@Fiendish-Beaver I don't think franchises like EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, Call of Duty, etc. need to do anything against GTA release. Most of the people who buy these games day one, often play just that specific game all year long. So the stickiness is far too much for a game like GTA to pull away these gamers. Call of Duty might have some competition in the form of Battlefield 6, but the rest are de facto monopolies in a sense.
But I agree, for the rest of the games on consoles intending to release around that time, it is far more sensible to launch on Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. PC releases, of course, don't need to worry. However, the reason I believe most games are avoid a release around that period is that GTA VI is expected to overtake all communication cycles developers rely on, including articles, gaming outlet, youtubers, social media, etc.
@FraserG Just to clarify, I am not questioning your intention at all. My reply to Fiendish-Beaver still cites all your articles, since I trust the information you share. But that opening line certainly creates that implication, even if not intended.
We've already seen so many games announced for September over the past few months as publishers desperately attempt to avoid GTA 6 in November, and we're continuing to get more announcements by the week.
@FraserG I don't see why you would use that opening line which implies these games have chosen said dates to avoid GTA, when in reality they have always released during this exact same period.
EA Sports FC 27 - 25 September 2026 (announced)
EA Sports FC 26 - 26 September 2025
EA Sports FC 25 - 27 September 2024
EA Sports FC 24 - 29 September 2023
NBA 2K27 - September 4, 2026 (announced)
NBA 2K26 - September 5, 2025
NBA 2K25 - September 6, 2024
NBA 2K24 - September 8, 2023
I do worry about the slippery slope and ads start creeping in elsewhere. Give an inch and they will take a mile.
Well said. Nearly every ad-based platform starts with roses and only when it is sticky enough for people to not leave, they start extracting more value. I am sure they would have some target number of users to sustain the cost. If they don't achieve it, it is possible they would start showing more ads or more obnoxious ads.
@smoreon I don't understand if they have it on the store, that means the publisher is willing to sell it, why can't they ask the publisher for some cover art? I can understand the issue for the delisted BC games, but for the rest they can certainly ask the publishers.
@Millionski Yeah I believed it would be exclusively Windows, especially since Sarah Bond's Xbox-AMD partnership video described Windows will be the greatest gaming platform. But, there were also conversations, how Microsoft could use their hypervisor to instantly switch between Windows and XboxOS, which at least technically seemed sound.
As for the status of Windows, I too have little hope in its dramatic improvement. I am using it daily and I have thought about switching to linux quite a few times. I am on laptop however, and thus the linux support is quite limited, especially for things like fan control, etc.
@Millionski yes I had the same thoughts, but I believe this makes it a lot more concrete than ever before. If they can directly run those games on PC without any hardware modifications, this means most PCs can be converted to Xboxes. Phil and Sarah's "This is an Xbox" dream is eventually coming.
As for Windows, my hopes for improvement aren't that high. They have horribly diminished any good experience you can have on Windows, which is especially notable if you ever interact with any other OS, including XboxOS. I don;t see them making such a giant leap in such a small amount of time. But if they go the Valve route, they would be improving the system over time. Their actual next-gen product is Windows now.
@General-Foley My only contention with PCs is Windows. It hasn't been a stable software for the past 5 years, and I don't think they can improve much in 1.
@themightyant yes those were the reasons, but I believe this was also the time last year when Xbox announced Gears of War Reloaded will come to PS5, and conversations around Xbox becoming a multiplatform publisher started catching up, lowering trust in the platform and the reason to buy an Xbox console, especially when it wasn't clear if whether the next announced Xbox first party will also jump ship.
My only desire is to see QuickResume on Windows. I know it is likely much more complex with the sheer openness of PC hardware, but even if we get it on limited devices, I would be happy
@Banjo- I think the percentage growth is a lot more significant for Xbox than other consoles because trust was at all time low before the leadership change and the subsequent drop of many customer-facing bad faith advertisements such as "Everything is an Xbox". This is like you see huge gdp increase after a recession in the economy. The long-term strategy still seems to be the same, especially now that they are rolling out Xbox games for Windows, and Windows largely being an everywhere platform with laptops, handhelds, boxes, and such. But it seems like Asha Sharma has certainly steered the ship away from collision. Whether the path becomes sustainable in the long term is yet to be observed.
I said it in the previous post, this set of announcements have left me wondering whether,
Helix can just be a PC, not even a hybrid, with Xbox mode resembling more and more like the Series consoles, and the rest being Windows. I know this was a possibility, but now it seems more feasible than ever. I don't see them keeping separate OSs, when they can offer a lot more games on Windows, especially the ones that skip Xbox console on launch but always release the PC port.
@trev666 why did you need a guide, isn't there a map (if it is open world), or directional hints (if it isn't). Or is the game like Atomfall, where you simply have written text in the menu, but have to figure out where to go yourself.
This is some great news. But now I am also wondering Helix can just be a PC, not even a hybrid, with Xbox mode resembling more and more like the Series consoles, and the rest being Windows. I know this was a possibility, but now it seems more feasible than ever. I don't see them keeping separate OSs, when they can offer a lot more games on Windows, especially the ones that skip Xbox console on launch but always release the PC port.
The posters for Xbox and Xbox 360 games have a thick black bar at the bottom. Since I don't sort my games by size, that black bar has nothing covering it and oddly stands out. If they fix that, I would start using the posters with the medium size, until them I will stick to large size tiles.
@themightyant Oh I never meant to suggest they are going to make good games, especially after losing such an amount of institutional knowledge.
You are correct in pointing out the software brain of Asha. I wonder if they ever thought about creative houses like the restructuring that Ubisoft is currently making. Because this one, as you pointed out, was already done and failed.
The only publishers/platform holders we can consider sustainable today have a mix of AAA and experimental endeavors. Both feed into each other, creating unique experiences. Xbox and Sony are both moving to AAA exclusive space, which while less risky and profitable, is only going to deplete creativity in the long term. I would have liked Xbox to move to Capcom or Nintendo models.
the simple truth is that she needed to make 3200 people redundant in order to save money. The easiest way for her to rid Xbox of those people is to get rid of some studios, which she has done. The next easiest target for these sackings are studios that have just released a game, which is where iD fell foul
I agree, people keep ignoring the raw financial motivations. I am surprised people keep pretending that Asha Sharma or Xbox management would perform every action with utmost sincerity. Sure there might have been a few cases where divestment was necessary and teams didn't match the future strategy (example ESO).
