Microsoft has announced another new recovery method for Windows 11 PCs that will allow users to reinstall the OS using the cloud. The new recovery tool is called Cloud Rebuild which will restore a PC to a "clean, known-good state by performing an entire OS reinstall."

The new Cloud Rebuild feature will download the Windows OS along with your devices drivers, and seamlessly install them during the recovery process so that your device is fully functional once the OS reinstalled, all without needing an external USB install drive.

"Unlike Reset this PC, Cloud rebuild downloads both the target Windows image and the device's drivers from Windows Update, so the device comes back fully functional without USB media, without a custom image, and without depending on the health of the currently installed OS."

Reset this PC has had its own cloud download option for a while, but that feature is only useful when the Windows OS is bootable, and acquires drivers from the device locally. In scenarios where the OS has become unbootable, the new Cloud Rebuild option will be a life saver.

Cloud Rebuild also doesn't include an option to maintain apps and files. Reset this PC includes an option to maintain all your data across the reset, but Cloud Rebuild is strictly for reinstalling the Windows OS as a clean slate with device drivers.

The new Cloud Rebuild recovery option is now rolling out in preview to Windows Insiders in the latest Windows 11 preview builds, so it's not generally available just yet but it should begin rolling out to everyone in the coming months.

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World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo fans have been curious what Xbox's plans might be for Blizzard, acquired as part of the Activision deal a few years ago.

Blizzard has been on a tear over the last year, and is arguably one of Microsoft's biggest and brightest spots in an otherwise incredibly challenging environment. Overwatch has resurged, World of Warcraft just had a successful expansion launch, and Diablo 4 delivered its highest-rated launch in years with its Lord of Hatred DLC. BlizzCon is just around the corner, where fans are expecting news on the long-rumored StarCraft shooter as well.

Microsoft announced today that it's cutting over 6,000 roles across its business, with 3,200 being reduced at Xbox alone. So far, it seems like ZeniMax has borne the brunt of the reductions, although other studios like Obsidian have also seen huge cutbacks. Microsoft has divested a further four studios, with another one pending. Xbox's platform team has seen losses across engineering and sales, although Xbox hardware development has emerged largely unscathed.

What might Xbox have in store for Blizzard?

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma previously noted an intent to focus on Microsoft's biggest gaming franchises, such as Halo, and Fallout. Given that Blizzard's franchises are quite easily among the biggest and most profitable in Microsoft's portfolio, I would suggest maintaining Blizzard is well within the purview of this new structure.

In a note to staff today, our sources shared this email from Blizzard President Johanna Faries, which suggested that more information will come down the line.

I'm told there are no plans to cancel BlizzCon for example. I'm also told that Blizzard franchises have a range of transmedia TV and film projects that also fit within Asha Sharma's current model for Xbox's future.

Sources suggest to me that Blizzard saw comparatively minimal reductions as part of today's big "Xbox reset" cuts, although it's unclear what might happen in the near to midterm future. Microsoft signalled that some of its reductions would take place throughout the rest of the year, following this initial 1,500 tranche (which includes the studio divestitures).

Internally, many are criticizing the structure of these layoffs. Since now, many will be forced to spend the weeks and months ahead wondering if they'll still have a job when all this is said and done. That's not exactly the best environment to be working in, to put it lightly.

We'll be sure to keep you updated you on Microsoft's plans for Blizzard, positive or negative, as we learn more.

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To say that times are difficult for developers under the banner of Microsoft and Xbox would be an understatement. On Monday morning, the publisher initiated a mass layoff wave of 4,800 cuts throughout the firm, with a whopping 3,200 of them — 1,600 now, and 1,600 over the course of the next 12 months — hitting the Xbox division and its studios.

The layoffs are very widespread and are affecting all of Xbox's development teams, with four in particular being divested and Marvel's Blade dev Arkane Lyon also reportedly at risk of closure or being split off from Microsoft. Some groups have also been hit considerably harder than others, and one of these appears to be the developers at ZeniMax and Bethesda, the stewards of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, and other major Xbox properties.

A Bloomberg report suggests ZeniMax and Bethesda have been hit "significantly" by the cuts, and that their studios "will face a significant overhaul" as they pivot to focus on core IPs like Wolfenstein, Quake, and the aforementioned franchises.

In response to the massive surge of layoffs, the official labor union of Bethesda Game Studios has voiced frustrations with the reduction in force on social media. I think it best if you read its message in full, so I've both copied and embedded the complete thread below:

Today we say goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues and to hundreds more across Xbox, including folks that have worked at Bethesda Games Studios for decades.When will this cycle of cuts in pursuit of ever-greater profits end?

— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T21:29:27.360Z

In what is becoming a stressful annual routine, Microsoft has decided to lay off thousands, including MANY of us at Bethesda Games Studios.

With over 10k developers already cut from previous rounds, those at the top have deemed that insufficient in fixing their mistakes.

Today we say goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues and to hundreds more across Xbox, including folks that have worked at Bethesda Games Studios for decades.

When will this cycle of cuts in pursuit of ever-greater profits end?

Because of our One BGS union, we have the right to negotiate over the impacts of these layoffs, helping secure stronger severance packages and better support for those leaving the company.

We will do everything we can to make sure our friends are properly taken care of.

— Bethesda Game Studios Union

The union's strongly critical comments bring cuts from the past several years to mind, referencing other waves of mass layoffs that have struck Microsoft and Xbox such as 10,000 in 2023, additional cuts in early 2025, and last year's infamous game cancelations and closure of The Initiative that came with 9,000 additional discharges across the firm's workforce.

