We have recently heard rumors saying that Zenimax and Bethesda will be 'significantly' impacted by Xbox's company-wide restructuring. So far, these rumors are coming true in depressing ways, as DOOM developer Id Software confirms it has lost over 136 staff, and now the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online, ZeniMax Online is next on the chopping block.

According to a WARN report released by the State of Maryland (via VGC), Zenimax Online has lost 213 employees thanks to Xbox's big "Reset". In addition, Zenimax Media Inc., the company that owns Bethesda Game Studios, has also lost 166 employees.

One of the game developers who previously worked at ZeniMax Online, Andrew Young, has reacted with anger and disappointment at this news, stating that "I’m just so angry today. People will never know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making ESO or how we basically funded other failing projects while never getting enough resources to really keep up with our release cadence. The team deserved much better."

This news will no doubt fuel the flames of angry fans letting their harsh criticisms and opinions be known to Microsoft about this decision, spurred on by Bethesda's Union, which feels similar sentiments of frustration about the whole situation.

However, the good news is that there are no reports so far that The Elder Scrolls Online MMO is shutting down as a result of these layoffs, but whether or not ZeniMax Online will be able to bounce back from this loss as it did with 2025's layoffs that forced it to cancel its secret "Project Blackbird game" remains to be seen.

There's little doubt that more official reports of the exact damage done to Xbox's game studios will continue to be released as the company's restructuring goes on. So, we'll keep you posted on further developments regarding the ongoing situation at ZeniMax and Bethesda.

When do you think these mass layoffs will end? Do you think Xbox's game studios will be able to bounce back from these layoffs and continue making games? Do you think The Elder Scrolls Online will be able to survive now that ZeniMax Online has lost a considerable amount of manpower?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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Recently, Bethesda's Union expressed frustration that Zenimax and Bethesda, the studio currently in charge of award-winning Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and DOOM franchises, among others, has suffered job cuts as part of Xbox's company-wide 'Reset', with reports from Bloomberg suggesting it was one of the studios hit the hardest with layoffs.

A day after voicing their displeasure, Bethesda's Union took to Bluesky to call upon gamers and ask them to voice their concerns regarding the biggest wave of layoffs in Xbox's history and the state of Bethesda's future games to Microsoft directly through the Xbox Player Voice feedback platform.

It stated, "Yesterday's layoffs at Bethesda Game Studios were not a cut of '14 layers of management. We lost dozens of programmers, artists, designers, and testers. Many of whom worked at BGS for decades. If Bethesda fans are worried this will harm the quality of our future games, like The Elder Scrolls VI, let Microsoft know!"

One way you can show Microsoft your concern is here through the XBOX Player Voice feedback platform: feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/ide...

— @bethesdaunion.bsky.social (@bethesdaunion.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T10:57:34.527Z

Upon hearing this, players flocked to the platform in droves and unleashed all their pent-up frustrations and criticisms at Microsoft.

Comments ranged from scathing doomsaying, like "If Microsoft does not reverse course they will be destroyed." by Percy Hartley to constructive feedback, like the most upvoted comment (at over 2,500 votes) by Witt Yao, stating, "The layoff of 3,200 workers at XBOX (across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Obsidian, id Software, and XBOX Game Studios) is unacceptable. This continues a pattern that has led to 10,000+ layoffs at XBOX in as little as two years."

Witt Yao continues, "Multiple studios have been closed or had their futures jeopardized (Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios) and numerous games have been cancelled. The developers and players agree that This Can Not Continue. A true reset that meets the needs of the XBOX community looks like the following:"

He then advises on how Microsoft could potentially improve the Xbox brand with the following suggestions:

• Transparency for Players - Showcasing games from studios they intend to sell or close weeks later feels bad for players.
• Keep Teams Together - No layoffs for the next 2 years and end studio closures. Studio closures hurt the fans of that studio.
• XBOX is already profitable without reaching a billion people every day - Stop constraining XBOX by the unrealistic profit expectations of the Microsoft Accountability Margin. 
• Trust the Developers - Negotiate in good faith with unions and developers, so they can better represent the needs of both developers and gamers.
• Layoffs are a Failure of Leadership - No executive bonuses when there is a layoff.
• Invest in the Future of Gaming - Invest in the future generation of video game developers instead of unpopular technologies like AI that players don’t want. Game development expertise is the biggest asset of a video game company. 

