According to The Seattle Times, 9,000 employees, or 4 percent of Microsoft’s workforce, are affected by the cuts, which started Wednesday morning. The full situs toto scope of layoffs within Microsoft’s gaming divisions are still unknown. Microsoft announced its intention to fire 3% of its staff, amounting to just under 7,000 people, in May; looming cuts to the company’s game business were first reported last week. The company previously eliminated 10,000 jobs in 2023—just one year after it announced its intention to acquire Activision-Blizzard for $69 billion—and over 2,500 more in 2024. HR is working directly with impacted employees to provide severance plan benefits (aligned with local laws), including pay, healthcare coverage, and job placement resources to support their transition. Employees whose roles were eliminated are encouraged to explore open positions across Microsoft Gaming, where their applications will be given priority review.

Bungie confirms that Tower vendors in Destiny 2 are seeing major changes within The Edge of Fate, including the weekend exotic merchant Xur. Recent developments at Microsoft deal significant damage to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service that will be felt for years.

“More realistic reflections and surfacing amplify the used-future design key to the look of our universe,” says Survios’ TQ Jefferson. Hinako converses with a doll before eventually meeting her sister while the town of Ebisugaoka is revealed in all its glory. Sony Interactive Entertainment has begun raising the price of games and expansions on the PlayStation Store in select regions, explaining the decision by difficult market conditions. Assassin’s Creed fans are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Black Flag remake, but Ubisoft is showing them no mercy with another „teaser”.

Xbox cancels more games including the Perfect Dark reboot and closes yet another studio. VCT Pacific Stage 2 Finals 2025 is heading to Japan for the first time, with top teams like DRX, Paper Rex, Gen.G, and more battling for Champions slo… Team Liquid lost just one game throughout the entire tournament despite playing without team captain Insania. A new update to Wreckfest 2’s Roadmap was announced by THQ Nordic just this morning with the players responding with a slew of hype.

Sony is set to release a major update for the PlayStation 5 Pro in 2026, which is expected to significantly improve performance. EA’s leadership has reportedly set a target of 100 million players or more over a set period for the next mainline Battlefield. In its statement, while Techland didn’t confirm its cancelled projects, it did mention that none of its developers had been laid off.

Post-apocalyptic Game Throws New Challenge At Players, Extending Uneasy Fight For Survival In Project Zomboid

We also cover film, TV, and internet weirdness, and it all gets tagged as Game News. Coming to Steam, “Blighted” looks a bit like a top-down soulslike or action RPG, with difficult combat, and a vibrant, if dark, art style. The sci-fi Soviet-inspired open world RPG had plenty of jankiness, but presented something reminiscent of great titles like Bioshock of yesteryear.

Ps5 Hit Helldivers 2 Makes History As The First Playstation-published Game To Get An Xbox Release

Super Rare Games and Yacht Club Games are teaming up to give the futuristic Ninja action game, Cyber Shadow, a physical release. The fantastic D action game from Mechanical Head Studios, Aarne Hunziker will see a limited number of hard copies released on 27 February. The long rumoured addition of Nintendo GameCube games to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription has been confirmed by Nintendo.

It laid off 1,900 staff in January 2024, then made further cuts just a few months later when it closed Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks. In September 2024, Microsoft cut a further 650 staff from its gaming business. And in May this year, Microsoft cut an eye-watering 6,000 staff, or 3% of its entire workforce. Today’s round of layoffs is the fourth to hit Microsoft’s gaming business in 18 months. [newline]Gaming Debugged is an award winning gaming blog covering mainstream and indie gaming as well digging deep into the world of game design and game development. I also share gaming news and comment from across the games industry.

+ Pc Game Reviews, Features & Opinion

The tough hack n’ slash with anime stylings was quite impressive in its own way, but the sequel looks like its trying to take things to the next level in a big way. Top down visuals and survival horror elements make this look like one to watch. The PlayStation exclusive looks absolutely incredible, but hopefully, like the first game, it will eventually makes its way to Xbox and PC. Summer Game Fest is kicking off in earnest, showcasing the latest and greatest the industry has to offer. Drop a notification bell on the PC Gaming Show, set to go live this Sunday after the Xbox Showcase. Color me intrigued, but Xbox studio Undead Labs posted this on their Facebook page recently.