Xbox CEO Asha Sharma denied that Microsoft plans to sell its gaming division, saying Xbox is not for sale. The division has laid off 268 staff in the second of multiple rounds of cuts this financial year and has consolidated studios under a small number of arms led by bosses from Activision and Bethesda. Xbox said it is now roughly three-quarters of the way through the cuts and studio divestitures.
Eurogamer reports that staff at The Coalition, the studio behind Gears of War: E-Day, fear being laid off right after the game's release. Sources said Xbox's layoff of story director Juan Vaca last week was demoralising, and that employees now expect another wave of cuts or a reorganisation under Activision later this year. Some staff worry they could miss a contracted bonus tied to Metacritic scores if they are laid off before the payout expected near the end of October, though the report says recently laid-off staff should still receive it if targets are met. Microsoft declined to comment.
Code Wizards Group has appointed Catherine Bygrave as head of commercial; she previously served as business development director at Sumo Games and spent a decade at Activision working on Call of Duty and Destiny. Michał Platkow-Gilewski has been promoted to VP of global communications and marketing at CD Projekt Red. Other moves include Daniel Smith joining Playground Games as executive producer, Gero Micciché becoming lead producer at 2K and Hangar 13 Games, and Bloober Team appointing Tymon Smektala as executive producer of Broken Mirror Games.
Ubisoft announced this week that it is expanding Massive Entertainment's remit, folding its Creative House 2 studios into the brand so Massive now oversees the Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell franchises and multiple studios worldwide. Ubisoft also revealed that Massive is working on an original game called March of Giants, with no further details beyond its name. The move makes Massive a second multi-franchise subsidiary alongside Vantage Studios, which was formed after a €1.16bn Tencent investment to oversee Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six, and follows several rounds of layoffs during Ubisoft's restructuring.
Eurogamer spoke to multiple anonymous staff at Gears of War: E-Day developer The Coalition who fear being laid off shortly after the game's release and missing out on Metacritic-linked bonuses. The bonus requires employees to be full-time at the payout date, which studio leadership said should be near the end of October; it remains unclear whether current staff laid off right after launch would receive it. The report follows Microsoft's 3,200 gaming job cuts and a further round of at least 268 roles, and Xbox declined to comment.
Playstack CEO and founder Harvey Elliott has been appointed chair of UKIE, succeeding Ustwo Games CEO Maria Sayans, who held the role since 2024. Steel City Interactive named Murray Pannell as head of publishing, where he will lead publishing efforts for Undisputed 2. Michał Platkow-Gilewski was promoted to VP of global communications and marketing at CD Projekt Red.
Sony is now selling the Lego Astro Bot set as a standalone purchase on the PlayStation Direct store for $24.99 / £17.99 plus shipping, with PlayStation Plus subscribers getting 5% off. The 276-piece set stands around 8 inches high on its included stand, with movable head and arms and eyes that swap between round and half-moon shapes. Previously the Lego Astro Bot was only available as a gift-with-purchase promotion for spending over $150 / £135 on the Lego website.
Nintendo has officially shut down its free-to-play mobile game Mario Kart Tour, with players greeted by a notice confirming the service has ended and a thank-you message, plus a final report summarizing player data. The game launched on 25th September 2019 and, per AppMagic estimates, was downloaded over 276 million times and earned around $268.5 million, with US players accounting for 39% of lifetime revenue. Nintendo said in an official FAQ that there are no plans for an offline version.
Nintendo officially shut down its free-to-play mobile game Mario Kart Tour this week. According to market intelligence platform AppMagic, the title launched on 25th September 2019 and is estimated to have been downloaded over 276 million times and earned around $268.5 million, with US players accounting for 39% of lifetime in-app purchase revenue. Nintendo said in an official FAQ that there are no plans for an offline version.
The 3i Plan October showcase has revealed a lineup of 32 games, including released titles such as Dave the Diver, Chained Together, Brotato and Risk of Rain 2, plus upcoming games like Among Us Story: On Guard, Pony Island 2: Panda Circus, The Talos Principle 3 and Stronghold 4. The showcase will also debut 8 brand-new games from independent studios including Amanita Design (Machinarium) and Strange Scaffold (I Am Your Beast). It will stream globally and simultaneously on Bilibili at 24:00 on October 8, i.e. midnight on October 9.
