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Game Pass Getting 3 Warcrafts, A Call Of Duty, And More In June

by admin June 17, 2025

Image: Activision / Xbox / Kotaku

On June 17, Xbox announced the next wave of games coming to Game Pass in June and July, including two new (and very different) video games that are available right now on Xbox and PC.

This Stylish Noir-Punk Side-Scroller Is Like Celeste With Guns

The big release today is FBC: Firebreak, a new PvE co-op shooter from Remedy set in the universe of Control. Think Left 4 Dead but with weirder enemies, more objectives, and a lot of office chairs. FBC is available today on Xbox and PC via Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass PC.

Folks, I don’t know about you, but there are so many games I want to play right now. And yet, more new ones keep launching. Trying to keep up with them is proving impossible. And looking over Xbox’s list of new stuff coming to Game Pass, I realized that the cool-looking Lost in Random spin-off, The Eternal Die, is out now on consoles and PC. I don’t know when I’ll get to play it, but I certainly want to!

Anyway, here’s the full list of what’s coming and when:

Coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC

FBC: Firebreak – Out now
Lost in Random: The Eternal Die – Out now
Rematch – June 19
Volcano Princess – June 24
Against the Storm – June 26
Warcraft 1 & 2 Remastered – June 26
Warcraft 3: Reforged – June 26

Coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, Standard, and PC

Crash Bandicoot 4 – Out now
Star Trucker – June 18
Wildfrost – June 18
Call of Duty: WWII – June 30
Little Nightmares II – July 1
Rise of the Tomb Raider – July 1

While a bunch of new games are coming to Xbox Game Pass this month, six games are leaving the service on June 30. Here’s the full list:

Arcade Paradise
Journey to the Savage Planet
My Friend Peppa Pig
Robin Hood: Sherwood Builders
SteamWorld Dig

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June 17, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Sony Says Marathon Won’t Be Another Concord Amid Call For Delay

by admin June 13, 2025

It was just four years ago that Sony promised to launch 12 live service games by early 2026. Since then, many of those have been delayed, canceled, or taken offline. But that doesn’t seem to be deterring the console maker. PlayStation Studios CEO Hermen Hulst said in a new business update that live service games remain a “key strategic pillar” for the company and that Bungie’s upcoming extraction shooter Marathon is learning from last year’s multiplayer flop, Concord.

PlayStation’s Days of Play Brings Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, NBA 2K25 & More To PS Plus

While some PlayStation fans keep hoping Sony will cut its losses in live service gaming, that seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. Despite recently killing multiplayer projects at Bluepoint Games and Bend Studio, which suffered a mass layoff as a result, as well as closing London Studio, Firewalk Studios, and Neon Koi last year, the PS5 maker listed “building a foundation” and “strengthen capabilities” in games-as-a-service as two key priorities for the platform’s future.

The next test of that strategy will be Bungie’s Marathon. After taking a hatchet to the mega studio it acquired for $3.7 billion in 2022, the Bellevue-based team is preparing to launch a sci-fi extraction shooter where players fight over loot in matches and lose it for good upon death. A recent alpha test showed both the promise and shortcomings of the game, with players praising the classic “Bungie feel” in the running, jumping, and shooting but criticizing the lack of proximity voice chat or a solo queue mode. There have been calls to delay the planned September launch, lest it become the next Concord.

“Live service, we really see that as a great opportunity for us but with that great opportunity are some unique challenges associated so we’ve talked about some early success as with Helldivers 2, we’ve also faced some challenges as with the release of Concord,” Hulst said during the briefing. “I think that some really good work actually went into that title, some really big effort, but ultimately that title entered into a hyper-competitive segment of the market I think it was insufficiently differentiated to be able to resonate with players.”

The veteran studio executive said PlayStation has reviewed its game development processes as a result, with a focus on earlier checks, testing, and user feedback. One of the big questions with Concord was how Sony seemed caught by complete surprise by the sheer amount of apathy from players at launch. Marathon is very different coming from an established studio and experimenting in newer genre, but faces similar questions around what Sony’s doing to make sure it can find a reliable fanbase that will help it grow and evolve after release.

