Timeline
TodayThu, 18th Jun 2026
News Two More 'Day One' Releases Announced For Xbox & PC Game Pass In July 2026
Next month is looking busy already!
Last weekend, we highlighted a bunch of games that were already confirmed for Xbox Game Pass in July 2026, and we're pleased to say we've had more since then - including two new "day one" releases that have just been announced. The first release here is The Planet Crafter (July 21), which is a really successful...
News GTA 6 Cover Art Revealed, Pre-Orders Begin Next Week For Xbox Series X|S
It's happening!
Here we go! It's been announced today that pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 will begin on June 25th, 2026 - and this will include on the Xbox Store for Xbox Series X|S, on the PlayStation Store for PS5, and at other select retailers. A price still hasn't been revealed yet, so we'll have to wait a little longer for it. We also...
News State Of Decay 3 Gets 72 Minutes Of Raw Gameplay Footage In New Early Alpha Video
"For the first time, I'm able to share..."
One of Xbox's big upcoming first-party projects is obviously State of Decay 3 over at Undead Labs, and the game remains in an early Alpha state right now, although it's targeting a full release at some point in 2027. We haven't seen a whole lot of the game aside from trailers thus far, so it's surprising...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (June 18-22)
Your latest set of FPD freebies for the weekend
It's Thursday, so that means we've got another batch of Xbox Free Play Days titles to enjoy over the next few days! There are at least four games in the lineup, and we'll update this article later today if Xbox reveals any others. Here's what we know of Xbox's latest Free Play Days lineup so far:...
News Treyarch Confuses Xbox Fans With Black Ops 1 & 2 Reveal For PS5
"The games are compromised on both Xbox and PC"
Last night, out of nowhere, Call of Duty: Black Ops developer Treyarch announced that Iron Galaxy would be porting the original Black Ops and Black Ops 2 to PS5 (and presumably PS4) in July, but didn't say anything about other platforms. As you're probably well aware, these two games already exist on...
YesterdayWed, 17th Jun 2026
News Gears Of War: E-Day Continues To Look Incredible In New 60FPS Xbox Series X Footage
Taken from State of Unreal 2026
The highlight of the Xbox Games Showcase earlier in June was arguably Gears of War: E-Day, and the Xbox console exclusive appeared again today at State of Unreal 2026 with a tech demo highlighting the power of Unreal Engine. You can watch this footage in full up above, which is confirmed to be running on Xbox Series...
News 'It's Going To Be Pretty Brutal' - Jason Schreier Reveals More On Upcoming Xbox Layoffs
The Bloomberg reporter has published a new 30-minute video
We're still waiting to hear more news on the reported layoffs taking place at Xbox soon, with multiple studios such as Compulsion Games, Double Fine and Ninja Theory potentially set to be affected, and well-regarded Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has taken
News GTA 5's Last-Gen Xbox Version Is Getting A Free Upgrade To Series X|S
But only if you own it digitally
Back in February of 2022, Rockstar Games unveiled the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S versions of Grand Theft Auto V, offering visual and performance improvements compared to the Xbox One and Xbox 360 originals. It wasn't free, though — the initial price was £17.49 / $19.99, or less if you wanted GTA Online on...
News Xbox Confirms Presence At Gamescom 2026, Hypes Up Gears Of War: E-Day For It
FanFest will return at the August event as well
Following the Xbox Games Showcase in early June, we're now looking ahead to Gamescom in August - the German event that typically mark the second biggest few days of the year for new gaming announcements. It's no surprise, then, that Xbox has confirmed it will be present at Gamescom 2026 from August...
News Forza Horizon 6 Premium Owners Urged To Check Xbox 'Offers & Credits' For Free Rewards
007 First Light owners will also want to keep an eye on it
Back in September of 2025, Xbox added a new feature called "Offers and Credits" where you could access free gift cards and other specific benefits in one place, and it's getting talked about again this week because of Forza Horizon 6. If you happened to pre-order either the Forza Horizon 6...
News Impressive New Xbox Game Loses Its Entire Dev Team After A Month
Luna Abyss released in May, and now it's doomed in June
You may remember that one of May 2026's Xbox Game Pass titles was Luna Abyss - a single-player action adventure title that received some pretty great reviews at launch, and currently holds a "Very Positive" rating on Steam too. The release of that game was back on May 21st, and as of...
News Three Games Join Xbox Game Pass This Week, But One Has Been Delayed (June 16-18)
Catching you up on the latest announcements
We were a little unsure about what to expect from Xbox Game Pass heading into this week, and we were even more confused when Xbox announced the latest Game Pass roundup yesterday and missed out a day one addition. The game we're talking about is Shift at Midnight, which is an online co-op detective horror...