These new layoffs are the latest in a brutal series of cuts that have plagued the gaming industry since 2022, with game publishers worldwide dismissing countless developers after overinvestments in gaming during the pandemic and amid economic challenges such as the onset of tariffs and the ongoing memory and hardware crisis caused by AI.

Xbox's new CEO Asha Sharma has said that Microsoft has "overextended" with Xbox, leading to the current situation in which layoffs like these represent "necessary changes." Bethesda's union seems to disagree, but either way, it's heartbreaking to see so many developers that build the games we love get their lives upended by massive corporate reorganizations like this one.

As I've written so many times before covering layoffs like these, I sincerely hope that everyone affected is able to find new and stable work as quickly as possible, and that they're given proper severance packages and ample support.

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Raise your hand if you've heard this one before: a third-party file management app beat File Explorer to the punch. This time, it's with a clever Tree View that rolled out to Files with an update to version 4.2.

In the latest version of Files, the sidebar includes a view that displays folders in an expandable hierarchy. If you're like me and use subfolders to organize your files, Tree View is an incredible addition.

The update to version 4.2 is large and includes several other additions, including a new Open With flyout and improvements to how the breadcrumb bar appears.

Here's a quick summary of what's new in Files version 4.2 sorted into categories. The app's website has a detailed change log covering the same updates:

Navigation & Multi-Pane Upgrades

• Tree View sidebar: Browse folders in an expandable hierarchy directly from the sidebar.
• Drag a tab to create a new pane: Split your view by dragging a tab to the side, top, or bottom of the file area.
• Open folders in the other pane: Right-click a folder to launch it directly into your secondary pane.
• Open in new pane improvements: Reorganized context menus and Command Palette options give you control over how a new pane is arranged.
• Breadcrumb bar improvements: Adds a cleaner chevron design and new right-click context options to open specific folders in new tabs, windows, or panes.

UI & Quality of Life Tweaks

• Open With toolbar flyout: Quick access to compatible apps directly from your customized toolbar.
• Always show file extensions when renaming: Extensions stay visible while editing a file's name.
• Media file metadata improvements: You can now add metadata to fields that were previously empty.
• Search in Toolbar Customization: A new search box makes finding and adding specific toolbar actions easier.
• Layout scrolling: Cycle through different layout modes using Ctrl + scroll wheel.
• Reverse tab scroll direction: A new setting lets you flip the mouse-wheel behavior when scrolling over the tab bar.
• Improved tab tear-off: Dragging a tab out to create a new window now launches the window exactly where you dropped it.
• Improved continue where you left off: Startup behavior is more reliable.
• Network Discovery banner: Displays a warning on the Network page if locations are missing because Windows Network Discovery is turned off.

Other Notable Highlights

• Windows Fonts folder: Items inside this directory now show proper font thumbnails.
• Archive selection: Creating a new archive now automatically selects it.
• File In Use dialog: Added a "Skip" button.

I'm a big fan of Files, not just as a replacement to Windows 11's built-in File Explorer, but as a showcase of design and features. The developer of Files often experiments with new designs to improve usability or functionality within the app.

There are plenty of File Explorer alternatives, like File Pilot that's now in beta. But I have an affinity for Files. It's a gorgeous app that integrates features and design elements that are often adopted by Microsoft later. Using Files is like looking at an alternate dimension in which Microsoft cares about consistency and design.

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Microsoft and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a massive restructuring for the gaming brand on Monday morning, with reports indicating that 1,600 roles have been cut immediately with another 1,600 layoffs planned throughout the next 12 months. In total, 3,200 Xbox staffers will be affected, with 4,800 cuts in total hitting Microsoft overall.

These reductions are coming across the entirety of the Xbox Game Studios publishing wing, though some studios will be affected more than others. Notably, though, Compulsion Games (South of Midnight), Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts, Keeper, Kiln), Ninja Theory (Hellblade, Senua), and Undead Labs (State of Decay 3) are all splitting off from Microsoft entirely (though thankfully, they're not closing and their work-in-progress projects will remain in development).

Reportedly, another group of developers that's been hit particularly hard by the layoffs are the teams at Bethesda and ZeniMax, known for their work on legendary franchises like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Quake.

According to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, ZeniMax/Bethesda "will face a significant overhaul" as a result of these cuts, and will be driven to focus on the aforementioned IPs that stand as its "biggest franchises." It's notable that it won't only work on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, though, as I've noticed lots of recent rumors suggested that might be the case.

Many of those rumors stemmed from a report in which it was said Sharma wants Xbox to "move faster" with its core franchises, with Fallout and The Elder Scrolls directly named alongside Halo.

"ZeniMax will be impacted significantly by the reorganization but will NOT be reduced to only Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, despite rumors over the last few weeks," Schreier wrote in a post on Bluesky. "The publisher will also still work on Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake."

It's worth noting that the fate of one ZeniMax team, Arkane Lyon, is currently unclear. Arkane is developing Marvel's Blade, which has reportedly been delayed and is "running over budget." We've previously reported that Microsoft is negotiating with the French government to figure out a path forward for the studio and avoid closure while hopefully also keeping the game alive, but that's all we know for now.