But let's not pretend they were appropriately distributed or won't affect any projects. I keep hearing repeated PR lines like id being the size it were during Doom 2016, when in every single developer presentation for the technology id built for The Dark Ages, they explained the game is significantly more complex than Doom 2016 and Eternal, to the point that if they didn't use ray-tracing and relied on traditional lighting calculations, it would've taken them 2-3 more years to get the same game made. We might look towards some of the older games with ferveur but I don't think anyone would pay full price for a game that looks or feels like it came from the previous decades.
@datamonkey he's not the sole investor in the film and probably won't be in the game, although it would be significantly easier for him to get into the investor circles. I grew up watching most of Hong Kong cinema, a Sleeping Dogs film is certainly something I am excited about.
@Millionski if you look up my comments on other articles, then you would know I neither fully supportive of the actions nor am I completely against them. I agree with some parts, I believe some others are just fictional justifications for which we will never see the true reasoning, and there are parts I hugely disagree with.
Here is my previous take on the matter. https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/07/xbox-has-another-potential-goty-candidate-on-its-hands-even-though-its-just-dlc#comment9251087
The fact of the matter is that there are some solid truths on both sides, which co-exist whether we might like it or not. There were definitely some studios that grew too much, but there were also studios which didn't have a project in production (example is id), hence the staff was being payed without much work on the table, making them easier to cut off to reduce the overall expenses of this year.
I agree that historically Xbox has painted disproportionately negatively, however, this is essentially The Boy Who Cried Wolf story. Do you not believe the wolf has come just because all the previous times it wasn't true?
@themightyant I know what you mean, and that is why I said it is a speculation. But reducing teams to delegate more work elsewhere isn't unprecedented. And while I agree that the games might still be delayed from the potential plan I shared, it depends how whether their new strategy is effectively executed, which historically for Xbox has largely been an area of misses.
We don’t really know the exact role of the people who left, either.
That's a false narrative. We know exactly what roles were laid off. For laying people off, they submitted the WARN notices.
Here you can read the roles yourself. https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california
@Fiendish-Beaver I agree with your sentiment. I would also include the fact that games are much more complex than Doom 2016 was. Even assets and animations are much more detailed than they were a decade ago, so the comparison just seems absurd.
@datamonkey they did remaster it horribly with the definitive edition. Honestly, the visuals on Xbox 360 version, the original, fared far better, even if it had a lower resolution. There are comparisons on YouTube you can see if you don't know what I am talking about.
And the actor Simu Liu also promised to fund the game after he makes the movie. It could probably be him hyping the film, but he also seems quite dedicated in getting this film made
Most of the recent layoffs were likely to hire cheaper non-western co-developers, which has become an industry practice at this point. Even games like Expedition 33 touted for its smaller team, had hundreds more developers credited in-game.
This is speculation, of course, but I believe Asha Sharma likely wanted to layoffs as many people as possible and then use the same budget for cheaper, and thus higher in number, developers to speed up the development of many projects. If it weren't the case, I see no reason for announcing all these if they were 10 years ahead, they have already seen what happen when you announce projects too early with ES6.
I believe we are looking at one Fallout remaster within the next year, another 1.5-2 years from the first one, and the next Fallout within the next 5 years. I am fine with these remasters as long as that creates a cash influx for the next big projects.
If I were BGS I'd get FO:NV remastered out this year
It is possible yes, but August and September are already quite crowded with too many AAA releases. No one wishes to be anywhere closer to GTA VI release, since that is an instant revenue killer. So, I think they have likely delayed it to next year, possibly to Xbox Developer Direct.
So many games only find their true identity in their sequels (the second iteration). I believe if the upper management starts learning what sticks with players from each project, we would be getting a lot better AAA experiences than we do now. Instead, they just follow the money trail, and now we have every game getting some sort of loot and leveling system, which only encourages you to spend on special DLCs/microtransactions.
I played Halo on a PC more than a decade and a half ago. I don't know if were the original one or the combat evolved remaster, but I didn't enjoy the game at the time. Granted, at that time I wasn't into FPS genre. Rather, I was playing games like Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row The Third, LA Noire, Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Far Cry 4, etc. those days.
I didn't play any other Halo until last year, when I bought the Series X and played Halo Infinite on Game Pass. It was quite a good experience overall, especially with the way Master Chief controls, although I felt it lacked some enemy variety overall or a memorable story. I am looking forward to Campaign Evolved to see if Halo finally clicks with me, as it does with millions.
@fatpunkslim You are speculating a bit much, mate. Yes, she talked about heavy expenses relying on "external vendors". But it doesn't necessarily mean the game engines will largely be switched to in-house technology. She never declared any names yet you already boast that her statement refers to Epic. I will give you one example. If Obsidian develops the rumored Fallout in Unreal Engine instead of Creation Engine, they can easily use the assets developed for the Fallout TV Show, since Unreal assets are shareable between games and content. Whether or not they would use Unreal is, of course, speculative, since neither you or me know if they have rights to the assets and whether those assets will be considered for reducing expenses. But ultimately, Xbox can, definitively, consider using Unreal Engine for all those future projects that it wishes to adapt into other mediums like TV Shows or Films, if it wishes to reduce expenses through shared assets. That would actually be a sustainable business decision for both the studio and Xbox.
I would take a more nuanced take rather than offering unconditional support through unannounced fictional narratives (such as Xbox committing to using iD Tech for projects yet to go into production) or deeming things good or bad simply because of their consequences.
Asha's decisions so far all seem financially reasonable, even though I have significant contentions against some (especially the nonsensical lay offs at iD). Her focus seems to be only focus what I call "excel sheets" where
1. Some studios expanded, but their output didn't expand.
2. Some studios became black holes of investment.
3. Some studios didn't create enough face value for the Xbox brand that they didn't need to be first-party
4. The studios that delivered record revenues and recognition weren't expanded to the rate they could've been.
5. Some studios did not switch to cheaper technologies
and so on.
But what these "excel sheets" fail to reveal is
1. How technologies developed for one project can be taken into a future project, reducing the development burden and, therefore, the time necessary for a project. I do not believe Xbox's strategy (under Matthew Ball) has studied the case of RGG studios. There hasn't been a single conversation by anyone at Xbox that reveals any hints towards such consideration. Reusing assets is necessary if single-player exclusives are to be made sustainable and released at a regular cadence.
2. How many underlying technologies are sometimes gold mines which by themselves don't generate revenue, but if invested appropriately can reduce expenses and therefore improve relative revenue. id Tech is the best example of this. It needs to be expanded to a multi-studio project to ever reduce its overall cost of development, like RE Engine is at Capcom, otherwise, a switch to Unreal Engine would always make the most sense, given how cheaper it is to train people on Unreal and how readily available Unreal developers and assets are. People are simply speculating too much from her reliance on the external vendors statement. I have seen people suggesting how id Tech is already used across different studios at Microsoft. However, they miss some significant considerations. First, recent forks such as Motor (used by Machine Games) relied heavily on id to develop the technologies. Second, older forks like IW engine have deviated heavily in their development that they might not even share the same rendering pipeline. Thus, considering them an easy replacement or even expansion of id Tech is a fool's errand.