Stay tuned for more info, as we can keep an eye out for developments and reactions regarding the biggest shake-up within the Xbox brand's history.

Have you voiced your opinions to Microsoft through the Xbox Player Voice Feedback? Do you have destructive or constructive criticisms regarding the Xbox brand's "reset" that has seen over 3,200 jobs terminated across many of Xbox's game studios?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV continues to show more extended demonstrations of its real-time strategic gameplay with a new 15-minute video.

The last video focused on the Space Marine and Ork factions, but this time, we'll take a look at the Necron faction and the Adeptus Mechanicus faction facing off in a 1v1 skirmish mode game.

Here's how it went down.

The second gameplay demonstration kicks off with a look at the Adeptus Mechanicus (Admech for short), a faction of tech-worshipping cyborg cultists who are making their debut in the Dawn of War series in this game.

What makes this faction unique is that the buildings they use to produce combat units can be linked together with a Noosphere Network. The more buildings that are linked together within an Admech player's network, the cheaper the cost of creating combat units will be, and the stronger the turrets they make will be.

In addition, the Admech faction features a wide variety of combat units, from fast Skitarii Rangers who can run around the map to steal Control Points while sniping enemies to heavily armored tanks and walking mechs that bring the hammer down on even the most heavily armored enemy units.

After the Admech player establishes a base of operations, we cut to the Necron player. Necrons are an ancient alien race of robot mummies that are nearly impossible to kill due to their extremely tough metallic bodies, their ability to regenerate wounds, and being able to resurrect upon destruction if they're not destroyed completely.

In Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV, those abilities are faithfully represented with the Necron faction, as they can build buildings that will revive fallen combat units for free so the Necron player can divert resources towards producing endless hordes of Necron Warriors, advanced combat units like giant robotic insects called Canoptek Wraiths, or mobile flying fortresses called Monoliths, just to name a few.

Another unique aspect of the Necrons in this game is that they don't have to take and hold Control Points for resources. Instead, they draw resources by covering the map in a Power Matrix, which is spread by constructing Necron buildings.

On top of that, the Power Matrix can buff a Necron player's combat units with passive health regeneration and faster squad member replenishment, and allow the player to teleport defensive turrets where they want after they're built so they can defend any position at a moment's notice.

Speaking of teleportation, the Necron faction has access to buildings that can hold combat units in reserve and then deploy from their Headquarters to any Necron Tomb Pylon on the map. This tactic can help you deploy reinforcements in dire situations or simply help the Necron combat units move faster, as most of them are slower than a snail.

After both players have established footholds, the rest of the video becomes a mechanical bloodbath as the Admech players fights desperately to fight back the Necron forces who just simply refused to die.

However, after careful management of resources, strategic plays, and amassing an small army of tanks lead by giant mechs called the Knight Castellans, the Admech player was able to overcome the Necrons and achieve victory.

Windows Central's take

After trying out the Skitarii class in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide and enjoying using the Tech-Priest Manipulus Companion in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader's 3rd DLC expansion, I've become quite a fan of the Adeptus Mechanicus faction in Warhammer 40,000 for how twisted their cyborg designs and complex lore are.

So seeing them in action in Dawn of War is a pretty cool sight to see, as they have access to some of the advanced weapons in the setting that would even give Space Marines a run for their money if pushed too far, which look so much fun to use in this game.

The Necrons also look pretty neat and somewhat nostalgic in this game, as their gameplay tactic of generating Power Matrix on the map to build buildings feels inspired by the Zerg's Creep mechanic from StarCraft.

Although I wouldn't expect any Zerg Rush tactics from the slow-moving Necrons any time soon unless a player masters their teleporting gimmick to deploy dozens of Necron Warriors behind enemy lines.

Either way, this game continues to impress me with every new extended gameplay showcase for its multiplayer skirmish mode, and I can't wait to see what the developers have cooking for its other modes, like the single-player campaign.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV launches on September 16, 2026, for PC via Steam. Are you looking forward to this game? Have you played any of the earlier Dawn of War games?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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While the ZeniMax and Bethesda studio id Software is best known for its DOOM games — including both the classic titles as well as the modern installments DOOM 2016, DOOM Eternal, and DOOM: The Dark Ages — it's explored other properties and ideas in the past, and has reportedly been "toying around" with doing so again.

...That is, until the developer was slammed by layoffs this week that came as part of a larger "reset" for Xbox and its first-party teams that's seen 3,200 roles cut and four studios divested from Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios portfolio.

