I’m sure it needs no recap at this point, but Halo Studios is no more. Well, mostly no more, as the studio has reportedly been left with just 20 or so employees, while Activision has now taken on the mantle of responsibility for Halo.

Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, @Mr_Rebs_, a prominent leaker within the Halo community, has spoken out about what he alleges Halo Studios had planned for the franchise’s future. Despite my grievances with Halo Studios and its poor management of the franchise, one of these plans actually doesn’t sound too bad.

However, given the letdown of Campaign Evolved, I personally have very little faith that Halo Studios could have seen these ideas through. So, without further ado, let’s dive into it.

According to Rebs, Halo Studios was reportedly working on Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, as well as Halo 7. However, these projects were apparently still years away.

More interesting to me, though, is the fourth project: a standalone spin-off campaign based on Halo: First Strike, a genuinely great novel by Eric Nylund.

First Strike, for those unaware, fills in the gaps between Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, which genuinely would have been great to see adapted into a game. Apparently, the project was targeting a release next year, although development was still in its early stages.

Given the state Campaign Evolved was in, I really doubt we would have seen it within that timeframe, especially considering the reported plans to include around five campaign missions alongside a Firefight mode.

The Halo 2 and Halo 3 remakes, though, were almost a given and something we’ve reported on before, with Halo 2 even being teased at the end of Campaign Evolved.

Halo 7 was actually in the conceptual stages, with a concept for the game apparently presented to Matt Booty and other Xbox executives shortly before the recent changes at Halo Studios. According to Rebs, the plan was for Halo 7 to launch with Campaign, PvP, PvE, and Forge from day one.

Of the remaining staff at Halo Studios, Pierre Hintze (Studio Head) does remain, a figure of controversy within the community and according to Rebs, Pierre still has a plan, Rebs states:

If this is the case, I do hope Pierre is unsuccessful in these endeavors; the last thing Halo needs right now is AI slop.

As for the future, there are still a lot of unknowns, and I imagine it will be that way for a while; however, one rumor floating around suggests a reboot of sorts might be on the cards now that the IP is under Activision.

I’m personally happy with the changes being made to Halo. While I do have my reservations regarding Activision, there’s no doubt it has the infrastructure to support an IP as big as Halo.

And while my long-dreamed-of wish to see Halo’s books adapted into games is probably dead for the foreseeable future, I’d still much prefer a future where Halo Studios is no longer making Halo. Because yes, things really were that bad.

If you feel differently about everything, do let me know in the comments. I’ll be sure to respond, and as always, don’t forget to take part in our poll!

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Is it likely? Probably not, but as a Killer Instinct fan, one can hope.

Despite backlash to some aspects of the console, the Xbox One had arguably one of the strongest launch line-ups in the platform's history, with titles like RYSE and Titanfall from first-party, and games like Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag from third. For me, the best launch title was Killer Instinct, however, which revived Rare's classic fighting game for a new era.

Killer Instinct is a combo-heavy fighting game that is easy to play, and difficult to master. Breaking enemy combos with a satisying "C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER" announcer effect elevated the game to its legendary status, atop its violence and creative character line-up.

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PlayStation cornered the fighting game audience pretty hard in the years to follow, landing exclusivity for Street Fighter for a time, alongside other major fighting games.

Killer Instinct struggled to maintain pace, and ultimately fell into maintenance mode not long after, although it had strong post-launch support bringing in fan-favorite fighters alongside various new ones. It even picked up combatants from other Xbox franchises, such as RAAM from Gears of War and the Arbiter from Halo.

Aside from the occasional update and balance change, Killer Instinct has remained largely dormant over the last few years. There is a small team at Xbox who works on maintaining the game, but the player base is miniscule, likely in the dozens rather than hundreds going from Steam stats.

Could it be revived, though? Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon has once again polled users on the state of the fighting game industry, and it's not the first time Boon has spoken about interest in picking up Killer Instinct.

He asked users to vote on which recent fighting game should grab a second chance, including Riot's ill-fated 2XKO, Rumbleverse, Warner Bros' cancelled Smash-clone MultiVersus, and Xbox's dormant Killer Instinct.

As of writing, Killer Instinct leads by a sizeable margin with over 50% of the vote.

Microsoft's gaming portfolio is currently undergoing a lot of upheaval, with Obsidian moved to Bethesda to work on Fallout, and Halo Studios practically shuttered, with the franchise handed off to Call of Duty producers at Activision.

