Microsoft News Articles
Wednesday7th Jan 2026
News Xbox Reporter Teases What Might Be Shown At Developer Direct, Including A Potential Surprise
Update: Microsoft confirms three games for the event
Xbox Developer Direct is right around the corner now, having been confirmed by Microsoft last month, and attention is quickly turning to predicting just what might show up at Xbox's annual January s
News The UK Games Industry Had Its Biggest Year Since 2020 Last Year
UK games revenue rose 7.4%
GamesIndustry.Biz has shared some news from the folks over at the Entertainment Retailers Association that suggests 2025 was a pretty big year for gaming in the UK. The ERA gathered data from multiple sources to show that UK customers spent £5.4 billion on gaming in 2025, which is up 7.4% on the year before. "This is the...
News Four Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass Premium (January 7)
Four more titles make the jump from Ultimate
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today's all about Microsoft's mid-tier service in the form of XGP Premium; where four games move over from the Ultimate library today, including some heavy hitters. Here's all four games available with Xbox Game Pass Premium today (January 7):
Tuesday6th Jan 2026
News These 11 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including Two Major Additions (January 6-22)
Your first official XGP roundup of 2026!
Microsoft has today revealed its first official roundup of Xbox Game Pass titles for January 2026, with 11 games joining the service from January 6-22, including two major additions in Star Wars Outlaws and Resident Evil Village! A couple of games have already arrived on Xbox Game Pass this morning in the...
PSA Choo-Choo Charles Costs Less Than A Cup Of Coffee On Xbox This Week
90% off!
As the Xbox Countdown Sale wraps up this week, a small batch of new deals has gone live on the Microsoft Store today — and while there's not much to write home about, we have noticed that terror-inducing horror hit Choo-Choo Charles is available for a ridiculously low price on Xbox right now. Live now and available for the next week or...
News Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (January 6)
Two surprise additions to kick off 2026!
Welcome to your first Game Pass update for 2026! Today, we have two surprise additions to the library, including Little Nightmares: Enhanced Edition which delivers a new ray-traced version of Tarsier's classic to Xbox Series X|S and PC. Here's some more detail on that, alongside your other Xbox Ga
Monday5th Jan 2026
News Xbox Console Sales 'The Worst On Record' In 2025 As Microsoft Shifts Focus (UK)
"Sales of Xbox consoles were down 39%"
Over the last year or so, it's not been particularly positive news when it comes to Xbox console sales, with Microsoft continuing to focus its efforts on PC and ROG Xbox Ally in recent months. That trend has been felt here in the UK, where Xbox Series X|S sales are down almost 40% in 2025; leading to "the worst...
Thursday18th Dec 2025
News Xbox's Blizzard Team Is Preparing For Its 'Biggest Year Yet' In 2026
What could we see?
We already know that Xbox Game Studios has a pretty big year planned in 2026 with the likes of Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Gears of War: E-Day and Halo: Campaign Evolved set to land next year, and now the folks over at Blizzard Entertainment sound like they're getting in on the Xbox anniversary party as well. Speaking with
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (December 18-21)
More free trials for Xbox players
Welcome to your latest Xbox Free Play Days lineup! Microsoft has today revealed the full list of games available with the program for the coming weekend - including some Call of Duty and Fallout trials which we've covered elsewhere this week at Pure Xbox: Here's the full FPD lineup this week: Ark: Survival...
Wednesday17th Dec 2025
News 40+ Games Were Added To Xbox Play Anywhere In November 2025
Silent Hill 2 the headline addition
As part of the Xbox December 2025 Update, Microsoft has highlighted more than 40 Xbox Play Anywhere titles added to the program last month, including major games such as Silent Hill 2, Football Manager 26, Dave the Diver and more! Many of the
News Black Ops 7 Was The Best-Selling Game In November, But Battlefield 6 Remains Top For 2025 (US)
Circana has all the details
We've heard a lot about how Battlefield 6 and Black Ops 7 have been performing in the sales department already, and now Circana has some fresh data on how both titan FPS titles have been getting on commercially in the US. First off, despite Black Ops 7 dropping off
News Xbox Highlights Four Retro Classics Coming Soon To Game Pass
Big player milestone also announced
As part of the Xbox December Update, Microsoft has announced the next four titles coming to Xbox Retro Classics; the retro gaming collection that's been available to Game Pass subscribers since May 2025. Three of those titles are included in the image up above, and thankfully, Microsoft has also listed all four...
News Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 Free Trial Now Live On Xbox One & Series X|S
Here's how to get in
Xbox's Activision team has dropped its first free trial period for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, now live on all platforms including Xbox One and Series X|S. This first-ever free access period for this year's COD includes "a selection of Multiplayer and Zombies content including the fan-favourite 'Nuketown 2025'". Here's Xbox's...
Tuesday16th Dec 2025
News Two New Features Highlighted In The Xbox December 2025 Update
One mobile focused, one PC focused
Xbox is back again with its "December Update" of new features, and it's actually quite a small roundup this time around, highlighted by two new arrivals along with the usual set of new Play Anywhere, Stream Your Own Game (etc.) titles. The big feature is something we've already covered here at Pure Xbox, and...
Rumour COD 2027 Will Be A New Sub-Series With 'Completely New Characters' On Xbox
A direct response to Black Ops 6 & 7?
