two games to talk about, including a title that's only just been announced as a Game Pass addition in the form of Motorslice! Here's a full breakdown of your new Xbox Game Pass titles for May 5th: Final Fantasy V (Series X|S, PC, Cloud) - Ultimate,...
Monday4th May 2026
Report Halo 2 & 3 Remakes Are In 'Active Development' At Halo Studios
As follow-ups to Campaign Evolved
Some of you may remember that right around the official announcement of Halo: Campaign Evolved in 2025, a rumour was going around that Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes were set to arrive sometime after this year's Combat Evolved remake - and now a fresh report from Rebs Gaming adds even more fuel to that fire. Accor
