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Gears of War: Reloaded is not releasing on PS5 in Japan, but Xbox or PC releases will go ahead
Esports

Gears of War: Reloaded is not releasing on PS5 in Japan, but Xbox or PC releases will go ahead

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Despite passing certification on Xbox Series and PC, Gears of War: Reloaded will not release on PS5 in Japan.

According to IGN, the game – scheduled to release on August 26 – will not be available on PS5 due to “regional rating restrictions” and “platform policies.”

“Due to regional rating restrictions and platform policies, Gears of War: Reloaded will not be released for PlayStation 5 in Japan,” Microsoft wrote in a machine-translated statement.

“Domestic players will still be able to play the game on launch day through Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC, Game Pass, and Steam. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused to players in Japan who have been waiting for the release of this game.”

It’s thought, but not confirmed, that Gears of War: Reloaded was denied release on PS5 due to the ability to slice up enemies, as Japan’s rating board, CERO, has previously taken issue with mutilation, banning both The Callisto Protocol and the Dead Space remake on consoles for that reason.

Interestingly, Gears of War: Reloaded on the Microsoft Store also doesn’t sport a CERO rating, either, but it does say it’s been classified by the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) instead. It’s not known if the remake failed to secure a CERO certificate first.



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Slide showing text that explains history of Xbox consoles, with the last entry being an unnamed console set to release in 2028.
Crypto Trends

Next-Gen Xbox Preview: Everything You Need to Know About the Console and Crypto Plans

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In brief

  • Microsoft is working on a next-generation Xbox console that’s expected to launch in 2027 or 2028.
  • The company accidentally shared early details when confidential documents were shared to a public server.
  • The documents mention plans for a crypto wallet integration on the Xbox platform.

It’s been over four years since the release of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, a pair of game consoles that offer different performance and price options for players. But Microsoft is already thinking about the next big thing in Xbox land.

Unsurprisingly, a next-generation Xbox is already in development, But what is surprising is that we’ve already heard official details on how Microsoft plans to position it, thanks to documents that were accidentally shared publicly in the FTC’s case against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision. And there could be a crypto wallet in the mix.

Furthermore, Microsoft is starting to comment publicly about what it plans to do with its upcoming hardware, promising a massive leap in performance for the next-generation Xbox.

Granted, things may change in the coming months and years, but if you’re looking for the latest leaks and reports about the next Xbox console, it turns out Microsoft itself was the best possible source. Here’s what we know so far, and be sure to stay tuned for future updates.

What is the Next-Gen Xbox?

The next-gen Xbox will be the fifth generation of Microsoft’s console, following the original Xbox (2001), the Xbox 360 (2006), the Xbox One (2013), and the aforementioned Xbox Series X and Series S (2020) hardware.

While it was reasonable to assume that Microsoft would continue making new hardware in the future, we got our first taste of the tech giant’s plans in September 2023 when it uploaded unredacted documents to a public repository for the FTC case. Microsoft was apparently at fault for the issue, not the court, and Xbox head Phil Spencer tweeted about the fallout.

We’ve seen the conversation around old emails and documents. It is hard to see our team’s work shared in this way because so much has changed and there’s so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 19, 2023

“We’ve seen the conversation around old emails and documents,” he wrote. “It is hard to see our team’s work shared in this way because so much has changed and there’s so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready.”

When will the Next-Gen Xbox come out?



According to Microsoft’s leaked documents, the next-generation Xbox is targeted to be released during the 2028 calendar year—eight years after the previous console. This marks a longer console cycle than we’ve seen from Microsoft in the past, which has seen seven years between major hardware launches in the last two cycles.

However, more recent reporting suggests that the launch could come sooner than that. In March 2025, Windows Central reported that Microsoft is already pushing ahead with plans to get the Xbox Series X/S follow-up out in 2027. The publication says that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has signed off on the plan, and adds that it includes at least a premium successor to the Xbox Series X, a dedicated gaming handheld, and new controllers.

No pricing estimate was leaked in the documents or since reported by reputable sources. However, it sounds from the Windows Central report like Microsoft may not focus on having a less expensive, less powerful home console option this time around.

How powerful will the Next-Gen Xbox be?

It’s too early to tell how significant of a power bump we’ll see from the new Xbox compared to the Xbox Series X, but what is interesting is how Microsoft is approaching the device.

According to its leaked documents, Microsoft sees a model in which games run with both local and cloud computing power in a hybrid model. We’ve seen hints of this before, particularly with the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator game, which pumps in cloud-powered real-time weather while the game otherwise runs on your local PC or Xbox hardware.

Image: Microsoft.

But a few years from now, Microsoft appears to think that it can pull this off on a larger scale, pairing home hardware with a boost from remote servers as a more standardized hybrid model across Xbox games.

“Our vision: develop a next-generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences,” the Microsoft documents read. “Optimized for real-time gameplay and creators, we will enable new levels of performance beyond the capabilities of the client hardware alone.”

The documents suggest that Microsoft needed to make some key hardware decisions by the first quarter of 2023, including the CPU makeup and how it will either co-design or license an AMD GPU. Where the company landed on those choices remains unclear.

Ultimately, Microsoft wants a device that can handle “next-gen DirectX ray tracing” for realistic lighting effects, plus “dynamic global illumination,” “micropolygon rendering optimizations,” and “machine learning-based super resolution.”

Image: Microsoft

In other words, yes, the next-gen Xbox will surely be more powerful, although Microsoft may still be weighing the details. Or they haven’t all leaked just yet. Furthermore, the documents spell out a number of timelines for hardware, games, and software, suggesting a detailed roadmap for the various pieces that make up the Xbox experience.

