Microsoft projects its next Xbox, Project Helix, at $1,200 to $1,800 for 2028 and plans three more rounds of Xbox layoffs, Fortune reports

The rest of the day

29 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   Black Ops developer asks for a share

   Gavin Goslin spent 15 years making Call of Duty levels at Treyarch, the studio behind Black Ops. [14] He says makers should be paid when old games sell again. [13] Activision, the Call of Duty publisher Microsoft owns, put Black Ops (2010) and Black Ops 2 (2012) on PS4 and PS5 in July, at $40 each, with no new features. [16] Alinea Analytics, a research firm, estimates 11.2 million copies and about $435 million in July alone. [13] Goslin says the makers "don't see a dime". [15]

   2010-12Black Ops made

   ↓→

   July 2026PlayStation ports

   ↓→

   $435mEarned in July

   Why it matters — Kotaku notes that payments for later sales, common for film actors, barely exist in games. [16] Activision's marketing chief says the ports did far better than expected, so more re-releases are likely. [13]

2. 03

   Life is Strange studio asks for court protection

   Don't Nod, the French studio behind the first two Life is Strange games and Jusant, has opened "safeguard proceedings". [12] It is a French court process, a bit like America's Chapter 11, that stops lenders from collecting for 6 to 18 months while a debt plan is agreed. [12] A month ago Don't Nod said it might run out of cash by January 2027. [12] Its newest game, Aphelion, also sold below its hopes. [12]

   Why it matters — Up to 85 people could lose their jobs as the studio shrinks to one team in France. [12] Its chief executive blamed "highly selective access to financing" for game studios. [12]

3. 04

   Magic cards earn $600 million in a quarter

   Hasbro, the US toy company, said Magic: The Gathering earned more than $600 million in three months for the first time, up 34%. [22][23] Magic is a card game where players build decks and battle, made by Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast. [24] Sets based on The Hobbit and Reality Fracture led the growth. [22] The Wizards and digital games part of Hasbro grew 31%, and toys only 4%. [23] Hasbro raised its forecast for the year. [22]

   Magic34%

   Wizards and digital games31%

   Toys4%

   Why it matters — Wizards earned $367 million in operating profit, and Kotaku counts that as about two-thirds of all Hasbro's operating profit for the quarter. [24][23] Fans complain that so many new sets make their old cards worth less. [24]

4. 05

   GTA 6 pre-orders far ahead of rivals

   Grand Theft Auto 6, Rockstar's next crime game, has been pre-ordered about 6.08 million times as digital copies in the US, Sensor Tower, a research firm, estimates. [17] That is 148% ahead of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at the same point before its 2022 launch. [17] Most buyers chose the $100 edition, and 74% bought on PlayStation. [17] Sensor Tower's live count passed 6.45 million copies. [18]

   Why it matters — Shops' boxed copies are not counted, so the real total is higher. [17] Sensor Tower expects most pre-orders in the last week, possibly 25 million before the 19 November launch. [18]

5. 06

   GTA's made-up beers get real labels

   US regulators have approved labels for three beers named after brands in Grand Theft Auto games, IGN reports. [19] They include Pisswasser and Patriot Beer, joke brands from earlier GTA games, and a new one, No Mames Vice City. [19] A Florida brewery, Tripping Animals, will make them. [19] Rockstar has also covered Miami, the model for GTA 6's Vice City, in ads, and fans have filmed camera crews shooting cars from the game. [20]

   Why it matters — Nobody has said when or where the beer will be sold. [19] Rockstar has turned a real city into an advert for a fictional one a month before launch. [20]

6. 07

   GTA 5 and Red Dead 2 leave PS Plus

   Sony will remove 11 games from the PlayStation Plus catalogue over the next few weeks, including Grand Theft Auto 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2. [21] PS Plus is Sony's subscription, where members play a rotating library of games. [21] Both Rockstar games have left and come back before: GTA 5 returned in November 2025 and Red Dead 2 in May. [21]

   Why it matters — GameSpot reads the timing as Rockstar and its owner Take-Two clearing the way for GTA 6 on 19 November. [21] Neither company has said so. [21]

