Microsoft News Articles
Thursday20th Nov 2025
News 'Tides Of Annihilation' Is Looking Pretty Impressive So Far, And It'll Be Xbox Play Anywhere
A big trailer at the Xbox Partner Preview!
Upcoming action-adventure game Tides of Annihilation has just got a meaty trailer during today's Xbox Partner Preview event - and we must say, it's looking like a pretty impressive romp so far. We still don't have a proper release date for this one yet, but it's now available to wishlist on Xbox Series X|S...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (November 20-23)
Your latest set of free Xbox trials
Welcome to another Xbox Free Play Days weekend! Microsoft is bringing six games to the program starting today - including Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers and more. We've also got a generous three-hour trial of Ready or Not running right now, so we'll link to a separate piece on...
News Black Ops 7's Messy Campaign Is Being Detached From 'Endgame' Mode This Week
You'll soon be able to skip the story to play Endgame
At the moment, a bonus 'Endgame' mode unlocks for Black Ops 7 players who've suffered through the game's cobbled-together story campaign - but thankfully, the team is about to drop the campaign completion requirement for its bonus extraction mode. Yep, developer Treyarch has announced that...
News Four Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (November 20)
Update: We've got two surprise shadow drops!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! We've got two new additions to the library today, including Ubisoft's The Crew Motorfest which is a pretty big arrival for PC and Ultimate players. Here's what's coming to Xbox Game Pass today (November 20): Monsters Are Coming! Rock & Road (PC) (PC, U
Wednesday19th Nov 2025
News Three Games Are Available Across Multiple Xbox Game Pass Tiers Today (November 19)
A "day one" PC launch and two Premium additions
Welcome to a new Xbox Game Pass update! We've got three titles joining various different Game Pass tiers today, including a brand-new PC launch on GPU and a couple of titles moving over to XGP Premium. Moonlighter 2 is that brand-new launch — which arrives in early access on PC today (and consoles...
Tuesday18th Nov 2025
News These Nine Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (November 19 - December 2)
Your latest roundup of new additions
Microsoft has today unveiled its latest roundup of new Xbox Game Pass titles, giving us a full picture of exactly what's coming to each tier over the last couple of weeks in November (and first couple days in December!). There's some really good stuff in here as well, such as the Ubisoft racer The Crew...
Monday17th Nov 2025
News Two Xbox Game Pass Titles Nominated For GOTY At The Game Awards, But Microsoft Misses Out
No first-party games in the GOTY list
Geoff Keighley & co. have just announced the nominations in each category for their upcoming The Game Awards show, and while two day one Game Pass titles make the main Game of the Year list, Xbox Game Studios misses out on any top-tier nominations. The Game Awards' 2025 GOTY is as follows:
News Xbox Partner Preview November 2025 Showcase Confirmed For This Week
Featuring 007: First Light and more
At the tail end of October, Windows Central's Jez Corden dropped a report detailing an Xbox Partner Preview event coming this month - and now an official Xbox Wire post has all the details on the upcoming third-party focused showcase. Microsoft's next Xbox Partner Preview takes place at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT...
News Xbox Dev Obsidian Says It Hasn't Used Generative AI 'At All' So Far
Even with releasing 3 games in a year
The use of AI in video games is a hot topic at the moment - especially in the wake of the whole Tim Sweeney, ARC Raiders debacle from last week. We've also seen reports that Black Ops 7 contains some use of AI recently, but fellow Xbox studio Obsidian Entertainment has come to definitively say that it hasn't...
Saturday15th Nov 2025
News Two Games Are Confirmed For Xbox Game Pass In December 2025 So Far
An early look at next month
As we always do around this time of the month, we're taking an early look today at what's ahead for December 2025's Xbox Game Pass selection, with two titles having been confirmed for the service next month already. The headline game so far is definitely Routine; this long-in-development sci-fi adventure looks well worth...
Friday14th Nov 2025
News Hi-Fi RUSH Is Now Published By Krafton, And It's Staying On Xbox Game Pass
"Players can continue to play without interruption"
More than a year after Krafton first announced that it'd be buying Hi-Fi RUSH and its developer from Microsoft, the team has detailed exactly what's happening today as the publishing of its colourful musical adventure moves over to the PUBG maker. In short, from November 14th, Hi-Fi RUSH will be...
News Developing For Xbox Can Be Difficult, So Microsoft Is Taking Major Steps To 'Remove Barriers'
Making it more Steam-like, you might say
We've heard a bit in the past how some indie developers have found it tough to bring their games to Xbox for whatever reason - stuff like the The Mortuary Assistant, for example, where it ended up having to be delayed on Xbox alone. It's not a common thing that crops up, but Microsoft understandably wants to...
Thursday13th Nov 2025
News Seven New Games Added To Xbox Retro Classics, Including A PS1 Title From 1997
November's batch of new additions has arrived
Microsoft has added seven new games to its Xbox Retro Classics library for November 2025, following the four that joined the lineup around this time in October. We've actually got a PS1 title in the mix for November as well! The Lost Vikings 2 is that game, which is a puzzle-platformer that received...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (November 13-16)
Your latest set of free Xbox titles for the weekend
Xbox Free Play Days is now live! Ahead of the coming weekend, Microsoft has added five games to the program - with one of those being Grand Theft Auto Online which we covered earlier this week here at Pure Xbox. As for the other four titles, well, here's your full list of Free Play Days games...
Random Valve's Steam Machine Is Reminding Folks Of Those Old Xbox Series S Mockups
Project Lockhart, anyone?
