January2023
News Microsoft Confirms Another Xbox Showcase Will Take Place 'This Summer' In LA
Following the upcoming 'Starfield Direct'
Wow, what a busy day for Team Xbox! After wrapping up its first ever Developer Direct event earlier today, the team is already looking ahead at what's next. We know that a Starfield specific show is coming soon, and now we've been teased with some summer 2023 plans as well. In short, as expected, Xbox will...
Random We Played Far Cry 3 Online This Week, Four Months After Ubisoft 'Closed' The Servers
And we had a blast doing so!
To some of us, Far Cry 3 is the absolute pinnacle of Ubisoft's open world FPS franchise, even 10 years and several sequels on from its initial launch on Xbox 360. Most of that love is down to the game's engaging single-player story and vast open world, but it's easy to forget that the original release contained a bunch...
News New Report Suggests Restructure At Halo Dev 343 Industries Is 'Ongoing'
The team says it will continue to work on the franchise
As a result of Microsoft's recent round of layoffs, Halo developer 343 Industries has been hit with a number of job losses in what sounds like a fairly major restructuring of the company moving forward. The team has since put out a statement to
News Xbox Marketing Director Calls Gears Of War Leak 'Fake News'
The leaked logos related to Gears 6 and a Gears Collection
Recently, we reported on some Gears of War rumours that had been floating around on the web; mainly an apparent 'Gears of War Collection' in the works at Microsoft. Since then, a picture of two logos has been doing the rounds from a leak relating to both 'Gears 6' and this supposed...
Guide 'Xbox Developer Direct' Event Date, Start Time & Where To Watch
Today's the day!
It's almost time for Xbox's first ever 'Developer Direct' livestream! Yep, Microsoft is about to deliver deep dives into some of Xbox and Bethesda's biggest upcoming titles, in a brand-new event format for 2023. Here's everything you need to know about the Xbox Developer Direct January 2023 event. What Can We Expect From Xbox...
News Xbox Surpasses 120M Monthly Active Users, As Game Pass Reaches 'New Highs'
Despite Microsoft's decline in gaming revenue
It's a new year and as part of this, Microsoft has shared its latest earnings results for the quarter ended December 31st, 2022 (FY23 Q2). Overall, gaming revenue for the company saw a decline of 13% year-over-year. Xbox's "content and services" revenue also saw a decline of 12% and Xbox hardware...
Reaction Xbox Needs A New, Reliable Competitor For PS5's 'DualSense Edge'
Giving us the edge
A lot of Xbox fans will be seeing Sony's brand-new, high-end controller doing the rounds in gaming circles at the minute, with PlayStation finally getting into 'Xbox Elite' territory with the 'DualSense Edge'. The Japanese company's new PS5 pad is an impressive-looking bit of kit, building on what Xbox first introduced with the...
Deals All 30+ Backwards Compatible Games Added To This Week's Xbox Sales (January 24-31)
Original Xbox and Xbox 360 classics
Xbox has delivered yet another themed sale promo this week in the form of the 'THQ Nordic & Handy Games Sale', which is currently live alongside Deals with Gold, the Spotlight Sale and last week's ongoing 'Lunar New Year Sale.' Included in all of these sales promotions are a selection of backwards compatible...
News Microsoft Orders Sony To Attend Activision Blizzard Court Hearing This Summer
For the FTC trial
Things are getting real now! As part of Xbox's ongoing tussle over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has issued a subpoena to Sony - summoning the PlayStation owner to attend an FTC court hearing this summer. According to a new filing in the overall case, Microsoft issued the legal order on January 17th, expecting...
News Xbox Exec Wants Fans To Keep Developer Direct Expectations In Check
"Our goal has been to be as transparent as possible"
It's officially Developer_Direct week here in Xbox land, and we have to admit we're pretty excited to see some fresh deep dives on Xbox's 2023 games lineup. However, ahead of the livestream later this week, Xbox's Aaron Greenberg is urging fans to not get too carried away. The exec recently took...
News Redfall 'Deluxe Upgrade' Leak Gives Us First Evidence Of Xbox Price Increases
The game will still launch on Xbox Game Pass though
Redfall is one of Xbox's major AAA releases for the first half of 2023, and while the game will of course launch day one on Xbox Game Pass, a new European leak has given us our first glimpse at Xbox's confirmed price hikes. According to well-known leaker
Soapbox January's Developer Direct Could Be The Start Of Something Big For Xbox
Comms on lock
Since Xbox basically ghosted The Game Awards in late 2022, I've talked at length about the form of future Xbox events; asking the question of whether Xbox should go down the 'Nintendo Direct' route for upcoming showcases. Well, that future is almost upon us, as the
Talking Point Should Microsoft & 343 Carry On With Halo Infinite?
What's next?
Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed its plans for roughly 10,000 layoffs throughout the company, with Halo developer 343 Industries reportedly "hit hard" by the job losses. While the company restructure hasn't been fully detailed by Microsoft, and some of what's coming out regarding 343i are just reports right now, the whole situation does...
News Xbox's Phil Spencer Wants To 'Inspire Joy' Amid 'Culture Of Criticism And Cancellation'
"We’re all part of creating this echo effect of joy"
Yesterday, we brought news that Xbox boss Phil Spencer had formally accepted his New York Game Award; a prize that recognises industry figures who "have exhibited a significant, sustained body of work that shows exceptional artistic achievement and innovation." We believe Phil's award is well...
Talking Point Who Would You Cast As 'Delta Squad' In The Upcoming Gears Of War Movie?
Let's hear your suggestions!
Our new Video Producer Craig has been over on the Pure Xbox YouTube channel laying out some of his top casting suggestions for the upcoming Gears of War movie, which is being produced by Netflix. You can check out his picks in the video above, which include a perhaps surprising choice for Marcus Fenix; a character many...
News 'The Last Of Us' Ads Have Started Appearing On Xbox This Week
Hey, it's free real estate
HBO's 'The Last of Us' TV show is proving incredibly popular right now, as PlayStation brings its exclusive post-apocalyptic game series to the TV network. While we can't play the games themselves on Xbox, we can of course watch the show there, and Microsoft & HBO seem to be taking advantage of that fact. Adverts for...
News Xbox Boss Phil Spencer 'Honored' To Receive New York Game Award
"It was an honor to attend"
Xbox's Phil Spencer just celebrated his 55th birthday last week, and the New York Game Awards show has delivered quite the birthday present for the Xbox boss. Phil attended last night's award show and walked home with the "Andrew Yoon Legend Award" - a prize that the boss is clearly proud of!
News 'Xbox Play Anywhere' Will Benefit Age Of Empires 2 Owners Later This Month
Get the console version for free!
Age of Empires 2 is making its long awaited console debut later this month, and as it's a Microsoft published title, it'll be a part of Xbox Game Pass on day one. However, if you own the PC version already, you won't even need Game Pass to play the console version at no extra cost! Yep, we often forget about Xbox's...
Video DF 'Face-Off' Draws Interesting Comparisons Between Xbox Series S And PS4 Pro
The Series S is the clear winner overall
As a result of the two systems containing a similarly powerful graphics processor, Xbox Series S has often drawn comparison to Sony's PS4 Pro in the visuals department. Of course, the Series S is much more advanced in other areas, but looking purely at graphical power, the two consoles are pretty close on...
Guide Monster Hunter Rise Xbox Release Date, Release Time & Preload Details
Coming to Xbox Game Pass this week!
Monster Hunter Rise is one of the biggest Xbox Game Pass additions in January 2023 - in fact, its release is right around the corner! So, ahead of the title's impending Xbox Game Pass drop, here's everything you need to know about the launch of Capcom's latest Monster Hunter game on Xbox. Monster Hunter Rise...
Report EU Commission Preparing 'Statement Of Objections' Over Xbox Activision Blizzard Deal
We should hear more soon
A number of authorities around the world are currently investigating Xbox's Activision Blizzard acquisition, to ensure a fair and open market in the gaming industry is retained post-deal. One of those authorities is the European Commission, which is reportedly preparing a statement on the matter. According to Reuters, the...
Report Google & Nvidia The Latest Companies To 'Express Concerns' Over Xbox ActiBlizz Deal
In line, behind Sony
The saga continues! In a new report from Bloomberg, it's mentioned that both Google and Nvidia are beginning to express concerns over the Xbox Activision Blizzard deal, although the two companies' interests seem a little different to Sony, which has continually argued against the deal going ahead for various reasons
News Xbox Series X|S Continues To Grow In Japan, 2022 Sales Doubled 2021's Figures
Soaring
Yesterday, we brought news that the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S seem to be doing pretty well in Europe, as Microsoft's pair of current-gen consoles sold better across the region last year than in 2021 - even if the jump was small at roughly 4%. Over in Japan, the growth is much, much more rapid. According to new figures from Famitsu,...
News Head Of Xbox Phil Spencer Celebrates His 55th Birthday Today
Happy birthday, Mr. Spencer!
It's fair to say we're pretty big fans of Xbox boss Phil Spencer here at Pure Xbox, especially the way he and his team have transformed the brand ever since he took over the Head of Xbox role back in 2014. Today, January 12th, marks Phil's 55th birthday, so we thought we'd just take a minute to say Happy Birthday to the...
News Xbox Exec Confirms Overall Length Of January's 'Developer_Direct'
"Our goal has been to be as transparent as possible"
When the Xbox showcase rumours began showing up late last year, we heard suggestions that the January event would be a smaller scale affair than a typical Xbox live show. Well, Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg has confirmed the overall runtime following yesterday's official Developer_Direct announcement,...