#Microsoft
23 article(s)
Microsoft Quietly Bundles Major Gaming Licenses for Hollywood Sale
Microsoft is discretely approaching Hollywood to sell off film and streaming adaptation rights to its biggest franchises—Halo, Gears of War, World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, Diablo—in one sweeping deal. A single global contract for an entire catalog. The move raises a direct question: does the publisher view its licenses as cultural assets to exploit elsewhere, having failed to fully capitalize on them as games?
Black Ops 2 dominates July on PS5 as Microsoft cuts data flow
Black Ops 2's PS5 port topped US sales charts in July according to Circana, during a traditionally slow month. But the real shock came from elsewhere: Microsoft decided to stop sharing download sales data with tracking firms like Circana and GSD. A move that will blind much of the industry and make PC and Xbox market trends unreadable for months to come.
Beast of Reincarnation and Resonance Hit Game Pass in August 2026
Microsoft has announced the wave of games joining Xbox Game Pass in August 2026. Twenty titles in total, but two heavyweights stand out: Beast of Reincarnation, whose director recently publicly acknowledged its limitations, and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, the latest entry in one of the most solid survival franchises in recent years. Two arrivals that raise very different questions about what the service expects from its subscribers.
Contraband Resurfaces in Fishing Game, Five Years Later
Announced with fanfare in 2021 by Microsoft and Avalanche Studios, Contraband never materialized. This open-world smuggler game set on the fictional Bayan island in Southeast Asia seemed permanently shelved. Its unexpected reappearance in an indie fishing title says less about the project's survival than it does about the sorry state of Xbox's catalog in recent years: a graveyard of broken promises whose ghosts keep surfacing through the most improbable channels.
Halo Campaign Evolved: Layoffs Begin Before Launch Window Closes
Halo Studios has already cut contractor positions, including at least one producer who worked on the project since Halo Infinite. It's unsurprising in the Xbox ecosystem, but the speed of the move says something about how Microsoft manages headcount: ship the game, turn off the tap, never mind what's left to do.
Game Pass August 2026: Gears of War E-Day Beta Takes Center Stage
Xbox Game Pass's August 2026 lineup is headlined by the Gears of War: E-Day beta. But the timing is rocky: Xbox Series console prices just jumped in France, forcing a hard question about whether the subscription still delivers the value proposition it promises to gamers hesitant about hardware investment. Here's what this month really amounts to.
Halo Campaign Evolved Hits Game Pass: Here's What Changes
The new Halo game joins the Game Pass catalog in July 2026 alongside fifteen other titles announced by Microsoft. This isn't a trivial addition: every Halo franchise entry on Xbox Game Pass redefines access to a series that remains the benchmark for console shooters. The stakes go beyond the catalog itself — it's about perceived value of Game Pass at a moment when Microsoft is fundamentally restructuring its gaming division.
Halo 4 Nearly Got Microtransactions Back in 2012
Dan Callan, former developer at 343 Industries, just revealed that Halo 4 came close to integrating microtransactions at a time when the model was beginning to infect gaming. A confession that says a lot about the internal pressures development teams face from decisions handed down from above — and what Microsoft could have done to one of its flagship franchises.
Halo: Campaign Evolved, the remake that's reshaping everything
Halo: Campaign Evolved is the announced remake of Bungie's foundational FPS, the game that set the template for an entire generation of console shooters. This isn't just another HD remaster—the stated ambition reaches into story, gameplay, and technical architecture. For a franchise struggling to catch its breath since Infinite, the stakes go far beyond nostalgia.
Halo Combat Evolved PS5: Local Co-op Restored Before Launch
Microsoft made a baffling decision for the PS5 port of Halo Combat Evolved: removing local co-op, a cornerstone of the original game since 2001. Under player pressure, the company reversed course. The feature will be present at launch, expected in just over a month. This reversal says something about how Microsoft is approaching Halo's arrival on a rival platform.
Halo on PS5: No PS Plus needed, but Microsoft demands Xbox account
The correction is official: playing Halo Campaign Evolved co-op locally on PS5 doesn't require a PlayStation Plus subscription. Good news on the surface. But Microsoft slipped a condition into the fine print: an Xbox account and Gamertag will be required for each player. It's not a paid subscription, but it's an integration friction that Sony never imposes on its own games. The stakes go beyond the technical: it's PlayStation's sovereignty over its own experience that's in question.
Xbox Is Dismantling Its Studios: A Strategic Reckoning with Few Good Signs
Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Arkane Lyon: rumors of closures and massive restructuring at Xbox have accumulated major names for weeks now. This is no longer a series of isolated industrial accidents—it's a deliberate strategic choice taking shape. Microsoft appears to be concentrating resources on a handful of colossal franchises at the expense of creative diversity it purchased at premium prices. The human and artistic toll could prove lasting.