Early reports suggested that half of id Software was discharged from Microsoft and Xbox, with some follow-up digging indicating that the situation is even worse, as 40 remote employees have reportedly been let go as well.

Described as a "bloodbath" by one former dev, the cuts have seemingly made it extremely unlikely that id's ideas for non-DOOM projects will ever be developed (especially with Xbox directing ZeniMax/Bethesda to focus on core IPs). A new report from GamesBeat, though, gives some insight into what those concepts were.

Aside from a multiplayer-focused DOOM game with co-op, the studio was also considering a game heavily inspired by the John Wick films called Fury, a new entry in the Perfect Dark series, and a survival-focused Western game with robots called Ironwood.

Fury was a new original property pitched by id Software's studio co-director and game director Hugo Martin, with "elements of sci-fi, noir, and Louisiana and Chicago gangsters" and "a modern, cyberpunk-like feel." Notably, it had a "Gun Fu" gameplay style that blended gunplay with martial arts melee combat, and was intended to feel like a playable John Wick movie. It was never greenlit.

Allegedly, id was also exploring the possibility of making a Perfect Dark game. The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot was canceled last year when Microsoft and Xbox shuttered the studio; with nobody else working on a new installment in the 2000s stealth-action shooter series, id considered doing so and reportedly even had concept art drafted.

Finally, there's Ironwood. Very little is known about it other than that it would be set in a Western environment with robots and survival gameplay, though it's been said it would be very similar to the popular HBO TV show Westworld.

Apparently, there were, and are, no plans for a new Quake — another iconic shooter series id created in the '90s.

Personally, I think the concept for Fury sounds incredibly cool, and I'd love to have seen the full id Software team make a Perfect Dark game. With over half the studio now gone, however, the chances of anything other than a DOOM title being made seem extremely slim.

Perhaps one day, several years into the future, id will be able to explore some of these concepts further. With Xbox CEO Asha Sharma aiming to "move faster" with its biggest franchises, though, I doubt that would happen anytime soon.

How are you feeling about Microsoft's mass Xbox layoffs, and the major impact they've had on id Software? I'm curious, so let me know in the comments below as well as in our poll.

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Earlier this week, Microsoft initiated a large wave of 4,800 layoffs that hit the firm's Xbox and gaming divisions particularly hard, with four studio divestitures and 3,200 cuts — 1,600 immediate, and 1,600 more coming in the next 12 months — striking in what's been called a "reset" for the Xbox business.

Though the redundancies have affected teams across all of Xbox, they've impacted certain game studios such as ZeniMax and Bethesda and Obsidian Entertainment quite disproportionately. Another developer that's experienced a severe reduction in force is id Software, the team that creates and oversees the modern DOOM games.

Initially, it was reported that half of the entire studio was laid off as part of Microsoft and Xbox's restructuring — a major and devastating loss of talent that shocked the community and upset developers at id, given the popularity of its games and the potential of the always-evolving id Tech game engine.

According to a new report, however, the total number of layoffs at the Texas-based developer is even larger. At first, it was believed that 96 roles were removed at id. Now, though, Game Developer writes that a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN) notice — obtained by the outlet from the Texas Workforce Commission upon request — has revealed that 40 remote workers at the studio have been let go as well.

That brings the total number of id Software cuts up to 136, meaning that the studio's workforce has been hit significantly harder than early reports indicated. Notably, the WARN document also confirmed that 22 staffers have been affected at Bethesda Game Studios' office in Austin, Texas, with 158 Texas employees laid off across both teams.

146 of these workers are reportedly represented by the Communication Workers of America labor union; Bethesda Game Studios has its own union, too, and it's been very vocal about its frustration with this week's redundancies.

With how concerning the news of the loss of half of id was, hearing that an additional 40 workers were laid off on top of that is extremely worrying. I can't help but be fearful about the studio's future, and that it no longer has a headcount sufficient for the efficient development of new DOOM games and other projects moving forward.

The painful irony of the situation is that these cuts have come at the same time id released its new Revelations DLC for its latest game, 2025's DOOM: The Dark Ages. So far, the new expansion has garnered strong reviews, and I'm glad to see it...but it's also heartbreaking to see that many of the creative minds responsible for it, The Dark Ages, and other modern DOOM titles are now gone.

Do you believe that Microsoft and Xbox went too far with the cuts made to id Software? Voice your feelings on the matter in the comments, and vote in our poll as well.