There's probably not a ton of bandwidth at Microsoft right now to explore what a new Killer Instinct might look like ... but what if Warner Bros' studio NetherRealm and Ed Boon's Mortal Kombat team picked up the flag?

Killer Instinct always had huge potential in my view, it was always my personal preferred fighting game. There are major influencers who often advocate for its revival, like Maximilian_Dood.

As a Spinal enjoyer, I still had a ton of fun playing it despite how invariably poor I was at PvP. It would be intriguing to see a Mortal Kombat-style cinematic take on Killer Instinct's lore and universe — which is undeniably intriguing. It's unclear whether or not Warner Bros. would have appetite for involvement here too, given its attempts to turn Mortal Kombat into a viable movie franchise.

There's probably a universe where Killer Instinct could be revived as a high-quality fighting game, with a cinematic single player experience, with franchising potential into TV and movies. You could draft characters from Blizzard games, or Fallout, and beyond too ... alas, it's probably unlikely.

Still, it's fun to dream, no? What IF?

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Rumors about Xbox's deal with Hideo Kojima's upcoming "Action Espionage" title have been swirling recently.

Xbox is undergoing "restructuring" over the past few weeks, leading to thousands of layoffs and staff reductions in the form of divestitures. Microsoft's new gaming CEO Asha Sharma has made no secret of the intent to focus on big-name franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, and less time on smaller projects like those produced by Double Fine or Compulsion — both of whom are now fully independent teams. Existing studios like Obsidian have been moved to be closer to the Fallout franchise for example, and Halo Studios itself was recently shuttered (in essence) with the franchise handed off to Call of Duty publisher Activision.

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There have been some questions about the timing of Xbox's announcement in partnership with Hideo Kojima's "PHYSINT," as a result. With some (erroneously) speculating that the closures have been designed to fund Kojima's long-awaited return to the espionage genre. Metal Gear Solid is arguably among the top 5 (or maybe even top 3) most legendary franchises of all time. To get the spiritual successor to that on Xbox is a pretty huge coup, considering it was originally announced by PlayStation.

But uh, is this project going to cost almost half a billion dollars? And did it lay off thousands in order to do it? The answer is "no," trusted and verified sources tell me.

Speaking on his podcast, Chris Dring of The Game Business reported that Xbox's budget for PHYSINT is at $400 million. He has since walked back the claim after Bloomberg's Jason Schreier poured cold water on the figure.

I was told similarly by first-hand sources with direct knowledge of the contracts that the figure for PHYSINT is far lower than what is being reported here. It has been suggested to me that the "$400 million" figure is potentially what Sony and PlayStation might've been on the hook for until they cancelled the deal. Xbox and Kojima are building towards their Xbox projects on a "fraction" of this reported figure.

I'm told Xbox negotiated a deal with Kojima Productions that includes both movie and TV licenses for PHYSINT, and it also included enhanced terms for OD — Kojima's anticipated atmospheric horror game for Xbox.

We're seeing a more thrifty Xbox, and a more thrifty AAA industry in general

There has been a lot of discussion about budgets in recent years. Some estimates suggest Grand Theft Auto 6 has had a budget upwards of a billion dollars, for example. Developers from the likes of Saber Interactive, Remedy, and Bloober Team have all commented on building AAA-grade experiences on budgets in the tens of millions, rather than hundreds of millions.

Game development in the United States has become incredibly expensive. I'm told part of this revolves around salary competition for AI-adjacent software engineering disciplines, that often share cross-over hiring processes and salary scales with gaming companies. The closer you are to an AI development hub (like Microsoft HQ in Redmond, WA), the greater the competition for salaries becomes ... making game development potentially unviable from a purely fiscal perspective in some regions.

Microsoft has been exploring outsourcing in Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, and other regions where game development is more "affordable" to that end. PHYSINT might have spendy Hollywood actors tied to the project, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has quite loudly stated goals around cost-saving and cost-cutting.

Movies and TV shows are also becoming an increasingly crucial tool for both marketing and offsetting costs for gaming projects. Selling the rights to streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime can feed back into game development budgets, and creates a symbiotic marketing beat (if indeed, the content is actually good). Given Kojima's penchant for cinematic games, PHYSINT should be at least one project that pays dividends if everything is executed well.

... I suspect Xbox will have to give Kojima more flexibility than they may want to if they do want the game to hit that coveted quality bar.

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It's that time of year again. A chill in the air, pumpkin lattes on repeat, and Minecraft Live, of course! Today we got a first look at new Minecraft content, including Minecraft Dungeons 2, launching on September 29.