So far, she hasn't done anything that hints towards improvement in Xbox's historically awful management of these studios. Those corpo statements like the same size as Doom 2016 team ignore how the expanded size during Eternal improved revenues or how Xbox's decision to increase Doom The Dark Ages prices by $10, sacrificing it to be the first game under Xbox to face the backlash of price increases, reduced the sales potential.
It is not just PlayStation fans being robbed. Activision has also raised the prices of both these backward compatibility games, not new ports, in Canada. I cannot speak of other countries. Here is the evidence:
So if you wish to play the games, but don't own them on Xbox (if you are like me who sold his Xbox 360 console and games long time ago), then you are being robbed as well.
you are wrong either way when you consider that the "remaining 1600 planned layoffs" are not related to the previous growth of the studios, and also when you consider that these layoffs have nothing to do with this growth
I never claimed layoffs couldn't be related to the growth of the studios, so thank you for putting words in my mouth. My only point of contention was the carelessly quoted 40% growth claim that made it seem like the 20% reduction is justified, as if the reduction was appropriately proportioned. That last part is essential, so please reread it if you wish to further dispute my statements. It is the statement made in this context that I called a lie, since the repercussions of sharing that claim create a fictional reasoning that has no basis in facts, at least the ones we know of. I make this claim because you added a source to MinervaX76's context "it seems they are going through studios one by one and mostly downsizing to what they were at the time of them being acquired", but never refuting or adding nuance.
What you have shared about certain studios is certainly a partial truth since you are claiming a fact about ALL studios while using the evidence of SOME. Yes, that 40% average growth number might be true for some studios, but not necessarily all. You are forgetting Xbox also has all of Activision Blizzard King studios, which is a significatly larger group of studios, yet the 10% layoffs (half of the 20% reduction in Xbox employees) was disproportionately towards the other groups, specifically Zenimax. And more specifically to iD, that studio was simply in more vulnerable state because it was in the stage of pitching projects, i.e. in the eyes of Xbox management, laying off people in that studio wouldn't have resulted in any loss of investment, in terms of a game being developed. And lastly, we are forgetting the most important thing, games have become significantly more complex than they were a decade ago, so even the fact that the studios have grown isn't necessarily wrong by itself, and should only be considered so when technology has improved to reduce that load or we have clear evidence of loss of investment, as in the case of South of Midnight or Perfect Dark projects.
@Banjo- Oh boy! I wouldn't be making comments like this one, since it would make it seem like I am a more rude person than I truly am, but somehow it seems like you have taken things to your heart. I said it previously and I do so again, you didn't add context to your agreement with MinervaX76's comment in your original comment and that is what I pointed out. I called the statement a lie, not you or MinervaX76 a liar. People can share a half-lie without realising it, since that half lie is often based on partial truths. Being told you are wrong doesn't make you less of a person. But since you likely ignored that difference, I would have to clear the blame you have place on me, which seems to be more out of spite than anything else. So here we go again.
betterthings wrote:
I cannot possibly believe this damage control that uses fiction to weave stories and ignorance to the remaining 1600 planned layoffs.
It does not seem that it's me who is shifting goal posts.
Now you are just conjuring bullsh1t by claiming I am the one shifting goals. For the purpose of shifting goals, one has to have two have an initial one and then introduce some change, which wasn't present in the original statement. In that exact quote, I only laid my initial statement about the specific layoffs at iD. I never changed my stance from that or tried to generalise the statement for any other studios that experienced layoffs. So no, I never shifted goals. I gave factual evidence for everything I shared about iD, so if you wish to disprove me, do so by sharing factual evidence against mine instead of speculation.
@Banjo- your previous comment corroborated MinervaX76's exact phrasing "Phill increased all of Xbox by 40% despite lacking money flow" without adding any nuance/context that you did just now. You are shifting goal posts here mate. I called that exact statement (nothing more and nothing less) a lie and I stand by it.
No she isn't referring to the whole Xbox division. She particularly specified Platforms division, not the rest of Xbox. You may refer to their organisational structure if you have confusion with division names.
@FreasurePlanten Thanks. Only if Xbox lays out a multi-studio strategy for the development of the iD Tech engine, these other studios could then help with the engine's development. It all rests on whether Xbox funds the development of iD Tech, something they haven't committed to even with this debunking, instead of opting for short-term cheaper solutions like shifting to Unreal Engine. I want to emphasise this isn't a likely possibility, since such a multi-studio commitment to engine development would have required them to keep the engine developers that they just laid off. The current strategy seems to become profitable quickly, likely to make it easier to fund key projects without looming risks of failures. I don't mind that strategy, but I don't agree with what they did to iD.
Don't worry guys, we didn't fire EVERYONE at iD Software's Richardson studio, we only fired MOST of the people.
And about the people who working on iD Tech engine who were fired, don't worry, we have distraction in the form of dozens of people working on forks of the iD Tech engine at other studios like MachineGames, Arkane Studios(the one we couldn't touch because of French laws), etc.
And don't you remember the iD Software's Frankfurt studios we couldn't touch during these layoffs because of their absurd European worker protection laws? We didn't lay off anyone there YET. Our plan of laying off the additional 1600 workers as per our announced plan couldn't possibly include the Frankfurt studio, right? That would be absurdity on another level!
136 employees were laid off at iD Software Richardson, including Director of Engine Technology, 2 Principal Engine Programmers, and 3 Senior Engine Programmers, among many others. The total studio size was roughly around 200 pre-layoffs with 165 employees registered with Communications Workers of America union.
I don't remember who reported it (I forgot to save the data), but only 4-5 people remain who directly work on the iD Tech engine at their headquaters in Richardson, Texas. (I will update the source when I see it again)
I don't believe in total doom and gloom. iD is resilient and will definitively make some great games in the future. But I cannot possibly believe this damage control that uses fiction to weave stories and ignorance to the remaining 1600 planned layoffs. If you read the Jez Corden article that "supposedly debunks fake news", he is saying he cannot possibly imagine Xbox sunsetting iD Tech, he isn't suggesting, in any sort of manner, that he has a source which confirms Xbox has any plans to make maintain or expand iD Tech through iD Software.
