Tag: Industry
"Seeking a permit to expand production in Vietnam"
As the Xbox Series X|S generation continues and another one is on the horizon, it's being reported this week that a subsidiary of manufacturing company Foxconn is planning to expand its Xbox production over in Vietnam. This report comes from Reuters, which mentions that Fushan Technology, which is...
News Embracer Group Sells Off Two Studios As Its Acquisition Spree Dies Down
Embraced no more
A few years ago, around the same time that Xbox's Activision deal was going through, Embracer Group went on a bit of a spending spree of its own, scooping up loads of studios from Square Enix and more. Major downsizing has happened since though, as Embracer struggled to handle so many different teams - and now two more studios have...
News Xbox Asks 1,500 Players To Sum Up Whether Gaming Is 'Time Well Spent' In New Survey
Here's what they said
Over the years, every one of us has probably been told that we're wasting our time playing games, but there are obviously numerous benefits that come with a hobby like ours, and Xbox has been trying to get to the bottom of it. Microsoft recently partnered with Edelman Data & Intelligence to conduct a survey in which 1,500...
News Ubisoft UK Warns That Folks Just Aren't Buying As Many £50-£60 Games Anymore
"Many new games are struggling to stand out"
As part of a new business update for its UK arm, Ubisoft has talked a little bit about falling game sales - and how players just aren't buying as many full-priced video games anymore. Coming by way of CityAM, Ubisoft UK shared that its revenue had increased 11% since its last update, but that 'the sale...
News Xbox President Talks Positive & Resistant Feedback From Fans, How It's Shaping The Future
"Our players deeply care about what Xbox is"
Earlier today, a new interview with Xbox president Sarah Bond was shared on YouTube by the folks at Fortune Magazine, and Bond had a particularly interesting response to a question about "redefining" the identity over at Xbox. After spending a fair bit of the interview discussing the idea of "playing...
News Square Enix Is Cutting Down Its Western Workforce, Focusing On Japanese Development
More layoffs afoot
New financials from publisher Square Enix, alongside reported information from outlet IGN, show that the Final Fantasy maker is shrinking down its Western workforce to further focus on Japanese development. Those financial reports include a note that says "review and optimization of overseas studio development or
Report Xbox Has Been Asking Its Studios To Hit 'Higher Profit Margins' Since 2023
Right as the Activision Blizzard deal closed...
Bloomberg's ever-reliable gaming journalist Jason Schreier (along with colleague Dina Bass) has today put out an extensive report on Xbox, and how Microsoft is now asking the division to deliver "higher profit margins" in the wake of its massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The report says that...
News Ninja Gaiden & Dead Or Alive Director Tomonobu Itagaki Has Passed Away
"So, it goes."
Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive have both played major roles in the history of Xbox over the past 24 years, and we're saddened to hear that a key figure on both those franchises has passed away. It's been announced that Tomonobu Itagaki, who created the Dead or Alive series and revived the Ninja Gaiden series back in 2004, died...
News Ubisoft Forms 'Vantage Studios' To Work On Some Of Its Biggest Franchises
Including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry & more
After several months of planning and seeking other forms of investment, Ubisoft's move to create a spin-off games company to work on some of its biggest franchises is now up and running. Coming straight from the company itself, Ubisoft and Tencent have now created 'Vantage Studios' to develop and distribute...
News EA To Be Acquired By Consortium Of Investors For $55 Billion USD
"I am more energized than ever about the future we are building"
We've got some major acquisition news coming out of Electronic Arts today, with EA announcing that it's set to be acquired by a consortium of investors for approximately $55 billion USD. Those investors are PIF (the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia), Silver Lake (a...
News Major Retailer Seemingly Clearing Out Xbox Series Stock In Certain Regions Right Now
US, UK and AU/NZ examples spotted
We're seeing several reports online right now about a major retailer clearing out Xbox Series X|S stock in multiple regions - including a full report on how the retail giant may be getting rid of its Xbox section altogether. We thought we'd take a look at all of this and see what's what, especially amidst plans from...
News Microsoft Has Made Its 'Largest Investment' In Xbox Game Pass Ever This Year
"This year marks our largest investment in Game Pass to date"
In a new interview with outlet Eurogamer, ID@Xbox boss Chris Charla says that Microsoft has made its "largest investment in Game Pass to date" in 2025 so far. Further elaborating on the point that this has been a big year for Game Pass, Charla added that Xbox has "signed deals with m
News Microsoft Announces New Price Increases For Xbox Series X|S In The US
"We are navigating an incredibly dynamic environment"
To finish off the week, Microsoft has announced that it's increasing the prices of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in the United States, and these increases will apply to all versions of the two systems currently on the market. The standard Xbox Series X with a disc drive will now jump to...