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I've managed to just about avoid the Steam sale relatively unscathed, but alas this insane deal from Green Man Gaming has just had me double dipping on some of my favorite family games. Right now, you can get 7 full Lego games and additional DLC for $9.00, and they are all Steam-verified.

It's worth $9 just for the Skywalker Collection

Before you've even looked at the other games available here, it's worth noting that the Skywalker Saga alone is worth the $9 many times over. In fact, the Galactic Edition advertised here on Green Man Gaming is currently $11.99 on Steam. You get all nine movies in one collection, with over 380 characters to unlock and most importantly, Lego lightsaber battles...

RELATED: 7 of the best Game Key websites

All of the Lego games are some of the smoothest co-op experiences I've ever had with my kids and I credit Lego games for turning my youngest son into a bona fide gamer. They have kept him away from the lure of Roblox, but in reality I end up playing most of these games myself. I've just grabbed this bundle for my ROG Ally, since I already own most of them on Xbox, but they are simply perfect for handheld.

But there’s an even better reason to pick this up: Green Man Gaming is using this bundle to support Breakthrough T1D, an organization dedicated to accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent, and treat type 1 diabetes.

This hits incredibly close to home for me. I've previously worked for a diabetes charity in the UK, and have seen firsthand how terrifying it is for parents dealing with a young child who has Type 1 diabetes. It's easily diagnosable, yet it is so frequently missed in young kids because the symptoms are often written off as other conditions, sometimes with fatal consequences.

A portion of this $9 purchase goes directly toward preventing diabetes related illness and funding a cure.

If you want to grab it while supporting a vital cause, here is another reminder of exactly what you get in the bundle:

• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (Galactic Edition) (Includes 13 DLC character packs)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Deluxe Edition)
• The LEGO Movie Videogame
• The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame
• LEGO The Incredibles
• The LEGO NINJAGO Movie Video Game
• LEGO Jurassic World (Plus 3 included DLC expansion packs)

Whether you're looking for a perfect couch co-op experience with your kids or just want some solo fun on your Steam Deck or ROG Ally, you won't find a better value than this right now.

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Shortly after it was reported that Xbox's RPG studio Obsidian Entertainment lost 25% of its workforce to Microsoft's mass Xbox layoffs earlier this week, it's come to light that the developer has moved on from other projects to work on a new Fallout game.

That news comes from a new Bloomberg report that Windows Central can corroborate with our own sources. According to those familiar with the situation at the storied Irvine-based studio, multiple planned projects — including a sequel to 2025's Pillars of Eternity action RPG Avowed — have been canceled to prioritize the Fallout title.

Notably, the team working on the new Fallout game will be led by Josh Sawyer, the game director of Obsidian's legendary 2010 title Fallout: New Vegas that was developed in partnership with Bethesda to fill the gap between 2008's Fallout 3 and 2011's The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. New Vegas is widely considered by many fans to be the series' best RPG, lauded for its writing quality, reactivity to player actions, and deep, systems-driven gameplay design.

Bloomberg reports that previously, Sawyer was working on an RPG that was "similar structurally and thematically to Fallout," but wasn't actually part of the iconic franchise.

It's also been said that Bethesda Game Studios — the steward of the Fallout IP, and the developer behind the creation of Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and the Fallout Shelter spinoff — will work with Obsidian on the new game. At the moment, it's unclear if this means the two studios will directly co-develop it together, or if Bethesda will merely provide support.

Demand for a new mainline Fallout entry is very strong right now, what with Amazon's extremely popular Fallout TV show, now filming its third season, driving significant excitement for and interest in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi property.

With Bethesda largely focused on The Elder Scrolls 6 after Starfield and Fallout 5 a long way off, I'm not surprised to see Microsoft and Xbox direct Obsidian to pivot over to the series. After all, given its experience working on it with New Vegas, you could argue there's not a team better suited for the task...though, Obsidian losing a quarter of its staffers — many of whom are reported to have been senior devs — makes me wonder how many of New Vegas' creators are actually still there.

As for the canceled Avowed sequel? Development on it was reportedly progressing smoothly and Obsidian was planning to announce it in 2027, but in the end, it didn't fit in with Xbox's new "reset" and plans to double down on its largest franchises. Its CEO Asha Sharma recently stated she wants the brand to "move faster" with core IPs like Fallout.