7. 08

   Netflix's games still reach few viewers

   Only 3.5% of Netflix subscribers play its games each month, an internal memo seen by The Wall Street Journal says. [25] That is short of Netflix's target for 2026. [25] Netflix now focuses on phone and party games, some of them tied to its shows. [25] On Tuesday it gave a weaker forecast than expected. [26] One analyst said Netflix, which has spent on games, podcasts and live events, had "too many unwanted distractions". [26]

   Why it matters — Netflix's letter to investors named the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer it showed as an example of what it now carries. [27] Co-chief Ted Sarandos has said Netflix will not drop games soon. [25]

8. 09

   Sony and Take-Two bosses defend human ideas

   Hiroki Totoki, head of Sony, and Strauss Zelnick, head of Take-Two, which owns Rockstar, spoke at the Paley summit in New York on Tuesday. [28] Totoki said "creativity is for humans, not AI" and that Sony tries to protect rights holders and artists. [28] Zelnick said AI learns from what already exists, while a hit is unexpected. [29] One of his division heads tells staff people who use AI will replace those who do not. [28]

   Why it matters — Both firms still tell their staff to use AI tools. [28] The comments come in a week when an Xbox manager quit X after praising AI and Steam players asked to filter AI-made games. [28]

9. 10

   New company to turn games into films

   Griffin Gaming Partners, an investor in game studios, and Entertainment 360, a Hollywood talent firm, have set up HITpoint Entertainment. [30][31] It will spot games early and pair them with film and TV makers. [31] Griffin's Peter Levin backed Amazon's Fallout series, and Entertainment 360's clients are working on the Zelda film. [30] Independent games will come through Griffin's $100 million fund for small studios. [30]

   Why it matters — HITpoint says it will keep game makers involved from start to finish, "aligning incentives". [30] Hollywood has long bought books early in the same way, and games are now treated as story material too. [31]

10. 11

    Mattel builds its own games studio

    Mattel, the maker of Barbie, Uno and Hot Wheels, has nearly 300 staff in its new Mattel Game Studios, in Los Angeles and Hangzhou, China. [32] Marcus Liassides, who runs it, told GamesIndustry.biz it will both make games itself and license its brands to others. [32] It is publishing Uno Wild itself and making games for Roblox, the platform where young players build and share games. [32]

    Why it matters — Liassides says making games in-house lets Mattel own more of its relationship with players. [32] Hasbro, its rival, now earns most of its profit from games rather than toys. [24]

11. 12

    Among Us maker warns of bad deals

    Forest Willard, co-founder of Innersloth, which made Among Us, runs Outersloth, a fund that pays for other small studios' games. [33] He told Game Developer, a trade news site, he has seen "truly abysmal deals" offered to independent studios by publishers. [33] Some deals leave a studio little chance of earning anything after launch, he said. [33] He has thought about offering to sign such studios himself instead. [33]

    Why it matters — Willard says one fund can never be enough to rescue them all. [33] Tim Bender, who runs the publisher Hooded Horse, has said a fair deal puts the risk on whichever side can best carry it. [33]

12. 13

    Helldivers 2 swaps its cheat blocker

    Arrowhead, the Swedish studio behind the shooter Helldivers 2, moved the game to Easy Anti-Cheat on 20 October. [36] It said the old tool, GameGuard, "wasn't as effective as it could have been". [35] Easy Anti-Cheat is used in over 200 games. [35] Some harmless mods that change how the game looks will stop working until their makers update them. [37]

    Why it matters — Players posted 846 negative Steam reviews on the first day, against 146 positive ones. [36] Helldivers 2 is still not on sale on Steam in the UK. [35]

13. 14

    AMD's sharper picture reaches old Xbox consoles

    AMD, which designs the chips in Xbox and PlayStation consoles, is bringing FSR 4.1 to Xbox Series X and S. [42] FSR 4.1 draws a game at a lower resolution and uses AI to sharpen it, so it runs faster. [43] It works today on Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards and comes to Xbox "soon". [42] Each game must still be updated to use it. [44]

    Why it matters — Sony gave the base PS5 a similar upgrade a few weeks ago. [42] Xbox says AMD's next version will power Helix. [42]

