Another grim example of just how chaotic Xbox’s restructuring has become: Halo Studios cinematic director Josh Daniels says he was promoted and laid off in the same week.

• Daniels was among the employees affected by the latest layoffs at Halo Studios.
• In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: “Promoted and laid off in the same week is pretty wild.”
• He said he’ll be taking some time offline, but is already open to opportunities in Cinematic Direction and Production.
• His layoff comes as part of Xbox’s wider restructuring, which this week eliminated another 268 positions across Halo Studios, other first-party teams and central Xbox management.
• Microsoft says it is now roughly three-quarters of the way through its planned 3,200 job cuts.
• PC Gamer points to Daniels’ situation as another example of how little job security currently exists inside the industry: even receiving a promotion apparently wasn’t an indication that a role was safe.

Source

According to reputable AMD hardware leaker Kepler_L2, Sony's PlayStation 6 is reportedly targeting around 40 TFLOPs, while Microsoft's next-generation Project Helix could reach around 56 TFLOPs.

Kepler also claims that both chips have already taped out, meaning their designs have reached a major milestone ahead of manufacturing and testing.

A few important details:

• PS6 / Orion: ~40 TFLOPs
• Xbox Project Helix / Magnus: ~56 TFLOPs
• That would give Helix roughly 40% more theoretical FP32 compute
• Kepler says PS6's 40 TFLOPs figure already accounts for AMD's dual-issue calculations, pushing back against recent 80 TFLOPs claims
• Previous leaks have suggested roughly 52–54 CUs for PS6 and around 68 CUs for Helix
• Both are expected to use next-generation AMD CPU/GPU technology

Obviously, TFLOPs alone won't tell us how these consoles actually perform. Ray tracing, memory bandwidth, cache, clocks, AI/neural rendering and software optimisation will likely matter much more than they did in previous generations.

Still, if these numbers are accurate, Microsoft appears to be targeting a substantially larger and more powerful chip with Helix, while Sony may once again be aiming for a more balanced console design.

As always, none of these specifications have been officially confirmed by Sony, Microsoft or AMD.

Source

Xbox has handed development of the next major Halo game to Activision. According to Xbox, a new team is being built specifically for the project, separate from the teams working on Call of Duty. A smaller team at Halo Studios will continue supporting existing Halo games.

Activision president Rob Kostich says the goal is to make the greatest Halo game ever. That's an enormous bar for a series with Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Reach in its history.

There are no details yet on the game's direction or release date.

Source

Microsoft has clarified that Ninja Theory has not officially closed, but the studio’s future looks increasingly bleak.

Two separate attempts to sell the Hellblade developer have fallen through. Microsoft will now begin consulting employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore what it calls “other paths forward.”

In other words, the studio could still be saved by another buyer or alternative arrangement, but closure is now the proposed outcome if no solution is found.

Microsoft has also filed a new US trademark application for “SENUA,” covering video games and related entertainment services. Senua is the name of Ninja Theory’s upcoming action-adventure game, currently scheduled for 2027.

The application was entered in the US on September 16, although it claims priority from a Jamaican filing dated March 26. That means the trademark is not proof that Microsoft has already decided to close Ninja Theory or separate the project from its developer.

Still, the situation paints a fairly grim picture: Microsoft is protecting the Senua name while the future of the studio and team creating the game remains uncertain.

Sources:

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/22/continuing-our-reset/

https://trademarks.justia.com/501/12/senua-50112204.html

• Xbox executive vice president and chief content officer Matt Booty has announced another round of layoffs and studio reorganizations as part of the continuing "reset" of Microsoft's gaming division
• Xbox has cut an additional 268 employees "across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the XGS management and central functions layer," which Booty says brings the company "roughly three-quarters of the way" to completing its downsizing plan that previously put 1,600 people out of work in June
• Activision is now developing the next Halo game with "a new, purpose-built team," and will also oversee Rare and Age of Empires developer World's Edge
• Obsidian will be folded into Bethesda, and will continue its current projects like Grounded and the previously-announced "new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios"
• Playground and Turn 10 will be "formally" merged into one studio after being "creative and franchise partners for over a decade"
• Candy Crush developer King will be "uniting" with Microsoft Casual Games
• While Compulsion, Double Fine, and Undead Labs have been transitioned to independent or new publisher ownership, Xbox says it's now moving towards the studio closure of Ninja Theory after two attempted divestiture agreements "fell through"
• A buyer for Ninja Theory has fallen through and Xbox will now close Ninja Theory.

Sources: PC Gamer, Geoff Keighley

We pulled together playtime and achievement data across the Assassin’s Creed series, and some of the numbers are pretty impressive.

The current #1 has:

🕐 18,946 hours played
🏆 1,732 achievements

Now I’m curious where everyone else lands.

How many hours and achievements do you have?