“For Marathon it’s our goal to release a very bold, a very innovative and deeply engaging title, it’s going to be the first new Bungie title in over a decade, so we’re really excited for that release,” Hulst said. “We’re monitoring, we’re going through the test cycles, we’re monitoring the closed alpha cycle that the team just went through…some of that feedback frankly has been varied but it’s super useful frankly that’s why you do this testing and the constant testing and the constant revalidation of assumptions to me is just to valuable to iterate and to constantly improve the so when launch comes we’re going to give the title the optimal chance of success.”

Marathon was MIA from Sony’s recent State of Play showcase, despite being out in just three months. Part of that may be due its recent art plagiarism scandal, forcing the studio to scrub stolen decals from the game and its promotional marketing, a process that surely delayed any new trailers. But it’s also unclear how much of the feedback from the alpha test the team can incorporate in just over 12 weeks. Marathon isn’t even in the top-50 most wishlisted games on Steam at the moment.

Could Marathon end up getting delayed after all? In his remarks, Hulst mentioned Sony being very excited for the game’s launch “this fiscal year.” Was not specifying September just an oversight, or the first tell that Sony is once again re-evaluating its live service calendar? Bloomberg reported that multiplayer heist shooter Fairgame$ was at one point planned for fall 2025 before being pushed to next year over poor feedback from external testing. Maybe Sony thinks Marathon might do better with five extra months of development time. It would then be launching in February 2026, the same month as Helldivers 2, the only successful live service experiment it’s seen so far.

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June 13, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Disney, Universal, DreamWorks Sue Midjourney, Call It a ‘Bottomless Pit of Plagiarism’

by admin June 12, 2025

In brief

Disney and Universal are among a group of studios that filed a lawsuit against AI firm Midjourney.
The studios claim the image generator produces unauthorized copies of copyrighted characters.
The case highlights a growing wave of copyright suits targeting generative AI tools.

Disney and Universal, along with several other American film studios, have filed a lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Midjourney, alleging that its popular image generation tool systematically violates copyright by creating unauthorized reproductions of famous characters.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a U.S. federal court, accuses Midjourney of functioning as a “bottomless pit of plagiarism.”

“By helping itself to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works, and then distributing images (and soon videos) that blatantly incorporate and copy Disney’s and Universal’s famous characters—without investing a penny in their creation—Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider,” the complaint reads. “Piracy is piracy, and whether an infringing image or video is made with AI or another technology does not make it any less infringing.”

The studios, which also include DreamWorks and the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, cited examples of Midjourney-generated outputs that included likenesses of Yoda, Marvel superheroes, characters from Aladdin, Minions, The Simpsons, and Shrek.

They are seeking damages and an injunction to stop the platform from reproducing, displaying, or distributing their copyrighted content. Decrypt has approached Midjourney for comment on the suit.

The case is part of a mounting wave of lawsuits confronting AI companies over copyright violations.

As generative AI tools become more widespread, legal scrutiny over their training data and outputs has intensified. The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December 2023, and Reddit is currently pursuing legal action against Anthropic. Other plaintiffs include music publishers and media companies such as Ziff Davis.

The core legal question in these suits is whether AI companies can lawfully use copyrighted works without permission during training or generation.

Companies like OpenAI have acknowledged using copyrighted content in training and argued it would be “impossible” to develop AI systems without it.

Filtering out the issue

While some firms have sought licensing deals with copyright holders, others, like Midjourney, have faced criticism for inadequate safeguards.

In the complaint, the studios argue that Midjourney has the ability to filter prompts and outputs, just as it currently blocks certain violent or pornographic content. They claim the company could easily implement similar protections for copyrighted material, but has chosen not to.

Midjourney faced controversy in its early days for limiting image generation related to Chinese President Xi Jinping and for allowing the creation of images of other world leaders.

Meanwhile, the film industry is grappling with how AI will reshape creative labor. A report from the British Film Institute this week warned that AI poses a direct threat to screen sector jobs and revenue.