Here's everything announced at this year's Minecraft Live.

Deep dive into Minecraft Dungeons 2

Ahead of next week's launch, the development team gave us an extensive look at what is coming in Minecraft Dungeons 2. The sequel features a bigger, interconnected world with expanded combat, deeper character customization and better multiplayer.

The segment also spotlighted the Sift, a mysterious new dimension with distinct environments, inhabitants, dangers, and gameplay. Developers shared insights into the creative process of designing and introducing an entirely new dimension to the universe.

The Fourth Dimension: The Sift coming in 2027

The Sift isn't just for Minecraft Dungeons 2 players, it's officially coming to Minecraft Java and Bedrock editions in 2027.

This will be a huge milestone for Minecraft as it's the first new dimension added in over 14 years joining the Overworld, The Nether and The End as places for the player to discover and explore.

Yep, that statement made me feel ancient too, and I felt like the Nether was much more recent, but it was actually added in 2010 and just updated in mid-2020. This is legitimately the first brand new dimension in over a decade!

Ice Caves, new zombies and new combat mechanics

Mojang teased the next upcoming vanilla game drop too, as we were shown around the Ice Caves, an all-new, rare underground extension of cold biomes filled with glowing ice crystals.

The ice crystals can be placed both vertically and horizontally for building and decoration, or even as just a light source.

We also got a whole new mob! The frozen zombie if encountered will apply a stacking freezing affect to the player with melee attacks, and he throws ice balls that deal knockback. Normal zombies can also become Frozen variants if exposed to powder snow.

Ice balls are dropped upon the death of a Frozen Zombie, or can be crafted by players and used as a weapon to deal damage and knockback, or brewed into an ice cold freezing potion!

Minecraft coming to Nintendo Switch 2

Such an absolute no brainer I'm surprised it isn't already there, but Minecraft is officially launching on Nintendo Switch 2 on October 27, 2026 with enhanced performance and visuals.

Merlin Entertainment revealed the Minecraft Hotel and Rollercoaster

I've been excited about the upcoming Minecraft-themed park in the UK since it was announced, but beyond some concept art, we haven't seen much detail, especially given its 2027 opening date.

Well today Minecraft Live showed us something to really get excited about, with these two major additions to the Chessington World of Adventures based park. There's going to be a Minecraft Hotel, and the official name of the resort's new rollercoaster is "Escape the Nether."

I'm planning to be there the minute this place opens, as my son is going to lose his mind, and we missed out on the London Minecraft experiences. I've got high hopes for this theme park; don't let me down, Merlin!

Sound effect packs and new creator platform

During the stream, Jens Bergenström (Chief Creative Officer at Mojang Studios) announced a new initiative to build a richer, more accessible, and more diverse Minecraft experience through an evolving creator platform.

Additionally, Mojang introduced Sound Effects Packs for the Minecraft Marketplace, giving players brand-new tools to customize their worlds and bring their creations to life later this year.

And that's a wrap on Minecraft Live 2026

Minecraft fans should be happy with all of those updates, but if not, let me know what you were hoping for in the comments below!

Don't forget there is an ongoing Wilderness Bound Community Challenge where players can earn exclusive character creator items and Java skins simply by placing cushions and a straw bed in-game; full details are here.

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I know, I know. It’s a bold statement, and before you rush to the comments, let me explain myself. You’ve likely all heard the news by now. Halo Studios may be whittled down to as few as 20 employees, with the franchise hoisted under the Activision umbrella and a new team created to take over the mantle of responsibility. It is genuinely devastating that well over 200 people were impacted by this move and are now out of work.

Despite how painful it has been to be a Halo fan over the past 15 years, we should still show compassion and kindness to those impacted by these decisions because, at the end of the day, we’re all human. "Genuinely devastating" is also how I’d describe Halo itself, at least in its current state.

It’s no secret that 343 Industries, and later Halo Studios, struggled to capture what made Halo truly fantastic, with each game suffering from glaring launch issues or missing features. Despite this, I find it a little unfair for 343i/Halo Studios to shoulder all the blame. I imagine Microsoft itself played a heavy role in how poorly the franchise was handled and mismanaged, even going as far back as the Bungie days.

Can it really get any worse?

This begs the question of whether Activision is actually the right choice here. If we look at Call of Duty, it’s fair to be concerned that Halo won’t be treated much better there either. However, I believe the franchise is at such an unbelievable low point that Activision is a better bet for Halo’s future than another game developed under Halo Studios, and I will explain why.