Report Xbox Already Planned To 'Sunset Or Split With' Ninja Theory Before Senua Reveal
The game was announced at the Xbox Games Showcase
Amidst all the rumours and reports about potential Xbox studio closures, the one that seems to be throwing most people for a loop is Ninja Theory, as the Hellblade developer literally just revealed a new game called Senua at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7th. It turns out that plans may have...
Tuesday16th Jun 2026
News Xbox Has Limited Spots For A Free 'Once Human' Open Beta This Week
Update: The game's final beta goes live on Wednesday night
Fancy playing something new this week? Xbox has just opened up registrations for a free Once Human closed beta on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, which is taking place from March 26th through to April 8th. This is an open-world supernatural survival game that released on Steam back in...
News Ori Creator Shares His Take On The Future Of Xbox's First-Party Strategy
"It still looks like Xbox is sitting on an absolute goldmine"
It's no surprise that multiple people in the industry are sharing their thoughts about the state of Xbox Game Studios and Xbox's other first-party teams, as the rumours have been flying around about potential job cuts and studio closures. One of those people is the head of Moon Studios,...
News Xbox CSO Shuts Down Rumour About Exclusives, Insists They'll Happen Every Year
It had been suggested they might "reverse course"
There have been many rumours floating around about Xbox over the past 24 hours, with most of them centred around potential studio closures, but another one has related to exclusives and how Xbox might "reverse course" on them. Windows Central editor Jez Corden took to social media earlier today to...
News Eight Games Are Leaving Xbox Game Pass In Late June 2026
Here's what's leaving soon
Microsoft has revealed the next eight games leaving Xbox Game Pass in late June 2026, with all of these being highlighted as "leaving soon" on the official Xbox Wire website. There are some big departures in here, including two Tomb Raider games (Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Rise of the Tomb Raide
News These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass, Including A COD Surprise (June 16 - July 6)
Microsoft reveals the latest batch
Microsoft has today revealed the second official roundup of Xbox Game Pass titles for June 2026, with seven games joining the service from June 16 - July 6, including a surprise COD addition in the form of Call of Duty: Vanguard. Bizarrely, we already had Shift at Midnight down for June 17th and
News Full List Of Xbox Achievements Revealed For Halo: Campaign Evolved
"Enjoy the hunt!"
We're now just a little over a month away from the release of Halo: Campaign Evolved in late July, so it's no surprise that the Xbox achievements have officially surfaced for it, as shared by the team over at Halo Waypoint. In terms of the most lucrative achievements here, there's one for completing
News Forza Horizon 6 Update Now Live On Xbox & PC, Free Car Being Given To All Players
It's the "Series 2" update
In the midst of everything that was going on last night in regards to potential Xbox studio closures, the folks over at Playground Games unveiled the "Series 2" update for Forza Horizon 6, which includes some quite significant tweaks. Looking at the patch notes, arguably the most notable thing here is that they've...
News Double Fine Reacts To Xbox Closure Rumours With Single Emoji
Racks up 400,000+ views in the process
Last night was crazy, wasn't it?! All sorts of rumours and reports were flying around about potential Xbox studio closures, with some of the affected companies including Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory and Double Fine. Nobody said anything from Compulsion or Ninja Theory last night, but we did hear from Double...
Monday15th Jun 2026
Report Multiple Xbox Studios In 'Active Negotiations' With Microsoft To Avoid Closure
Update: Ninja Theory reportedly set to be closed
Today has been absolutely dominated by reports that one or more Xbox studios could be closed soon by Microsoft, and Bloomberg is now reporting that at least three are in active negotiations with Microsoft over their futures. The outlet names Compulsion Games (which was already rumoured to be shutting...
News The First Review Is In For The Adventures Of Elliot: The Millennium Tales
Famitsu gets ahead of the main embargo
Arguably the biggest new Xbox release this week is Square Enix's The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, and while we've still got a few days until its June 18th release, the first review has officially arrived for it. This is coming from the Japanese outlet Famitsu, which has given the game a 34/40...
News Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory & Others Might Be Getting Shut Down By Xbox
Update: Negotiations seemingly taking place
Just a few minutes ago, we reported on a rumour that suggested Xbox could be closing two studios in 2026, with one of them being Compulsion Games - the studio behind We Happy Few and South of Midnight. The folks over at Kotaku are also now reporting that Compuls
Rumour Journalist Suggests Two Xbox Studios Are 'At Risk Of Being Closed' In 2026
Update: Names them as Compulsion and Arkane
Back on Thursday, we covered a couple of reports from Bloomberg and The Verge that suggested Xbox could be in line for some major job cuts soon, and that a studio closure or "changes to the lineup" could be involved too. And now today, there's a rumour (and keep in mind that's all it is) that two Xbox...