Phill increased all of Xbox by 40% despite lacking money flow
That is a lie. @Banjo- shared the source, but even he was quick to jump to conclusion, without reading the text properly. This is what Asha Sharma wrote in that post:
Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation
Platform teams consist of many teams that handle the platform side of Xbox, including the ones maintaining XboxOS, Xbox Store on Consoles, Xbox Backwards Compatibility team (that was laid off), team that handles Xbox GamePass third-party partnerships, Xbox Series SDK team, etc. In essence, this does not include any gaming studio Xbox owns.
Imagine someone telling you a couple of years ago that Microsoft would be the ones to gut iD instead of supporting them.
I could reasonably understand their decisions elsewhere, Double Fine, Compulsion, and Arkane weren't making profitable games, Undead Labs has taken too long and too much investment even if they release a good game in the future, Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 weren't raking in the kind of money their franchise enables, etc.
But iD? Doom The Dark Ages might not received the same status Eternal did, but it had reached 3 million players in the first week, way more than Assassin's Creed Shadows in the same period with 1/5th the developer count. The only thing that killed its revenue was day one access to GamePass, which even Call of Duty could not prevent, so why hold that for iD.
Just to add that reportedly half of id is being laid off primarily from the programming / coding side which sounds like idTech to me. But we will have to wait and see.
Sad times.
I think you were right but we both underestimated the impact. 96 studio employees plus 40 remote workers were cut at iD Software, which includes the following members directly working on the iD Tech Engine
Director of Engine Technology
Principal Engine Programmer (x2)
Principal Full Stack Engineer
Principal Tools Programmer
Senior Engine Programmer (x3)
Senior Programmer
Engine Programmer
Tools Programmer (x2)
That is 136 employees laid off. The total studio size was 165 employees pre-layoffs. This doesn't look like sunsetting only the iD Tech game engine to me, but iD Software itself seems to have been reduced to a support studio.
I would like to know the real number of layoffs at Id and if it's because they are going to use IW engine instead of Id Tech.
96 studio employees plus 40 remote workers were cut at iD Software, which includes the following members directly working on the iD Tech Engine
Director of Engine Technology
Principal Engine Programmer (x2)
Principal Full Stack Engineer
Principal Tools Programmer
Senior Engine Programmer (x3)
Senior Programmer
Engine Programmer
Tools Programmer (x2)
That is 136 employees laid off. The total studio size was 165 employees pre-layoffs.
As for the fate of the engine, the current rumors are Xbox is only going to extend the use of iD Tech 8 fork that MachineGames is working with for their future game rather than the potential iD Tech 9 iD Sofware would have developed for its future game. In simple terms, this could be the end of iD Tech game engine.
@SodaPop6548 @Fiendish-Beaver @Savex I would recommend watching the Rebel Wolves developer interview with Friends Per Second podcast. They go through a lot of gameplay aspects that couldn't be covered otherwise in a single playthrough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2cphQKh3dw&t=3982s
It is sad to see how they gutted one of their best studios for short-term gains. I am not a Doom fan myself, but a fan of their game engine and their custom versions, such as one used in the beautiful Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. May those fired engineers build something equally remarkable in the future.
@themightyant While these slides are good to understand where the industry at large stands, it seems like they made their decisions based on industry trends alone, rather than looking where their core competence is and then expanding from that.
I don't understand how people deem these individuals as industry experts. You cannot make another Roblox, another Fortnite, another Candy Crush, or another Minecraft. These things become what they are because the studio, the development and the tools were structured in a particular way from the very beginning. What Xbox is doing right now is the Ubisoft play of turning every game loot and grind and later Sony's play into live-service concords. Hell, even Roblox is built using a custom engine, a lesson I hoped they would at least take from it.
@carlos82 @Fiendish-Beaver @themightyant I see the 1 billion daily user number as nothing more than a whistle to the investors. In fact, the whole letter, seems to be written with intention that investors see it and realise the new CEO has finally cleaned house, the future only looks brighter from now, you can come and invest again.
Im not really a fan of satellla or sharma, they are both more focused on money than the product. If a product males money its therefore better, despite all the issues with that statement.
Capcom should be the north star for all gaming companies with its 12th straight profitable year, yet all western gaming executives try to game short term profits.
Comments 112
Re: Two Massive Sports Games Have Joined Xbox's Stacked Lineup For September
@Fiendish-Beaver I don't think franchises like EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, Call of Duty, etc. need to do anything against GTA release. Most of the people who buy these games day one, often play just that specific game all year long. So the stickiness is far too much for a game like GTA to pull away these gamers. Call of Duty might have some competition in the form of Battlefield 6, but the rest are de facto monopolies in a sense.
But I agree, for the rest of the games on consoles intending to release around that time, it is far more sensible to launch on Game Pass or PlayStation Plus. PC releases, of course, don't need to worry. However, the reason I believe most games are avoid a release around that period is that GTA VI is expected to overtake all communication cycles developers rely on, including articles, gaming outlet, youtubers, social media, etc.
Re: Two Massive Sports Games Have Joined Xbox's Stacked Lineup For September
@FraserG Just to clarify, I am not questioning your intention at all. My reply to Fiendish-Beaver still cites all your articles, since I trust the information you share. But that opening line certainly creates that implication, even if not intended.
Re: Two Massive Sports Games Have Joined Xbox's Stacked Lineup For September
Horrible opening line.
@FraserG I don't see why you would use that opening line which implies these games have chosen said dates to avoid GTA, when in reality they have always released during this exact same period.
EA Sports FC 27 - 25 September 2026 (announced)
EA Sports FC 26 - 26 September 2025
EA Sports FC 25 - 27 September 2024
EA Sports FC 24 - 29 September 2023
NBA 2K27 - September 4, 2026 (announced)
NBA 2K26 - September 5, 2025
NBA 2K25 - September 6, 2024
NBA 2K24 - September 8, 2023
Fiendish-Beaver wrote:
As the article says, only EA Sports FC 27 is coming as a 10 hours trial for Game Pass subscribers. They did the same thing for EA Sports FC 26, EA Sports FC 25 and EA Sports FC 24 as well (See links below). So this correlation is completely unsubstantiated.
https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/07/ea-sports-fc-26-launches-for-xbox-in-september-includes-10-hour-game-pass-trial
https://www.purexbox.com/guides/ea-sports-fc-25-release-date-release-times-and-xbox-game-pass-details
https://www.purexbox.com/news/2023/09/ea-sports-fc-24-free-trial-now-live-with-xbox-game-pass-ultimate
Re: Xbox Introduces Free Game Streaming With Ads, Outlines Five Principles They'll Adhere To
themightyant wrote:
Well said. Nearly every ad-based platform starts with roses and only when it is sticky enough for people to not leave, they start extracting more value. I am sure they would have some target number of users to sustain the cost. If they don't achieve it, it is possible they would start showing more ads or more obnoxious ads.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
@smoreon I don't understand if they have it on the store, that means the publisher is willing to sell it, why can't they ask the publisher for some cover art? I can understand the issue for the delisted BC games, but for the rest they can certainly ask the publishers.