We know Halo Studios relied heavily on contract work to finish Halo: Campaign Evolved, if you could even call it finished. Due to this outsourcing, I'd argue that Halo: Campaign Evolved is among the worst ways to experience the first Halo game, second only to Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Like Campaign Evolved, the Anniversary edition takes creative liberties that I believe ruin the experience for returning fans and do the original a disservice for first-time Halo players.

Don’t get me wrong, though, Campaign Evolved isn’t awful. It still tells the same story as the original, so it isn’t all bad, and I enjoyed the updated visuals and even some of the changes to levels, but that’s mostly where my positives end.

Campaign Evolved suffers from worse cutscenes, awkward pacing, poorly directed voice-overs, and an experience that feels like it was worked on by 2,000 people who barely communicated with one another. That said, I’d still give the campaign itself a solid 7/10 because, despite my problems with it, I had fun.

Ironically, it feels as though the Helldivers 2 x Halo ODST crossover did more for Halo than a remake of the original game. If you’re at a point where crossovers in other games based on titles that predate your studio are better received than your actual games, then something clearly needs to change.

The prequel missions killed any hope I had

Halo Studios developed three new missions that take place before the events of Halo: Campaign Evolved. However, in almost every way possible, they fail to deliver anything meaningful to Halo’s lore. Instead, they wasted what should have been an opportunity for Halo Studios to show that it understood Halo and could carry the franchise forward.

What we got instead turned into an experience I can only describe as possibly the worst story told within a Halo game, right up there next to Halo 5. Allow me to paint a better picture of what we could have had.

Instead of Master Chief and Sgt. Johnson meandering around a Covenant ship, imagine three missions spliced throughout the campaign following Thel 'Vadam, the Arbiter, as he desperately tries and ultimately fails to stop Master Chief from destroying Halo.

Not only would that have given us a far more interesting perspective on the events of the first game, but it could have perfectly led into Halo 2. Instead, we got a barely memorable experience that feels like a huge missed opportunity.

That brings me back around to why I believe Activision is a better option than what we were currently looking at for Halo’s future. The franchise is at a point where, despite enjoying Halo since 2001, I would now rather see the publisher responsible for Call of Duty make a Halo game.

I genuinely don’t see how things could get much worse than they already are.

Yes, I am aware Call of Duty’s battle passes are awful, and skill-based matchmaking is also awful. But I will also remind people that Halo Infinite required you to pay $10 to color your Spartan white and already has skill-based matchmaking as strict as Call of Duty, except with a player base not even a fraction of the size.

Why Activision might actually make sense

Seeing the word Activision rightfully invokes a sense of doom. However, the company has also consistently managed to ship enormous Call of Duty games on an annual basis, with the franchise regularly sitting among the best-selling games each year.

Despite yearly Call of Duty releases becoming stale, it’s fair to say that Activision operates a well-oiled machine with seemingly no signs of letting up. Unlike 343i/Halo Studios, which often struggled to get games out of the door, Activision has repeatedly demonstrated that it can coordinate enormous titles across multiple studios and actually ship them.

We’re talking about an operation capable of juggling huge campaigns, multiplayer, progression systems, live-service content, PC support, console support, backend infrastructure, and multiple studios all working alongside one another.

Somehow, it still gets a Call of Duty game out of the door every single year. Whether every single one of those games is good is another question entirely. Again, there’s no denying that Activision knows how to organize and ship enormous FPS projects.

That’s the biggest thing that gives me hope here, especially when Halo has repeatedly struggled to simply have everything ready at launch. Halo Infinite launched without campaign co-op or Forge; Halo 5 also shipped without Forge, and even Halo: The Master Chief Collection famously launched in an absolutely terrible state.

So, having a company that has consistently managed projects of this scale does at least sound appealing on paper. It’s also important not to get caught up in the fact that it’s Activision.

They are reportedly creating a completely new team to head up a Halo project, and I’m hoping we see some old, familiar faces join on board, with the likes of Joe Staten and, of course, Marcus Lehto, who has recently spoken about how he’d love to return to Halo, even posting numerous polls asking fans what they’d like to see from the franchise moving forward.

That new team is probably what gives me the most hope, as it clearly won’t just be Treyarch or Sledgehammer being told to make Halo, or Infinity Ward being pulled away from Call of Duty. Microsoft is effectively building a new Halo team under Activision, which creates an opportunity to bring in people specifically because they want to work on Halo.