In February 2024, Microsoft made its first public statements about how powerful the next-generation Xbox will be. In an official podcast episode used to announce that Microsoft will start releasing some exclusive Xbox games on Nintendo and PlayStation hardware as well, Xbox President Sara Bond planted a flag in the ground for the next console.

“We’re also invested in the next-generation roadmap,” Bond said, according to Eurogamer. “What we’re really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap that you will have ever seen in a hardware generation.”

At the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024, Bond also affirmed that Microsoft is working on the “next generation” of Xbox.

Will crypto be involved?

Based on the leaked roadmap, which is dated May 2022—yes, there actually is a crypto wallet planned for Microsoft’s next console ecosystem. A slide that was unintentionally published by Microsoft as part of the FTC case mentions “crypto wallet” as part of the commerce stack. Axios first reported the crypto wallet plans.

Image: Microsoft/FTC.

It’s also labeled as something that Microsoft will create itself, rather than plug in a third-party or existing feature, although it’s still unclear whether Microsoft will develop a full wallet itself or simply create an integration that lets users plug in existing wallets (like MetaMask).

That’s all we know right now, and Microsoft declined to comment and simply pointed to Phil Spencer’s aforementioned tweet. It’s worth noting that the presentation was made about a week before the crypto market crashed in May 2022 due to the Terra collapse, so it’s unclear whether Microsoft may have reevaluated its plans amid the ongoing bear market.

What games will the Next-Gen Xbox have?

It’s too early to tell at this point. However, Microsoft has consistently put an emphasis on game compatibility across generations with recent console cycles, matching a PC-like philosophy of being able to play your existing games even after you buy new hardware.

Microsoft has also emphasized its Xbox Game Pass subscription service in recent years, and the leaked documents similarly point to expectations that Microsoft will be able to grow its subscription base in the years to come. Part of that will come via the launch of a cloud-driven app for smart TVs, broadening the player base even further.

In any case, it’s quite likely that Microsoft’s own core franchises like Halo and Forza Motorsport will continue on to new hardware, along with IP owned by its studios like Bethesda (including The Elder Scrolls and Doom) and Activision (Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot). Windows Central also reported that the next Xbox will be easier to bring PC games to, and that it could feature third-party game storefronts.

What’s the Xbox Ally?

There’s new Xbox-branded hardware coming before the next-gen Xbox: the Xbox Ally, a gaming handheld announced on June 8, 2025. Built in collaboration between Asus and Microsoft, the Xbox Ally and more powerful Xbox Ally X are Windows PC handhelds that can also play Xbox games that are native or cloud-streaming.

Both models feature the same core design, with a 7-inch IPS LCD 1080p display and an AMD Ryzen Z2 processor, though the Ally X has a faster CPU, more RAM (24GB vs. 16GB), double the internal storage (1TB vs. 512GB), and “impulse triggers” with force feedback. It also has a larger battery and weighs a little more.

It’s a Steam Deck rival, more or less, and the first proper Xbox-branded handheld after years and years of rumors—though it’s still ultimately a PC that can play Xbox platform games on Windows, not a portable Xbox console. But that distinction is increasingly becoming less and less important as Microsoft releases most games across the platforms.

The Xbox Ally devices are due out this holiday season, though no price or exact date has been announced.

Editor’s note: This article was first published on September 26, 2023 and last updated with new information on June 10, 2025.

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Xbox Ally handhelds: Microsoft takes its next step towards a Windows-driven future
Game Updates

Xbox Ally handhelds: Microsoft takes its next step towards a Windows-driven future

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After reports that Microsoft is “sidelining” its own first-party developed handheld, the new Xbox Showcase revealed two new mobile devices – Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. These machines are hardware collaborations with Asus, bringing Xbox hardware design ideas to the table in combination with a revamped version of Windows that puts gaming first. There are profound, welcome changes here – but one big question needs to be addressed. Is this the first new Microsoft offering no backwards compatibility with the Xbox digital library? Is this an Xbox that doesn’t play Xbox console games? If so, this is a bump in the road in Microsoft’s journey forward – and must be addressed.

First up, let’s examine system specifications on the new devices. From a Digital Foundry perspective, the most interesting offering is the Xbox Ally X, which is effectively an evolution on the device that I’d rank as the current best PC handheld – the Asus ROG Ally X. The form factor gets larger, the Xbox handles, impulse triggers and Xbox button are added and the AMD Z1 Extreme processor is swapped out for its revised Z2E, based on the most recent Strix Point architecture. 24GB of RAM is maintained from ROG Ally X to Xbox Ally X, but with a speed bump to 8000MT/s. A generous 80Wh battery completes the package.

It’s interesting to note that Microsoft and Asus have opted for silicon that retains the NPU (neural processing unit) from the original Strix Point design, when Z2 Extreme variants without the NPU active are specified. It’ll be interesting to see what Microsoft does here, but a port of its AutoSR super resolution feature – which we’ve looked at in the past – would be an obvious technology to port. Frame generation at the expense of further latency would also be viable.

