Timeline
Wednesday8th Oct 2025
News Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Team Unveils New Content For 'Major' Upcoming Xbox Update
As a thank you for passing five million sales worldwide
There are many people who will have Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on their list for Game of the Year in 2025, and it's about to get even better thanks to an upcoming "major" update that's set to go live in the near future. This has been teased by the development team as part of some "thank you"...
News Xbox Journalist Disputes Rumour About AMD Requiring 10M Units For First-Party Handheld
"This isn't even slightly true btw"
Earlier this week, you may have seen a rumour doing the rounds that Xbox's dedicated first-party handheld (not the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally) was cancelled early in development due to AMD wanting a commitment of 10 million units to justify making a custom SoC (system on a chip) for the device. This came from a source...
News Xbox's Playground Games Grew Substantially In 2024 To Prepare For Fable & Forza Horizon 6
70+ new employees
Xbox developer Playground Games has a big year on its hands in 2026 — with both Fable and Forza Horizon 6 due to release — and it seems the British studio has been growing substantially to prepare for these two huge releases. The team's financial statements for 2024 have just been released publicly, and they confirm that the...
News The Full Black Ops 6 Campaign Will Be Entirely Free For A Week, Starting This Thursday
Taking Battlefield 6 head on?
The Call of Duty team has detailed its latest free trial ahead of the series' yearly Halloween update, and for the first time in franchise history, the entire Black Ops 6 campaign will be free-to-play for a week on Xbox. Yep, starting October 9th and running through October 16th, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is hosting...
News ROG Xbox Ally X Continues To Sell Out, While Standard Version Remains More Readily Available
It seems most people are interested in the X
With just over a week to go until the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X handhelds make their way into the hands of the public, it seems there's one device in particular that's attracting the lion's share of the attention right now. That device is the ROG Xbox Ally X, which is the more premium (and...
News Ninja Gaiden 4 Is Now Available To Preload On Xbox Game Pass
And it's a reasonable download size!
We've got a big month ahead of us when it comes to Xbox published titles, and ahead of its Game Pass launch later in the month, Ninja Gaiden 4 is now ready to preload on Xbox Series X|S. We're looking at a modest 37GB install for this one on console, with the PC version coming in slightly higher at just north of...
Tuesday7th Oct 2025
Pick One Which Is Your Favourite Double Fine Game On Xbox?
Keeper comes next
With Xbox exclusive Keeper launching next week — and a distinct lack of marketing for it, to be honest — we wanted to go back and talk about Double Fine's Xbox history in today's 'Pick One' feature! This famous development house, led by visionary Tim Schafer, has produced some absolute classics over the years - and most of...
News Vampire Survivors Is Adding Online Co-Op To The Xbox Game Pass Hit This Autumn
"yeah it's autumn right now shh"
How do you make Vampire Survivors even better?! You add online co-op to it! That's what's officially happening at some point this Autumn, with the development team confirming it'll be one of the (seemingly five) big new features added as part of update 1.14. There's no release date yet, but they've acknowledged...
News Seven Games Tested On ROG Xbox Ally X In 45 Minutes Of Impressive Pre-Release Footage
This thing is looking good
With the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X launching next week (!), it's no surprise that we're starting to see some early footage of the Ally X out in the wild, and that means we can start seeing how powerful this thing really is! The video you see below is courtesy of YouTuber Dans ta grosse poche, who received their...
News Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Introduces 'The Minecraft Festival' On Xbox This Week
"Minecraft is joining the race"
Back in the summer, we covered Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and its Minecraft crossover when SEGA announced an official release date for its new kart racer - and today, the team has revealed exactly when you can partake in this big MC event on Xbox.
News PowerWash Simulator 2 Gets Official Release Date, Coming To Game Pass This Month
Launching in just a few weeks' time!
Back in March, FuturLab announced PowerWash Simulator 2 — a full follow-up to its surprise Xbox hit PowerWash Simulator — and now we have an official release date as the team prepares another day one Game Pass launch. Powe
News New Silent Hill F Xbox Advertisement Makes It Clear You're Only Buying A 'License'
"I haven't seen it advertised like this before"
We've seen a lot of discourse around digital games and whether you truly own them or not over the past few years, and as spotted by one particular Xbox fan, Silent Hill F makes a specific reference to this in its latest Xbox advert. As you can see in the ad, there's a mention underneath the "available...
News Strange Xbox Email Suggests Game Pass Price Increase Doesn't Apply To Certain Members
Update: Microsoft confirms it's legit for some countries
We've obviously all well aware of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass price hike that's rolling out in most regions right now, but certain members are potentially not being affected by it - primarily in Europe, it seems. Today, lots of people have been sharing an apparent new email...