It cited research suggesting global audiovisual creators may lose up to 21% in revenue over three years and that more than 200,000 U.S. entertainment jobs could be disrupted by 2026, particularly entry-level positions.

Disney, Universal, and DreamWorks have been approached for further comment.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

A weekly AI journey narrated by Gen, a generative AI model.

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June 12, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Call of Duty team “committed” to bringing series to Nintendo, as Black Ops 7 release omits Switch 2

by admin June 9, 2025

The next Call of Duty installment was announced over the weekend, along with its release platforms: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is slated to debut across Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PS4, and PC.

Black Ops 7’s omission of a Switch 2 release (at least presently) from the launch platform line-up has raised some eyebrows due to the fact that, back in 2023, Microsoft announced a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to its platforms on “the same day as Xbox, with full feature and content parity”.

However, while for now there is no word of a Switch 2 release for Black Ops 7, the team is “committed” to bringing the Call of Duty series to Nintendo, Activision has told Eurogamer.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – Official Teaser | Xbox Games Showcase 2025. Watch on YouTube

In a statement shared with Eurogamer, Activision confirmed: “We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch. Both teams [are] working on it. Will share details when ready.”

On its release, Black Ops 7 will be able to be played solo or with friends “in a thrilling and innovative” co-op campaign, while also having the series’ “signature” multiplayer experience. This will include new maps and more from Zombies.

The upcoming game is being helmed by Treyarch and Raven Software, with the developers promising the “most mind-bending” Black Ops release yet. It stars Heroes and Gilmore Girls’ Milo Ventimiglia as David Mason.

We can expect further details on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 later this summer, the team has said, so stay tuned for more.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Call Of Duty Is Still Coming To Switch, Activision Confirms

by admin June 9, 2025

Activision’s announcement of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not mention a release on Nintendo platforms, but the company remains committed to bringing the shooter series to Switch. That’s according to sources speaking to Kotaku and subsequently confirmed by Activision. The site reported that “both sides are still working on it” and a spokesperson for Activision told GameSpot, “We’re committed to getting the franchise on Switch. Both teams are working on it. Will share details when ready.”

However, it remains to be seen what’s causing the holdup or if Call of Duty could appear on Switch, Switch 2, or both.

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Now Playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Official Cinematic Teaser Trailer

The game’s confirmed platforms are PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. Given that Black Ops 7 will support last-gen systems, some wondered why Switch was again left out.

In 2023, amid the FTC vs. Microsoft court case, Microsoft said it had signed a “binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players.” The statement said Microsoft would launch Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms “the same day as Xbox, with full features and content parity.”

Activision has skipped Nintendo platforms for Call of Duty for more than a decade, as the last CoD release on a Nintendo platform was a port of Call of Duty: Ghosts for Wii U in 2013. Call of Duty has a long, strange history on Nintendo platforms, and this is just the latest chapter in that story.

In 2022, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said there was “definitely” work to be done to get Call of Duty running on Switch. The more-powerful Switch 2 is out now, and Microsoft wants to bring more games to it, but the company has not confirmed any specific plans for Call of Duty on Switch 2.

Black Ops 7 is coming this year, and it marks the first time in franchise history that Activision is releasing Black Ops games in consecutive years. The game is set in 2035, which is 10 years after Black Ops 2’s campaign. For more, check out the announcement trailer above.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Black Ops 7 is a sequel to Black Ops 2, and it’s bringing co-op campaign back to Call of Duty

by admin June 9, 2025

Xbox couldn’t end its summer Games Showcase without teasing the next Call of Duty, which, just like rumours and reports have long suggested, is a Black Ops sequel. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the first consecutive release within the Black Ops series, and it arrives later this year.

Also as expected, the game will be released on last-gen consoles (PS4, and Xbox One) alongside PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. No release date has been announced, but we are going to learn more later this summer.

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Treyarch, and Raven Software once again return to co-develop the game, which is essentially a Black Ops 2 sequel – though it also follows on from the events of Black Ops 6. The headline feature this time around is the ability to play the campaign in co-op, which we’ve not seen since Black Ops 3 a decade ago.