After a reveal trailer at the Xbox Showcase, Microsoft released a more detailed video about the Xbox Ally and Ally X.Watch on YouTube

Next up, there’s the Xbox Ally, with a similar shell (no impulse triggers or USB4, however, plus a pared-back MicroSD slot) but substantially downgraded specifications. The Z2A processor is – in all likelihood – a re-spin of the Aerith chip at the heart of the Steam Deck. It reportedly has the ability to hit 20W over Deck’s 15W and has compatibility with faster 8533MT/s memory, but on the latter point at least, only 6400MT/s memory is in place. Total system memory is a pared back 16GB LPDDR5X. Bearing in mind how many triple-A titles are struggling on Steam Deck with similar specs, I’m having trouble reconciling this device with Microsoft’s claims that it’ll run triple-A games. I think that putting out this hardware is a big mistake, but I’d love to be proven wrong.

Both devices have the same screen as the original Asus ROG Ally – a seven-inch 1080p 120Hz display with VRR support. While this screen is old and not particularly impressive in terms of key aspects like contrast and colour reproduction, VRR is a massive win. The problem with mobile graphics performance is how variable it is, so any hardware that smooths off performance issues is worth having. This – in combination with its massive battery – is why the Ally X is my favoured PC handheld, for now.

On the hardware side, there is nothing here that is particularly surprising, especially in the wake of recent leaks, but it is highly difficult to take the non-X Ally seriously in a world where the much more potent Z1 Extreme is available in devices like the original Ally and the Lenovo Legion Go, both of which are somewhat long in the tooth now and often subject to hefty discounting. On the software side, however, things are looking much more interesting.

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What we’re looking at here is another step forward in Microsoft’s strategy to diversify the brand away from our traditional understanding of a console-led platform – a necessary step, but one with a number of challenges. Key to future plans is bringing together Windows and Xbox, which involves a substantial revamp to the Microsoft operating system. A big, bloated do-anything-for-anyone tool needs to be slimmed down for gamers and made more efficient for the growing handheld PC market. And if you’re efficient on handheld, the advantages transition over seamlessly to desktop – or console. Clearly, Microsoft has plans for this games-focused version of Windows, starting with compatibility with the original ROG Ally, Ally X and presumably other PC handhelds with similar silicon.

This new version of Windows doesn’t boot into the desktop, it boots into new Xbox software. Access to your PC digital library – and indeed other non-Xbox storefronts – is also seamlessly integrated, making it a one-stop shop for your games library. Intriguingly, the Asus Armory Crate (used for custom tweaking of the device) is also integrated into the Xbox Ally’s iteration of Windows. On a broader level, xinput compatibility for functions within Windows such as PIN input and UAC prompts is also baked into the new version of the OS, replacing prior feeble and unreliable third party attempts to get this working.

Windows itself has apparently been “debloated” to a certain extent, offering up more system memory for the games themselves, while sleep time is expected to increase by a factor of 3x based on efficiency gains made by the Windows team.

The Xbox Ally X comes with a neural processor unit (NPU) so our humble suggestion would be for Microsoft to integrate a port of its AutoSR technology, as found on its Snapdragon X Elite Surface laptops.Watch on YouTube

All of this is a crucial step forward in unifying Windows and Xbox – which in itself is a fundamental element of the “this is an Xbox” strategy, but there is another big challenge facing Microsoft – integrating existing Xbox digital libraries into Windows. Microsoft has tens of millions of active users within its existing ecosystem that cannot be left behind – and each and every one of those users should expect to be able to access their Xbox libraries on any Xbox device. Right now at least, the Xbox Ally devices cannot run native Xbox games on the console. The cloud service could act as a back-up of sorts by streaming Series S games (and prior Xbox consoles via backwards compatibility) but the whole point of a handheld is a mobile device you can take anywhere – not take anywhere that only has robust internet access.

The final piece of the puzzle with the transition into a Windows/Xbox hybrid utopia has to be a comprehensive backwards compatibility set-up, but how viable is that for these handhelds? On the face of it, support for OG Xbox and Xbox 360 titles should not be too difficult. Both of these machines effectively max out at 720p resolution, so both Xbox Ally and Ally X have the GPU power to get the job done. On the CPU side, the Ryzen CPU cores in the new hardware are generations beyond the Jaguar cores in Xbox One which – remarkably – delivered higher game performance than the original hardware, even in the case of Xbox 360’s original PowerPC code. All that remains are potential licensing difficulties in running console games on a PC, the extent of which is known only to Microsoft.

Further questions remain. Can Ally and Ally X handle the Xbox One generation titles? And what about the ninth generation Series consoles? This is where things get trickier – we’re looking at Microsoft moving the modern Xbox virtual machines over to Windows and at this point, the question is the extent to which the performance is there in these handhelds to run those games natively. In theory, based on what the Steam Deck achieved, Xbox One-like performance seems viable – and should be very easy for the Z2 Extreme.

Looking to get a grip on the kind of GPU power available to the Xbox Ally X? Well, the APU is based on the same Strix Point processor we’ve tested in the past in this video #content.Watch on YouTube

But what about Xbox Series S? I’d rule that out completely on both processors, meaning some other kind of solution would be required. Subbing in PC versions would be no problem for Microsoft first-party titles, especially with Play Anywhere in place to synchronise game progress – but what about third-party games bought within the Xbox ecosystem? Some kind of agreement with publishers to use their PC versions? It sounds like a nightmare but ultimately, Microsoft is going to need some kind of solution to bring consoles games into this new hybrid Xbox/Windows ecosystem.

However, perhaps the hottest topic for speculation concerns price-point. The non-X Ally features Steam Deck-equivalent silicon, so the concept of selling this at anything more than a similarly equipped Deck is – in my opinion – out of the question. That leaves the Xbox Ally X – a further enhanced version of the existing Asus ROG Ally X, which costs $800, making it very much a premium device. Unless Asus is willing to lose some of its margin, or Microsoft calls in some favours with AMD and other suppliers, it’s hard to imagine that it will be any cheaper.