In 2024, Microsoft and Xbox shuttered ZeniMax/Bethesda developers Arkane Austin (Prey, Redfall), Alpha Dog Games (Mighty Doom), and Tango Gameworks (Ghostwire: Tokyo, Hi-Fi Rush), with PUBG's Krafton stepping in to save the latter studio from the axe.

I'm glad that ZeniMax/Bethesda will still be able to explore new projects for its big properties outside of behemoth franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, though the situation with Arkane and the layoffs overall are still terribly unfortunate. Developers that have worked together in these teams for years and years are being let go, further adding to the devastating number of 2022-2026 video game cuts we've already seen.

Notably, The Elder Scrolls Online's content roadmap is "shifting" due to layoffs at ZeniMax Online Studios. Bethesda Game Studios, meanwhile, remains focused on The Elder Scrolls 6 as far as we know, which is still "a long ways off."

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Amid Xbox's restructuring efforts, which will see more than 3,200 jobs cut between now and 2027, with 1,500 layoffs happening immediately, the company has also outlined a bold vision for its future. That's not all, Xbox is also set to part ways with at least four studios, but unlike Sony's closures, these teams are being given a second chance, with some becoming independent and others finding new homes under different publishers. If you haven't caught up with the news yet, Compulsion, Double Fine, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory are among those affected, while Arkane Lyon's future is a little more complicated. You can read more about Arkane here.

Within Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's statement, she said:

"These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one... this year we'll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates."

Alongside those comments, Sharma also stated:

"I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027"

To put that into perspective, Xbox currently reaches around one billion players annually. Meanwhile, Steam has roughly 147 million monthly active users, while PlayStation sits at around 125 million monthly active users. Reaching one billion players every single day would require Xbox to grow far beyond anything we've seen from the gaming industry so far.

I'm not entirely sure how Sharma expects to achieve that outside of expanding into regions where Xbox currently has little or no official presence. That includes parts of Africa, South America, and, believe it or not, large parts of Europe, including countries such as Romania. Xbox also doesn't officially operate in markets including Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. There are, of course, legal and regulatory hurdles that make expansion into some of these regions difficult, but beyond reaching more countries, I'm struggling to see what else could realistically get Xbox anywhere close to that figure.

Another take would be that Sharma doesn't refer to "players" directly, but instead says that the goal is that Xbox "entertains more than a billion people each day." That reading could expand beyond gaming into other features that Xbox currently supports, like Netflix, YouTube, Twitch, YouTube TV, HBO Max, Jellyfin, PLEX, and the other dozen or so media apps that people use daily.

That more liberal reading of using an Xbox daily is certainly more achievable, at least once you cumulatively sell a billion Xbox consoles.

Maybe I'm missing something, though. If you've got ideas on how Xbox could realistically reach one billion daily players, let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Several weeks after Xbox admitted it's "overextended" with its business and it was reported that Microsoft would begin "major layoffs" in July, those cuts have now begun to hit the firm. In total, 4,800 roles are being eliminated, with 3,200 of them — roughly 67% — being Xbox game dev positions.

Amid the mass layoffs, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has addressed the situation in a letter to staff that was also shared publicly, writing that the Xbox team's reduction is a painful but ultimately necessary step in working to "reset" the brand.

Notably, Sharma also revealed that she'll now have direct oversight over Minecraft developer Mojang Studios as well as Candy Crush maker King; both games have "increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players." She also says that "They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to Xbox."

Though Sharma didn't mention any specific plans for Mojang and King moving forward, a new report from Game File notes that according to a source familiar with Microsoft's plans, the new CEO feels that Xbox and the company have "massively underinvested" in Minecraft, and wants to correct this.

Game File's source explained that about six years ago, Minecraft's size and popularity was on par with Roblox, the widely available free-to-play platform for community-made games and content. Since then, however, it's estimated that Roblox has invested in its growth roughly five times as much as Microsoft has in Minecraft's, and that Minecraft's success has gone towards funding other Xbox projects instead of its own further success.

Minecraft, though still enjoyed by droves of players worldwide, has — along with countless other titles and platforms — been eclipsed by Roblox. In 2025, it grew so large that it surpassed the player engagement of Steam, PlayStation, and Fortnite combined, and was responsible for a whopping 67% of the gaming industry's total growth last year.

A specific reason for why King and the Candy Crush team will now directly report to Sharma as well wasn't reported, though I imagine it's because Candy Crush, like Minecraft, has lost ground to Roblox's rise to domination. After all, Roblox competes directly with the legendary mobile game since it's available to play on iOS and Android.

I don't play Candy Crush and can't speak to how well it's been maintained, though I've long held the view that Minecraft's live-service support is rather poor, with meaningful additions to the sandbox survival game coming far too slowly. Perhaps with Sharma's stewardship, that will change.

I'm confident one area of focus for the Xbox CEO will be reinforcing Minecraft's more social aspects, given her own background developing social platforms like Messenger. It's worth noting that this spring, Mojang announced that Minecraft: Java Edition will soon get a Friends List and peer-to-peer support, both of which are features that will make multiplayer easier and more convenient to engage with.

Do you believe Asha Sharma will successfully help Minecraft (and Candy Crush) grow and improve moving forward? Let me know what you think down below, and in our poll.

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Xbox’s restructuring is here, and we’ve got all the details, which you can find here. I also recently covered reports that State of Decay 3 may no longer be destined for Game Pass, but today we’re talking about Marvel’s Blade, a project whose future is looking increasingly uncertain.

