Gaming · Thursday, 29 October 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Xbox's revenue falls 2% and its console sales 14% in Microsoft's first quarter since Xbox's job-cutting reset, as its boss says buyers outnumber consoles

Microsoft's July to September figures show Xbox earning $5.379 billion, down 2%, with consoles down 14% as memory chips grow dear; Capcom posts a record half-year, Valve answers AI copycats, and Nintendo runs out of Zelda consoles.

less money for Xbox from July to September than a year before

it was a 10% fall in the three months before [2]

14%

less money from selling Xbox consoles

consoles cost more as memory chips get dearer [2]

$5.379bn

Xbox's revenue for the three months

Azure, Microsoft's cloud business, made about six times as much [2]

The lead story — what happened

On 28 October, Microsoft said Xbox's revenue fell 2% from July to September. [1] Xbox brought in $5.379 billion, against $5.508 billion a year before. [2] In the three months before that, Xbox's revenue had fallen 10%. [2] Microsoft's cloud business, Azure, made $33.1 billion, about six times as much as Xbox. [2]
Money from selling Xbox consoles fell 14% from a year before. [1] Xbox's own games sold more, while other companies' games and Game Pass brought in less. [1] Game Pass, Xbox's games subscription, got cheaper in April, and its money has not grown since. [3] The last subscriber count Microsoft gave, over two years ago, was 34 million. [4]
Xbox's boss, Asha Sharma, said there is "more demand than consoles available". [2] She said Xbox is getting more machines to players, including refurbished ones. [1] AI companies are buying up memory chips, so consoles cost more and are harder to find. [2] The same dear memory pushed Microsoft's money from Windows licences and its own computers down 22%. [5]
It was almost the first full quarter since Sharma announced Xbox's biggest ever restructure. [3] The plan cuts 3,200 Xbox jobs by July next year, and over 1,600 have already gone. [3] Costs in Xbox's part of Microsoft fell 3%; Kotaku reads that as savings from the cuts. [3] Microsoft says it spent part of that on computing power and staff for research. [1] Cost of sales fell 8%, partly as the charge for buying Activision, a games giant, shrank. [1]
Sharma said Minecraft and the test run of World of Warcraft: Forever both set records. [1] Microsoft's finance chief, Amy Hood, expects games money to grow from October to December. [1] Modern Warfare 4 came out on 23 October, after the quarter ended on 30 September. [6] GTA 6, the year's most awaited game, comes out on 19 November. [7]

Who is involved

Asha Sharma

head of Xbox; she announced its biggest restructure and says demand beats supply
Amy Hood

Microsoft's finance chief; she forecast growth in games money for October to December
Microsoft

the US software company that owns Xbox, Activision and Blizzard

How it unfolded

April Game Pass gets cheaper [3]
30 Sept the quarter ends [1]
23 Oct Modern Warfare 4 comes out [6]
28 Oct Microsoft reports Xbox down 2% [3]
19 Nov GTA 6 comes out [7]

Where this points

Microsoft still expects money from consoles to fall from October to December. [5] October to December will be the first quarter to count GTA 6 and Modern Warfare 4. [2] Sharma has promised to return Xbox to growth by the end of June 2027. [4]

Signals on this beat

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing, and the arrow is where it is heading.

Machines in short supply High↑

Xbox's boss says she has more buyers than consoles, as AI firms buy up memory chips. [2] Nintendo says it misjudged demand for its Zelda Switch 2 and is short everywhere. [8] Walmart cancelled orders for that console a day before they were due. [9]

AI tools making and copying games Building↑

Epic says its engineers no longer write most of the code for its game engine. [10] Valve told small studios to make their games harder to copy as AI copies spread. [11] An AI-made lookalike sits beside a new indie game in Nintendo's shop. [12]

Waiting for GTA 6 High↑

No other big game comes out within five days of GTA 6 on 19 November. [13] Newzoo, a games research firm, says publishers released many big games in September, before it. [14] A bank guesses GTA 6's online mode arrives in early 2027. [15]

Japan selling its stories abroad Building↑

TBS, a Japanese TV company, now has staff inside Legendary, a Hollywood studio, to adapt Japanese stories. [16] Toho says releasing Godzilla Minus One itself in the US brought it the profit. [17] A market for Japanese stories returns to Cannes on 14 and 15 May 2027. [18]

The rest of the day

40 more stories on this beat.