There are many outstanding questions then and not too many answers based on my pre-brief and the various YouTube videos I’ve seen based on what seems to have been a highly limited hands-on event in Los Angeles last week. Microsoft has been very careful in how its transition strategy has been communicated ever since the infamous “four games” business update and it looks like we’re going to need to wait some time to get full details on the Xbox Ally and Ally X. I’ve been following the evolution of gaming handhelds since the Steam Deck arrived – but Xbox Ally is something different, something important. It may well be our first proper look at how Microsoft envisages the future of Xbox – and I can’t wait to check it out.



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Ending the Xbox Summer Game Fest Showcase with COD: Black Ops 7 was a terrible decision, even though it no doubt made perfect sense
Game Reviews

Ending the Xbox Summer Game Fest Showcase with COD: Black Ops 7 was a terrible decision, even though it no doubt made perfect sense

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Xbox had a really good showing on Sunday, its showcase at the tail end of a Summer Game Fest period that has at times felt rather glib managing to make people feel happy about video games again – at least for a little bit. It was full of the kind of quirky and interesting-looking games that in years past would have been reserved for PlayStation’s E3 showcase, with only a smattering of what you might call Big games with a capital B. That was until the end.

Phil Spencer, CEO Microsoft Gaming, appeared on the pre-recorded showcase to wrap things up, tantalisingly teasing 2026 releases for Gears of War E-Day, a new Forza (presumably Horizon), and the next Halo. These big games were absent (as were many others – Fable 4 and Perfect Dark, most notably), and Phil I think wanted to acknowledge that. As with showcases of this nature, especially during key moments of the year, there’s always that hope for a “one more thing” mic drop. And it came… and went.

Maybe it’s just me, but this final reveal (as much as the whole thing is marketing as much as it is an event) needs to be something unexpected. Perhaps a sequel to a franchise that’s been dormant for years, maybe a brand-new game series from a big developer, maybe a big blowout on a game fans have been desperate to see more on. What it shouldn’t be, ever, is the game announcement equivalent of announcing the sun will rise and then fall, that another day is coming tomorrow, or that the tide will be in and then out. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 didn’t need to be at the Xbox Showcase and the Xbox Showcase didn’t need Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

The Xbox showcase. Phil Spencer comes on at 1 hour 5 minutes to wrap up the show and tease one more thing.Watch on YouTube

Imagine for a moment that EA held its own big showcase event this year, as it used to do back in the days when E3 was really pumping out the events. The publisher has dropped reveals for a new Madden, Battlefield, and Need for Speed, then we’re given the “one more thing” mic drop… and it’s a new FIFA (EA FC). At first, though, you don’t realise it’s EA FC, the snazzy and really pretty cool trailer making you comb through your mind to figure out what this neat looking teaser is revealing. Then, just as the lead character morphs into a football and is kicked by Harry Kane, EA FC 27 flashes onto the screen. You’d feel duped, and somewhat confused.

I understand that Call of Duty is a game series so huge a large portion of people are going to want to see a trailer for the next entry, and that from a business perspective it might seem ludicrous to not give it top billing, but it honestly sucked all the air out of the room. I’m not naive enough to expect something equivalent to an Elder Scrolls 6 reveal at the end of every show, but that moment matters. It’s an important beat that can last long in the memory. It was a moment wasted for Xbox.

If we go back just a couple of days to PlayStation’s pre-SGF State of Play (a lower stakes event, but still a presentation of new games), it ended with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls. Not a game I’m personally excited about because I can’t get into fighting games, but it was a big surprise reveal, a big license with Marvel, and it went pretty deep into the whole thing. PlayStation is seemingly courting the fighting game fan, and for that audience this was a big moment and a big win. It was everything the BLOPS 7 reveal wasn’t.

Had an alien been given the basic rundown of the video game world here on Earth, I have no doubt they’d read this article and shake their head in disbelief and confusion. What can I say, sometimes vibes matter more than numbers. The best option isn’t always the biggest.



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Xbox Ally Is The Best And Worst Of Handhelds In One Place
Game Reviews

Xbox Ally Is The Best And Worst Of Handhelds In One Place

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Microsoft’s new ROG Xbox Ally has a lot to prove in the market of handheld consoles. The Switch 2 was only days old when the company officially unveiled its competitor during the Xbox showcase. With PlayStation’s Portal mostly being a streaming device that offers a very specific, incredibly niche player benefit (despite it feeling very good in your hands), the Switch 2 and the Steam Deck still largely have the handheld market cornered. The Ally, meanwhile, is the endgame to the “Play Anywhere” tagline Xbox has been touting for years.

Nintendo Switch 2 Could Launch With Almost No Reviews

Microsoft putting a console-quality Xbox device in our hands would seem to literalize an idea that, until now, never felt like much more than a clever way to spin their bowing out of the console wars. Their tucking that white flag back into their pocket and pulling out a handheld competitor is an exciting prospect. I just wonder if it’s too little, too late.

I got to play with the device for a little bit, and yeah, if Microsoft can deliver, it will be one of the best handheld consoles on the market. But my mind did drift elsewhere when I held its heavy ass in my hands. Maybe it’s nostalgia playing tricks on me, but I can’t help but mourn how handheld gaming has morphed into an extension of the games and systems we play on our TVs and desktops.

None of this is inherently the Ally’s fault. Microsoft has benefited from watching the handheld console business thrive over the past decade. The Ally is hefty in your hands, rather than feeling like a toy as the original Switch did.