It wasn’t long ago that my colleague Jez Corden reported Arkane had new leadership under Jerk Gustafsson from MachineGames. While that change actually happened last year and was only made public recently, it initially seemed like a positive sign for the studio. Unfortunately, that optimism has faded.

Now, thanks to new reporting, we know Microsoft is in discussions with the French government "to try and figure out a path forward for the legendary Dishonored maker, with the goal of saving Arkane from closure," while also hoping to keep Blade in development.

Additional reporting from The Verge also claims that Blade is "running over budget." With discussions involving the French government potentially taking months, the future of both Arkane and Marvel's Blade remains very much uncertain.

It’s also revealed that Blade has been delayed, in addition to its budget issues, so it really isn’t looking good for the Marvel franchise.

Outside of State of Decay 3 from Undead Labs, which was my most anticipated game from the affected studios, which includes Compulsion and Double Fine, Blade was probably the project I was most curious about. I mean, it's Blade. Sony has Spider-Man, so Xbox having its own Marvel game always felt like a great fit.

This latest update is concerning, though. Blade has reportedly been in development for over five years, and if it's now running over budget, it's hard not to worry. Given the current state of the industry, it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify projects that spend years in development only to run into repeated delays and budget issues.

As difficult as all this news has been, I genuinely hope everyone affected across Xbox is able to land on their feet. I also hope Xbox can steady the ship and come out stronger on the other side. With that said, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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When the first rumors of Xbox's massive 3,200-role restructure started circulating weeks ago, just days after the Xbox Games Showcase, the Xbox community was awash with opinions on how Xbox should handle its lower-performing studios, and deserved criticism awaited the management that had allowed all of this mess to happen.

We've seen this play before: a spreadsheet-driven mega-corp consolidation normally means a beloved studio gets wiped off the map, and its intellectual property is discarded into a black hole, never to see the light of day again.

In a "best of a bad situation" twist, today Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has announced that in an effort to combat Microsoft's losses of 64 cents for every dollar invested in these teams, Compulsion Games and Double Fine are going independent. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, on the other hand, will transition to new publishers.

No projects have been canceled (yet), no studio doors have been shuttered (yet). These studios now have a lifeline and a chance of survival outside the clutches and "14 layers of management" of Microsoft.

Following all this, I plead with the Xbox community: if you genuinely care about the survival of these studios beyond social media soliloquies, then it's time to put our money where our mouths are and support them.

RELATED: Xbox's big "reset" cuts: Compulsion, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory to leave Xbox — 3,200 roles to be removed

State of Decay 3 is not obligated to launch on Xbox Game Pass

Now, the true test of gaming consumers' loyalty is coming sooner than you think. As we recently shared, State of Decay 3 is no longer obligated to launch on Xbox Game Pass under it's new announced ownership terms. The same reality will likely apply to Ninja Theory's future projects.

This will change the entire equation for the average Xbox consumer. For nearly a decade, Xbox gamers have been conditioned to treat first-party titles as perks of the monthly subscription and haven't had to really weigh up the financials of each individual game purchase. Now this is a model I fully support, and it makes gaming so much more accessible for the majority, but clearly the math isn't mathing enough for Xbox.

Undead Labs could now be stepping out into the competitive wild west if they choose not to launch on Xbox Game Pass. Not giving the audience a chance to try your multiplayer game before buying it is a huge gamble, but if enough people buy it at retail price, it could pay off.

Whether studios decide to launch on Game Pass or not, we as players need to step up.

Vote with your wallet

I want to be clear: this isn't about virtue signaling in the way I see people do all the time about players choosing to use Xbox Game Pass as their main source of gaming entertainment. This is not a lecture. The current economic realities are brutal, and everyone should do what is best for their own budget.

Not every gamer has a disposable $70 (or whatever this game will cost) lying around to drop on a whim, and no one should feel guilty for protecting their own finances. That aside, my message is explicitly aimed at those who can afford it.

If you are a fan who spent the last year screaming on social media about corporate greed, demanding that Microsoft "let their studios cook," you now have a real chance to support those studios. Buying these games at retail on day one, whether on Xbox, PC, or PlayStation, is the clearest way to send a message to the rest of the industry that the work these studios does matter. (Note: State of Decay 3 is currently on the Steam Most Wishlisted games list and has already surged by 1,977 additions this week.)

It proves that mid-sized and experimental games have a viable commercial audience outside the protective bubble of Xbox's checkbook. Or, indeed, if nobody buys the games, it proves that Xbox ultimately made the right decision with these moves.

Xbox has made its new strategy crystal clear: they are slimming down their overly complex corporate structure, protecting their next-gen console hardware, and narrowing their focus to mega-franchises like Halo and Fallout. They want to be leaner, meaner and more profitable.

As for studios like Undead Labs and Ninja Theory, if we want these newly freed studios to flourish, we have to stop treating them like subscription padding and start treating them like creators worth paying for. If you can support them, you absolutely should.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator is a criminally underrated game, mostly because of the implied skill ceiling that realistic sims usually demand. However, it's actually extremely approachable thanks to a wide array of difficulty-tweaking options and a decent training segment that masquerades as a virtual flight school. Of course, a purpose-built controller can also help you feel immersed, but it's a confusing category for newcomers.

So, at the peak of last summer, I met with the engineers and peripheral designers at Honeycomb Aeronautical to see their latest entry-level flight sticks, HOTAS setups, and accompanying rudder pedals, with the mission of attracting new players. However, I was far more interested in a prototype Xbox-style joypad lying on a desk, covered with minuscule throttles and levers, instantly calling it "the coolest f—ing thing I've seen".