Okay, we've got to admit, Valve's new Steam Machine is pretty cute, right? The little 'GabeCube', as it's affectionately being named in some corners of the internet, is Valve's new attempt to bridge the gap between console and PC hardware - in the wake of its successful
News Xbox Game Pass Users Are 'Moving To New Zealand' Again To Play Black Ops 7 Early
Some regions can play before others...
It's finally almost time for the launch of Black Ops 7 on Xbox, with the game officially releasing this week on November 14th. However, as is becoming the norm each year, fans have already started talking about plans to 'visit New Zealand' to begin playing a little early. Yes, the biggest open secret in the...
Wednesday12th Nov 2025
News Valve Announces New Hardware, Including A Steam Machine That'll Compete With Xbox
Coming in 2026
In typical Valve fashion, the Steam owner has today announced a new lineup of gaming hardware coming in 2026 - including the Steam Machine which sounds a lot like it'll compete with the likes of Microsoft and Xbox. As detailed in the video up above, this new Steam Machine is basically a home console version of its
News Call Of Duty Dev Clarifies Skill-Based Matchmaking Options In Black Ops 7
"Here's what you'll see on day one"
Last month, developer Treyarch announced that it was removing skill-based matchmaking from Black Ops 7 multiplayer following some early beta testing of this change in direction - and now the team has detailed exactly how this will all work at launch, and there are some caveats. Black Ops 7's multiplayer playlists...
News Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (November 12)
Including a brand-new day one release!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today, Microsoft is bringing two games to the service, including a "day one" addition in the form of cozy survival title Winter Burrow. Just keep in mind that both of these are only available for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass members, meaning the...
Tuesday11th Nov 2025
News Former Nintendo President 'Surprised' That Xbox Hasn't 'Fully Embraced' Switch 2
Some games have been announced, but not many
Since Nintendo's Switch 2 announcement earlier this year, Microsoft has begun to support the new hybrid console, announcing various ports such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Fallout 4: Anniversary
News Helldivers 2 Is Doing 'Extremely Well', Thanks In Part To 'Attracting New Users On Xbox'
"This resulted in a significant increase in sales"
Shortly after the launch of Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X|S, we heard on multiple occasions that the game was doing pretty well in the wake of its fresh port - and now new comments coming directly from Sony shine a very positive light on the game, and on its performance since moving over to...
News Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (November 11)
Your latest roundup of new titles
Welcome to another Xbox Game Pass roundup! We've got three new additions to XGP today, including two that are available to Premium subscribers as well as Ultimate/PC players. Here's a summary of what's new on Xbox Game Pass today (November 11): Great God Grove (Series X|S, PC, Cloud) - PC, Premium Ultimate:...
Monday10th Nov 2025
News The Original Modern Warfare 2 Appears In Xbox Game Pass Premium Ad
Is it coming to Microsoft's new service?
On the eve of Black Ops 7 dropping into Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, another Call of Duty title could be on its way to the service. An Xbox user has seen a Game Pass ad pop up on their console dashboard that appears to include the ori
Saturday8th Nov 2025
News Here's What Might Leave Xbox Game Pass In December 2025
Some early predictions
What's leaving Xbox Game Pass in December 2025? Well, Microsoft hasn't confirmed anything just yet, but based on some games that were added to the service this time last year, we can at least make a few predictions ahead of time. We know that a lot of Xbox users want more advance notice of games leaving Xbox Game Pass, but...
Thursday6th Nov 2025
News Xbox Hasn't Given Us A Crash Bandicoot Game Yet, But Beenox Might Be Working On Something
Developer shares new artwork... and then removes it
Ever since Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard went through in late 2023, we've been patiently waiting to see what Microsoft might do with Crash Bandicoot - and up until now, there's been no sign of a return for the N. Sane marsupial. That said, developer Beenox has caused a fuss this week...
Tuesday4th Nov 2025
News These 11 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (November 5-14)
Your latest roundup of new additions
Microsoft has today unveiled its latest roundup of new Xbox Game Pass titles, giving us a full picture of exactly what's coming to each tier over the first couple of weeks in November. Before we get into the list though, don't forget that two games have already joined Xbox Game Pass today in the form of Football...
News Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (November 4)
Both day one releases!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! We're kicking things off today with our first November additions to the library - including Football Manager 26 on both Xbox and PC. It's worth noting that FM26 won't be available until later today, and it'll be arriving in two different versions - the normal release for PC, and...
Monday3rd Nov 2025
News Delisted Xbox 360 Games Are Apparently Reappearing As 'Coming Soon' In Certain Regions
Left 4 Dead, Batman and more appear
Xbox backwards compatibility is pretty amazing, especially the Xbox 360 library which is quite extensive considering it was retroactively introduced to modern Xbox consoles in 2015. However, not all 360 games — or even all of the titles that were added to the program back in 2015 — are available digitally...
News Gears Of War's Art Director Likes How E-Day Is Returning To The Series 'Horror Game' Roots
"If Gears 1 was Alien, the rest of the franchise was Aliens"
With Gears: Reloaded and Gears: E-Day, Microsoft is making a bet on returning to the series' roots right now - and original Gears of War art director Jerry O’Flaherty, for one, seems quite happy with this new direction from Xbox HQ. Speaking in a new interview with
News Epic Details Exactly When Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Players Can Access Fortnite Crew
"A perk for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers"
Back at the start of October, Microsoft announced that Epic's Fortnite Crew subscription would soon be included in the overhauled Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription - and now the Fortnite developer has given us an exact date of when the bonus service can be access