It's been said that some Obsidian devs will continue to work on the sequel with hopes that it will one day be fully greenlit again. Additionally, the studio will continue to develop planned DLC expansions for 2025's The Outer Worlds 2 RPG, as well as content for the Early Access survival game Grounded 2.

Are you excited for Obsidian to make a new Fallout, or would you have preferred it to finish its Avowed sequel? Let me know in our poll above, and in the comments below.

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Original article: This week's huge wave of 4,800 layoffs across Microsoft have brought the largest ever series of cuts to Xbox in the brand's history, with 3,200 roles axed and four studios split away from the company (and with Microsoft also reportedly in talks with the French government to try and find a path forward for Marvel's Blade dev Arkane Lyon as well).

Workers have been affected throughout Xbox teams and its first-party game development studios, with some affected more severely than others. Since news of the cuts came on Monday morning, it's become clear that staffers under the ZeniMax and Bethesda umbrella and at DOOM dev id Software have been hit particularly hard, with the latter losing half of its entire workforce.

Reportedly, another studio that's been battered by Xbox's efforts to "reset" is Obsidian Entertainment, the RPG developer best known for creating the beloved Fallout: New Vegas as well as the Grounded series, Pentiment, Avowed, and The Outer Worlds 2 for Xbox after it was acquired by Microsoft in late 2018. Though it's not shutting down as rumors suggested, it hasn't come through the mass layoffs unscathed.

According to sources in contact with Kotaku, roughly 60-70 employees were laid off from Obsidian — a number that constitutes 25% of the developer's headcount. Affected roles are stated to include "producers, artists, designers, programmers, QA testers, writers, and others," including many senior staff members and the only recruiter at the studio.

It's been said that most of these discharges were a part of the 1,600 immediate cuts that Microsoft made on Monday, with "a few" coming later this year as the firm lays an additional 1,600 Xbox workers off in the next 12 months.

One source told Kotaku that those who remain at Obsidian have concerns about how the studio will be able to proceed with further development on its "huge list of projects" after how steep these cuts have been. There's apparently been no guidance from Microsoft on the matter yet.

Reportedly, the developer plans to continue working on the Early Access survival game Grounded 2 and its two announced DLC story expansions for the open-world sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2. Beyond that, though, it's unclear what Obsidian will do moving forward.

Notably, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently commenting that she wants the brand to "move faster" with its core IPs and directly mentioning Fallout by name alongside The Elder Scrolls and Halo, I can't help but wonder if we'll see Microsoft bring Obsidian back to the post-apocalyptic RPG series. I would be quite excited for that...but a major portion of the studio's senior devs that helped create New Vegas were just let go.

I'll also highlight that these layoffs have come months after Obsidian confirmed it was going through some internal reorganization after recent games like Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 failed to meet performance expectations. At the time, I hoped those changes would help the studio develop new games more efficiently. We can only hope that they will ultimately do so, and mitigate the impact of these redundancies.

How do you feel about Microsoft and Xbox reportedly laying off 25% of Obsidian's workforce? Did the firm go too far? Make your voice heard in the poll below, and drop me a comment with your thoughts, too.

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As the arcade racing video game genre is absolutely flying, EA, it seems, wants no part in it any longer. At least that's how it appears if you read between the lines of a recent report from IGN at the studio responsible for much of the series, Criterion.

UK-based Criterion is hitting a big milestone: its 30th birthday. While it hasn't just been responsible for Need for Speed over the years, racing is responsible for some of its biggest hits. Lest we also forget the monumentally fun Burnout series.

But as Criterion celebrates its birthday, there's a stark reminder that the future for these two beloved franchises looks as non-existent as it could be. It's now "Criterion: A Battlefield Studio."

This is such a boneheaded move, but then, this is also EA we're talking about. Thanks in large part to XBOX's Forza Horizon franchise, the thirst for arcade racers has never been higher.

Ubisoft's The Crew is on its third outing, with Motorfest still going strong and getting plenty of fresh content. Forza Horizon 6 has just arrived on the scene and will continue to draw players for years to come. Ex-Playground Games wizards went off and did their own thing and are due to drop Clutch in 2027.

Whether you think the most recent Need for Speed games were any good or not isn't the point. EA is a steward to one of the most famous brands in the space and seems content to leave it on the shelf.

I'm pretty mad, which doesn't usually take much doing from EA these days. I wasn't thrilled when the company gobbled up another British studio making racing games, Codemasters, which had itself previously acquired Project Cars maker Slightly Mad Studios.