That great work-in-progress evolved into the game-changing Echo Aviation Controller, and one of my sole complaints was the lack of Xbox console support (though I knew it was planned for the future). Well, the future is now, as Honeycomb Aeronautical recently announced the Echo Aviation Controller XPC — compatible with XBOX Series X|S and, naturally, Windows PC — with plans to start shipping "from Fall this year".

Now, I usually wouldn't give much time to a standard press release — especially one without a concrete release date — but Honeycomb gets a pass for delivering exactly what I wanted. You'll get TMR and Hall-Effect sensors for drift-free inputs, alongside the strangely addictive experience of flying a replica plane with dedicated controls for landing gear, parking brakes, and flaps. It's more alluring than you might think.

It might look a bit strange at first glance, almost like two controllers fused together, but I warmed up to it extremely quickly, and I still use the original when I'm playing MSFS 2024 on PC over some of the best flight sticks. The only real downside to this XPC edition is that it could make the PC-only Echo somewhat defunct, depending on how much you crave Xbox-style face buttons. I've reached out to the company for any comments they may have on that.

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The dreaded Xbox layoffs have finally been confirmed, and they're pretty brutal. While the restructuring may have been necessary from a business perspective, seeing people lose their jobs is never easy. There's not much I can say other than hoping everyone affected is able to land on their feet.

One of the studios caught up in the restructuring is Undead Labs, the developer behind one of Xbox's most anticipated upcoming games, State of Decay 3.

State of Decay 3 is actually Xbox's most wishlisted game on Steam and currently sits among the platform's top 30 most wishlisted titles. As part of Xbox's restructuring, however, Undead Labs is reportedly being sold to a new owner. That's certainly better than simply shutting the studio down altogether, which is Sony’s go-to strategy, but I can't help feeling that Xbox has missed the mark with Undead Labs specifically.

Fans of Xbox Game Pass may also be disappointed by another reported detail. According to Game File, State of Decay 3 "will not obligate the game to any Xbox-controlling terms, such as having to be on Game Pass."

While that doesn't necessarily mean State of Decay 3 won't launch on Game Pass, it does mean the new owner won't be contractually required to put it there. Depending on who acquires the studio, that could have a significant impact on where and how the game is ultimately released.

As someone who grew up playing Call of Duty Zombies, I've always been a fan of zombie games, including the previous State of Decay titles. State of Decay 3 was certainly one of the Xbox games I was looking forward to the most.

While I'm glad the studio will still exist and, hopefully, get to ship the game, I can't help but feel Xbox has missed a huge opportunity here. Out of Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs, all of which are affected by the restructuring, Undead Labs was the studio that had the most promise, at least to me. Knowing it likely won't be part of Xbox going forward just feels like a massive missed opportunity.

Maybe that's just me, though. Let me know what you think in the comments, and as always, be sure to take part in our poll below:

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Microsoft just confirmed layoffs that affect close to 2.1% of the company's workforce. 4,800 roles are being eliminated. Amy Coleman, Microsoft EVP and Chief People Officer, shared the news with employees in a letter that's also published on Microsoft's official blog.

The vast majority of the eliminated roles are from Xbox and gaming-related divisions. Our Managing Editor Jez Corden covered those cuts that make up the largest single staff reduction in Xbox history.

Other layoffs come mostly from Microsoft's Commercial business.

The total number of layoffs was reduced by more than 30% of eligible employees accepting voluntary retirement.

Coleman emphasized that the roles that were just eliminated are not being replaced by AI. But in the next sentence, Coleman discussed how AI is reshaping work.

"I also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI. At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done. Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves."

Coleman was quick to declare that AI is not replacing roles, but the EVP and Chief People Officer mentioned AI several times in the letter. On top of AI shifting how companies work, it's become a focus of training at Microsoft.

"As mentioned above, we are working on alternative solutions to job eliminations, and beyond this, we will continue to invest in equipping employees with new skills, including in AI," said Coleman.

While Coleman did not blame AI for the layoffs, Microsoft leaders past and present have said AI will affect employees across sectors.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has said that AI may replace jobs, though those comments were made in a general sense and not related to the recent layoffs at Microsoft (as a reminder, Gates is not involved in operations at the company).

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said that AI will replace white-collar jobs in the next 12-18 months.

Even if these specific layoffs will not see roles replaced by AI, it's clear that AI is shaping workforces and that it will likely cause roles to be eliminated in the future.

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Amid a historic 3,200-person layoff across Xbox, starting with the 1600 initial layoffs today, our sources confirm the hardware team is seeing the fewest reductions, with a heavy focus on out-engineering the global tech supply crisis.

While today's brutal restructure at Xbox marks a devastating shift for the studios under its umbrella, we can report that at least for now, Microsoft's console ecosystem is surprisingly secure.

According to internal sources, Xbox's dedicated hardware division will see the fewest reductions in the multi-wave layoff event announced by CEO Asha Sharma today. Crucially, the highly anticipated next-generation console, codenamed Helix, remains entirely safe and on track.

RELATED: Xbox's big "reset" cuts: Compulsion, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory to leave Xbox — 3,200 roles to be removed

Rebuilding Xbox around the console players

In Sharma's directive to "rebuild the core", she has spoken plainly about the financial reality at Xbox. That Xbox's rapid software acquisitions and experimental Game Pass bets have failed to yield the margins expected.