Re: Microsoft Is Officially Bringing Achievements To 'Select' Original Xbox Games
@Millionski Yeah I believed it would be exclusively Windows, especially since Sarah Bond's Xbox-AMD partnership video described Windows will be the greatest gaming platform. But, there were also conversations, how Microsoft could use their hypervisor to instantly switch between Windows and XboxOS, which at least technically seemed sound.
As for the status of Windows, I too have little hope in its dramatic improvement. I am using it daily and I have thought about switching to linux quite a few times. I am on laptop however, and thus the linux support is quite limited, especially for things like fan control, etc.
Re: Xbox Announces Backwards Compatibility For PC, First Four Games Revealed
@Millionski yes I had the same thoughts, but I believe this makes it a lot more concrete than ever before. If they can directly run those games on PC without any hardware modifications, this means most PCs can be converted to Xboxes. Phil and Sarah's "This is an Xbox" dream is eventually coming.
As for Windows, my hopes for improvement aren't that high. They have horribly diminished any good experience you can have on Windows, which is especially notable if you ever interact with any other OS, including XboxOS. I don;t see them making such a giant leap in such a small amount of time. But if they go the Valve route, they would be improving the system over time. Their actual next-gen product is Windows now.
Re: Xbox Announces Backwards Compatibility For PC, First Four Games Revealed
@General-Foley My only contention with PCs is Windows. It hasn't been a stable software for the past 5 years, and I don't think they can improve much in 1.
Re: Xbox Achieves Its Biggest Month For US Console Sales In 2026 So Far
@themightyant yes those were the reasons, but I believe this was also the time last year when Xbox announced Gears of War Reloaded will come to PS5, and conversations around Xbox becoming a multiplatform publisher started catching up, lowering trust in the platform and the reason to buy an Xbox console, especially when it wasn't clear if whether the next announced Xbox first party will also jump ship.
Re: Microsoft Is Officially Bringing Achievements To 'Select' Original Xbox Games
@Jark I simply copied the text from there and put it inside the format for highlighting quotations. This is the format:
(quote)<ANY TEXT HERE>(/quote)
but you have to replace the round brackets () with square brackets to get it correctly formatted like this:
Re: Xbox Achieves Its Biggest Month For US Console Sales In 2026 So Far
fatpunkslim wrote:
My only desire is to see QuickResume on Windows. I know it is likely much more complex with the sheer openness of PC hardware, but even if we get it on limited devices, I would be happy
Re: Xbox Achieves Its Biggest Month For US Console Sales In 2026 So Far
@Banjo- I think the percentage growth is a lot more significant for Xbox than other consoles because trust was at all time low before the leadership change and the subsequent drop of many customer-facing bad faith advertisements such as "Everything is an Xbox". This is like you see huge gdp increase after a recession in the economy. The long-term strategy still seems to be the same, especially now that they are rolling out Xbox games for Windows, and Windows largely being an everywhere platform with laptops, handhelds, boxes, and such. But it seems like Asha Sharma has certainly steered the ship away from collision. Whether the path becomes sustainable in the long term is yet to be observed.
Re: Microsoft Is Officially Bringing Achievements To 'Select' Original Xbox Games
@themightyant damn. How did I even miss that, lol. I probably need an energy drink or something.
Re: Microsoft Is Officially Bringing Achievements To 'Select' Original Xbox Games
I said it in the previous post, this set of announcements have left me wondering whether,
Also, has anyone any idea what this could be?
JasonRonaldVPNextGenXbox wrote:
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
@smoreon why can't they use non-black bar ones like this, which they already have access to? I am sure they can edit some of the cover art, at least for the ones still on sale.
https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/07/xbox-announces-backwards-compatibility-for-pc-first-four-games-revealed#comment9261187
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (July 22 - August 4)
@trev666 why did you need a guide, isn't there a map (if it is open world), or directional hints (if it isn't). Or is the game like Atomfall, where you simply have written text in the menu, but have to figure out where to go yourself.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (July 22 - August 4)
@Fiendish-Beaver alright, thanks! I may check it out.
Re: Xbox Announces Backwards Compatibility For PC, First Four Games Revealed
This is some great news. But now I am also wondering Helix can just be a PC, not even a hybrid, with Xbox mode resembling more and more like the Series consoles, and the rest being Windows. I know this was a possibility, but now it seems more feasible than ever. I don't see them keeping separate OSs, when they can offer a lot more games on Windows, especially the ones that skip Xbox console on launch but always release the PC port.
Re: The Planet Crafter Is Out Now On Xbox Game Pass, And Here's What The Reviews Say
No zombies in this one.
Re: These Seven Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (July 22 - August 4)
@Fiendish-Beaver is hell is us a soulslike? I don't want to play it if it is one.
Re: Talking Point: What Do You Think Of The New 'Poster' Artwork On Xbox?
The posters for Xbox and Xbox 360 games have a thick black bar at the bottom. Since I don't sort my games by size, that black bar has nothing covering it and oddly stands out. If they fix that, I would start using the posters with the medium size, until them I will stick to large size tiles.
Re: Xbox CCO Says Not To 'Overly Fixate' On All Single-Player Games Being Exclusives
themightyant wrote:
A wise woman once said, "the plan's the plan until it's not the plan."
Re: Two Fallout Remasters Announced By Bethesda In Massive New Roadmap
@themightyant Oh I never meant to suggest they are going to make good games, especially after losing such an amount of institutional knowledge.
You are correct in pointing out the software brain of Asha. I wonder if they ever thought about creative houses like the restructuring that Ubisoft is currently making. Because this one, as you pointed out, was already done and failed.
The only publishers/platform holders we can consider sustainable today have a mix of AAA and experimental endeavors. Both feed into each other, creating unique experiences. Xbox and Sony are both moving to AAA exclusive space, which while less risky and profitable, is only going to deplete creativity in the long term. I would have liked Xbox to move to Capcom or Nintendo models.
Re: DOOM Director Elaborates On The State Of The Studio Going Forward
Fiendish-Beaver wrote:
I agree, people keep ignoring the raw financial motivations. I am surprised people keep pretending that Asha Sharma or Xbox management would perform every action with utmost sincerity. Sure there might have been a few cases where divestment was necessary and teams didn't match the future strategy (example ESO).