EA has under its ownership the F1 franchise, Dirt's library of rally games alongside EA WRC, Need for Speed, Burnout, Project Cars, and Grid. Right now, only one of those is alive.

Development on any future rally titles is on hold; Project Cars is dead; Grid is soon to be dead, with the servers on Grid Legends being shut off later this year. Burnout hasn't seen any life since 2018, and now the studio that has most recently been looking after Need for Speed is all-in on Battlefield.

F1 25 is all that really remains with its live service platform in tow. All that greatness in the locker, and EA is chasing a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow it will never reach.

Battlefield 6 is fine; I don't really enjoy it, but it's doing well, and it's a perfectly good game. But I feel like EA is sacrificing some much-loved franchises to help chase that Call of Duty money. Which just isn't going to happen.

Everything has to be live service from the biggest publishers with the biggest budgets these days, and that's fine, too. It's not going away, so we may as well accept it. But Forza Horizon 6 and The Crew Motorfest are living proof that the model works for arcade racers and that generally we're happy and enjoying it.

PlayStation players jumped on Forza Horizon 5 in massive numbers. A game that was, at the time, four years old. The newest one is flying on Xbox and PC right now, and we're looking forward to Clutch. But I don't understand why Need for Speed, especially, has been put on the shelf.

In the golden age of The Fast and the Furious, Need for Speed: Underground arrived, and it was all my friend group was talking about. My 180mph orange Corsa packed with a ludicrous body kit and neon lights was just pure joy. EA could do anything with this franchise.

We are lucky that there are still studios out there making amazing games we can enjoy, but all of this is just another notch on the belt of ongoing disappointment I'm feeling with gaming as a whole of late.

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I know Xbox is currently amid the biggest restructuring in its history, and yes, it all sucks, even if it's probably a necessary change for the company's future. Instead, though, I want to take you back to days gone by, when the infamous Don Mattrick was at the helm.

By all accounts, Mattrick inherited a golden goose in the Xbox 360, only to smash it into a million pieces with the disastrous reveal of the Xbox One. That moment all but erased the goodwill Xbox had built throughout the Xbox 360 era, effectively handed the entire console generation to PlayStation, and created problems the brand is arguably still dealing with today.

Over on BlueSky, former Halo 4 developer Don Callan spoke out about a meeting that was held between 343 Industries at the time and Don Mattrick. Callan recalls it as follows:

“I have very distinct memories of having to demo Halo 4 for Don Mattrick and realizing that these people just live on different planes of reality... I was showing off my mission and when the Mantis showed up... he raised his hand and said to the group, 'Has anyone here played... Diablo 3?'... He then went on to suggest we should copy their idea of a real money auction house for campaign mech skins…”

Callan went on to explain that while everyone around Mattrick outwardly reacted as though it was a brilliant idea, they privately thought it was beyond stupid, especially considering Halo 4 was already around 90% complete. He ultimately summed up his experience by saying, "game execs remain stupid detached money grubbing idiots."

I must admit, as much as I dislike Halo 4 and its gameplay loop (don't worry, I enjoyed the campaign), this really would have been a baffling decision, and one I'm glad never became reality. It's also worth remembering that Diablo 3's real-money auction house was widely criticized at launch and was eventually removed from the game.

Hopefully, Xbox's new leadership has more sense than whatever Mattrick was thinking at the time. With the company still in the middle of a major restructuring, tensions are understandably high both inside Xbox and among fans watching from the outside. But let me know your thoughts. Would Halo 4 have been even worse with a real-money auction house? Leave a comment below and be sure to take part in our poll below:

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As it is, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is one of the greatest Assassin’s Creed games ever made. Buckling gameplay from bow to stern, Black Flag is the title that set a pirate craze in the world. To the point that Ubisoft spent well over a decade developing the cursed game Skull and Bones.

Even with the dastardly failure of the game, Ubisoft’s vision of a pirate game has crawled its way back in the form of the Black Flag remake, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced. As a player who gained every single achievement in the original game, you can bet your coin that I had high expectations when it came to this remake.

I’m happy to say that a little over a dozen years after the original game, Resynced is back to claim the piracy title.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: The Story

You’re Edward Kenway, the ever-loving and charismatic privateer with a dashing Welsh accent. Driven by dreams of wealth for his wife and glory to boot, Edward sets sail for the West Indies in search of riches beyond measure.