Black Ops 4 did not have a campaign at all, but reports at the time strongly suggested that an ambitious co-op campaign with open maps was in the works, before it got scrapped to make the game’s release date.

As for the trailer, it was the ‘one more thing’ shown at the Xbox Games Showcase. Only the sharpest of Black Ops fans would’ve figured out that it was David Mason being shown exploring some sort of robotics facility – but not everything is as seems. Just like every Black Ops game, Black Ops 7’s narrative will incorporate some mind-bending elements, and we certainly do some of that in the footage.

Watch on YouTube

The story takes place in 2035, a decade after the events of Black Ops 2. Psychological warfare is the name of the game, and the villan (Menendez) is a manipulator who uses cutting-edge tech to weaponise fear against their enemies.

Black Ops 7 is also bringing back round-based Zombies. As for multiplayer, expect near-future weaponry and a host of new maps – which really makes it a BO2 sequel. A full reveal will take place “later this summer,” but the teams want players to get more time out of Black Ops 6 and Warzone before everyone’s focus shifts to the new game.

Black Ops 7 is a day-one Game Pass game, available at no extra cost to Ultimate, and PC Game Pass members.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Activision debuts Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 at Xbox Games Showcase 2025

by admin June 9, 2025

Microsoft and Activision revealed Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in a dramatic cinematic trailer during the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase. Having two Black Ops games release consecutively is a first for the franchise, and Activision’s Treyarch and Raven studios teamed up to make it happen following 2024’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

The Black Ops 7 trailer is a trippy thing, like something you might expect out of Remedy’s Alan Wake series, with scenes of the protagonist appearing to experience a fragmented consciousness, a moment where a cityscape folds in on itself Inception-style, laughing TV sets, red butterflies made of data, and talking robot butlers escorting someone through a suspiciously, eerily calm executive suite. While we’re not entirely sure what’s going on, we do know who’s leading the charge this time: David Mason, the lead from Black Ops 2 whose last appearance was in 2018’s Black Ops 4.

“The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by conflict and psychological warfare following the narrative events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6,” the game’s official description reads on Xbox Wire. “With cutting-edge technology in hand, the Black Ops team led by David Mason must fight back against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else.”

Activision said Black Ops 7 will support solo play and multiplayer squads in a new co-op campaign, and you’ll have “near-future weaponry” to take on the challenge. Black Ops 7 will also include a standalone multiplayer mode with new maps and a zombies mode that continues the Dark Aether storyline.

There’s no Black Ops 7 release date yet, but when it does launch, it’ll be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

The Next Call Of Duty Is Black Ops 7

by admin June 9, 2025

Screenshot: Activision / Xbox / Kotaku

The next main entry in the blockbuster Call of Duty series has been announced. Players can look forward to Black Ops 7, which is described as a direct sequel to Black Ops 6. The upcoming FPS doesn’t have a release date yet, but if history is any indicator, it will be out around October.

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During Xbox’s big Summer Game Fest event, the company ended the whole thing with a final trailer which ended up being Black Ops 7. Here’s the trailer, which confirms a new zombies mode will be included.

And here’s Xbox and Activision’s official description of the new Call of Duty:

The year is 2035 and the world is on the brink of chaos, ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare following the events of Black Ops 2 and Black Ops 6. Wielding cutting-edge technology, the Black Ops team led by David Mason must fight back against a manipulative enemy who weaponizes fear above all else.

According to Xbox Wire, Treyarch and Raven are developing Black Ops 7, which directly follows last year’s Black Ops 6. The game will include a co-op campaign, near-future weaponry, and a new round-based Zombies map.

Interestingly, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will not be skipping last-gen machines. Xbox confirmed that the big sequel will be available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, alongside Xbox Series X/S, PC, PS5, and Game Pass. It’s wild to see Call of Duty sticking around on such old hardware for this long, but at this point, it seems like the tech powering these recent games works fine on the older consoles. So I guess Activision and parent company Xbox see no reason to leave money off the table… yet.

Xbox also announced that we’ll learn more about the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 during a bigger reveal later this summer.