A completely new team also means completely new leadership and, hopefully, a clearer creative direction from the very beginning. Activision’s existing technology, production pipelines, QA teams, and general infrastructure could still sit behind that new team without necessarily dictating what Halo itself has to become.

That’s really the important distinction here because I don’t want Call of Duty wearing a Halo skin. What I want is Halo being given access to the kind of development structure that has allowed Call of Duty to consistently ship enormous games year after year, while still retaining what actually makes Halo, well, Halo.

Halo doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel or itself

This really brings me to what I think Halo actually needs moving forward. At this point, I don’t think the franchise needs yet another grand reinvention, although I wouldn’t necessarily be against them rebooting things and picking the story back up after Halo 3.

Halo 4 tried to take the story in a completely different direction, Halo 5 then shifted things again, and Halo Infinite was supposed to become a platform for Halo for years to come. Then, 343 Industries became Halo Studios with the promise that things would change (Spoiler: they didn't). At some point, you really do just need somebody to make a complete Halo game.

Give me a campaign with scoring and timing, split-screen, campaign co-op, Forge, Firefight, Big Team Battle, social modes, custom games, theater, a proper progression system, and a multiplayer suite that actually feels complete when I boot the game up on day one. These shouldn’t feel like ambitious requests either because, for a franchise like Halo, a lot of these things were once simply expected as far back as 2010.

More than anything, I’d also like to see some consistency with the story again. Halo has spent far too long introducing new ideas, setting up villains, establishing plot threads, and then seemingly deciding by the next game that it would rather move on to something else entirely. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23 (though the campaign has an early access period for a week prior to this), and if you're jumping in at launch, then you're going to want to burn through leveling up as fast as possible, right?

Whether you're going down the Classic Prestige route (aka, the proper way) or the other Prestige that doesn't reset your progress and gives fewer rewards, there are a lot of levels to climb through. Then there are the weapons, which, based on the Modern Warfare 4 beta period, will take some time.

What you need to speed this process up is a big stash of 2XP tokens. You've likely already got some if you've been playing Black Ops 7, and they will carry forward to Modern Warfare 4. But you should be at least opening Black Ops 7 every day right now to maximize your gains going into the new game by getting all the free 2XP tokens you can.

Open Black Ops 7 daily, grab the free 2XP tokens and profit

Even if you've stopped actively playing Black Ops 7 now (I know I've been putting some time into Modern Warfare 3 Zombies instead), don't uninstall it.

Instead, open it up every day, and go straight to the Store tab. I don't know if it's actually every day, but it sure feels like it right now, but when you open the game after each daily reset, you'll likely see the message "free" at the top of the screen just under where it says Store.

There could be free Gobblegums, but those won't be any use to you in Modern Warfare 4. But what you do need to do is scroll down a little further and look for the "Free Gift" box.

Whatever this is, claim it. It could be a 2XP token, a 2XP Weapon token, or a 2XP Battle Pass token. All three will carry forward into Modern Warfare 4, but it's the first two in particular that you want to be stocking up on.

Just claim it, but be sure not to press the equip button when you do. This way it'll go into your pile, and you can close the game until the next day. Just rinse and repeat and stock up all the way through to October 22.

Finish the Black Ops 7 Season 06 Battle Pass if you can

None of the weapons or cosmetic items you can get in the Season 06 Battle Pass in Black Ops 7 will be usable in Modern Warfare 4 (though you will be able to use some of these in Warzone).

But the Battle Pass also gives you 2XP and 2XP Weapon tokens, alongside COD Points which also carry forward into Modern Warfare 4.

So, if you can finish the current Battle Pass, you'll get a few more tokens to add into your stash. But obviously for this, you'll have to play the game. I recommend not having auto-redeem turned on so you choose the rewards you claim as you progress.

It'll at least make the process shorter if you're mostly interested in the tokens and the currency since new pages can unlock before you've claimed everything on the current one.

This may all sound a little "duhhhh" to regular players, but it's worth highlighting. Especially as we're in that period where traditionally even those regular players have moved away from the current Call of Duty.

Better still, at least if you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, is that you can claim these tokens even if you haven't played a lick of Black Ops 7. Maybe you skipped this year, but you're coming back for Modern Warfare 4. In that case, why not give yourself a little leg up?

It only takes a couple of minutes to fire up the game, grab any free tokens, and close it again. But it'll certainly help your leveling in Modern Warfare 4.