From the start, Edward finds himself in turmoil under a naval encounter that sees his world unraveled and shipwrecked. A shady figure by the name of Duncan Walpole crosses paths with Edward, and an entire world beyond the realm of piracy unfolds before him. One of the shadow and ancient struggles between the Templars and Assassins. The fight between true freedom and control.

Within hours, players will find themselves commanding their very own vessel, the Jackdaw. A versatile ship under the command of a man with legendary pirate friends like Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch, Anne Bonny, Charles Vane, and more. With his trusty crew and mythical friends, Edward looks to create a pirate paradise free from the control of the outside world.

Along this path, Edward discovers the Observatory, Black Flag’s integral piece left behind by the First Civilization that both Assassins and Templars are fighting for. A device that could potentially locate any person across the globe, powers beyond Edward’s imagination begin to clash, with him caught right in the middle.

With everything at stake, Black Flag Resynced, like the game before it, does a wonderful job of depicting a struggle of self-discovery as Edward grapples with his own ambitions as they come at odds with protecting what truly matters in the world.

Unlike the original Black Flag, none of the original modern-day storyline is present. Instead, the entire game is set from beginning to end within the eyes and confines of Edward Kenway. No more will the player find themselves going through the motions of some Abstergo office.

On top of the original story, players can expect extra epilogue missions as well that add more to the world of Edward Kenway.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Sail beyond the original

Everything you loved from the original Black Flag returns in Resynced, alongside a plethora of new activities to explore. From new locations to entirely new end-game missions that expand upon the original story, Resynced is more than just a remake, all while packing itself into a single game.

Modern-day stories have been replaced by Rifts, which are optional quests within the Animus that provide players with a unique “what-if” perspective shift. I won’t spoil anything, but a single one of these missions is far better than all of the modern-day experiences found in the original game, combined.

Alongside the main story, side-quests have also been expanded upon. With entirely new missions that give a better glimpse into some of the game’s most iconic characters, as well as other contracts that begin to number beyond what I’m willing to write about. Needless to say, even players who come fresh from the original will find tons of newly packed story content in Resynced!

With all the newly minted narrative pieces, Ubisoft also delivered the goods when it came to combat on foot and on the high seas. First, let’s talk about Edward’s expanded repertoire.

Edward’s melee capabilities have been expanded with perfect parries and heavy attacks. Now, when an enemy takes a parryable swing at Edward, a perfectly timed parry will open them up for a devastating finisher.

Players can also add heavy attacks to their swashbuckling swings to engage in melee beatdowns on enemies on their heels. These heavy hits are multi-enemy swings that apply to all melee weapons in the game.

Another fantastic “addition” is the rope dart, a mechanic that was part of the original, but many players felt was unlocked far too late in the game to be of any use. Correcting this mistake, Ubisoft has unlocked it for use within the first few hours of gameplay, as well as expanding on its combat capabilities.

Naval combat, as I said earlier, has also been heavily expanded. Each and every weapon on the Jackdaw now has an added secondary fire mode that drastically changes how the weapon performs. For instance, let's talk about the heated shot for the broadside cannons.

Rather than a single please-don’t-miss-shot, the heated-shot is a close-quarters monster. Enabling a rapid-fire “fire” shot that barrages the enemy with flaming cannonballs. The heated-shot is an up-close face melter when it comes to naval combat, and something I could never go back to the original without.

That’s just one of the added secondary weapons as well, with the upfront chain shots, swivel gun, mortars, and fire barrels all getting some fantastic additions to their arsenals. Open-water combat that was once perfection is now peak perfection.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Looks and runs amazingly

Very rarely do I get to see a remake that captures the magic of the original while surpassing it in every way. Generally, there’s always something that seems to throw me off, something that the new team felt was needed but doesn’t quite fit the world of the initial creation.

Having played through the entirety of the original Black Flag in 2013, I went into Resynced immediately astonished. The world I had once known has been captured and enhanced in ways my nostalgia-driven mind thinks the original always looked.

Iconic cities like Nassau have been overhauled with incredibly new, detailed textures and meshes, all while triggering memory circuits in my brain I thought had been long lost. My first time on shore activated something in my head that I assumed I had completely forgotten. The buildings all fit perfectly in their places as I had once remembered them.