Admittedly, as a small man, it didn’t seem built for people of my size. My tiny hands had to reach to hit some of the buttons, and I could never quite figure out how best to hold the device to get the most leverage out of the whole controller. The weight of the thing didn’t help, as my wrists started to ache after just a few minutes of play. It’s a sturdy device, but it doesn’t feel like it’s built for everyone. I’m simply a little guy, but I imagine those problems might be even worse for folks with motor issues. I talked with some other people who have bigger hands, and they all said the Ally felt really good. So, while the console might have some really cool functionality and streamlining that makes it more appealing than the average handheld PC, it might not be the most inclusive machine, as it’s particularly uncomfortable for those of us who have trouble holding larger devices.

While your mileage may vary on holding it, one thing the Ally has over most other handheld gaming PCs is that Microsoft has streamlined its user experience to circumvent some of the hassles found with other devices. By linking your accounts across different launchers, the Ally lets you easily access your games across multiple services, such as pre-installed games, streaming through Game Pass, and others. Having everything in an easy-to-navigate HUD built for buttons and analog sticks makes the Ally one of the best choices to play PC and Xbox games on the go. Even if I can’t hold the device for extended periods, I can’t deny that Microsoft has built something that’s solved a lot of the problems people have with its competitors.

Shortly after my appointment, I held my Switch 2 and played a little bit of Cyberpunk 2077, and I think that device is probably better suited for people who have trouble holding bulkier handhelds like the Ally. I would love to see a model down the line that lets you disconnect the heavy controllers from the big screen, similar to the Switch’s tabletop mode. I think until Microsoft puts out something like that, I’ll have to stick with other devices.

Beyond form factor, most of these handheld consoles do the same things, it’s just a matter of which one feels better in your hands. I think that was one of my bigger takeaways playing the Ally: It’s nice that all of the Big Three are sticking their toes in the handheld market, but now that Nintendo has merged its console and handheld divisions into one device with the Switch, it does feel like we lost the charm and design philosophies of old handhelds.

Now that the components that house console-level power are small enough to fit into a handheld, we’ve lost any real need for a divide between games made for those devices and games made for consoles. Even mobile devices are offering console-comparable experiences, and the days of developers creating games for less-powerful hardware, specifically meant to be played on a device that fits in your pocket, feel like a long-gone memory.

A lot of indie developers are still carrying the torch, and you’ll find games evocative of the Game Boy and DS eras called “retro throwbacks.” Some of the more niche games that you would have found on a Vita in 2014, like The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, end up on Steam and Switch, but the era of a dedicated handheld doing things that feel built for those devices is over. I always dreamt of being able to play console games in the back of my parents’ car as a kid. But I don’t think I realized what we might lose in achieving that dream.

.



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Outer Worlds 2 is first Xbox Game Studios title to retail at $80
Esports

Outer Worlds 2 is first Xbox Game Studios title to retail at $80

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The Outer Worlds 2 will be the first Xbox title to retail at $80 following Microsoft’s planned price rises announced last month.

Published by Xbox Game Studios, the Obsidian Entertainment title will launch on October 29, 2025, just as the holiday window starts.

This is the time frame Microsoft previously confirmed for consumers to expect pricing to climb for its first-party titles, as well as consoles, controllers, and headsets.

“We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development,” it said.

“Looking ahead, we continue to focus on offering more ways to play more games across any screen and ensuring value for Xbox players.”

The rise in price of Xbox games came after Nintendo announced its flagship title Mario Kart World would retail at $80 for both its physical and digital versions.

This decision received major backlash from consumers. Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser said the $80 price tag “equal[s] the value of the gameplay experience”.

“We look at things such as the content, the extended amount of play that would be provided through the gameplay experiences, and the number of different factors as we consider what the pricing may be,” Bowser explained.

GamesIndustry.biz also spoke with analysts about why Nintendo game prices are so high, citing global inflation and development costs as major factors.



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Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience
Gaming Gear

Microsoft and Asus announce two Xbox Ally handhelds with new Xbox full-screen experience

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Microsoft and Asus have been working together over the past year to create not one, but two new ROG Xbox Ally handhelds. Both of these Xbox Ally devices, part of the Project Kennan effort I reported on earlier this year, include a new full-screen Xbox experience on Windows that’s designed to be more handheld-friendly and hide away the complexity of Windows to focus on gaming instead.

The white ROG Xbox Ally is designed for 720p gaming, and the more powerful black ROG Xbox Ally X targets 900p to 1080p gaming on the go. Like the existing ROG Ally and Ally X, the new Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X share the same 7-inch 1080p screen, complete with a 120Hz refresh rate and VRR support.

The Xbox Ally uses a previously unannounced AMD Ryzen Z2 A chip, combined with 16GB of LPDDR5X-6400 RAM and 512GB of M.2 2280 SSD storage. The Xbox Ally X upgrades the chip to AMD’s Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme processor, 24GB of LPDDR5X-8000 memory, and a 1TB M.2 2280 SSD.

The white ROG Xbox Ally ships with AMD’s Ryzen Z2 A processor. Image: Microsoft

The ROG Ally X adds a better AMD processor and impulse triggers. Image: Microsoft

All of these specs make them very similar to Asus’ existing Windows-powered handheld gaming PCs at heart, but there are some much-needed changes to the software side that could make the Windows handheld experience a lot better.

“We know that to take this handheld experience to the next level, we cannot do this alone,” says Shawn Yen, vice president of consumer at Asus, in a briefing with The Verge, admitting that some gamers have found it “frustrating and confusing” to navigate Windows with joysticks and button until now.