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June 9, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Microsoft Still Working To Bring Call Of Duty To Nintendo Fans

by admin June 8, 2025

Image: Nintendo / Activision / Kotaku

Call Of Duty: Black Ops 7 is the next entry in Activision’s long-running military shooter franchise and it’s once again coming to last-gen consoles. But what about the Switch 2? More than two-years after Microsoft and Nintendo entered into an agreement to bring Call of Duty to Switch, nothing has materialized. Sources close to the matter tell Kotaku that both sides are still working on it.

Nintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews

Microsoft and Nintendo have now negotiated and signed a binding 10-year legal agreement to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo players—the same day as Xbox, with full features and content parity—so they can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation games enjoy Call of Duty,” Microsoft president Brad Smith announced back in February 2023. We are committed to providing long term equal access to Call of Duty to other gaming platforms, bringing more choice to more players and more competition to the gaming market.”

That deal, the details of which have never been made public, was inked backed when Microsoft was trying to consolidate regulatory approval for its roughly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. To assuage concerns that it might take one of the biggest gaming franchises in the world and make it exclusive to Xbox, Microsoft made agreements with other companies, including eventually Sony, promising that at least for the first 10 years it would continue bringing Call of Duty to other platforms, including ones it hadn’t been in years like the Switch.

So where is it? The list of platforms for Black Ops 7 revealed today does not include Nintendo older hardware or the recently launched Switch 2, even though the latter has performance capability on par with the PlayStation 4, which is getting the game this fall. While sources tell Kotaku that both Microsoft and Nintendo are still committed to getting the franchise on the latter’s hardware, it’s unclear what the hold up is or what the final result will be.

Call of Duty hasn’t appeared on a Nintendo platform since 2013’s Ghosts came to the Wii U. While the ports of the multiplayer shooter never ran particularly great on the Mario maker’s underpowered consoles, it at least provided an option for fans to access the annual blockbuster. One obvious avenue for getting Call of Duty on weaker hardware is using cloud gaming. Black Ops 6 is currently available to stream with Game Pass Ultimate but cloud gaming hasn’t been used to bring last year’s entry to Switch.

Black Ops 7 isn’t the only Microsoft first-party game that’s currently a no show on Switch 2. Despite the increased horsepower of the handheld hybrid, games like Sea of Thieves and Grounded which were previously ported to PS5 remain MIA. That might be because Microsoft doesn’t currently have plans to bring either of them over, or it could simply be that Nintendo wants to announce those plans on its own time. For now, the Switch 2 remains conspicuously absent from Microsoft’s recent multiplatform shift.

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June 8, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Possible New Call Of Duty: Warzone Map Teased In Black Ops 7 Trailer

by admin June 8, 2025

Activision announced Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 during the Xbox Games Showcase, and the reveal trailer could also be hinting at Warzone’s next big map for battle royale.

Near the end of the Black Ops 7 reveal trailer, there is a scene of four soldiers dropping down onto a map, which looks very much like a squad diving into a Warzone match together. The map in question also looks similar to the rumored Avalon map found in Black Ops 6’s spectator mode, with both featuring a cluster of islands connected by bridges. This specific scene was saved for the end of the trailer and shown alongside a brief tease of Treyarch’s Zombies mode for Black Ops 7, so it is possible Activision is teasing Avalon for Warzone.

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Now Playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Official Cinematic Teaser Trailer

However, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up too soon. Black Ops 7 is revealed to be a co-op campaign, so it is possible the scene in question is just a section of the campaign used to show off four-player co-op. Additionally, known Call of Duty insider “The Ghost of Hope” claims the Avalon map was scrapped for battle royale and would be used for campaign and Outbreak Zombies mode for Black Ops 7.

Of course, we’ll likely learn more about Black Ops 7 and Warzone in the coming weeks, as Activision says more details will be revealed later this summer.

Season 4 is currently live in Black Ops 6 and Warzone. The season features a crossover event with the Ballerina movie, which is part of the John Wick universe. Players can earn free cosmetics and unlock a new marksman rifle during the Ballerina event in Black Ops 6 and Warzone.

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June 8, 2025 0 comments