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

02
Capcom has its best half-year of sales

Capcom, the Japanese maker of Resident Evil, sold more games than in any first half before. [19] Its half-year ran from 1 April to 30 September, and downloads brought most money. [19] Pragmata, a new game, has sold 2.7 million copies, more than double its first two days. [19] Onimusha: Way of the Sword rose from 1 million at launch to 1.7 million. [19] Old games did the most selling, helped by regular sales and discounts. [19] Monster Hunter: World, from 2018, has now sold 30.83 million copies. [20]

Why it matters — Capcom gave no new figure for Monster Hunter Wilds, last counted at close to 11 million. [19] Wilds lost many of its players soon after launch, and comes to Switch 2 in December. [19]
03
Valve answers fears of AI copies

Valve, which runs the Steam game store, met small studios in South Korea on 27 October. [21] One studio said someone threatened to clone its game with AI unless it paid. [22] Valve's Tom Giardino called that a matter for the police. [23] "We don't want to be gatekeepers," Giardino said of the tools developers use. [22] Instead he told studios to build a following and keep adding to their games. [11] At Next Fest, Steam's demo week, players see random demos for the first 2 days. [24]

Why it matters — Small studios carry the cost, because Steam will not refuse games made with AI tools. [23]
04
Epic says AI now writes most of its code

Epic Games makes Fortnite and Unreal Engine, the toolkit many studios build games with. [25] Marcus Wassmer, its head of development, said engineers no longer write the bulk of code. [10] They guide AI tools such as Claude Code and Codex instead. [26] He said the tools fixed a kind of bug Epic had fought for a decade. [26] One job he expected to take 3 to 6 weeks was done in about 1 week. [26] "We are more concerned about the risks of moving too slowly," Wassmer said. [10]

Why it matters — Studios that build on Unreal will now use an engine partly written by AI. [25]
05
Nintendo runs short of Zelda consoles

Nintendo made a Zelda-themed Switch 2 for the series' 40th birthday. [8] The remake of Ocarina of Time, first out in 1998, comes on 5 November. [8] Each round of pre-orders for the console sold out within seconds. [8] Walmart, a big US shop, cancelled pre-orders a day before they were due to arrive. [9] Its site then showed the console for $700, nearly $200 more, possibly from an outside seller. [9] Nintendo's Bill van Zyll said the company "underestimated how well it would be received". [8]

Why it matters — He said more consoles are coming, but gave no dates or numbers. [8] Until then, resellers on eBay are charging $600 to $800. [8]
06
Other games stay clear of GTA 6

GTA 6 comes out on 19 November, and no other big game comes within 5 days. [13] Publishers are choosing dates on purpose to keep away from it, GameSpot reports. [13] Circana, a US sales tracker, says nearly 1 in 3 players there plan to buy it. [13] Its analyst Mat Piscatella called the fear of clashing with it "completely overblown". [13] The new Hunger Games film still opens the next day, 20 November. [13]

Why it matters — Newzoo said publishers released many big games in September, before GTA 6 arrives. [14] Newzoo says that crowded calendar makes it harder for any one game to stand out. [14]
07
GTA 6 footage appears in South Park

Wednesday's South Park episode showed new footage of GTA 6. [7] Eurogamer checked the footage was real, and Rockstar, which makes GTA, is thanked in the credits. [7] The clip shows Jason, a lead character, fighting a man on Vice Beach. [27] The episode used GTA 6's launch to joke about the US midterm elections. [27] South Park airs on Comedy Central, a US cable channel. [28] Rockstar already has a deal with Sony to market GTA 6 with the PlayStation 5. [7]

Why it matters — Eurogamer counts it as part of Rockstar's marketing, three weeks before launch. [7]
08
Rockstar describes the size of GTA 6

Edge, a games magazine, ran a long preview of GTA 6 with Rockstar's leaders. [29] Its map is almost as big as GTA 4, GTA 5 and Red Dead 2 combined. [29] Rockstar's Aaron Garbut said it has "an order of magnitude more interiors" than earlier games. [29] Its people in the street have about 600,000 animations between them. [30] A team in Los Angeles of writers, directors and producers worked on those people alone. [30]

Why it matters — It is the first new GTA game since 2013. [28] PC Gamer notes that GTA 5's emptier northern areas got a lukewarm welcome from players. [29]
09
A bank guesses GTA 6 Online's date