News Despite Cancelling Everwild, Xbox Has Just Hired Its Executive Producer For A Major Role
They're now Chief of Staff at Xbox Game Studios
We're still gutted by the cancellation of Rare's mysterious IP Everwild earlier this year, and here's hoping more details come out about it - we'd love to see some in-development footage and get more behind-the-scenes info. In the meantime, it's been revealed that Everwild's executive producer, Louise...
News Xbox President 'Delighted' To Join Board Of Directors At Tyson Foods
She's not leaving Xbox, don't worry
That's a weird headline, right? It's true though! It's been announced that Xbox president Sarah Bond has joined the board of directors at Tyson Foods, although it doesn't mean she's leaving Xbox or anything - she's simply signing up as an indepdendent director for the company. Tyson Foods, if you don't know, is...
News Sony SVP Discusses 'Moving Away From A Hardware-Centric Business Model'
Update: SeekingAlpha transcript provides more context
With the upcoming release of Helldivers 2, Sony is bringing its first PlayStation published title to Xbox platforms - and since then, we've heard rumours that the Japanese firm is mulling over more multi-platform ports in the future. Now, an official comment from Sony's Senior Vice President has...
News A Month After Xbox Layoffs, Call Of Duty Dev Raven Software Officially Unionises
It took nearly 3 years of negotiation
Raven Software, the team behind the campaign portion of last year's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, is this week celebrating a fresh union contract that guarantees improved working conditions over at Xbox. Per a post from the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the group of Raven employees who voted to unionise...
News Xbox's Phil Spencer & Sarah Bond Make Surprise Appearance At ChinaJoy 2025
Checking out games from Tencent, NetEase and others
The ChinaJoy gaming festival has been taking place at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre over the past few days, and although Xbox wasn't expected to play a major role in the event, Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond ended up making a surprise appearance! In a series of photos shared by the...
News Xbox Is Predicting A Revenue Decline For The Start Of Fiscal Year 2026
Setting expectations for Q1
Despite some positive news for the company's most recent financial quarter — including content & services growth and record Game Pass revenues — the outlook isn't so hot for next quarter. As part of this update on how Microsoft and Xbox are doing financially, the team has predicted a revenue decline for Q1 of its...
News Microsoft Highlights First-Party & Xbox Game Pass Success In FY25 Q4 Earnings Report
Content & Services revenue is up, hardware revenue is down
Microsoft has revealed its earning report for the quarter ended June 30, 2025, and it's a familiar story for anyone who's been following these reports in recent times - Xbox content and services revenue is up, but hardware revenue is down. Specifically, the company mentions its 13% increase...
News Microsoft CEO Comments On Recent Xbox Layoffs, Doubles Down On AI
"These decisions are among the most difficult"
Now that the dust has somewhat settled on the masses of job losses that recently occurred over at Xbox, and as the company moves towards a new fiscal year, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has put out a fresh statement on moving forward. The Microsoft boss starts out by mentioning the company's recent...
News Three Major Xbox Releases Were In The 'Top Cross-Platform Downloads' Last Week
According to Alinea Analytics
The good folks over at Alinea Analytics have shared their best estimates for the top cross-platform downloads of last week (meaning Xbox, PlayStation and Steam), and it makes for pretty interesting reading. It turns out the top spot went to EA Sports College Football 26, but only because its 10-hour EA Play trial was...
"The game industry is in a weird spot right now."
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 was five years in the making, and we felt it lived up to expectations despite not being quite as good as Pro Skater 1+2 - which seems a great achievement considering it didn't spend that long in development. Recently, someone on the game's official Reddit page suggested...
Report Activision Blizzard's King Team Sees Axed Job Roles 'Replaced' By AI
200 jobs have been cut at the studio
We apologise in advance for bringing another AI story to you today, but a fresh report from MobileGamer suggests that Activision Blizzard's King team is a part of the Microsoft Gaming business seeing human job roles shift to AI. It had previously been reported by the likes of Bloomberg that
News Xbox Is Using The Most Ridiculous AI Image To Advertise New Jobs
"You posted an image where almost everything is wrong"
In the wake of the Xbox layoffs, we highlighted earlier this month how an Xbox producer had come under fire for suggesting AI could help with people losing their jobs, and unfortunately the trend continues! This latest example is actually even crazier. One of the members of the Xbox Graphics...