Microsoft and Asus have been collaborating closely on these two new Xbox Ally devices over the past year, and Yen says Microsoft and Asus “share a joint obsession” on these new handhelds.

That joint obsession includes Microsoft making good on its promise to combine “the best of Xbox and Windows together,” thanks to a new Xbox full-screen experience on Windows that’s designed specifically for handhelds. Not only can the Xbox Ally devices boot directly to this interface, but the companies claim you can easily get back to it using a new dedicated Xbox button on these handhelds, much like an Xbox console.

Microsoft doesn’t load the full Windows desktop or a bunch of background processes in this full-screen Xbox experience, putting Windows firmly in the background and freeing up more memory for games. Instead, you launch straight into the Xbox PC app, which includes all of your PC games from the Microsoft Store, Battle.net, and what Microsoft calls “other leading storefronts.”

The Xbox Ally with the new full-screen Xbox experience on Windows. Image: Microsoft

This aggregated gaming library means you’ll see games from Xbox, Game Pass, and all your PC games installed from Steam, Epic Games Store, and elsewhere in a single interface, much like what the GOG launcher offers. Earlier this week, we started seeing parts of this unified library appear in the Xbox PC app, and Microsoft says you’ll be able to access your full Xbox console library through Xbox Cloud Gaming or Remote Play to an Xbox console.

The idea is that you should be able to seamlessly launch any game you own, whether it’s actually installed on your handheld, streaming from your Xbox Series X over home Wi-Fi, or streaming from the cloud, though we have yet to try that ourselves.

Microsoft has also made some additional tweaks to the Xbox PC app and Game Bar to make this all more handheld-friendly, including the ability to log in via the Windows lockscreen with your controller, no touchscreen taps required. You’ll also be able to use this handheld-friendly Game Bar interface to easily launch apps like Discord, or alt-tab between apps and games, or adjust settings without having to fiddle with the touchscreen. You can read all about all the Windows changes in my deep dive look at this new Xbox PC experience right here.

These two Xbox Ally devices also have Xbox-like contoured grips. It’s as if Microsoft and Asus have taken an Xbox controller and squeezed a screen between the grips, similar to what Sony did with its PlayStation Portal. The grips have been designed like this to make it easier to wrap your hands around the entire controls, so you access all the buttons and triggers.

The Xbox Ally X even has impulse triggers like all modern Xbox controllers, so you’ll feel things like terrain of roads during racing games or the impact of bullets in a shooter, all thanks to the haptics on the triggers. Asus is also using a USB-C 4 connector that supports Thunderbolt 4 on the more powerful Xbox Ally X, offering the possibility of connecting a powerful external GPU to it, alongside a single USB-C 3.2 port and a UHS-II microSD card reader. The Xbox Ally uses two USB-C 3.2 ports instead.

The ABXY buttons on the Xbox Ally X. Image: Microsoft

Microsoft and Asus aren’t providing any benchmarks or a real sense of performance for these handhelds yet, and both use chips we haven’t tested. But interestingly, they appear to be focusing on battery life this time around.

“For this generation the most important thing to us is efficiency. Efficiency is our new superpower,” says Yen. “The games will be able to play cooler and quieter, and at the same time offer you a longer battery life for gameplay.” AMD told us in January that the Z2 Extreme would be both its most powerful and most efficient handheld chip yet, while the Z2 A is rumored to be based on the Steam Deck’s less powerful but battery-sipping Van Gogh-based chip.

Importantly, the Xbox Ally is using a 60Wh battery, 50 percent larger than the pack that shipped in the original ROG Ally, while the more powerful Xbox Ally X uses an 80Wh battery, tied with the Ally X and the largest you can find in a handheld today. The Windows tweaks may also improve battery, with Microsoft claiming it’s already seeing one-third of the drain when these Xbox Full Screen Experience systems are idle and asleep.

If you want extra performance, you’ll also be able to dock these Xbox Ally devices to Asus’ XG mobile device that offers up an RTX 5090 laptop GPU to overhaul how games play on these handheld devices.

These new Xbox Ally handhelds will launch during the holiday season later this year, and Microsoft and Asus are planning to share pricing and preorder information in the coming months.





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You Can Launch Steam Games From Xbox Ally’s Native Dashboard
Game Updates

You Can Launch Steam Games From Xbox Ally’s Native Dashboard

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Earlier today Game Informer visited an invite-only press event to play with the ROG Xbox Ally X, one of two gaming handhelds Microsoft is bringing to market this holiday. The handheld is weighty and ergonomically satisfying, but my favorite discovery is that players can launch Steam games natively from the Xbox dashboard.

The game library, which players may access at any time by pressing its dedicated button on the handheld, features all your titles regardless of which platform you own them on. A discrete label beneath the game’s title denotes which storefronts they belong to. Furthermore, you can quickly access third-party storefronts like Steam and Epic Games Store by pressing the Ally’s Xbox button, which launches the Windows Game Bar, and selecting the desired application just beneath your recently played games. 

“Our new aggregated library lets you quickly access all of your games. Because this is Windows, you can launch and play natively, both your games from Xbox as well as other leading PC storefronts,” Roanne Sones, head of Xbox devices, says. “You can also stream your console games through cloud gaming or remote play. So what this means is that your library, including hundreds of Game Pass games and all of your installed games from third-party storefronts, is all in one place for you, ready to play on your Xbox Ally through remote play gaming or natively on the device.” 