To course-correct, Xbox is now pivoting back to its most reliable revenue generator: dedicated console users.

By shielding the hardware division from the brunt of these 3200 role cuts, Xbox hopes to ensure that the physical gateway to its ecosystem remains intact. If it intends to return to aggressive growth in the future, it needs competitive hardware as the foundation.

Battling the ongoing memory crisis

It's no secret that the road to Project Helix isn't without its significant hurdles. The consumer tech industry is currently gripped by a severe global memory availability crisis, which has sharply increased baseline manufacturing costs for next-gen silicon and storage solutions.

Rather than scaling back the console's scope or delaying its timeline, our sources indicate that Xbox’s hardware engineers are trying to tackle margin pressure through aggressive innovation to reduce the total cost of materials.

While the team is largely being spared the mass cuts hitting the software teams, they will still no doubt need to adapt to the operating model as laid out by Sharma, Divisions are being streamlined down to fewer than five layers of management, down from fourteen. Sharma has vowed "we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend."

With Helen Chiang stepping into the newly created COO role to oversee end-to-end profit and loss, the hardware division now has a clear mandate: deliver a powerhouse next-gen machine that is financially viable from day one. If console is indeed the most profitable user base, it makes sense to focus here, but can they pull it off?

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Xbox's expected cuts are here, as CEO Asha Sharma delivers on previous warnings that "hard decisions" were on the way.

Microsoft's gaming division is joining broader cuts at the firm, which will see thousands of roles eliminated from across the company in the near to medium term. Preliminary sourcing suggests the initial wave will see 1,500 staffers impacted at Xbox alone, with a total of 3,200 through FY27.

In an email to staff, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described how Xbox Game Studios are a whole is currently losing 64 cents for every dollar invested in the current climate.

"We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27."

As part of the cuts, Microsoft has reached deals with four studios to either go independent or join new management, saving them from closure.

Compulsion, known for South of Midnight, will be acquired by management and go independent again. Double Fine Productions will also go independent, led by Tim Schafer. Undead Labs and Ninja Theory will be acquired by new publishers. Sources told us over the weekend that both Ninja Theory's Senua and Labs' State of Decay 3 will remain fully in production as part of the divestiture deals.

There's a question mark over Arkane and Blade, however. Microsoft is engaging the French government to try and figure out a path forward for the legendary Dishonored maker — with the goal of saving Arkane from closure, and keeping Blade in production. Right now, we can only hope Arkane finds a suitor to help keep the Dishonored and Blade maker afloat.

Beyond that, to meet the reductions Sharma has described every department at Xbox will see some form of layoffs and restructuring. Microsoft's executive layers want to reduce middle management across the board, in attempts to help Xbox move more quickly. Minecraft and Candy Crush's King will begin reporting in to Xbox's c-suite directly, for example, with a view of making them more competitive against incumbents like Roblox and things like Monopoly Go respectively.

There's also an effort to bring some of Xbox's remaining studios into closer collaboration, focusing on some of the firm's bigger franchises and potential. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been transparent about wanting to focus on things like Halo and Fallout. We could see studios like Obsidian dust off their Fallout mantle, for example.

What about Xbox hardware? It has been suggested to me that Xbox's hardware team will see the least amount of reductions, with Microsoft still intent on shipping Xbox hardware and Xbox Helix.

Microsoft's next-gen Xbox Helix console has been in production for some time, although the structural equations have been hit hard by the memory availability crisis gripping all of consumer tech. Regardless, I'm told Microsoft will soldier on with Helix and Xbox hardware in general. Microsoft is still intent on following Xbox CEO Sharma's plan to "rebuild the core," with a focus on Xbox's most profitable users: those on console.

A sad day for Xbox, and the industry in general

It's painful to me that Microsoft's bean counters wouldn't let Xbox hang on just a bit longer with some of these studios. It's hardly Undead Labs' fault that their integrations were defeated by Covid lockdowns and previous management leaving. State of Decay 3 for example has more wishlists on Steam than some of Xbox's other tentpole projects. It easily, in my view, has potential to be even bigger than similar multiplayer titles like Grounded or Sea of Thieves. It has been a long and expensive road to get here for sure ... but the rewards were literally just around the corner. Couldn't Microsoft have stayed the course just a bit longer on some of this stuff? Microsoft's penchant for giving up at the last hurdle is ceaselessly irritating.

Xbox gave some of its studios freedom to explore new IPs and experimental titles, which while virtuous, potentially hurt their capability to return positive news to those higher-ups working the spreadsheets. It's also difficult to argue against Asha Sharma's notes to staff about not wanting to compete with indie developers. It is a strange universe where Microsoft, the juggernaut, is building games that would otherwise be produced by comparatively far, far smaller teams with non-existent marketing budgets.

It's hard to deny that Xbox has massively dropped the ball on things like Fallout and Halo. Hindsight is 20/20, but imagine if the Fallout TV show had a mainline Fallout game to complement its popularity? Cyberpunk 2077 just hit 40 million copies sold, and is seeing another player count bump from integrations in Wuthering Waves and Cyberpunk Edgerunners Season 2 on Netflix.

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Some of these plans revolve around laying the ground work to take advantage of these squandered opportunities. It should lead to a stronger Xbox in the years to come. But at the same time, it's staffers paying the price for previous decisions — whether owing to managerial mistakes, evolving user behavior, or macro-economic factors that nobody could really predict. It's not fair, is it? For all those impacted, it's just another round of needless chaos in our cold, AI-funny-money-powered economy.