News Two Key Members Of Xbox Game Studios Are Stepping Down
"I’m proud to say we delivered many flawless launches"
You can't go a day without some kind of big story in the world of Xbox right now! This latest one concerns the leadership at Xbox Game Studios, as boss Craig Duncan has announced that he's stepping down from his role, and Chi
News Fable Developer Highlights The Pros & Cons Of Delaying To February 2027
"There was initially a little bit of disappointment"
Amidst the craziness of the Xbox Games Showcase and all the other Xbox news that's been doing the rounds over the past couple of weeks, it was unfortunately confirmed that Fable was being delayed to February of 2027. Speaking to GamesRadar last week, Playground Games General Manager Ralph Fulton...
News Excited For Mistfall Hunter? It's Free To Play On Xbox For The Next Week
Ahead of its Xbox Game Pass release in July
Over the weekend, we highlighted a bunch of games that are already confirmed for Xbox Game Pass in July 2026, and one of them is Mistfall Hunter - a new PvPvE extraction ARPG releasing on July 29th. If you're intrigued about it and want to know more, we've got the perfect solution in the form of a...
News These Are The Top 10 Xbox Backwards Compatibility Requests After 750,000 Votes
For both the original Xbox and Xbox 360
Back at the start of May, we highlighted the top 10 Xbox backwards compatibility requests after 350,000 votes on the unofficial Xbox Game Preservation website - a website that's been vouched for by Xbox's Jason Ronald in the past. It's been almost six weeks since then, and we're now at 750,000 votes (well,...
News Multiple Football Games (Including A New Game Pass Title) Arrive On Xbox This Week
Got World Cup fever? Check out these new additions!
How are you finding the World Cup so far?! Interested in playing some new football / soccer games on Xbox? Well, we've got a few new arrivals this week, including a new Xbox Game Pass addition that's been quietly revealed too. As mentioned in our "Games Coming to Xbox Next Week" roundup on...
Sunday14th Jun 2026
Roundup The Results From Our Xbox Games Showcase 2026 Predictions
They seemed like safe-ish bets, but we didn't do that well!
As always, the staff here at Pure Xbox HQ published our prediction list for the Xbox Games Showcase a couple of weeks ago, and as always, we didn't get them 100% right. We're not psychics or mind-readers after all! Nevertheless, we thought we'd take a quick look at the ones that came true...
News 10+ Games That Have Been Revealed For Xbox Game Pass In 2027 Already
Six months to go, and we've already got a stacked lineup!
It's already been an amazing year for Xbox Game Pass, and we've been constantly updating our big Xbox Game Pass guide for 2026 with all the latest announcements, but now we're going to have to make a 2027 version ASAP as well! The past week has seen loads of games receive 2027 release dates...
News 'We Have To Turn This Into A Sustainable Business' - Microsoft CEO Discusses Future Of Xbox
Satya Nadella shares his thoughts
The big boss of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, recently appeared in a Hard Fork podcast event in San Francisco, and he was questioned a little bit about the future of Xbox and what the plans are going forward. Specifically, the first Xbox-related question was about Asha Sharma and Matt Booty's latest memo regarding the...
Saturday13th Jun 2026
Roundup Here's What The First Previews Are Saying About Stuntman: Hollywood
We've got some gameplay footage too
Last week's State of Play event included the reveal of Stuntman: Hollywood — the return of a series that hadn't existed since the Xbox 360 era — and the first hands-on previews have been going live this week. For those who aren't aware, Stuntman is a series where you drive fast vehicles in high-o
News Six Games Are Confirmed For Xbox Game Pass In July 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 July 2026's Xbox Game Pass selection, with six games currently scheduled to arrive next month. There are a couple of titles in here that don't have a specific release date yet, but they've still been announced for...
Feature These 30+ Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (June 15-19)
Including at least three new Game Pass titles!
Welcome to your Xbox games roundup for June 15-19! The big release of the next few days is Square Enix's The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, but don't forget about the likes of Copa City and Backrooms: Escape Together as well, along with three Xbox Game Pass titles (at least). Here's what's...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 13-14)
Getting into the World Cup spirit?
Welcome to the weekend! There's some great new content to enjoy on Xbox over the next couple of days, including a bunch of recent Xbox Game Pass titles and three Free Play Days additions, and if you happen to be in the World Cup mood like we are, don't forget about the likes of EA Sports FC 26, Football Manage
News Microsoft Has Considered 'Spinning Out Or Restructuring' Xbox, Claims Report
Potentially as a wholly-owned subsidiary
You can't have a quiet Friday night in the world of Xbox these days, can you?! Out of nowhere, the folks over at The Information are reporting today that Microsoft has considered "spinning out or restructuring" the Xbox brand, although it's not something that's said to be imminent (in other words, it might...