Bank of America told investors a new GTA Online could come in early 2027. [15] GTA Online, the online mode of GTA 5, still makes Rockstar a lot from paid extras. [15] Rockstar calls GTA 6 a single-player game and has named no date for an online mode. [15] The bank guesses January to March; GameSpot says a PC version could come then too. [15] Bing Gordon, a founder of EA, said 75 million copies sold would be "mind-blowing". [31] He also said GTA 6 succeeds if people play it instead of watching Thanksgiving football. [31]

Why it matters — Take-Two, which owns Rockstar, does not say what the game cost to make. [31]
10
Phantom Blade Zero opens to 431,541 players

Phantom Blade Zero, a sword-fighting game from S-Game in China, came out on 28 October. [32] At its peak, 431,541 people were playing it at once on Steam. [32] When Eurogamer wrote, only Counter-Strike 2 had more players on Steam. [32] Rhys Elliott, an Alinea analyst, estimates it sold 850,000 copies on PC and PS5. [32] He thinks Chinese sales on Tencent's WeGame store take it well above 1 million. [32] Black Myth: Wukong, another Chinese action game, peaked at 2,415,714 players in 2024. [32]

Why it matters — S-Game has not given its own sales figure yet. [32] Eurogamer calls it more success for games made in China, after Black Myth: Wukong. [32]
11
Mass Effect staff describe a removed flag

EA closed BioWare, the studio behind Mass Effect, last week and cancelled its next game. [33] Laid-off staff told BFM Tech, a French site, about the cancelled Mass Effect: Universe. [34] Staff said a flag like the Pride flag was cut from a demo for EA bosses. [34] EA's new owners include Saudi Arabia's state fund, the Public Investment Fund. [34] The reporter said staff feared negative feedback from conservative executives. [34] BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk called EA's sale to private owners "the final nail in the coffin". [33]

Why it matters — He said yearly sports games are an easier business than BioWare's long, complicated games. [33] EA has not answered Kotaku's questions about the flag. [34]
12
Skydance offers buyouts and orders staff back

Skydance, the company formed by Paramount buying Warner Bros. Discovery, now owns their game studios. [35] Those include NetherRealm, which makes Mortal Kombat, and Portkey Games, behind Hogwarts Legacy. [35] On Monday its bosses, David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz, offered some staff money to leave. [36] They called it a one-time offer, ahead of layoffs they say are coming. [36] Skydance aims to save more than $6 billion a year within three years. [36] Staff must also work in the office 5 days a week. [35]

Why it matters — It is unclear whether game studio staff are offered the buyout. [35]
13
Sanrio drops a TV tie-up after China outcry

Sanrio, the Japanese maker of Hello Kitty, ended a merchandise deal with the TV drama Vivant. [37] Vivant is a spy thriller made by TBS, the Japanese broadcaster. [37] Hello Kitty, My Melody and Cinnamoroll had been sold dressed as characters from the show. [38] China's state media called the show's Chinese agents, who torture a Japanese spy, a deliberate smear. [37] Sanrio apologised and said it will check future tie-ups more carefully. [38]

Why it matters — Chinese media say Sanrio made $117 million in China in the first half, up over 40%. [37] Relations between China and Japan are at their lowest in years, the BBC reports. [38]
14
Japanese TV firms work through foreign partners

TBS, a Japanese broadcaster, bought a $150 million stake in Legendary, a Hollywood studio, in January. [16] Legendary makes Godzilla films and is adapting Street Fighter and Gundam too. [16] From this month, TBS staff are working from desks in Legendary's Los Angeles offices. [16] TBS has also set up Studio Monowa with Korea's CJ ENM and the streamer U-Next. [39] Nippon TV let CJ ENM lead its first joint drama, Merry Berry Love, on Disney+. [40] Disney+ says it is this year's most watched Japanese live-action premiere worldwide. [40]

Why it matters — Korean firms have years of experience selling dramas abroad, CJ ENM's Japan boss said. [40]
15
Toho explains its Godzilla success in the US

Toho, a Japanese film company, released Godzilla Minus One in the US itself in 2023. [17] Before that, Toho had repeatedly failed to sell its films outside Japan, its boss said. [17] The film opened with $11.4 million and earned $57.1 million in North America. [41] Boss Matsuoka Hiro said the move "brought the profit to us". [17] "It wasn't a strategy; we just tried," he said in Tokyo. [17]