Even trees contain the same pathways I once ran through, while paths leading from ships initiate the same but greatly updated animations of the originals. The entire Resynced experience is absolutely breathtaking in terms of how closely the world has been reimagined while remaining faithful to its predecessor.

With that, you’d think a massive performance hit would come as well, but as someone playing on PC through Ubisoft Connect, it didn’t!

I’m happy to report that I achieved well over 120 frames per second on my build with a little DLSS Quality and Nvidia Frame Generation set to 2x. I know, I know, “frame generation sucks!” I’m here to tell you that as a competitive player, frame generation is perfectly fine in this case, given the native performance I was getting was well beyond 60 fps.

My current build is an RTX 5080, 9800X3D, and 64GB of DDR5 RAM. I was running the game on the Very High preset for most of my gameplay. I bumped it to Ultra settings with ray-tracing and field-of-view maxed, and Resynced still managed to maintain an average of 110+ frames per second.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Should you buy it?

If you loved the original game, then yes, you definitely should. If you've never played it, but love that older-school Assassin's Creed formula, then yes, you should too!

For everyone else, it really comes down to what you're looking for in a game.

While Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is massive, players can adhere to most of the mainline story without too much side-tracking. So if these larger-than-life open-world games aren't your cup of tea, just know that Black Flag Resynced can be played as a sort of linear experience.

For collectathon people like myself, Resynced isn’t quite as bad as the latest Legend of Zelda entries, but you’ll definitely be busy running around each and every island, crossing off the to-do checklist you’re presented with. Especially if you want to grab every cosmetic as I do.

Then there’s an added layer of their new Animus Hub that was originally introduced with Assassin’s Creed Shadows. More points mean more unlocks, which all just feels like an expanded version of their original Ubisoft Uplay Store.

At the end of the day, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is everything I’ve ever loved about the series, now dressed to the Blackbeard nines and bursting with new features to keep gamers busy for days. Sure, I’ve been overwhelmed by the treasure trove of things to do, but not once have I played without a grin plastered across my face.

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Toys for Bob, the studio behind revivals of the classic Crash Bandicoot series with a long-awaited 4th installment and doing the same with Spyro the Dragon with "Spyro: A Realm Beyond", has recently expressed interest in reviving another classic platformer series, Banjo-Kazooie.

Toy for Bob confirmed its interest during an episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, in which the show's hosts approached them about Banjo-Kazooie. They replied: "It's a franchise we love. As platformer fans, Banjo's top of the heap."

"We have some huge, huge fans of that franchise on our staff – I'm talking, they've got the Jiggie as their profile pic, kind of a thing. They're that level of fan. If the opportunity ever arose, that would be amazing. We love the franchise."

They continued: "If you look at the through-line of the types of games we like to make, I can imagine that's part of that staple as well. I think of [those characters] as timeless. They're iconic, and I think the types of games we want to produce are ones that speak to a timeless place in the player as well, an ageless place – we call it the "inner child". So, I think they're wonderful games; we're huge fans."

While I never played Banjo-Kazooie growing up, I am fully aware of how much impact the original game had on 3D platformers, as it, along with Super Mario 64, helped set the standard for how the genre should be made for generations to come with their timeless cartoon charm and gameplay.

Unfortunately, despite popular demand, there hasn't been a new entry in the franchise since the controversial Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts from 2008, which traded the series' iconic platforming gameplay for open-world car racing and building.

Plus, the title characters themselves, Banjo & Kazooie, haven't made an appearance in a game since they were included in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2019. However, if there's any studio out there that can pull a miracle in bringing the lovable duo out from Microsoft's vault, I believe it's Toys for Bob.

Toys for Bob has done a fantastic job making platformers with their awesome remasters of the classic Crash Bandicoot and Spyro trilogies, as well as Crash Bandicoot 4, and the studio clearly loves the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, judging by how enthusiastic the developers were in the interview.

Plus, Toys for Bob fought tooth and nail to get the green light for a new Spyro game while winning back their independence at the same time, which shows they're willing to go to any length to make a new game for any franchise they cherish.

However, time will tell if Toys for Bob will be fortunate enough to be given the chance to take the reins of Banjo-Kazooie, but for now, I'll be looking forward to Spyro: A Realm Beyond because I can't wait to finally play a true sequel to the original classic Spyro trilogy I grew up playing on the PlayStation 1 during the 1990s.

How do you feel about the idea of Toys for Bob making a new Banjo-Kazooie game? Do you think they're fit for the job, or would you have another developer make a new game?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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