"These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one," Asha Sharma noted to employees. "The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates."

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Microsoft has apparently heard the complaints that make it clear not everyone wants AI in their daily meetings. An upcoming change will make it possible to disable Copilot, Facilitator, and meeting recap within Teams.

Before you get excited about vanquishing the AI features, only licensed meeting organizers will be able to toggle the features on or off.

Here's the planned timeline for the release of the controls:

• Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out early July 2026 (previously early June) and expect to complete by mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June).
• General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out mid-July 2026 (previously mid-June) and expect to complete by end-of-July 2026 (previously late June).

Microsoft sent word of the changes through the Microsoft 365 Message Center. If you're not an admin, you can read them through the Microsoft 365 Message Center Archive.

All versions of Teams will be affected by the change (desktop, web, and mobile).

Meeting AI is a collection of features within Teams. It includes Copilot, Facilitator, and Intelligent recap. Admins can disable all Meeting AI features with a single toggle or enable or disable tools individually.

While it's easy to criticize AI, and there are times for it, these Teams features can be useful. Facilitator can provide information to address knowledge gaps automatically. Intelligent recap uses AI to take notes, create summaries, and gather highlights.

But as is the case with many AI features, people want the option to disable them. The new options coming to Teams make that much easier for admins.

When used as a way to enhance the work of a person, AI can improve productivity. But when people over rely on AI, quality suffers. Earlier this year, analyst Dennis Xu joked about banning AI use on Friday afternoons.

Xu's comments were tongue-in-check, but the general idea was that people would be too lazy on a Friday afternoon to double-check work completed by AI tools.

Considering that even Microsoft researchers suggest AI chatbots get "dumber" the longer you talk to them, it makes sense to give meeting organizers simple toggles to disable AI in Teams.

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Appreciate how hard it is to write the name Erling Haaland and literally anything nice. The World Cup star plays for Manchester City, whom I am programmed to despise, as well as England's next opponents, Norway.

But, I know a man of undoubted class when I see one, and Haaland fits that bill because, like us, he's an XBOX man. Some of the games he's playing won't be too surprising, but at least one of them might be.

The video below via yoxic on X walks us through Haaland's Xbox, some of his favorite games, and yes, as a man of class, he also has the Xbox Series X mini fridge.

I had a mild panic when I read the caption before seeing the video before calming down when "Modern Warfare 2" does, in fact, refer to the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare trilogy, not the reboot. I've met plenty of people who would agree on the old game and essentially nobody who would pass such lofty praise on the newer one.

There's no surprise to hear GTA 6 is most anticipated, though, fun fact, Haaland was only 13 when GTA 5 was first released. In the time between games he's grown up and become the most feared striker on the planet. Puts it into perspective how long we've been waiting!

Shoutout for Minecraft, too, another of the titles taking its place on Haaland's XBOX alongside the extremely obvious EA FC games.

Reaction on social media is plentiful, but the replies tagging Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and marketing chief Aaron Greenberg feel valid. One of the best known football players on the planet is basically doing free marketing here. If XBOX has any sense, they'll reach out about a partnership. Lord knows we could use some positivity.

There's a precedent for that, too. Darts sensation Luke Littler is also a proud XBOX player, which was soon followed up by an official partnership. All the youngsters out there that love Erling Haaland need to know he loves XBOX. It's a no-brainer!

That's enough from me, though. Time to lock in on the World Cup Quarter-Finals. England vs. Norway. We've got to get the man back home and on his XBOX as soon as possible!

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Euro Truck Simulator 2 (and its USA-centric counterpart, American Truck Simulator) is the world's most popular trucking simulation game on PC, and console ports for Xbox and PlayStation are even in the works. As the name suggests, the theme has always been about hauling trailers across realistic recreations of famous cities, but a teased "Project Coaches" add-on is getting closer to mixing that up.

Yes, the big trucking simulator game is getting a Coaches DLC on Steam that'll add drivable coach buses from real-world manufacturers like Scania, Volvo, and MAN. We don't know how much the DLC will cost, and its developers at SCS Software reiterate that anything it shows is "still a work in progress", so the specifics on how its in-world passengers will behave might change before release.

We've known details about in-world bus stations for a while, but a new gameplay video on YouTube shows how everything is coming together with footage of the MAN Lions Coach set to the nostalgic soundtrack of SCS Software's Bus Driver from 2007. The twist on passenger replacements for cargo is garnering mostly positive reactions so far, but it simultaneously highlights a feature that's still strangely missing: rigid trucks.

Rigid-chassis trucks have been missing from both versions of SCS Software's truck simulator since launch, with the only solutions coming from community-made mods. You've probably seen these types of trucks driving around your own town; they're a more compact alternative to the longer, hauled trailers that you'll see in the game's traditional selection. Coaches, if larger, still handle on the road in the same fashion, so this feels like a slightly unusual release order.

Despite frustrations among some Steam players that the Coaches DLC might be receiving priority over new truck types, Euro Truck Simulator 2 nevertheless maintains an "Overwhelmingly Positive" standing with over 140,000 English reviews. It's still the most realistic option for PC gamers on Windows 10/11 and SteamOS — thanks to its "Steam Deck Verified" status — and one of the easiest games to recommend when paired with an appropriate wheel.