But let's not pretend they were appropriately distributed or won't affect any projects. I keep hearing repeated PR lines like id being the size it were during Doom 2016, when in every single developer presentation for the technology id built for The Dark Ages, they explained the game is significantly more complex than Doom 2016 and Eternal, to the point that if they didn't use ray-tracing and relied on traditional lighting calculations, it would've taken them 2-3 more years to get the same game made. We might look towards some of the older games with ferveur but I don't think anyone would pay full price for a game that looks or feels like it came from the previous decades.
Re: Talking Point: What Was The First Halo Game You Ever Played?
@datamonkey he's not the sole investor in the film and probably won't be in the game, although it would be significantly easier for him to get into the investor circles. I grew up watching most of Hong Kong cinema, a Sleeping Dogs film is certainly something I am excited about.
Re: DOOM Director Elaborates On The State Of The Studio Going Forward
@Millionski if you look up my comments on other articles, then you would know I neither fully supportive of the actions nor am I completely against them. I agree with some parts, I believe some others are just fictional justifications for which we will never see the true reasoning, and there are parts I hugely disagree with.
Here is my previous take on the matter.
https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/07/xbox-has-another-potential-goty-candidate-on-its-hands-even-though-its-just-dlc#comment9251087
The fact of the matter is that there are some solid truths on both sides, which co-exist whether we might like it or not. There were definitely some studios that grew too much, but there were also studios which didn't have a project in production (example is id), hence the staff was being payed without much work on the table, making them easier to cut off to reduce the overall expenses of this year.
I agree that historically Xbox has painted disproportionately negatively, however, this is essentially The Boy Who Cried Wolf story. Do you not believe the wolf has come just because all the previous times it wasn't true?
Re: Two Fallout Remasters Announced By Bethesda In Massive New Roadmap
@themightyant I know what you mean, and that is why I said it is a speculation. But reducing teams to delegate more work elsewhere isn't unprecedented. And while I agree that the games might still be delayed from the potential plan I shared, it depends how whether their new strategy is effectively executed, which historically for Xbox has largely been an area of misses.
Re: DOOM Director Elaborates On The State Of The Studio Going Forward
fatpunkslim wrote:
That's a false narrative. We know exactly what roles were laid off. For laying people off, they submitted the WARN notices.
Here you can read the roles yourself.
https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california
@Fiendish-Beaver I agree with your sentiment. I would also include the fact that games are much more complex than Doom 2016 was. Even assets and animations are much more detailed than they were a decade ago, so the comparison just seems absurd.
Re: Talking Point: What Was The First Halo Game You Ever Played?
@datamonkey they did remaster it horribly with the definitive edition. Honestly, the visuals on Xbox 360 version, the original, fared far better, even if it had a lower resolution. There are comparisons on YouTube you can see if you don't know what I am talking about.
But yeah, we need a new Sleeping Dogs. There is a Sleeping Dogs movie in production btw
https://movieweb.com/sleeping-dogs-timo-tjahjanto-statement-action-best-video-game-movie/
And the actor Simu Liu also promised to fund the game after he makes the movie. It could probably be him hyping the film, but he also seems quite dedicated in getting this film made
Re: Two Fallout Remasters Announced By Bethesda In Massive New Roadmap
Most of the recent layoffs were likely to hire cheaper non-western co-developers, which has become an industry practice at this point. Even games like Expedition 33 touted for its smaller team, had hundreds more developers credited in-game.
themightyant59 wrote:
This is speculation, of course, but I believe Asha Sharma likely wanted to layoffs as many people as possible and then use the same budget for cheaper, and thus higher in number, developers to speed up the development of many projects. If it weren't the case, I see no reason for announcing all these if they were 10 years ahead, they have already seen what happen when you announce projects too early with ES6.
I believe we are looking at one Fallout remaster within the next year, another 1.5-2 years from the first one, and the next Fallout within the next 5 years. I am fine with these remasters as long as that creates a cash influx for the next big projects.
CoolDadTx wrote:
It is possible yes, but August and September are already quite crowded with too many AAA releases. No one wishes to be anywhere closer to GTA VI release, since that is an instant revenue killer. So, I think they have likely delayed it to next year, possibly to Xbox Developer Direct.
Re: New Report Reveals Original Plans For Ryse 2 And Why We Never Got A Sequel
So many games only find their true identity in their sequels (the second iteration). I believe if the upper management starts learning what sticks with players from each project, we would be getting a lot better AAA experiences than we do now. Instead, they just follow the money trail, and now we have every game getting some sort of loot and leveling system, which only encourages you to spend on special DLCs/microtransactions.
Re: Talking Point: What Was The First Halo Game You Ever Played?
I played Halo on a PC more than a decade and a half ago. I don't know if were the original one or the combat evolved remaster, but I didn't enjoy the game at the time. Granted, at that time I wasn't into FPS genre. Rather, I was playing games like Sleeping Dogs, Saints Row The Third, LA Noire, Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag, Far Cry 4, etc. those days.
I didn't play any other Halo until last year, when I bought the Series X and played Halo Infinite on Game Pass. It was quite a good experience overall, especially with the way Master Chief controls, although I felt it lacked some enemy variety overall or a memorable story. I am looking forward to Campaign Evolved to see if Halo finally clicks with me, as it does with millions.
Re: Roundup: Rave Reviews For Denshattack! Make It A Must-Play On Xbox Game Pass
I'm excited to play this one.
Re: Xbox Has Another Potential GOTY Candidate On Its Hands, Even Though It's Just DLC
@fatpunkslim You are speculating a bit much, mate. Yes, she talked about heavy expenses relying on "external vendors". But it doesn't necessarily mean the game engines will largely be switched to in-house technology. She never declared any names yet you already boast that her statement refers to Epic. I will give you one example. If Obsidian develops the rumored Fallout in Unreal Engine instead of Creation Engine, they can easily use the assets developed for the Fallout TV Show, since Unreal assets are shareable between games and content. Whether or not they would use Unreal is, of course, speculative, since neither you or me know if they have rights to the assets and whether those assets will be considered for reducing expenses. But ultimately, Xbox can, definitively, consider using Unreal Engine for all those future projects that it wishes to adapt into other mediums like TV Shows or Films, if it wishes to reduce expenses through shared assets. That would actually be a sustainable business decision for both the studio and Xbox.
Re: Xbox Has Another Potential GOTY Candidate On Its Hands, Even Though It's Just DLC
I would take a more nuanced take rather than offering unconditional support through unannounced fictional narratives (such as Xbox committing to using iD Tech for projects yet to go into production) or deeming things good or bad simply because of their consequences.
Asha's decisions so far all seem financially reasonable, even though I have significant contentions against some (especially the nonsensical lay offs at iD). Her focus seems to be only focus what I call "excel sheets" where
1. Some studios expanded, but their output didn't expand.
2. Some studios became black holes of investment.
3. Some studios didn't create enough face value for the Xbox brand that they didn't need to be first-party
4. The studios that delivered record revenues and recognition weren't expanded to the rate they could've been.
5. Some studios did not switch to cheaper technologies
and so on.