News Activision Lays Into Black Ops 7 Hackers As 97% Of Early Access Beta Cheats Shut Down Instantly
A monumental effort from the COD team
The Black Ops 7 beta is now in full swing as Microsoft opens the doors for anyone and everyone to jump in, and as the tech test moves on from its early access period, Activision has provided a huge update on how it's handled cheaters during the first few days of the beta. The COD anti-cheat team says that...
News Bungie's Delayed Shooter Marathon Re-Emerges With New Xbox Playtest
"This is an important checkpoint for us..."
Back in the summer, Destiny dev Bungie delayed its upcoming extraction shooter Marathon due to mixed feedback from the team's 2025 Alpha test, but that hasn't discouraged them - as a new playtest has now been announced for later this month. Marathon's next tech test goes ahead October 22 through October...
News Metal: Hellsinger Studio Announces Closure After 10 Years In Existence
"All of us have been affected by the layoffs at Funcom"
Remember Metal: Hellsinger? This awesome rhythm-shooter was a day one launch on Xbox Game Pass back in 2022, but unfortunately the studio behind it has announced its closure on social media. The studio is/was known as The Outsiders, and the team has been affected by layoffs at publisher...
News Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (October 7)
Your first additions of a busy month!
Welcome to your first Xbox Game Pass update for October 2025! Today, we have two new additions landing on XGP, ahead of what's looking like a stacked month for the service. Here's some more information on today's two new Xbox Game Pass titles, and you can check out what else is coming this month via the link...
Monday6th Oct 2025
Talking Point Would You Still Buy An Elite Series 3 Controller For Xbox Series X|S?
Or is it too late?
Last week, Xbox President Sarah Bond was asked about the Elite Series 3 controller and whether we can expect to see another iteration of the device - to which she teased that "more information should come out in the future". It wasn't a definitive answer but it certainly hinted that we could see another Xbox Elite controller at...
News Battlefield 6's Xbox File Size Is Much Smaller On Series S Than Series X
Thanks to 'modular' install packs
AAA games can take up lots of storage space these days, especially big shooters that contain lots of different maps and modes, but we're glad to say that the upcoming Battlefield 6 seems to have been pretty well optimised for Xbox Series X and S consoles. With the preload going live in the last few days, we've...
News 1997's Broken Sword 2: The Smoking Mirror Is Getting 'Reforged' For Xbox In 2026
"A faithful reimagining of the second game"
It was just over 12 months ago that Broken Sword - Shadow of the Templars: Reforged was released for Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, so it makes sense that the second game is also getting the treatment very soon! This one is officially called Broken Sword - The Smoking Mirror: Reforged, and...
News Microsoft Rewards Team Insists October Gift Card Sale Hasn't Been Forgotten About
"We've seen your questions"
Back in the middle of September, there was a lot of excitement amongst Microsoft Rewards users after a Gift Card Sale was announced for October... but then nothing ended up happening once October rolled around. Worse still, the advert for the sale suddenly disappeared, leading to a belief that Microsoft might have...
News Fable's Peter Molyneux Describes Xbox Boss As 'One Of The Best People I've Worked With'
As part of a new interview with Edge Magazine
Long before Xbox boss Phil Spencer actually became the head of the brand in 2014, he was playing an important role in shaping its future back in the early days - and Fable creator Peter Molyneux has shared some kind new words about his experience with the now-Microsoft Gaming CEO. Molyneux has been...
News Xbox Report Details Cancelled 'Uncharted Rival' Once Being Made By Gears Of War Dev
Gears 4 was made instead
More than a decade ago now, The Coalition was known as 'Black Tusk Studios'; developing an original IP for Microsoft and Xbox. Some of you may remember the game's teaser trailer from E3 2013 that depicted a spy thriller of some sort, but the game never came to be. Well, a new report from DidYouKnowGaming goes into the...
News Xbox Rewards Adds More Weekly Point Buffs For Game Pass Ultimate Members
While nerfing them for other tiers
Last week, we reported on how Xbox Rewards was buffing its points in some cases and nerfing them in others, and it turned out to be part of the Xbox Game Pass overhaul that was announced on October 1st. Today, however, Xbox and Microsoft Rewards members are waking up to find that their weekly tasks have also been...
News Control Ultimate Edition Gets Big Xbox Series X|S Update, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
120FPS support! HDR! Bonus Kojima mission!