Last week, Xbox's Call of Duty team put out a statement announcing that there'll be no more "back-to-back" Modern Warfare or Black Ops games in the series following poor sales for
Saturday13th Dec 2025
News Two Games Are Confirmed For Xbox Game Pass In January 2026 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 January 2026's Xbox Game Pass selection, with two titles having been confirmed for the service next month already. Our headline game so far, simply by nature of the fact that it's coming for both console and PC players, is...
Thursday11th Dec 2025
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (December 11-14)
Three games to play for free this weekend!
As expected, Xbox Free Play Days has returned for the next few days! We've got three games in the mix this week, one of which requires a Game Pass membership (The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos) with the other two being completely free for everyone on Xbox to try. Here are the Xbox Free Play...
News Digital Foundry Analysis Showcases 60FPS Versions Of Red Dead Redemption On Xbox
Parity, finally!
Red Dead Redemption for Xbox Series X|S is finally here, and now that most of you should have gotten your free upgrade if you were eligible, we're sure plenty of Xbox fans have been enjoying this Rockstar classic at 60FPS. Well, the folks at Digital Foundry are here as well to d
Wednesday10th Dec 2025
News Xbox's New Buy One, Get One Free Sale Includes A Selection Of Indie Titles
Live for the next week
Xbox has just set a new edition of its Buy One, Get One Free sales live on the Microsoft Store today - with this particular promotion revolving around a pretty slim selection of indie titles all-told. Yep, as these deals usually go, this isn't the most inspired list from Xbox here, but there are some standouts such as the...
News PlayStation Highlights Halo: Campaign Evolved As One Of Its 'Must-Play' Games For 2026
We're living in strange times
PlayStation has just dropped an overview trailer for what's coming to PS5 in 2026, and while we certainly wouldn't normally cover that here at Pure Xbox, one certain big green inclusion has made us reconsider. Sony is directly advertising Halo: Campaign Evolved as one of its "must-play games coming soon to PS5". We...
News These Two Games Are Your Final Xbox Game Pass Additions For 2025 (December 10-11)
2026 is upon us!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, NetherRealm's Mortal Kombat 1 joins the XGP library - playable for Series X|S, PC and Cloud players across the PC Game Pass, Premium and Ultimate tiers. We also have one more addition for tomorrow at the time of writing; that being Bratz: Rhythm & Style. So, we're going to round...
Tuesday9th Dec 2025
News Xbox & Activision Issue Statement On The Future Of Call Of Duty Following Black Ops 7 Backlash
"A message from the Call of Duty team..."
After what sounds like a disappointing launch for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Xbox's Activision team has put out a frank and surprisingly open message about the future of the franchise moving forward. In an address to series fans, Activision has announced that it will no longer release back-to-back Black Ops...
News Xbox & Bethesda Shadow Drop Another Switch 2 Game, And You'll Never Guess What It Is
How many times?!
Those of us who are enjoying Switch 2 right now are pretty intrigued to see which games Xbox brings to the platform in the near future; the team has plenty of recent games to move over, right?! Wrong, current-gen Nintendo players are being treated to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim once again. Yep, Xbox's Bethesda team has today shadow...
News Take-Two Hires Former Perfect Dark Leads To Spin Up A Brand-New Project
A second take
Following Perfect Dark's cancellation back in July, we heard reports that GTA maker Take-Two had tried to take over the project before talks collapsed, but it sounds as though the mega publisher liked what it saw. The same so
News Four Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (December 9)
One of the biggest drops of the month!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass update! Today, we have four titles joining the main Game Pass Ultimate library - three across console and PC, and one PC-only addition. Here's all the info you need on today's Xbox Game Pass titles (December 9): A Game About Digging A
Monday8th Dec 2025
News Xbox Dev Reveals That Sony Asked About Microsoft Flight Sim Going To PS5 Years Ago
The 2024 edition hits PlayStation today
Back in September, we learnt that Microsoft Flight Simulator was jetting off to PS5 this year - and now an interesting interview with an Xbox developer talks about the series' interesting journey to PlayStation platforms. Speaking with XDA, Microsoft's Flight Sim lead dev Jorg Neumann talked about the...
Saturday6th Dec 2025
News Here's What Might Leave Xbox Game Pass In January 2026
Some early predictions
What's leaving Xbox Game Pass in January 2026? 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...
Friday5th Dec 2025
News Clockwork Revolution Dev Shares New Message About Its Eagerly Anticipated Xbox RPG
"This is the most complex game I've ever worked on"
Clockwork Revolution has a bit of hype behind it within the Xbox fanbase - heck, even boss Phil Spencer sounds pretty excited about what inXile is cooking up. And, while info on the title remains scarce, the team has delivered a new message about the game as part of the latest PC Gaming Sho
Thursday4th Dec 2025
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (December 4-7)
New free trials now live on Xbox!
Xbox Free Play Days is here for the next few days! We've got six games playable as part of the program this week - with one of those in Destiny 2 bringing loads of premium expansions to the program as well. Here's your full Free Play Days rundown this week: Astria Ascending Bassmaster Fishing Descenders Destiny 2...
News Three Games Are Available Today Across Various Tiers Of Xbox Game Pass (December 4)
Including a brand-new day one launch!
Welcome to your latest Xbox Game Pass roundup! Today, we've got three games coming to the service; one that's brand-new to Ultimate subscribers and two that are moving over to the Premium tier. So, we'll gather up these new XGP additions for December 4th down below: 33 Immortals (Console, PC, Cloud) - XGP...