Why it matters — The next film, Godzilla Minus Zero, reaches North America on 6 November. [17] GKIDS, a Toho label, will release it there, so Toho is its own distributor again. [17]
16
A Japanese stories market returns to Cannes

The Japan IP Market will run again at Cannes, France, on 14 and 15 May 2027. [18] It connects Japanese rights holders with producers and partners from other countries. [42] Cannes's film market and Tokyo's TIFFCOM market run it together. [18] The first one, in May 2026, included Kadokawa, Shochiku and Toei. [18] The return was announced at TIFFCOM in Tokyo this week. [42]

Why it matters — Cannes's market boss said it gives Japanese stories lasting access to foreign partners. [42]
17
Good Smile says 2,800 card numbers exposed

Good Smile Company, a Japanese maker of anime figures, runs its own online shop. [43] It first said on 23 October that an outsider had got into its shop's data. [44] A hidden program sat on its card payment page from 21 to 23 October. [43] Full card details of 2,800 customers who paid in that time may have been taken. [43] For 402,466 saved cards, the last four digits and expiry date may be exposed. [43]

Why it matters — The company emailed the 2,800 and told Japan's privacy regulator. [43] For saved cards, names and security codes were not taken, the company says. [43]
18
Xbox games miss review scores

Modern Warfare 4 scored 89 on Switch 2 and 88 on PS5 at Metacritic. [45] Metacritic, which averages reviews, gave PC 87, but had too few Xbox reviews for a score. [45] That is despite Microsoft owning Call of Duty. [45] Xbox's technology chief, Scott Van Vliet, said reviewing on Xbox "takes too many steps today". [45] Reviewers sometimes must send a machine's ID and wait for it to be approved first. [45]

Why it matters — He said the first fixes are coming soon. [45] Kotaku says PC review copies usually arrive first, so many reviewers simply play there. [45]
19
Xbox plans a Call of Duty film

Xbox has a new division, XP, to turn its games into films and TV. [6] Its president is Kayleen Walters. [6] Peter Berg and Taylor Sheridan's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare film is due in 2028. [6] Activision and Paramount Pictures are making it together. [6] Modern Warfare 4 took 4 years to make, said Infinity Ward's Jack O'Hara. [6]

Why it matters — Films are one way Xbox looks for new money while its consoles sell less. [6]
20
Wardogs tops September PC sales

Wardogs, a shooter from the UK studio Bulkhead, made the most money on PC in September. [14] Newzoo counted sales in the US, UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. [14] Wardogs beat EA Sports FC 27 within three weeks, while still unfinished and in early access. [14] Remedy's Control Resonant sold over 1 million in its first month. [14] It is the first game Remedy has sold itself, without a publisher. [14]

Why it matters — Newzoo's Mert Sahin said hits like Wardogs show games need not cost full price to compete. [14]
21
Gamescom Asia grows in Bangkok

Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show, a games fair, is on in Bangkok this week. [46] Visitors are coming from 29 countries, with 20 national stands. [46] Last year's show drew 206,000 people, and this one hopes for more. [46] It moved from Singapore to Bangkok in 2024 and joined Thailand's own show. [46] A tie-up with Ace Bangkok, an anime fair, added half of this year's new floor space. [46]

Why it matters — For small studios in places like the Philippines and Indonesia, Germany's show costs a lot. [46] A fair nearby lets them meet publishers and investors without that trip. [46]
22
WoW: Forever plans updates three times a year

World of Warcraft: Forever, Blizzard's new take on its old online world, launches on 4 November. [47] Microsoft's boss Satya Nadella called its test run the biggest in the series' history. [47] An unofficial tracker counted over 1 million characters made during the test. [47] Blizzard plans new content about every 17 weeks, or three times a year. [48] In an earlier mode, updates every 8 weeks felt far too fast to the team. [48]

Why it matters — Big updates will come with new raids, giving players months to work through each. [48]
23
Witchbrook gets its first real date

Witchbrook, a magic school game from Chucklefish, now comes out on 28 January 2027. [49] It was first meant for 2025, then for 2026. [49] This is the first time it has had an actual day, not just a year. [49] Chucklefish published Stardew Valley and first showed Witchbrook images in 2017. [50] Kotaku says the studio's no-crunch rule, meaning no forced overtime, is why it took 10 years. [50]