14. 15

    Nearly $1 million of cards stolen

    Thieves broke into a FedEx truck outside the Santa Ana, California, offices of PSA on 13 October. [46] PSA checks and grades collectors' trading cards, including Pokemon cards. [45][46] Police say two pallets of packages were worth about $963,000, and a third is still being counted. [46] PSA has switched off the ID numbers of the stolen cards so they are hard to resell. [45]

    Why it matters — Owners will be paid only up to the insured value they picked before grading. [45] One collector paid $8,468 to grade 104 cards and insured them for $156,000. [45]

15. 16

    Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new update at six

    CD Projekt Red, the Polish studio, is releasing update 2.5 for Cyberpunk 2077 on 22 October, timed to a new season of the Netflix cartoon Edgerunners. [48][47][49] A leaked list says it adds two side quests, a dual-wielding skill and mods on consoles. [50] The game launched full of bugs in 2020, and it has since sold over 40 million copies. [48][50]

    Why it matters — The first Edgerunners series in 2022 is credited with bringing players back to the game. [48] Most of the studio is now making The Witcher 4, due in 2028. [50]

16. 17

    Shrek 2 game returns on 10 November

    Aspyr, a company that brings old games to new machines, will release Shrek 2 Remastered on 10 November. [51] The 2004 game, based on the film, was published by Activision. [51] The new version adds 4K graphics and online play for up to four people. [51] Its trailer mocks Grand Theft Auto 6, which comes out nine days later. [52]

    Why it matters — Most publishers moved their games away from GTA 6's launch, but Shrek 2 kept its date. [52] A new Shrek film is due in 2027, and reviews of the original were lukewarm. [51][53]

17. 18

    Viral horror games come to Xbox

    Critical Reflex, a publisher of strange small games, is bringing three hits to Xbox for the first time. [55] Arctic Eggs, a cooking game, came out on 20 October. [55] Mouthwashing, a horror game set on a broken spaceship, joins Game Pass on 29 October. [55] The news came at an ID@Xbox show for independent games, which also dated a director's cut of ZA/UM's spy role-playing game Zero Parades for 3 November. [54]

    Why it matters — All three went viral in the last three years, and Mouthwashing first came out in September 2024. [55] Two of the three will be in Game Pass, Xbox's subscription. [55]

18. 19

    Final Fantasy 7 Remake joins Game Pass

    Square Enix's Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, a 2020 remake of the 1997 role-playing game, joins Xbox Game Pass on 29 October. [56] It comes with seven other games arriving between 21 October and 3 November. [57] Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted and The Seance of Blake Manor are among them. [56]

    Why it matters — They arrive as Microsoft plans to split Game Pass into add-ons. [9] Kotaku expects the new Game Pass before Fable, Xbox's next big game, in February 2027. [10]

19. 20

    Xbox emails owners to trade in consoles

    Xbox owners say Microsoft emailed them suggesting they trade in their consoles at Best Buy, the US electronics chain. [58] The email asked those who had moved to playing Xbox games on PC to sell their machines. [58] Best Buy offers up to $375 for a Series X and up to $200 for a Series S. [58] The email came from an official Xbox address. [58]

    Why it matters — Kotaku says Microsoft may get a cut of the trade-ins, though nobody has confirmed it. [58] It lands as Microsoft plans a dearer console for 2028. [1]

20. 21

    Game Pass and faster upscaling reach Linux

    Xodus Nexus, an unofficial free project, lets people run some PC Game Pass games on Linux and on Valve's SteamOS. [59] It is not made by Microsoft or Valve, and it is still a test. [59] Separately, Intel has asked to add its fast XeSS upscaler to Proton, the layer that runs Windows games on Linux. [60]

    Why it matters — PC Gamer says Windows 11 is unpopular with many players, and switches to Linux are in the news almost daily. [59] Intel's move could help handheld PCs with Intel chips run SteamOS well. [60]

21. 22

    Wii Sports comes to Switch 2

    Nintendo releases Nintendo Switch Sports Resort for the Switch 2 on 22 October. [61] It has 12 games played by swinging the controller, from tennis and bowling to thumb wrestling. [62] Wii Sports, the series' first game, is the best-selling game Nintendo has ever made. [61] The Verge calls it the best one so far, and Eurogamer the most refined. [61][62]

    Why it matters — Nintendo has made one of these games for each new console since the Wii. [61] It arrives between two bigger Switch 2 releases, Fire Emblem and an Ocarina of Time remake. [61]