Polygon's Point It Out! show features Oli Welsh discussing Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's decision to gut the Halo team and move the Halo franchise to Activision.
A preliminary summary from Japan's Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) says 85.8 percent of Japanese game developers are actively using generative AI in their work, up from 51 percent in last year's report. The survey drew 1,349 developer responses at CEDEC, covering asset generation and general admin tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot, with 63 percent of users reporting daily use. In CESA's survey of member companies, 74 percent said they have policies on generative AI use, and only 12 companies used it for visual assets; the full report is due in December.
The new CEO of Microsoft's gaming group said Xbox is not for sale, pushing back on rumors and speculation. The division has seen thousands of layoffs and the breakup of Xbox Game Studios this year, and the company divested from four studios and canceled projects.
Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi Suda announced that the studio is splitting from NetEase Games and will move forward as an independent developer. Suda said the decision followed the completion of the action adventure game Romeo Is A Dead Man and thorough discussions with NetEase Games. The No More Heroes developer was acquired by NetEase Games in 2021 and had been part of the company for five years.
Dutch police arrested a 24-year-old Amsterdam man on September 28 in connection with an investigation into ShinyHunters, the hacking group the FBI says breached Rockstar earlier this year. After Rockstar refused to pay, the group published stolen data showing GTA Online generates more than $1m a day. Reuters named the suspect as Pepijn van der Stap, an offensive cybersecurity lead at Neo Security; the group denies the allegations and accuses Dutch police of incompetence.
Ubisoft has renamed its Creative House 2 business unit as Massive Entertainment, adopting the 29-year-old brand of the Swedish studio behind The Division. The unit covers Tom Clancy's The Division, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell plus new original IP including March of Giants, with development teams in Montreal, Paris, Sweden and Toronto operating under the Massive Entertainment brand. Massive Entertainment is led by General Manager Christoph Hartmann, who joined in June from Amazon Game Studios.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told The New York Times that Xbox is not for sale and said the company will do whatever it takes to succeed, looking at the right partnerships and operating model. Xbox began a corporate reset this year that plans to cut 3,200 jobs before next summer, with Double Fine, Compulsion Games and Undead Labs going independent while Ninja Theory and Arkane remain uncertain. This month Xbox moved the entire Halo series to Activision, shifted Rare and World's Edge under the Call of Duty publisher, and placed Obsidian Entertainment within Bethesda.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told the New York Times that "Xbox is not for sale," denying reports that Microsoft was weighing a sale of its gaming business. The Information had reported that Microsoft had not ruled out turning the Xbox brand into a wholly-owned subsidiary, a joint venture, or even selling it. Nearly 2,000 Xbox staff have been cut with more to come this financial year, and Sharma said Xbox still has 500 million players a month while Microsoft targets 1 billion people a day.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told The New York Times that Xbox is not for sale, saying the company will look at the right partnerships and operating model to set itself up for success. Her comments follow analyst predictions that Microsoft could sell Xbox off entirely, with Xbox's profit margin at just 3%. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said Xbox must start pulling its weight under Sharma and praised her cuts as streamlining the division.
Ubisoft Montreal workers in the Ubisoft Workers of Montreal union have launched a petition to preserve hybrid work, gathering more than 300 signatures from Ubisoft employees as of Wednesday. Ubisoft announced in January that it was calling all employees back to the office five days per week alongside layoffs, delays, and studio closures, shortly after securing a $1.25 billion investment from Tencent. Paris-based employees went on strike in response, and Montreal team lead David Michaud-Cromp was put on unpaid leave and fired a week later after commenting publicly on the policy.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma pushed back on speculation that Microsoft could spin off its games division, telling the New York Times that Xbox is not for sale and that the company will look at the right partnerships and operating model. According to the NYT, Xbox now accounts for around 6% of Microsoft's total profits. Sharma took over Xbox in February with no prior video game industry experience; under her, Xbox cut a fifth of its staff this summer, shut down or sold five studios, proposed closing Ninja Theory and cut a further 268 roles last week, while Game Pass subscribers peaked at 34 million before starting to drop. Sharma says Xbox retains 500 million monthly players and wants to expand into Africa, Latin America and South Asia via cloud gaming.