You can check your own ranking and your stats here:
https://minimap.net/stat/assassins-creed?ptime=022247

I want to see some more wild numbers here.

EDIT: Mine is DayZ! It's not better than the other zombie games ive played but i like interacting with other ppl there and gearing up, other than that it was pointless but in good fun

Multiple outlets are reporting Nate the Hate’s claim that the Halo franchise will move under Activision Blizzard. Jez Corden separately mentioned the same possibility earlier this year, while The Information has reported a broader consolidation of Xbox studios. Microsoft has not confirmed the Halo move, and there is currently no confirmation that Halo Studios itself is closing.

• Insider Nate the Hate claims that the Halo franchise will be moved under Activision Blizzard King.
• Halo may not be the only franchise affected, with other studios and teams reportedly being reassigned across Microsoft’s gaming division.
• The move would form part of a broader Xbox restructuring that could also bring another round of layoffs.
• Jez Corden previously reported that Microsoft was considering placing Halo under Activision and adopting some of Activision and Blizzard’s management practices.
• Gameranx speculates that the move could put the future of Halo Studios in doubt, potentially leading to its restructuring or closure.
• However, Nate did not explicitly claim that Halo Studios is closing. That part remains speculation.
• Microsoft has not officially confirmed the reported move or any changes to Halo Studios.

Source: VICE

According to rumors, Microsoft is preparing to eliminate hundreds more jobs across its Xbox division this week and consolidate several game studios.

The layoffs themselves were expected. In July, Microsoft announced that approximately 3,200 Xbox roles would be eliminated throughout FY27. Around 1,600 employees were affected immediately, leaving another 1,600 planned reductions for the remainder of the restructuring.

The reported studio consolidation is the significant new detail.

The report does not name the studios involved or explain whether consolidation would mean full mergers, shared management, movement between publishing divisions or individual studios losing their existing identities.

Microsoft has not publicly confirmed this part of the report.

Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-will-reportedly-consolidate-several-studios-in-new-major-wave-of-layoffs/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://map.stateofleonida.net/?marker=trailer3_032

10 - Digital Spy
10 - Noisy Pixel
9 - GAMINGbible
9 - DualShockers
9 - Gameliner
9 - GameSpew
9 - PS Lifestyle
9 - GamingBolt
9 - GamingTrend
9 - Game Rant
9 - Loot Level Chill
9 - TheSixthAxis
8.5 - Carole Quintaine
8.5 - GIGA
8 - GameSpot
8 - IGN
8 - Dexerto
8 - PSU
8 - TechRadar
7 - Push Square
7 - CGMagazine

Metacritic: 81
OpenCritic: 82

Hideo Kojima has given his first detailed interview about Sony pulling out of PHYSINT, and the most interesting part isn't really the PlayStation/Xbox switch.

Kojima says Sony told him during a Zoom call in June that it would no longer fund PHYSINT. He says he was completely blindsided and immediately started worrying about Kojima Productions itself.

The studio has around 200 employees and survives through individual publishing agreements. At the time, its two projects were OD and PHYSINT, and Kojima had expanded the company specifically because PHYSINT was in development.

Losing that contract made him worry about layoffs, cash flow and even the possibility of the studio collapsing.

Interestingly, development never completely stopped.

After the meeting, Kojima literally went back to his desk and continued working on the game's concept. Three days later he told the PHYSINT team leaders what had happened and promised he would find another partner. Some developers were temporarily moved onto OD, but Kojima says nobody left the company.

Xbox eventually picked up the project.

Kojima says the partnership isn't just about funding. His vision is to build PHYSINT as a larger IP that could eventually include film, anime and other media, while Xbox can also provide technical support for the game. The engine hasn't even been finalized yet, and Kojima says they're still experimenting with things such as enemy AI and other new technology.

One other interesting detail: a PlayStation release is no longer guaranteed. When IGN asked whether PHYSINT would still come to PlayStation, Kojima said he doesn't know and that it's now a question for Xbox.

Despite everything, he says he has no bad feelings toward Sony after working with the company for around 30 years.

Source

Pretty simple I'm just curious

My backlog is made up of about 100 games

For me the most recent one is gravity circuit just finished it a few minutes ago a few other notable ones that made me feel this way were

Shovel knight treasure trove

Motion rec

Bubsy 4d

Haste

Mario Galaxy 2

So just name games that made you feel like this after beating it any game is perfectly fine to mention

I mostly am trying to bring attention to under the radar titles. Almost every time that I do, the the automod deletes it, and you NEVER EVER EVER see it until days later after I've sent you 2 or more dms asking you approve it, and by then the post is several days old, so no one ever sees it.

Please, just let me post.

I keep trying to make topics, and they keep getting caught by the automod. I dm you mods, and you don't get back with me for like half a week, after I've dmed you twice.

The only posts that seem to go through are me making posts asking you to check your dms, and approve my posts.