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It's no secret that the modern video game industry is in somewhat of an identity and budget crisis. Massive AAA publishers are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars and up to a decade of development time into hyper-polished blockbusters, many of which fail to recoup the ballooning costs. On the other hand, we have feel-good stories like this one about this year's breakout indie hit, Meccha Chameleon, which just announced it has achieved 15 million sales on Steam in less than a month.

What is Meccha Chameleon?

Two indie developers in Japan reportedly spent two months, yes, only two months, slapping together this janky $5 party game about painting human chameleons, and it's done the impossible by capturing millions of players' attention.

Creator 'lemorion_1224' and programmer Haganeiro originally met in the Fortnite custom map creator community, and together came up with this wacky, extreme hide-and-seek concept.

Players have plain white bodies and must spray-paint themselves to match the textures of the walls and surroundings to hide from the seekers. I've even seen one environment that's modeled after the Backrooms, so it's a Gen Z clip-worthy beast of a game. It seems incredibly simple, but the trajectory of the game's success is every indie developer's dream scenario. It even utilizes free assets, for which the creator has expressed support for the game taking off.

Meccha Chameleon launched on Steam on June 9, 2026, for the modest price of $4.79, and took only 4 days to shatter 1 million copies sold purely by organic word of mouth and viral Twitch clips. It's the latest in a trend of 'friendslop' games, not a derogatory term, but meaning a game where the fun is made organically by playing with a group of pals (and tends to be a low-budget title). Think Schedule 1 as another example.

As of June 26, they hit 10 million copies sold, and today they announced the milestone of 15 million copies just under a month after launch. At the game's peak, it reached 340,000 concurrent players and outperformed Overwatch and Apex Legends.

Now, as inspiring as Meccha Chameleon's success is, it's vital to remember that not everyone can be the next Balatro or Among Us. Tens of thousands of indie games flood Steam each year, and a heartbreakingly small percentage of those ever make enough money to sustain their creators. That said, when a game this cheap does strike lightning, it's something to be celebrated, and I'm going to download immediately and check the game out myself!

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Sony's announcement that it will cease physical disc production by January 2028 has had a seismic impact on the gaming industry,. As players look forward to a disc-less future with the arrival of the PlayStation 6 (and the likelihood that Xbox Helix will follow suit), everyone has been weighing in on the debate at a volume I've not seen before.

Celebrities like comedian Trevor Noah have weighed in, and even fast food outlets like KFC and Dominos have jumped on the bandwagon, but now one of the industries most legendary creator, Hideo Kojima has weighed in.

Speaking at the Il Cinema in Piazza Film Festival in Italy, Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Kojima expressed deep anxiety over the erasure of physical media. His translated remarks have been widely ciculated by Genki_JPN on X and we can be pretty certain the translation is correct given it's been reposted by Kojima himself.

"You don't actually possess the data"

Kojima, a notoriously devout cinephile and physical media collector, didn't hold back when asked his thoughts on the industry-wide push toward digital distribution.

"Since production is ending in 2028, this is about video games, but I grew up with physical media, so I find it really sad.

Currently, I’ve been buying up a lot of Blu-rays, such as various movies, and CDs too. The situation is different for games, as they are downloaded to the hard drive, that means the game data remains on your own hardware.

However, if things shift to streaming in the future, that won’t be the case anymore. With streaming subscription services, like Netflix or Amazon, there is a server somewhere, and you essentially just have the right to turn the tap, and when you do, the data flows out. That’s how movies work on these platforms, right? You don't download the data, you access it directly through a subscription.

And the consequence of that is that you don't actually possess the data yourself. There are companies that own these servers and let you 'turn the tap' for a monthly fee. However, with nations, politics and various ways of thinking, one naturally has to consider the possibility that if there is a change, the data inside will stop being distributed.

And if that happens you won’t be able to watch or play the movies and games you like. That is what is frightening. So, what is happening to video games in 2028, might also happen to movies. I’d like everyone to keep that in mind."

"We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved."

This isn't the first time Kojima has spoken out about the move to online-only access for entertainment. His posts from 2001 have been circulating again, when he had a very similar warning to us all:

"Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative. Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off.

We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That's what I'm afraid of. This is not greed."

Kojima's words directly mirror the concerns of today's gamers. When Sony first revealed the timeline within which it plans to kill off physical game discs, the immediate outcry centered around consumer choice and market control. Without a secondhand disc market, publishers gain total authority over pricing, forcing players to rely entirely on the PlayStation storefront sales. Whether you have already made the move to digital or not, this will impact the price of games for everyone.

We have already seen the consequences of the "turned off tap" that Kojima warns us of. Sony recently sparked fury by revoking consumer access to over 500 paid digital movies, proving that digital ownership is merely a temporary license.

While the PC ecosystem has safely transitioned to digital due to its open nature, community modding, and DRM-free options like GOG, consoles remain strictly gated communities.

How long will corporations acquiesce to gamers' wants and needs?

Microsoft's upcoming next-gen "roject Helix console is also highly likely to drop the disc drive, but they are building a bridge. New details regarding Xbox's "Positron" disc-to-digital program suggest a seamless system where physical discs can be permanently converted into digital licenses tied to your Microsoft Account.

Amidst all the corporate doom and gloom, there are still minor victories for collectors. Halo Studios recently confirmed that the highly anticipated Halo: Campaign Evolved remake will actually ship on an actual physical disc for both Xbox and PlayStation boxes.

But as Kojima heavily implies, these anomalies will soon become a relic of the past. When the servers go dark, and the corporate giants decide to twist the valve shut, players will finally realize the true cost of convenience.

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