Control Ultimate Edition has just received a major update on Xbox Series X|S, adding in a bunch of current-gen tech features alongside the once-PS4 exclusive mission 'Dr. Yoshimi Tokui’s Guided Imagery Experience'; featuring Hideo Kojima. You may remember that this patch actually went live on PC back in...
News It Looks Like The Silent Hill 2 Remake Is About To Go Fully Multiplatform
PS5 exclusivity ends this week
Since the Silent Hill 2 remake graced PC and PS5 platforms last year, we've been eager to see if the Konami & Bloober Team collaboration would eventually come to Xbox - and just as the game is about to hit its one-year anniversary, we have some evidence to suggest that an Xbox port is near. As shared by Rebs Gaming,...
News New COD Sales 'Estimate' Helps Explain Xbox's Price Hike For Day One Game Pass Releases
GP Ultimate & PCGP have since received price increases
Last year marked the first Call of Duty game to be released day one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass in the form of Black Ops 6, but a new report from Bloomberg suggests that it didn't perform as well as hoped. The report mentions that, according to a former employee of Xbox,...
News Xbox Issues Statement Denying Rumour That Next-Gen Console Could Be Cancelled
"We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles..."
Over the weekend, you may have seen that a rumour was doing the rounds suggesting Xbox's hardware plans were "up in the air" and that "the future of Xbox is software publishing" - something Microsoft has responded to in recent hours. The rumour came from a source known as SneakersSO...
Saturday4th Oct 2025
News Multiple Xbox Games Temporarily Delisted Due To Security Issue With The Unity Engine
"A potentially serious vulnerability"
A bunch of Xbox first-party games have suddenly become unavailable on the Microsoft Store over the past few hours due to a security issue that's been discovered with the Unity engine. The "security vulnerability" stems back to 2017 and Unity has provided fixes that developers can implement, but Microsoft has...
Talking Point How Do You Feel About Ubisoft+ Classics Being Added To Game Pass Ultimate?
Good perk, bad perk, somewhere in the middle?
In order to pack out its newly price-hiked Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier, Microsoft is bundling in a couple of bonus subscriptions for users - one of those being Fortnite Crew in November and the other bein
News Here's What Might Leave Xbox Game Pass In November 2025
Some early predictions
What's leaving Xbox Game Pass in November 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...
Feature These 30+ Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (October 6-10)
Including at least two more Game Pass titles!
Welcome to your Xbox games roundup for October 6-10! The big release of the next few days is Battlefield 6 for sure, but we've also got the likes of Yooka-Replayee, Little Nightmares 3 and at least two
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 4-5)
Some of that free COD beta?
Welcome to another weekend of gaming! As October gets into its stride, we've got plenty to be playing on Xbox and beyond - so let's talk a little bit about what we're getting stuck into over the next few days. Here's what we're playing this weekend: Ben Kerry, Staff Writer: After what's turned out to be a very busy...
Feature Black Ops 7 Beta Review (Xbox) - A Bit Of A Re-Skin, But Zombies Mode Shines
Bringing the band back together
Call of Duty returns this year with its first back-to-back Black Ops release — similar to Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 a few years ago — and that no-doubt makes this year's title feel like less of a leap. COD 2025 is clearly built on the admittedly-strong foundations of Black Ops 6, which makes mu
Friday3rd Oct 2025
News Xbox Game Studios Titles Up For Several Awards At Golden Joysticks 2025
Indiana Jones, South of Midnight & more involved
Voting for this year's Golden Joystick Awards has gone live today, and while Xbox misses out on any Game of the Year nominations this time around, several of its titles are up for various other awards at the 2025 edition of the show. Xbox's Deep South-inspired adventure South of Midnight is up for...
News Halo Reporter Thinks They've Discovered Who's Developing The Combat Evolved 'Remake'
"If my sources and evidence are correct"
It's no secret that the folks over at Halo Studios are seemingly cooking up a new version of Halo: Combat Evolved that's likely going to arrive next year, and one Halo reporter in particular thinks they know exactly who's working on it. This is a reporter known as Rebs Gaming, who's delved into the situation...
News Microsoft Set To Announce 'Free' Xbox Cloud Gaming Tier With Ads
An alternative to streaming through Game Pass
With Microsoft extending Xbox Cloud Gaming access to all versions of Xbox Game Pass earlier this week (with different benefits and limitations for each), the company is apparently set to announce a free version for xCloud soon as well. This is coming from Tom Warren at The Verge, who says that...
News Skate 'Season 1' Begins Next Week, Adding A Bunch Of New Content To The Game
"Let the good times roll!"
