Tag Archives: microsoft

Microsoft is planning to officially retire Xbox Live Gold. The service has offered online multiplayer to Xbox console gamers for decades but with the company now focusing more on Game Pass, Xbox Live's position has been in question for a while now. The Xbox Live subscription will be going away …

After Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in January 2022, the company extended an offer to Sony to ensure that Call of Duty remains on PlayStation. The offer started off as a multi-year deal but eventually grew into a ten-year deal. So far, Sony has refused to sign the …

Earlier this week, a US judge ruled against the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In the ruling, the judge stated that the FTC simply did not provide enough evidence to prove a theory of harm. Now, Microsoft is preparing to close the …

With the tides turning and Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard looking more likely, a lot of people are eager to learn when they might expect the publisher's games to hit Game Pass. We already know that Call of Duty is unlikely to arrive until 2025, as Activision and Sony still …

This week, a US court officially made its decision on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, denying the FTC's request to block the merger. This leaves the UK's CMA as the final hurdle against the deal closing and within an hour of the US court decision going public, Microsoft and the CMA announced a plan to pause their appeal battle to renegotiate. At the rate things are going, Microsoft could officially own Activision Blizzard as soon as next week. 

While the game may not have been the rebirth that some had hoped, Halo Infinite has continued to slowly but surely improve over the years thanks to the continued efforts of 343 Industries. The latest update to Halo Infinite introduces new maps, modes and an 8v8 Squad Battle playlist. Making …

Earlier this afternoon, a US judge blocked the FTC's request for an injunction to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. With this loss, the only regulator standing to stop the deal from closing immediately is the UK's CMA. Within an hour of the US court decision coming down, Microsoft has …

The FTC's case against Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition finally entered federal court in recent weeks. While the UK's CMA wanted to block the deal on cloud gaming concerns, the FTC's case primarily focused on the deal's impact on Sony and the PlayStation business. Now, the judge has rejected the FTC's …

The Xbox Series S was already a good deal, offering a low £250 entry point to the new generation of consoles. Today during Amazon Prime Day, the console can be had at its cheapest price yet, just £150.  If you are quick, you can get an Xbox Series S from …

Microsoft has reintroduced its popular $1/£1 introductory offer for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscriptions. This offer allows new subscribers to enjoy their first month of service at a greatly discounted price. However, it is important to note that this deal is not available for Game Pass …

The ID@Xbox program was created by Microsoft to help boost the visibility of smaller indie titles, promoting and supporting these creative endeavours. As part of this, Microsoft started its ID@Xbox Demo Fest – the next one of which will go live next week. Making the announcement on the Xbox blog, …

As part of the ongoing Microsoft FTC hearings, Sony is of course involved due to their vested interest in not wanting the Activision Blizzard acquisition to go through. Over the past week a boat load of documents, internal memos and more have been submitted, revealing previously-unknown details regarding these companies’ inner workings. Thanks to yet another legal document from Microsoft, we now know that a PlayStation 5 Slim could very well be releasing this year.

DayZ is one of just a handful of titles responsible for ushering in a wave of early access survival games on PC. The original game has been out of early access for a while now and thanks to documents revealed as part of the FTC VS Microsoft hearing over the …

Years ago Microsoft announced that they would stop reporting on Xbox console sales, instead focusing on highlighting total Xbox Live and Game Pass subscribers. As such, it comes as a big surprise that Microsoft have officially released the sales figures for both the Xbox One as well as the Series …

Earlier this year, IO Interactive officially announced its upcoming fantasy RPG, in development at its new Barcelona studio. Previously, it was claimed that this game would be an Xbox console exclusive and a new document seems to confirm exactly that.  During the ongoing hearing between the FTC and Microsoft over …

Documents related to Microsoft's potential acquisition targets have surfaced through the ongoing hearing against the FTC over the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This document revealed a number of high-profile targets, including the likes of SEGA, Square Enix, CD Projekt Red as well as plenty of smaller studios.  Microsoft was indeed considering …

The Initiative's Perfect Dark reboot was announced about three years ago, so you'd be forgiven for thinking we might get our first good look at it in the next year or so. Unfortunately, it sounds like development is making slow progress and is still quite a ways off.  A new …

During Microsoft’s recent Summer Game Fest Showcase, the console manufacturer announced a surprise sequel to 2020’s Microsoft Flight Simulator. Set to arrive next year, the team at Asobo have now revealed many of the changes set to come with the sequel. As part of the 2023 FlightSimExpo, Jorg Neumann – …

During the hearing between the FTC and Microsoft last week, we learned new details about the events that preceded Microsoft's decision to acquire both Activision and Bethesda. Sony was in talks with Bethesda to make Starfield a PS5 exclusive, which prompted Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda. A very similar situation almost occurred with Activision pulling Call of Duty. 

Last week, the FTC and Microsoft finally began butting heads in court over the Activision Blizzard King acquisition. During the hearing, many interesting details about Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax/Bethesda came to light. In one part of the hearing, we learned that The Elder Scrolls 6 is still more than five …

Prior to being acquired by Microsoft, Bethesda announced that Machine Games was working on its own Indiana Jones game. At the time, the game was planned to release on multiple platforms, but after the acquisition, the agreement between Bethesda and Disney was amended.  This week, the US District Court of …

In a relatively short number of years the video games medium has transformed from a niche hobby to a multi-billion Dollar industry whose influence is being felt across all other mediums. In a new report, it has now been revealed that the video games industry is bigger than both films and music combined.

It has been a little over a year since CCP Games and Microsoft announced a new partnership to bring Microsoft Excel integration to the game. Now, that update has finally arrived.  Hardcore EVE Online players have long used spreadsheets to calculate profits and battle damage. Up to now, they have …

During the 8th generation of consoles we saw both Sony and Microsoft release mid-generation refreshes of their consoles, with Sony developing the PS4 Pro and Microsoft making the Xbox One X. Interestingly, it seems as though we will not be getting any mid-gen refreshes from Xbox this time round – …

In the wake of the Xbox Games Showcase, Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty took part in an interview where all manner of topics were discussed – from Redfall to Halo to Activision Blizzard and more. One of the more interesting tidbits from the interview saw Booty confirm that Microsoft are no longer developing any games for the last-gen Xbox One...

In the wake of Microsoft’s recent Xbox Games Showcase, the console manufacturer has engaged in a host of interviews. Now, Xbox’s game studio chief has weighed in on a number of titles which we did not see at the event, including Halo, Redfall and Perfect Dark. In an interview conducted …

In recent years, Xbox in particular has struggled to get many of its games across the finish line, with a majority of first party titles announced years ago still in development. Speaking on these development times, the head of Xbox Game Studios claimed that the length of development for AAA …

Recently Microsoft officially began bringing its first-party PC games over to rival cloud gaming services like GeForce Now. Soon, Microsoft will be upping its offering, with Game Pass set to come to GeForce Now too.  Later this year, Microsoft will bring the PC version of Game Pass over to GeForce …

With Microsoft being the only current console manufacturer to not hail from Japan, it makes some degree of sense that the Xbox has in the past struggled to secure a number of Japanese games. That said, this has been improving significantly in recent years – with Xbox forming partnerships with …

When you think of games being re-released, many think of Skyrim. First launched all the way back in 2011, the open-world RPG has appeared on pretty much every platform available in some way or another. That said, this wide reach has allowed for the game to be a huge commercial …