But what these "excel sheets" fail to reveal is
1. How technologies developed for one project can be taken into a future project, reducing the development burden and, therefore, the time necessary for a project. I do not believe Xbox's strategy (under Matthew Ball) has studied the case of RGG studios. There hasn't been a single conversation by anyone at Xbox that reveals any hints towards such consideration. Reusing assets is necessary if single-player exclusives are to be made sustainable and released at a regular cadence.
2. How many underlying technologies are sometimes gold mines which by themselves don't generate revenue, but if invested appropriately can reduce expenses and therefore improve relative revenue. id Tech is the best example of this. It needs to be expanded to a multi-studio project to ever reduce its overall cost of development, like RE Engine is at Capcom, otherwise, a switch to Unreal Engine would always make the most sense, given how cheaper it is to train people on Unreal and how readily available Unreal developers and assets are. People are simply speculating too much from her reliance on the external vendors statement. I have seen people suggesting how id Tech is already used across different studios at Microsoft. However, they miss some significant considerations. First, recent forks such as Motor (used by Machine Games) relied heavily on id to develop the technologies. Second, older forks like IW engine have deviated heavily in their development that they might not even share the same rendering pipeline. Thus, considering them an easy replacement or even expansion of id Tech is a fool's errand.
So far, she hasn't done anything that hints towards improvement in Xbox's historically awful management of these studios. Those corpo statements like the same size as Doom 2016 team ignore how the expanded size during Eternal improved revenues or how Xbox's decision to increase Doom The Dark Ages prices by $10, sacrificing it to be the first game under Xbox to face the backlash of price increases, reduced the sales potential.
Re: Xbox Seems To Be Making A Fortune On The New Black Ops Ports For PS5
It is not just PlayStation fans being robbed. Activision has also raised the prices of both these backward compatibility games, not new ports, in Canada. I cannot speak of other countries. Here is the evidence:
https://xbdeals.net/ca-store/game/22573/call-of-duty-black-ops
https://xbdeals.net/ca-store/game/219220/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii
So if you wish to play the games, but don't own them on Xbox (if you are like me who sold his Xbox 360 console and games long time ago), then you are being robbed as well.
Re: Xbox Sends Out Brief Statement Regarding 'Inaccurate' id Tech Reports
Banjo- wrote:
I never claimed layoffs couldn't be related to the growth of the studios, so thank you for putting words in my mouth. My only point of contention was the carelessly quoted 40% growth claim that made it seem like the 20% reduction is justified, as if the reduction was appropriately proportioned. That last part is essential, so please reread it if you wish to further dispute my statements. It is the statement made in this context that I called a lie, since the repercussions of sharing that claim create a fictional reasoning that has no basis in facts, at least the ones we know of. I make this claim because you added a source to MinervaX76's context "it seems they are going through studios one by one and mostly downsizing to what they were at the time of them being acquired", but never refuting or adding nuance.
What you have shared about certain studios is certainly a partial truth since you are claiming a fact about ALL studios while using the evidence of SOME. Yes, that 40% average growth number might be true for some studios, but not necessarily all. You are forgetting Xbox also has all of Activision Blizzard King studios, which is a significatly larger group of studios, yet the 10% layoffs (half of the 20% reduction in Xbox employees) was disproportionately towards the other groups, specifically Zenimax. And more specifically to iD, that studio was simply in more vulnerable state because it was in the stage of pitching projects, i.e. in the eyes of Xbox management, laying off people in that studio wouldn't have resulted in any loss of investment, in terms of a game being developed. And lastly, we are forgetting the most important thing, games have become significantly more complex than they were a decade ago, so even the fact that the studios have grown isn't necessarily wrong by itself, and should only be considered so when technology has improved to reduce that load or we have clear evidence of loss of investment, as in the case of South of Midnight or Perfect Dark projects.
2/2
Re: Xbox Sends Out Brief Statement Regarding 'Inaccurate' id Tech Reports
@Banjo- Oh boy! I wouldn't be making comments like this one, since it would make it seem like I am a more rude person than I truly am, but somehow it seems like you have taken things to your heart. I said it previously and I do so again, you didn't add context to your agreement with MinervaX76's comment in your original comment and that is what I pointed out. I called the statement a lie, not you or MinervaX76 a liar. People can share a half-lie without realising it, since that half lie is often based on partial truths. Being told you are wrong doesn't make you less of a person. But since you likely ignored that difference, I would have to clear the blame you have place on me, which seems to be more out of spite than anything else. So here we go again.
Banjo- wrote:
Now you are just conjuring bullsh1t by claiming I am the one shifting goals. For the purpose of shifting goals, one has to have two have an initial one and then introduce some change, which wasn't present in the original statement. In that exact quote, I only laid my initial statement about the specific layoffs at iD. I never changed my stance from that or tried to generalise the statement for any other studios that experienced layoffs. So no, I never shifted goals. I gave factual evidence for everything I shared about iD, so if you wish to disprove me, do so by sharing factual evidence against mine instead of speculation.
1/2
Re: Xbox Sends Out Brief Statement Regarding 'Inaccurate' id Tech Reports
@Banjo- your previous comment corroborated MinervaX76's exact phrasing "Phill increased all of Xbox by 40% despite lacking money flow" without adding any nuance/context that you did just now. You are shifting goal posts here mate. I called that exact statement (nothing more and nothing less) a lie and I stand by it.
Banjo wrote:
No she isn't referring to the whole Xbox division. She particularly specified Platforms division, not the rest of Xbox. You may refer to their organisational structure if you have confusion with division names.
Re: Xbox Sends Out Brief Statement Regarding 'Inaccurate' id Tech Reports
@FreasurePlanten Thanks. Only if Xbox lays out a multi-studio strategy for the development of the iD Tech engine, these other studios could then help with the engine's development. It all rests on whether Xbox funds the development of iD Tech, something they haven't committed to even with this debunking, instead of opting for short-term cheaper solutions like shifting to Unreal Engine. I want to emphasise this isn't a likely possibility, since such a multi-studio commitment to engine development would have required them to keep the engine developers that they just laid off. The current strategy seems to become profitable quickly, likely to make it easier to fund key projects without looming risks of failures. I don't mind that strategy, but I don't agree with what they did to iD.
Re: Xbox Sends Out Brief Statement Regarding 'Inaccurate' id Tech Reports
This is them saying
Microsoft_PR wrote:
136 employees were laid off at iD Software Richardson, including Director of Engine Technology, 2 Principal Engine Programmers, and 3 Senior Engine Programmers, among many others. The total studio size was roughly around 200 pre-layoffs with 165 employees registered with Communications Workers of America union.