Why it matters — It will cost $25 on Steam, the PC game store. [49]
24
An AI-made copy sits in Nintendo's shop

Haunted Paws, a dog game by Lazy Flock, was shown at Nintendo's Indie World on Wednesday. [12] Searching Nintendo's shop for it turned up Ghostly Whiskers, a similar game about cats. [12] Ghostly Whiskers came out in September, while Haunted Paws is due next May. [12] Lazy Flock called it "an unauthorized copy" using AI-generated art, back in January. [12] Its publisher is Nostra Games. [12]

Why it matters — The copy came out first, so it now appears when players search for the real game. [12]
25
Alien: Isolation 2 will come on disc

Creative Assembly, the UK studio making Alien: Isolation 2, promised a full boxed edition. [51] Its makers said staying true to the analogue feel of the Alien films matters to them. [51] Sony plans to stop making new PlayStation discs in 2028. [51] The game has no release date yet. [51]

Why it matters — If it comes after February 2028, PlayStation buyers may get no disc at all. [51]
26
Smalland II slips to 2027

Maximum Entertainment has delayed Smalland II: Lost Realms from 2026 to 2027. [52] It is an open-world game about surviving and crafting. [52] It is coming to PS5, Xbox, Switch 2 and PC through Steam. [52] A new two-minute trailer shows climbing, swimming and crafting. [52]

Why it matters — It had only ever been given a year, 2026, never an actual day. [52]
27
Palworld still hopes for Switch 2

Nintendo is suing Pocketpair, maker of Palworld, a game with Pokemon-like creatures. [53] The case is about patents, which protect inventions such as ways a game works. [53] Pocketpair's boss, Takuru Mizobe, still says he would love Palworld on Switch 2. [53] A Tokyo court is due to give a first view on the case on 9 November. [53]

Why it matters — Until the case ends, a Switch 2 version is unlikely, Eurogamer says. [53]
28
Undead Labs rewrote State of Decay 3

Undead Labs, a studio Xbox has let go, first showed State of Decay 3 in 2020. [54] For years a small team tried to turn the zombie game into a huge online world. [54] Late in 2022 the studio went back to a smaller game like the first two. [54] "We basically rewrote the entire State of Decay game," its boss Philip Holt said. [54] A new publisher is paying for its last months of work. [54]

Why it matters — The studio still had to lay off a significant number of staff. [54]
29
Arc Raiders weighs a calmer mode

Arc Raiders, a shooter by Embark, tested a mode with no fights against other players. [55] Players played over 30 million sessions of it during the test. [56] The game began as a team game against computer enemies before changing course. [55] Producer Aleksander Grondal said Embark has not decided whether to keep the mode. [55] Its latest update drew its most players in 6 months. [55]

Why it matters — Each choice changes how future updates are built, Grondal said. [55]
30
GOG starts publishing games

GOG, a PC game shop that sells games without copy locks, will now publish games too. [57] It split from CD Projekt in January and went back to co-founder Michal Kicinski. [57] The new arm, Retrovibe by GOG, joins GOG with Retrovibe, a publisher Kicinski co-founded. [57] A publisher pays for a game, markets it and gets it onto consoles. [57] It already has games on the way. [57]

Why it matters — GOG says the aim is to help independent studios reach players on PC and consoles. [57]
31
ESRB gets a new president

The ESRB, the body that gives US games their age ratings, has a new president. [58] Orit Michiel takes over on 2 November from Patricia Vance, its head for over 20 years. [58] Michiel spent 8 years at Netflix building its worldwide age rating system. [58] Before that she spent 13 years at the Motion Picture Association, which rates US films. [58]

Why it matters — The ESRB is run by the games industry itself, not by a government. [58]
32
ABC tells One Nation to stop using Bluey

ABC, Australia's public broadcaster, airs Bluey, a hit children's cartoon. [59] One Nation, a far-right party, used Bluey in its own cartoons without permission. [59] A 2024 episode showed Bluey and a former state premier running each other over. [59] That drew fresh criticism after an MP was badly hurt in an alleged car attack. [59] The attack was on 19 October, and no link to the cartoon has been shown. [59] ABC's boss, Hugh Marks, called it a "shocking use" of the character. [59]