News Microsoft Spends Up To $50m On Xbox Game Pass Partnerships, Says Former Manager
"Deals ranging from $50k to over $50m"
Microsoft's own first-party titles are a big draw with Xbox Game Pass — particularly these days with this many studios under its belt — but that's not to say that big partnerships with third party teams aren't also needed. In fact, some of these partnerships are pretty darn huge, with deals going all the...
News EA Japan GM Comments On Xbox Layoffs, Says Long-In-Development Games 'Deserve To Ship'
"Hype with no follow through burns trust"
In the wake of the major Xbox layoffs that took place last week, we've seen lots of people sharing their thoughts on the situation - and one of those is the EA Japan GM Shaun Noguchi, who had a few things to say on social media recently (as reported by IGN
Xbox's biggest May success was as a publisher
Some of the sales estimates for May 2025 are coming out today courtesy of Circana (NPD), and it sounds like it was a bit of a mixed bag for Xbox during that month - at least in the United States which this information is based on. Firstly, there's a mention that video game subscription spending reached...
News Romero Games 'Trying To Fund' Project After Sudden Loss Of Xbox Support, Says Developer
Update: Studio says it's been contacted by several publishers
Last week, we reported that Romero Games had been caught up in the Xbox layoffs - their new AAA title, helmed by John Romero who created the DOOM franchise, apparently had its funding pulled by Microsoft. Since then, an interview with an anonymous Romero Games staff member has been...
News Is Xbox Game Pass Unsustainable? Arkane Founder Sparks Huge Debate On Social Media
"I don't think GP can co-exist with other models"
Over the weekend, the founder of Arkane Studios (Raphaël Colantonio) attracted a lot of attention on social media for sharing his view of Xbox Game Pass, suggesting that it's "unsustainable" and increasingly damaging the industry. In a series of posts, Colantonio explained that although he...
News Microsoft Said To Have 'Unrealistic' Expectations For Xbox, But Not Everyone Agrees
"An utterly unrealistic financial requirement"
With last week's Xbox layoffs still fresh in everyone's minds, there's been plenty of debate over the past few days about why they happened and what needs to be done to ensure they're not repeated on such a large scale again. In Windows Central's report about this a few days ago, it was mentioned that...
Random Over 1M People Have Signed A Petition To 'Stop Killing Games'
A major milestone for the campaign
For a long time now, and particularly in the past few years, we've seen a lot of games shutting their Xbox servers and then becoming unplayable in the process - a scenario that the "Stop Killing Games" campaign is trying to prevent. The campaign is specifically about addressing games that are "completely...
News SEGA President Excited For Future Of Consoles Despite 'Huge Trend' Of PC & Mobile
"I have a big attachment to the console business"
Earlier this week, before all of the madness surrounding the Xbox layoffs, SEGA president Shuji Utsumi was interviewed as part of an extensive feature over at The Game Business, giving his thoughts on a whole variety of topics. One of the areas he touched on was the future of consoles and how the...
Report Multiple Industry Veterans To Leave Xbox Studios Amidst Layoffs
Including big departures at Rare and ZeniMax Online Studios
The bad news about today's Xbox layoffs isn't over just yet, as some major names at multiple Xbox studios are said to be leaving their positions - either coincidentally or as a result of what we've been hearing all afternoon. Firstly, Zenimax Online Studios president Matt Frior is...
News Phil Spencer Isn't Retiring Anytime Soon, Says Xbox In Response To Rumour
Xbox's head of communications chimes in
As if today hasn't been enough of a whirlwind for us at PX HQ — and everyone else closely following Xbox right now — fresh rumours are doing the rounds that long time boss Phil Spencer may step down from his role in the near future. Call of Duty insider TheGhostOfHope has gone public with this, claiming...
News Xbox's Matt Booty Issues Statement On Layoffs And Game Cancellations
"We did not make these choices lightly"
We've heard about lots of layoffs at Xbox today, which has led to multiple cancelled games highlighted by Perfect Dark and Everwild, and Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty has issued an internal statement about this to employees. In his statement, as shared by
News Two More Xbox Games Are Being Cancelled, Including Perfect Dark
The Initiative has been shut down as a result
News about the Xbox layoffs continues to trickle in today, and these latest reports have left us pretty speechless - they say that both a new ZeniMax MMORPG and the Perfect Dark reboot (!) have now been cancelled. The ZeniMax game was being made by the Elder Scrolls Online team, and Bloomberg's Jason...
News Xbox Founding Member 'Not Pleased' With State Of The Brand In 2025
"Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead"
A founding member of Team Xbox caused a stir on social media over the weekend after posting a video on YouTube criticising the state of the brand in 2025, and particularly the strategy over the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally handheld. Laura Fryer, who worked as director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group back...