EA's Skate reboot has proved popular since launching in early access as a free-to-play title last month, and it's just about to receive a whole bunch of new content as part of "Season 1" that begins on October 7th, 2025. You can see a sample of this content in the trailer up above, with some of the highlights including...
Talking Point So, Have You Tried Out Hogwarts Legacy On Xbox Game Pass Yet?
If so, what do you think?
Alongside Microsoft's overhaul to Xbox Game Pass this week, it added a bunch of new titles to both its Premium and Ultimate services - with Hogwarts Legacy now playable on both the mid and high-end tiers of the subscription. So, for those of you that managed to hold off buying the game for this long, how are you getting on...
Poll What Are Your First Impressions Of The Black Ops 7 Beta On Xbox?
Live now for Game Pass Ultimate players
Call of Duty season is upon us once again, with the early access portion of Xbox's Black Ops 7 beta now available. Yep, pre-order players and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can now test out the latest multiplayer offering from COD developer Treyarch ahead of th
News Jump Space Is Dominating The Xbox Charts Right Now, And There's A Good Reason For It
It helps that it's a fun game!
The Top Paid Xbox charts are full of some absolute behemoths right now - EA Sports FC 26, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Dying Light: The Beast and many others - but one game that's keeping pace with all of them is Jump Space! We talked about this title prior to release, mentioning how it was both an
News Xbox Ditches Majority Of Its Game Pass DLC Discounts As Part Of Service Revamp
Update: Microsoft shares a statement
So, earlier today we spotted some news doing the rounds about Call of Duty DLC no longer being discounted for Xbox Game Pass members - and after doing a little digging, this appears to be part of the broader Game Pass shift from Microsoft. Basically, the majority of individual DLC packs for Game Pass games are...
News The New Virtua Fighter Has A Totally Free Beta On Xbox This Weekend
Full game releases later this month
We've already talked about the array of Xbox Free Play Days titles that are available this weekend, including the Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 beta, but another one you might have missed is an open beta for the new Virtua Fighter! Specifically, this is for
News Here's Your First Proper Look At The 'Premium Case' For The ROG Xbox Ally
It's been shipped to some people already
When the ROG Xbox Ally prices and pre-order details were finally revealed last week, Microsoft also talked about a handful of early accessories that will be available for it - including the 2-in-1 Premium Case that's being sold by ASUS. That case isn't particularly cheap at a whopping £59.99 / $69.99, but...
News Xbox Fan Shares Their Concept For A Game Pass 'Select' Plan With Optional Add-Ons
"I made Game Pass modular."
You don't need us to tell you that Xbox's recent changes to Game Pass have been received with some disgruntlement over the past couple of days, with the criticism being mostly applied to the price increase for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. One fan has even take it upon themselves to come up with a concept for an Xbox Game...
Thursday2nd Oct 2025
News Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Will Now Get 75+ Day One Titles Per Year, A '50% Increase' On Before
"That’s a 50 percent increase over last year"
A major part of Microsoft's new plan to cram more benefits into its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription is to double down on day one releases in that top tier, and as it turns out, the team claims that we're talking a 50% increase on day one Game Pass additions over the next 12 months - and for every...
News Xbox May Have Accidentally Leaked Mortal Kombat 1 For Game Pass
It's been spotted in an XGP banner
It looks like we've got another big Xbox Game Pass addition on the way soon! Microsoft has been busy updating all the marketing material for Game Pass over the past 24 hours, and it seems one specific title has slipped through the net. We're obviously talking about Mortal Kombat 1, which is appearing in a new Xbox...
PSA You Can Still Get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate For $19.99 Right Now
Grab a discount while you can
Yesterday, it was announced that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate would going up in price with a sharp increase, but for the time being at least, there's still a way of grabbing some prepaid codes at the old prices. For those who aren't aware yet, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate used to cost £14.99 per-month here in the UK and $19.99...
Deals Some Major 2025 Games Are Discounted In Xbox's New 'Hits You Can't Miss' Sale
There are various other sales as well
There's been a lot going on this week, so we haven't had a chance to round up all the new sales on the Xbox Store until now - and we've actually seen quite a lot of them going live over the past couple of days! The highlight for us is a "Hits You Can't Miss" sale that may be small, but includes loads of 2025...
News 'Price Increases Are Never Fun For Anybody' Says Xbox Exec Defending Game Pass Changes
"We're listening to the feedback of players..."
It's safe to say that yesterday's Game Pass changes haven't exactly gone down well with Xbox fans, particularly that huge price increase for Ultimate subscribers - and now we've spotted some Microsoft exec quotes that dropped alongside those changes, including a mention that the team is "listening to...