Why it matters — ABC is weighing legal action, and party leader Pauline Hanson denies breaking any rights. [59]
33
Prada pays for hand-drawn cartoons

Prada, the Italian fashion house, made its holiday adverts with hand-drawn animation. [60] They are directed by John Pomeroy, who began at Disney in 1973. [60] He also co-founded Don Bluth Productions, another studio known for drawn films. [60] He called in other old-school animators who learned on pencil and paper. [60] The adverts star the actors Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke. [61]

Why it matters — Cartoon Brew says the big film studios no longer offer audiences much hand-drawn animation. [60]
34
Mashle gets a third season

Crunchyroll, Sony's anime streaming service, will show a third season of Mashle: Magic and Muscles. [62] It starts in January 2027. [63] Crunchyroll will stream it worldwide except Japan and China. [62] In India it will be on Crunchyroll alone; in Southeast Asia, others may show it too. [63] A-1 Pictures, the studio that made the first two seasons, makes this one too. [63]

Why it matters — Each earlier season ran for 12 episodes. [62]
35
Bandai Namco announces a free Gundam game

Bandai Namco announced Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 3 for PS5 and PC. [64] It was revealed at a livestream for 40 years of Gundam games. [64] It will be free to play, a team battle game with giant robots. [64] Players on both machines will be able to play together. [64] Battle Operation 2 first came out on PS4 in Japan in July 2018. [64]

Why it matters — Battle Operation 2 later reached PS5 in 2021 and PC in 2023. [64]
36
Collectors push Whatnot sales up

Whatnot, an app where sellers sell live on video, expects its sales to double. [65] Last year it sold $8 billion of goods worldwide. [65] Sales of toys and hobby goods on it are up 140% this year. [65] Pokemon's 30th birthday brought it hundreds of thousands of new buyers. [65] On average, 4 Pokemon cards sell on it every second. [65]

Why it matters — Meanwhile eBay, an older online market, is cutting 1,000 jobs, ICv2 reports. [65]
37
Donkey Kong poster sells for $329,400

A 1981 Donkey Kong poster, with Mario's first public appearance, sold for $329,400. [66] It is the most paid for game artwork at auction. [66] The old record was $63,000, for the cover art of Prince of Persia in 2023. [66] Leslie Cabarga drew it as an arcade flyer for Nintendo of America. [66] Donna Darbous, a Nintendo worker, saved it from a pile marked to be thrown away. [66]

Why it matters — Landry Pop Auctions sold it, along with other early Nintendo art. [66]
38
PlayStation Plus adds Dead Island 2

Sony adds Dead Island 2 and 3 Tomb Raider remasters to PlayStation Plus on 3 November. [67] PlayStation Plus is Sony's subscription that comes with a rotating set of games. [67] The deck-building game Monster Train 2 joins too. [67] The Tomb Raider games are the fourth, fifth and sixth in the old series. [67]

Why it matters — They arrive at the start of what Eurogamer calls the year's biggest month for new games. [67]
39
Sony brings back see-through controllers

Sony will sell see-through PS5 controllers and console covers, in 3 colours. [68] A controller costs $84.99 and a console cover $74.99. [68] Pre-orders open on 10 November, but they ship only on 4 February 2027. [68] Sony says it is bringing back a see-through look from the late 1990s. [68]

Why it matters — Microsoft announced a 25th birthday Xbox in the original Xbox's style earlier this year. [68]
40
No Man's Sky reaches iPhones

No Man's Sky, Hello Games' space exploring game, is now on iPhone and iPad. [69] It turned 10 this year with a big anniversary update. [69] A Halloween update called Forsaken came out for every player the same day. [69] It adds spooky trading jobs and new ship parts. [69]

Why it matters — iPhone and iPad add 2 more devices to the long list it runs on. [69]
41
A cartoon competes in Tokyo for the first time

The Tokyo International Film Festival runs until 4 November. [70] Magic Atlas, by Sun Xun, is the first animated film in its main competition. [70] Sun Xun made the film by hand over a decade. [70] Its market, TIFFCOM, is discussing anime's growth abroad. [70]

Why it matters — A place in the main competition puts a cartoon beside the year's top live-action films. [70]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why a game is given a season first and a day only near the end

A named day is a promise that shops, buyers and advertisers plan around, so a studio waits to name one until it can keep it.

The twist

A year can slip quietly. A named day that slips breaks orders other people have already placed.