Many questions remain, including whether Microsoft tracks data to unlock Xbox achievements while playing a game from another storefront like Steam or Epic Games Store. We’ve reached out to an Xbox representative for comment. 



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

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

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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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Xbox handheld, Resident Evil Requiem and more
Gaming Gear

Xbox handheld, Resident Evil Requiem and more

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It’s early June, which means it’s time for a ton of video game events! Rising from the ashes of E3, Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest is now the premium gaming event of the year, just inching ahead of… Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards in December. Unlike the show it replaced, Summer Game Fest is an egalitarian affair, spotlighting games from AAA developers and small indies across a diverse set of livestreams. SGF 2025 includes 15 individual events running from June 3-9 — you can find the full Summer Game Fest 2025 schedule here — and we’re smack dab in the middle of that programming right now.

We’re covering SGF 2025 with a small team on the ground in LA and a far larger group of writers tuning in remotely to the various livestreams. Expect game previews, interviews and reactions to arrive over the coming days (the show’s in-person component runs from Saturday-Monday), and a boatload of new trailers and release date announcements in between.

Through it all, we’re collating the biggest announcements right here, with links out to more in-depth coverage where we have it, in chronological order.

Epic hitched its wagon to SGF this year, aligning its annual developer Unreal Fest conference, which last took place in the fall of 2024, with the consumer event. The conference was held in Orlando, Florida, from June 2-5, with well over a hundred developer sessions focused on Unreal Engine. The highlight was State of Unreal, which was the first event on the official Summer Game Fest schedule. Amid a bunch of very cool tech demos and announcements, we got some meaningful updates on Epic’s own Fortnite and CD PROJEKT RED’s upcoming The Witcher IV.

The Witcher IV was first unveiled at The Game Awards last year, and we’ve heard very little about it since. At State of Unreal, we got a tech demo for Unreal Engine 5.6, played in real time on a base PS5. The roughly 10-minute slot featured a mix of gameplay and cinematics, and showed off a detailed, bustling world. Perhaps the technical highlight was Nanite Foliage, an extension of UE5’s Nanite system for geometry that renders foliage without the level of detail pop-in that is perhaps the most widespread graphical aberration still plaguing games today. On the game side, we saw a town filled with hundreds of NPCs going about their business. The town itself wasn’t quite on the scale of The Witcher III‘s Novigrad City, but nonetheless felt alive in a way beyond anything the last game achieved.

It’s fair to say that Fortnite‘s moment in the spotlight was… less impressive. Hot on the heels of smooshing a profane Darth Vader AI into the game, Epic announced that creators will be able to roll their own AI NPCs into the game later this year.

Another company getting a headstart on proceedings was Sony, who threw its third State of Play of the year onto the Summer Game Fest schedule a couple days ahead of the opening night event. It was a packed stream by Sony’s standards, with over 20 games and even a surprise hardware announcement.

The most time was given to Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new PlayStation Studios tag fighter that fuses Marvel Superheroes with anime visuals. It’s also 4 versus 4, which is wild. It’s being developed by Arc System Works, the team perhaps best known for the Guilty Gear series. It’s coming to PS5 and PC in 2026. Not-so-coincidentally, Sony also announced Project Defiant, a wireless fight stick that’ll support PS5 and PC and arrive in… 2026.

Elsewhere, we got a parade of release dates, with concrete dates for Sword of the Sea (August 19) Baby Steps (September 8) and Silent Hill f (September 25). We also got confirmation of that Final Fantasy Tactics remaster (coming September 30), an an all-new… let’s call it aspirational “2026” date for Pragmata, which, if you’re keeping score, was advertised alongside the launch of the PS5. Great going, Capcom!

Rounding out the show was a bunch of smaller announcements. We heard about a new Nioh game, Nioh 3, coming in 2026; Suda51’s new weirdness Romeo is a Dead Man; and Lumines Arise, a long-awaited return to the Lumines series from the developer behind Tetris Effect.

There were absolutely no Summer Game Fest events scheduled on Thursday. We assume that’s out of respect for antipodean trees, as June 5 was Arbor Day in New Zealand. (It’s probably because everyone was playing Nintendo Switch 2.)

It’s fair to say that previous Summer Game Fest opening night streams have been… whelming at best. This year’s showing was certainly an improvement, not least because there were exponentially fewer mobile game and MMO ads littering the presentation. Yes, folks tracking Gabe Newell’s yacht were disappointed that Half-Life 3 didn’t show up, and the Silksong crowd remains sad, alone and unloved, but there were nonetheless some huge announcements.

Perhaps the biggest of all was the “ninth” (Zero and Code Veronica erasure is real) Resident Evil game. Resident Evil Requiem is said to be a tonal shift compared to the last game, Resident Evil Village. Here’s hoping it reinvigorates the series in the same way Resident Evil VII did following the disappointing 6.

We also heard more from Sega studio Ryu Ga Gotoku about Project Century, which seems to be a 1943 take on the Yakuza series. It’s now called Stranger Than Heaven, and there’s a (literally) jazzy new trailer for your consideration.

Outside of those big swings, there were sequels to a bunch of mid-sized games, like Atomic Heart, Code Vein and Mortal Shell, and a spiritual sequel of sorts: Scott Pilgrim EX, a beat-em-up that takes the baton from the 2010 Ubisoft brawler Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game.

There were countless other announcements at the show, including:

Day of the Devs: Snap & Grab, Blighted and Escape Academy II

As always, the kickoff show was followed by a Day of the Devs stream, which focused on smaller projects and indie games. You can watch the full stream here.