A New York Times profile of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reported that Microsoft's deal for Hideo Kojima's Physint was substantially below what Xbox would typically spend to develop a premium game, and included film and TV rights. Kojima pitched the project to Sharma after Sony canceled the previously PlayStation-exclusive game. Physint still has no release window and is expected after OD, Kojima's next game for Xbox.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told the New York Times that Xbox is not for sale, denying reports that Microsoft could spin out or restructure its gaming division. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praised Sharma's streamlining of the Xbox business on the Sources Podcast and reiterated a focus on big games and new business models to return to growth. Microsoft's Xbox layoffs began this summer with 1,600 jobs affected and another 1,600 planned by the end of its business year, with the second wave about 75% complete this week.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told The New York Times that "Xbox is not for sale," adding the company will do "whatever it takes" to set itself up for success through the right partnerships and operating model. Microsoft executives also told the paper that speculation about a potential Xbox sale has always existed but never materialized, and Sharma said there's a "long way to go with Microsoft" with a "long-term view."
Grasshopper Manufacture has announced it has parted ways with parent company NetEase and is once again an independent developer. NetEase acquired the studio in 2021 but has since pulled back from investments, closing studios and withdrawing funding from major projects. CEO Goichi Suda said the decision followed thorough discussions with NetEase Games and with their cooperation, and that the studio continues to value the relationship.
Sony Group has announced it will not attend CES 2027, with a company spokesperson saying its business focus is shifting toward entertainment, IP and technology that supports creators. Sony has exhibited at CES since the first show in 1967 and used the event to reveal the PlayStation 5 name and the PlayStation Now streaming service. At this year's CES Sony had no standalone booth, while its joint venture with Honda showed the Afeela EV, a project the two companies said earlier this year they would reassess.
Gcores' weekly roundup covers the week's news: Bungie announced that all vaulted Destiny 2 content will return, and Microsoft's Xbox cut another 268 jobs, with Halo handed to Activision while Rare and World's Edge move under Activision and Obsidian under Bethesda, leaving Xbox Game Studios with only three direct studios. Gears of War: E-Day narrative director Juan Vaca was laid off two weeks before release, with the game's future tied to its commercial performance; Build A Rocket Boy, developer of MindsEye, entered bankruptcy proceedings; TGS 2026 cancelled its final public day due to a typhoon; and Pokemon Pokopia won the Japan Game Awards 2026 Grand Award, with Masahiro Sakurai announcing this year's Game Designers Award will be the last.
Dutch national police confirmed on September 28 that they arrested a 24-year-old man from Amsterdam after investigating the hacking group ShinyHunters. Reuters reported the man is Pepijn van der Stap, offensive cybersecurity lead at Amsterdam-based Neo Security, and the FBI claims he has been one of ShinyHunters' leaders since 2025; the group is accused of breaching Rockstar Games in April and leaking data showing GTA Online makes over a million dollars a day. ShinyHunters denied Van der Stap was involved, while FBI Cyber Division assistant director Brett Leatherman urged the group's remaining members to surrender.
Amid concerns that Microsoft's layoffs and restructuring are a prelude to selling or spinning off Xbox, Xbox chief Asha Sharma told The New York Times that Xbox is not for sale. The Information previously reported internal Microsoft discussions about spinning Xbox off, whether through a sale, a standalone subsidiary or a joint venture. Sharma said Microsoft's gaming business has a long way to go and that the company will take a long-term view.
Grasshopper Manufacture announced it is separating from NetEase Games to become an independent studio again. CEO Goichi 'Suda51' Suda said the release of Romeo is a Dead Man earlier this year led the studio to consider its future direction and to want to deliver titles in a wider variety of styles, with the decision reached after discussions and cooperation with NetEase. NetEase acquired the studio from GungHo Online Entertainment in 2021 for an undisclosed sum; Grasshopper had been part of the GungHo Group since 2013 and was founded by Suda in 1998.
Zynga founder Mark Pincus said on the Deconstructor of Fun podcast that he and Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen agreed to an all-cash acquisition of Supercell for $400 million in 2012. The deal fell through after Zynga's board refused, saying it wanted him to prove he could manage what he already had, following the failure of the OMGPop acquisition. Pincus added that a year later Supercell made $500 million in net profit.
Grasshopper Manufacture has split from NetEase Games.