The picture

2025First window

2026Second window

28 Jan 2027First real day

Witchbrook moved its year twice. It got an actual day only when the end was close.

How it works

A studio first names only a year or a season
Shops cannot take firm orders on a season
A named day lets shops take orders and plan adverts
A missed day breaks those orders and costs trust
So studios name the day only once the game is nearly done

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Witchbrook gets its first real date

It missed 2025 and then 2026, and was given an actual day, 28 January 2027, only now.
Smalland II slips to 2027

Its maker had named only a year, so moving it to 2027 broke no pre-orders.
Alien: Isolation 2 will come on disc

Its makers promised a disc but no day, even with Sony's 2028 disc cut-off ahead.
A bank guesses GTA 6 Online's date

Rockstar has named no day for the online mode, so a bank is left guessing early 2027.

Where you've seen this

Films

a studio says 'next summer' first and books a Friday once the film is finished

New phones

a maker says 'this autumn' and gives the shop date only at the launch event

House building

a builder sells homes 'from spring' before promising anyone a moving day

The catch

Waiting has a cost too. A game with no day gives buyers nothing to pre-order, and other games fill the gap.

And the whole of it

Shop staff, players saving up and the people still making the game all plan their months around that one day. Each of them sees the date, and none of them sees how many other plans rest on it.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Xbox has cut over 1,600 jobs since its reset, and its first figures since show it still earning 2% less, with console money down 14%. [3][1] Its boss blames a shortage of consoles, which AI firms buying up memory chips has made dearer and scarcer. [2]

Why it works on us — "More demand than consoles available" turns a fall in sales into a sign of popularity, and nobody outside Microsoft can check the demand side.

Who gains

AI companies buying memory chips — They outbid console and PC makers for chips, and Xbox now has fewer consoles to sell. [2]
Microsoft's research spending — Savings from the Xbox cuts went partly into computing power and staff for research. [1]
Resellers of the Zelda Switch 2 — Nintendo made too few, so resellers charge $600 to $800 on eBay. [8]
Capcom — Old games sold on discount drove its best first half of sales ever. [19]
Sellers of AI-made copies — A copy launched first shows up when players search for the real game. [12]

Who pays

Xbox staff — Over 1,600 jobs have gone, with 3,200 planned by next July. [3]
Buyers whose Walmart pre-orders were cancelled — They lost the console a day before delivery, as the listed price rose to $700. [9]
Small studios on Steam — Valve leaves it to them to guard their games against AI copies. [11]
Good Smile's customers — Up to 2,800 people's full card details may have been taken from its shop. [43]
Skydance's staff — They face a one-time offer to leave, layoffs after it, and five office days a week. [36]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How many Xbox consoles Microsoft could have sold.

Sharma says demand beats supply, but Microsoft has given no console sales figure for years. [2]
02

How many people pay for Game Pass now.

The last count, 34 million, is over two years old. [4]
03

How many copies Modern Warfare 4 and Phantom Blade Zero have sold.

Activision has not given a figure, and Phantom Blade Zero's numbers are an analyst's estimate, not S-Game's. [2][32]
04

How many Monster Hunter Wilds copies Capcom sold this half.

Capcom left it out of its report, after near 11 million last year. [19]
05

When more Zelda Switch 2 consoles reach shops.

Nintendo says more are coming but gave no dates or numbers. [8]
06

Whether Valve will act on AI copies at all.

Its staff spoke at a conference, through a translated report, and Steam's rules have not changed. [23]
07

Whether Skydance's game studio staff can take its buyout.

The memo did not say which teams are eligible. [35]
08

Why the Mass Effect: Universe team removed the flag.

The account comes from anonymous former staff, and EA has not replied. [34]
09

How Nintendo's case against Palworld will go.

A Tokyo court gives only a first view on 9 November. [53]

04 Hope carry this

A 1981 Donkey Kong poster, saved from a pile marked for the bin by a Nintendo worker, sold for $329,400, a record for game art.

Also true today

Phantom Blade Zero, made by S-Game in China, had 431,541 people playing it at once on Steam on its first day.
Witchbrook, made by a studio with a rule against forced overtime, now has its release day after ten years: 28 January 2027.
Prada hired animators who learned on pencil and paper, including a Disney veteran who started in 1973, to draw its holiday adverts by hand.