22. 23

    Final Fantasy remake of a closed phone game

    Square Enix, the Japanese publisher of Final Fantasy, has made Final Fantasy Resonance. It rebuilds Brave Exvius, a phone game that has shut down, as a full game. [64] It strips out the paid random draws the phone game was built on. [64] Reviewers at Eurogamer and Kotaku found its story and characters shallow. [63][64] Kotaku liked its Visions, characters from older Final Fantasy games who join the party. [64]

    Why it matters — Kotaku thinks it will please older fans more than draw in new ones. [64] Eurogamer notes that Octopath 0 also turned a closed phone game into a full release. [63]

23. 24

    Counter-Strike pro faces tax charge

    Aleksi Virolainen, a Finnish Counter-Strike 2 player known as Aleksib, was charged in a court near Helsinki on 16 October. [38] Prosecutors say he did not declare 53,000 euros he earned in 2020 from Valve, which makes the game. [38] Pro teams get a cut of sales of in-game stickers that players put on their guns. [38] Prosecutors want a four-month suspended sentence. [38]

    Why it matters — He says he was 22 and thought his taxes were handled, and he pleaded not guilty. [38] The court will rule later. [38]

24. 25

    Fight Night boxing series returns

    Electronic Arts announced that Fight Night, its boxing game series, is "coming back". [39] The last games were made years ago by EA Canada, and EA Chicago, which made two others, has closed. [39] EA has given no studio, no date and no machines. [39] EA's UFC fighting series has carried on in the meantime. [39]

    Why it matters — IGN's writer expects a new game rather than a remake, because the real boxers in the old ones would need new licences. [39] He calls Fight Night Round 3 the first game that showed what HD consoles could do. [39]

25. 26

    Cygames starts a small-games label

    Cygames, the Japanese maker of Umamusume: Pretty Derby, has started CygamesEdge to make small original games. [40] Its first, Where the Seeds Fall, is a three-hour game due next month. [40] Its director wants two or three a year, each made in under three years. [40] He says players in their 30s and 40s have less time for long games. [40]

    Why it matters — He notes that more than half of what Steam sells is older games. [40] Cygames is young and has few old games, and CygamesEdge is meant to build some up. [40]

26. 27

    Sakurai ends his originality award

    Masahiro Sakurai, who created Kirby and Super Smash Bros., gave his Game Designers Award at Tokyo Game Show for the last time this year. [41] The prize had honoured new ideas for 16 years, whatever a game sold. [41] He said "originality doesn't actually have a strong impact on sales". [41] He also expects AI to fill stores with copies of old games. [41]

    Why it matters — Sakurai says Steam sold about 275 new games a year in 2010, against over 19,000 now. [41] He warns that an industry without new ideas "will only die slowly". [41]

27. 28

    GDC shortens to four days

    GDC, the biggest yearly conference for game makers, will run for four days, 1 to 4 March 2027, in San Francisco's Moscone halls. [34] Organisers said they studied when people actually attend. [34] Separately, the Game Developers Choice Awards will accept entries from publishers and developers for the first time. [34] Games released in 2026 can enter until 1 November. [34]

    Why it matters — Organisers say four days make it easier for visitors to fit GDC around work and home. [34] Until now, a game could reach the awards only through nominations from a voting network. [34]

28. 29

    Subnautica 2 plans its biggest update

    Unknown Worlds, the studio behind the underwater survival game Subnautica 2, says its next update is the biggest since the game opened in early access. [65] Early access is when players can buy a game before it is finished. [65] Creative director Anthony Gallegos calls it "early access 2.0", with a new region and more story. [65]

    Why it matters — It adds new creatures and a new body for the Tadpole, the player's small submarine. [65] No date was given. [65]

29. 30

    Abiotic Factor adds mods and paid add-on

    Deep Field Games, maker of the science survival game Abiotic Factor, set out its plans to 2027. [66] Players will get a free mod launcher and tools to make their own items, enemies and pets. [66] A smaller free winter update comes first. [66] A paid add-on, Entropic Break, moves the game to a tropical research site. [66]

    Why it matters — The plan runs into 2027, after the game left early access in July 2025. [66] Free updates keep the game alive, and the paid add-on is how the studio earns from it. [66]