News Forza Motorsport Studio Said To Be 'Bracing' For Job Cuts At Xbox
"I've heard from sources"
The report about imminent Xbox layoffs is unsurprisingly sparking off a lot of discussion on social media and various other communities right now, and various industry reporters are continuing to reveal what they've heard so far. Following Bloomberg's report about the layoffs, and industry veteran George Broussard...
News Imminent Xbox Layoffs Could Include Entire Studios, Warns Industry Veteran
"Good luck to all involved. Brutal."
Back on Tuesday, it was reported that Microsoft could be making major layoffs throughout the Xbox division at some point next week, and industry veteran George Broussard has now chimed in with what he knows about the situation. Broussard, who worked on the likes of Duke Nukem, Max Payne and Prey back in the day,...
News Microsoft Planning To 'Restructure' Xbox Distribution In Central Europe, Says Report
Leading to "some Xbox operations ceasing in some regions"
Earlier today, we heard how Microsoft is reportedly planning to make layoffs throughout the Xbox division at some point next week, and a follow-up report has noted how "some Xbox operations" might be ceasing in Europe as well. This is coming from The Verge, which says that according to one...
Report Xbox Suffering Major Layoffs Next Week, Microsoft Declines To Comment
"Managers within Xbox are expecting substantial cuts"
We've had a lot of great Xbox news recently, but there's a report about job cuts doing the rounds today courtesy of Bloomberg which sadly says "major layoffs" are expected throughout the Xbox division at some point next week. The report specifically mentions that managers within Xbox are...
News It Sounds Like MindsEye Is Leading To Major Layoffs At The Studio
Potentially 100+ of the 500 staff
It probably won't come as much of a surprise to hear that MindsEye, which is one of the most controversial Xbox games of 2025 so far, is apparently leading to mass layoffs at the new development studio Build a Rocket Boy. A report from IGN mentions that over 100 employees are potentially affected according to...
News Developer Reveals Surprisingly Critical Feedback After Launching On Xbox Game Pass
"Content has been devalued"
We were treated to the excellent Revenge of the Savage Planet on Xbox Game Pass back in May, and although games like these usually seem a great fit for the service, one of its developers isn't so keen on how the launch has gone. Speaking to Gamer Social Club recently, creative director Alex Hutchinson told the outlet...
News Capcom Is Expanding Its Dev Studios Following Years Of Record Profits
First new building opening in 2027
Earlier this month, we posted about another incredibly successful year for Japanese game maker Capcom, and now it's announced its intentions to expand considerably over the next few years in the wake of that success. As shared by the folks over at VGC, Capcom says it's building a new development base in Osaka; to...
News Xbox Tops The List In New 'Best-Selling Games' Roundup For The US
Hardware sales have even grown as well!
Stop us if you've heard this one before, but Xbox is doing really well right now. April 2025 was an incredible month for Microsoft as a gaming publisher, with multiple new releases selling extremely well across a variety of platforms. As revealed by Mat Piscatella of analyst group Circana, two Xbox games were...
News Microsoft To Make Registration 'Free' For Individual App Developers As Of June 2025
Potentially affecting Xbox as well
Yesterday, it was announced by Microsoft that individual developers will no longer to need to pay to publish their apps on the Microsoft Store for PC as of June 2025, with the company waiving the fee of $19 that they're currently charged. Microsoft says that it's "creating a more inclusive and accessible platform...
News Square Enix Doubles Down On Plans To Release More Xbox Games
Come on then, it's Final Fantasy time
It was this time last year that Square Enix announced an "aggressive" new multi-platform strategy that would see more games being released on more platforms (including Xbox), and the company has doubled down on this again today. In the latest Square Enix financial report, there's once again a reference to this...
News Xbox Seemingly Affected As Microsoft Announces Thousands More Job Cuts
"Across all levels, teams and geographies"
We always hate reporting news like this, but it's got to be done - Microsoft is announcing more job cuts today, spanning 3% of the company "across all levels, teams and geographies" according to a report by CNBC. In a statement, Microsoft said the cuts would "best position the company for success in a...
News New Sales Data Highlights How Xbox Is 'Dominating' PS5 Right Now
It's actually quite ridiculous
We've already heard a lot over the past few weeks about how Xbox is dominating PS5 as a publisher at the moment, but the extent of Microsoft's success has largely remained a mystery in terms of copies sold. The company rarely provides sales data like this, but thanks to Alinea Analytics, we now have a much clearer...