Friday12th Jun 2026
News Xbox & Activision Reveal Campaign Early Access Details For Call Of Duty: MW4
Begin playing a week early!
The folks over at Xbox and Activision have announced today that they're adding campaign early access to pre-orders of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, meaning you can start playing it on October 16, 2026. This specifically applies to the Standard Digital Edition or Vault Edition of the game across multiple platforms...
News Xbox CCO Explains Why Marvel's Blade & Elder Scrolls 6 Didn't Appear At The Showcase
Let's be honest, it's pretty self-explanatory
Following the Xbox Games Showcase this past Sunday, there was a bit of talk about Marvel's Blade and why Bethesda's new Xbox IP didn't appear at the event despite being announced a few years ago. Xbox's Chief Content Officer Matt Booty was asked about this in an interview with Variety (published on...
News 'Nothing Is Impossible' - Stellar Blade Developer Responds To Demand For An Xbox Port
They say they just need time
It's been a weird week-or-so for Stellar Blade. A sequel to the highly popular PS5 and PC game was announced at the State of Play last week (called Stellar Blade: Blood Rain), and the developer hinte
News Xbox's New Startup Animation Is Now Live For Everyone, Plus Four Other New Features
Or at least, it should be
Over the past couple of days, we've noticed numerous people pointing out that they've received the new Xbox startup animation on their consoles, and after looking into it a bit further, it turns out this happened on Wednesday. This was part of a public Xbox system update that included multiple new features - specifically...
Feature 30+ Of The Best Games In Xbox's Latest Buy One, Get Two Free Sale
Lots of indie games that might be worth considering
You may have noticed in the "Deals" section of the Microsoft Store app on your Xbox console this week that a new "Buy 1, Get 2 Free" sale has begun, featuring hundreds of indie games that you might be interested in picking up. Like most of these BOGOF-style deals, it's not particularly cost...
News Xbox Announces New System Update To Address Forza Horizon 6 Save Issues
"Targeting a rollout starting June 12"
Back at the start of June, we reported on a problem that was plaguing some Forza Horizon 6 players in which their save files were either getting corrupted or disappearing entirely, and both the Forza Support team and Team Xbox are now working hard to "help improve these issues". A dedicated post on the
News Xbox Thanks Fans For Patience Following Multi-Hour Server Outage
Update: Everything should be up and running again
Just in case you're waking up to the Xbox Network servers being down, you're not alone! Lots of reports have been shared this morning about the same issue, with players from across the world reporting that they're unable to access online play, cloud saves and various other functionality. Team...
News Free Play Days: Try These Xbox Games For Free (June 11-14)
Three more games to check out over the next few days
The Xbox Free Play Days program has returned once more for the coming weekend, and for this latest edition from June 11th to June 14th, we've got three games playable for free on Xbox consoles. Here's Microsoft's full Free Play Days lineup: Blasphemous 2 (five-hour trial) Hell Let Loose State...
Thursday11th Jun 2026
News Halo: Campaign Evolved Comparison Shows Difference Between Xbox Series X And Ally X
Based on early pre-release footage, of course
With Halo: Campaign Evolved less than two months away, our friends over at Digital Foundry have been getting access to Xbox Series X and PC builds of the game, giving us our first taste of what to expect in terms of performance. Long story short, it's good news! They've been playing an Xbox Series X...
News Here's Your First Look At Gameplay For Clutch, Releasing On Xbox In Spring 2027
At first glance, it's visually stunning!
Back at the start of this month, we highlighted the reveal of Clutch — a new ambitious AAA racer from the former Forza Horizon creative director Mike Brown — and it's just received its first gameplay reveal today. That reveal is coming from various content creators and press outlets on YouTube, so ther
News Xbox's 30-Minute Fable Gameplay Is Getting Great Feedback, Aside From Minor Concerns
"I cannot wait for this"
Yesterday afternoon, a new 30-minute gameplay demo for Fable suddenly appeared on the official Xbox YouTube channel, giving us our best glimpse yet at what to expect from the Playground Games reboot in February 2027. You can watch the full thing up above (seriously, it's well worth it), and it's no surprise that the...
News The Coalition Reveals Campaign Length & Other New Details For Gears Of War: E-Day
"Longer than any campaign [The Coalition has] built"
Following the full reveal of Gears of War: E-Day at the Xbox Games Showcase a few days ago, the good folks over at IGN have been finding out more information about the game, including how long the campaign will be. Let's start with that bit - The Coalition says that the campaign for Gears of War:...