I don't remember who reported it (I forgot to save the data), but only 4-5 people remain who directly work on the iD Tech engine at their headquaters in Richardson, Texas. (I will update the source when I see it again)
I don't believe in total doom and gloom. iD is resilient and will definitively make some great games in the future. But I cannot possibly believe this damage control that uses fiction to weave stories and ignorance to the remaining 1600 planned layoffs. If you read the Jez Corden article that "supposedly debunks fake news", he is saying he cannot possibly imagine Xbox sunsetting iD Tech, he isn't suggesting, in any sort of manner, that he has a source which confirms Xbox has any plans to make maintain or expand iD Tech through iD Software.
Source for the layoff data: the WARN (Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filing by Zenimax for its Richardson, Texas location, which is iD Software.
https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california
Source for the employee numbers pre-layoffs: Communications Workers of America, December 2025 data.
https://cwa-union.org/news/quake-and-doom-video-game-developers-join-cwa#:~:text=The%20165%20workers%20at%20Microsoft%20subsidiary%20id%20Software
Source for the remaining 1600 layoffs: Asha Sharma on X
https://x.com/asha_shar/status/2074124008795369482
Tagging: @Nakatomi_Uk, @HonestHick, @fatpunkslim, @awp69, @Markatron84, @FraserG, @oopsiezz, @Fiendish-Beaver @Onlyboxmatters
MinervaX76 wrote:
That is a lie. @Banjo- shared the source, but even he was quick to jump to conclusion, without reading the text properly. This is what Asha Sharma wrote in that post:
Asha_Sharma wrote:
Platform teams consist of many teams that handle the platform side of Xbox, including the ones maintaining XboxOS, Xbox Store on Consoles, Xbox Backwards Compatibility team (that was laid off), team that handles Xbox GamePass third-party partnerships, Xbox Series SDK team, etc. In essence, this does not include any gaming studio Xbox owns.
Re: Report: id Software Pitched New Perfect Dark Before Xbox Layoffs
tho_mi wrote:
I could reasonably understand their decisions elsewhere, Double Fine, Compulsion, and Arkane weren't making profitable games, Undead Labs has taken too long and too much investment even if they release a good game in the future, Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 weren't raking in the kind of money their franchise enables, etc.
But iD? Doom The Dark Ages might not received the same status Eternal did, but it had reached 3 million players in the first week, way more than Assassin's Creed Shadows in the same period with 1/5th the developer count. The only thing that killed its revenue was day one access to GamePass, which even Call of Duty could not prevent, so why hold that for iD.
tho_mi wrote:
Xbox had announced 3200 employees to be laid off. They only did 1600 this week and the rest is yet to happen during the course of the financial year.
Re: Report: Bethesda Faces 'Significant Overhaul' At Xbox, Will Focus On Key Franchises
themightyant wrote:
I think you were right but we both underestimated the impact.
96 studio employees plus 40 remote workers were cut at iD Software, which includes the following members directly working on the iD Tech Engine
That is 136 employees laid off. The total studio size was 165 employees pre-layoffs. This doesn't look like sunsetting only the iD Tech game engine to me, but iD Software itself seems to have been reduced to a support studio.
Source for the layoff data: the WARN (Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filing by Zenimax for its Richardson, Texas location, which is iD Software.
https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california
Source for the employee numbers pre-layoffs: Communications Workers of America, December 2025 data
https://cwa-union.org/news/quake-and-doom-video-game-developers-join-cwa#:~:text=The%20165%20workers%20at%20Microsoft%20subsidiary%20id%20Software
Re: Report: id Software Pitched New Perfect Dark Before Xbox Layoffs
Banjo- wrote:
96 studio employees plus 40 remote workers were cut at iD Software, which includes the following members directly working on the iD Tech Engine
That is 136 employees laid off. The total studio size was 165 employees pre-layoffs.
As for the fate of the engine, the current rumors are Xbox is only going to extend the use of iD Tech 8 fork that MachineGames is working with for their future game rather than the potential iD Tech 9 iD Sofware would have developed for its future game. In simple terms, this could be the end of iD Tech game engine.
Source for the layoff data: the WARN (Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification) filing by Zenimax for its Richardson, Texas location, which is iD Software.
https://www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-cuts-texas-california
Source for the employee numbers pre-layoffs: Communications Workers of America, December 2025 data.
https://cwa-union.org/news/quake-and-doom-video-game-developers-join-cwa#:~:text=The%20165%20workers%20at%20Microsoft%20subsidiary%20id%20Software
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Previews Are Saying About The Blood Of Dawnwalker
@SodaPop6548 @Fiendish-Beaver @Savex I would recommend watching the Rebel Wolves developer interview with Friends Per Second podcast. They go through a lot of gameplay aspects that couldn't be covered otherwise in a single playthrough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2cphQKh3dw&t=3982s
Re: Here's What DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations DLC Looks Like On Xbox Series X|S
It is sad to see how they gutted one of their best studios for short-term gains. I am not a Doom fan myself, but a fan of their game engine and their custom versions, such as one used in the beautiful Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. May those fired engineers build something equally remarkable in the future.
Re: Xbox Game Pass Members Are Being Treated To A Surprise New Release Today (July 8)
If this is anywhere similar to Inscryption, then I want to play it NOW!
Re: 'They Will Report Directly To Me' - Mojang And King Singled Out By Xbox Boss
@themightyant While these slides are good to understand where the industry at large stands, it seems like they made their decisions based on industry trends alone, rather than looking where their core competence is and then expanding from that.
I don't understand how people deem these individuals as industry experts. You cannot make another Roblox, another Fortnite, another Candy Crush, or another Minecraft. These things become what they are because the studio, the development and the tools were structured in a particular way from the very beginning. What Xbox is doing right now is the Ubisoft play of turning every game loot and grind and later Sony's play into live-service concords. Hell, even Roblox is built using a custom engine, a lesson I hoped they would at least take from it.
Re: Xbox CEO Sets Ambitious Goal Of Reaching 'More Than A Billion People Each Day'
@carlos82 @Fiendish-Beaver @themightyant I see the 1 billion daily user number as nothing more than a whistle to the investors. In fact, the whole letter, seems to be written with intention that investors see it and realise the new CEO has finally cleaned house, the future only looks brighter from now, you can come and invest again.
Re: 'They Will Report Directly To Me' - Mojang And King Singled Out By Xbox Boss
Runex2121 wrote:
Capcom should be the north star for all gaming companies with its 12th straight profitable year, yet all western gaming executives try to game short term profits.