Escape Academy has been firmly on our best couch co-op games list for some time, and now it’s got a sequel on the way. Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School takes the same basic co-op escape room fun and expands on it, moving away from a level-select map screen and towards a fully 3D school campus for players to explore. So long as the puzzles themselves are as fun as the original, it seems like a winner.

Semblance studio Nyamakop is back with new jam called Relooted, a heist game with a unique twist. As in the real world, museums in the West are full of items plundered from African nations under colonialism. Unlike the real world, in Relooted the colonial powers have signed a treaty to return these items to their places of origin, but things aren’t going to plan, as many artifacts are finding their way into private collections. It’s your job to steal them back. The British Museum is quaking in its boots.

Here are some of the other games that caught our eye:

After Day of the Devs came Devolver. Its Summer Game Fest show was a little more muted than usual, focusing on a single game: Ball x Pit. It’s the next game from Kenny Sun, an indie developer who previously made the sleeper hit Mr. Sun’s Hatbox. Ball x Pit is being made by a team of more than half a dozen devs, in contrast to Sun’s mostly solo prior works. It looks like an interesting mashup of Breakout and base-building mechanics, and there’s a demo on Steam available right now.

Then came IOI, the makers of Hitman, who put together a classic E3-style cringefest, full of awkward pauses, ill-paced demos and repetitive trailers. Honestly, as someone who’s been watching game company presentations for two decades or so, it was a nice moment of nostalgia.

Away from the marvel of a presenter trying to cope with everything going wrong, the show did have some actual content, with an extended demo of the new James Bond-themed Hitman mission, an announcement that Hitman is coming to iOS and table tops, and a presentation on MindsEye, a game from former GTA producer Leslie Benzies that IOI is publishing.

The Wholesome Direct arrived on Saturday, just in time to soothe that weird hangover we all got after the IOI showcase. The Wholesome Direct is a celebration of all things adorable, quaint, peaceful and sweet, and this year included mainstream news about Monument Valley 3 coming to consoles and PC, following a stint as a Netflix exclusive. There was also a release date announcement for the cozy but twisted shop-management sim Discounty, which is about as spooky as the Wholesome Direct ever gets. There’s something sinister about the small town in Discounty, and while we’re still not sure if it’s demons or just the looming specter of capitalism, we know for sure the game is coming to PC, Switch, PS4, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on August 21.

Meanwhile, Omelet You Cook hit Steam during the showcase as a nice little surprise. It’s a game about making eggs for picky students in a cafeteria, and of course pleasing Principal Clucker (who is a chicken, yes). Simply put, it looks delicious. The final game we want to shout out from this year’s Wholesome Direct is Camper Van: Make it Home, a perfect little crossover of interior design mechanics and slightly miniaturized objects, which makes for a super cute experience. It came out during the showcase, and it’s live now on Steam.

There were dozens of other announcements during the 2025 Wholesome Direct stream, and the entire thing is worth a watch. You can do so at your leisure, ideally cuddled up with a blanket and a nice drink, right here.

Saturday was also the time for all of the hyper-specific game streams to shine. We saw the Women-led Games show, Latin American Games Showcase, Southeast Asian Games Showcase, Green Games Showcase and Frosty Games Fest. Party!

The last big event of the weekend was Xbox, which had its usual breathless showcase. The major news, especially for a publication like Engadget, was the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two new Xbox-focused PC handhelds. Internally, they’re a lot like ASUS’ ROG Ally handhelds, but the grips have been smoothed out to feel more like an Xbox controller in your hands.

The software experience is also different. The Xbox Ally handhelds run Windows 11, but in Microsoft’s version of Steam Big Picture mode there’ll be fewer background processes and… just a generally lower overhead compared to regular Windows handhelds. Thankfully, Microsoft isn’t locking things down, as it’ll be able to access other “popular storefronts,” which we’re taking to mean Steam and Epic. The Xbox Ally will be available closer to the holidays, but price is a huge question mark: The ROG Ally costs significantly more than the Steam Deck and Switch 2. Is Microsoft going to subsidize these things, or are they going to cost $600-$800 like ASUS’ own-brand versions?

Side note: A quick screw you to Microsoft for using Hollow Knight: Silksong to show off the new handheld. We’re all starving out here, and this was not helpful. I guess the news that it’ll be playable on day one on the handheld at least narrows down the release date to “between now and whenever this thing comes out.”

Less of a surprise was Outer Worlds 2, which Microsoft said would be at the show well ahead of time. We got a release date — October 29 — and a deep dive into the game’s new systems. It looks like an expanded title compared to the original, with an improved combat system and a more fleshed out set of companions. We hope to have more on what’s new real soon.

The One More Thing of the show was a new Call of Duty game, Black Ops 7. Truly, when a game comes out every year is it really worth blowing your one more thing on? If only Microsoft had an Xbox-branded handheld to show off, that would’ve been a really cool note to end the show!

Here are the other bits and pieces worth reading about from the Xbox show:

Paralives has been in the works for what feels like forever, but you’ll be able to play it this year: It enters early access on December 8. The indie take on The Sims looks charming as all hell in its latest trailer, and I can’t wait.

Blippo+ has been a great distraction since it launched with Playdate season 2, and we found out Sunday that it’ll be coming to more platforms soon — in full color, no less! It’ll arrive on PC and Nintendo Switch in fall 2025.

Now you’re all caught up. There’s just one event on Monday, and it’s the Black Voices in Gaming showcase. It starts at noon ET, and we’ve embedded the steam below for your viewing pleasure.



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