As will doing it the proper way and going Classic Prestige. Using this track will grant improved XP gains, so you'll be getting higher, faster. Make things easy on yourself; it's the smart thing to do.

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The Division 2's latest expansion, Echoes of Central Park, has finally been fully revealed, and I've been fortunate enough to have an early play test. I dip in and out of The Division 2 these days, but since launch I'm about 1,000 hours deep, and it's been one of my favorite games to play across the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S era.

I've written previously in covering the game that it's a testament to its community and the reaction to said community by the developers that The Division 2 is still getting new content to this day. The original plans would have seen it sunset into maintenance mode long ago.

But a reversal brought new modes and experiences, the Battle for Brooklyn DLC, and now, Echoes of Central Park. With this latest expansion, Massive is taking The Division 2 down a path that we've never walked before. Yes, there's a new map and new locations to explore, but there's also a much darker tone.

If you can get darker than a pandemic that brought civilization to its knees, that is.

Echoes of Central Park is introducing horror elements to The Division 2, and while I have played it, I still don't fully understand where that's leading. But it feels different, and I'm here for it.

This article was produced based on an early playtest of The Division 2: Echoes of Central Park on PC provided by Ubisoft. It was a limited selection of the finished content and has been published specifically without content that could be deemed a spoiler. Nobody at Ubisoft had any input nor saw the content of this article prior to publication.

Central Park is a dark and terrifying location

The premise behind Echoes of Central Park is that once again Division Agents are responding to a distress call. We've been deployed across much of New York City since the start of the first game, but Central Park has always been out of bounds.

I always assumed it would have been used as a mass grave for all the casualties of the Green Poison, and on that front, I seem to have been correct. But there's something else going on in there. Something mysterious and terrifying.

You get a little teaser of it during the introduction mission (and don't worry, this entire article will be spoiler free).

It also adds a narrator for the first time, rather than just other members of The Division or from the settlements in your ear. It feels like it's going to play out like some kind of horror story, and it's built very much in that way.

You don't know what you'll be facing at the end, but again, there are teasers to get the brain matter working during your introduction.

But it seems pretty clear that whatever we're building up to fight against is unlike any other foe we've faced yet in any of The Division series.

Lots of familiarity, but some new mechanics to get to grips with

I've played two of the main missions in the Echoes of Central Park DLC and while I'm not allowed to talk about much of the specifics, I can generalize.

On one hand, everything still feels familiar. The same enemy factions are present, and they're still as irritating as ever (looking at you, Black Tusk and your stupid drones) but the core gameplay loop doesn't seem to be changing too much. There is still a new endgame experience that I haven't seen, too.

What I have enjoyed is that during these missions, there are some new challenges. Considering I was playing on Story difficulty, some of the bosses were far more difficult than I expected. Though it should also be said I was playing with a character provided by Ubisoft, not my own, with maximum stats and a stash of gear built to shred. When I play through again, it might be less stressful.

But there are some mechanics to the boss fights beyond just "this is a seriously tanky enemy" that you need to get your head around. They feel like proper boss fights, which is good. While melting high-level enemies is fun, I want something that's going to test my credentials as a good Division Agent.

You also now, for the first time, have the opportunity to use AI teammates. Your companions have their own respective skillsets that you can also improve upon, but they're also there to deploy alongside you in combat.

Matchmaking has always been pretty good in The Division, and there's rarely been a time when I haven't been able to find a squad to take on more difficult content. But having a little NPC backup certainly doesn't hurt. And I think in Echoes of Central Park we're going to need it.

Echoes of Central Park really does feel like The Division at its very best

I can't pass a full judgment yet, because, like everyone else, I haven't seen the whole thing, and I haven't taken this new darker path to its conclusion.

But what I have played has left me in no doubt that this looks like being the best expansion to The Division 2 to date. It feels familiar enough not to try and reinvent the wheel, but it's going down a different path to the narrative up to this point.

I love that you feel like a superhero saving what's left of humanity as an Agent of The Division. But I love even more that Echoes of Central Park makes you feel vulnerable. Something is going on that we haven't experienced before. It's going to be tough, and it's going to be terrifying.

That hooks you from the first moment, and since I played, I've been racking my brains trying to come up with an idea of what's actually going on. I've got nowhere. But I cannot wait until it releases and I can see where this new, darker story is taking us.

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GameSir controllers have been getting quite a bit of attention of late, including the Tarantula 8K. Much of it is unfounded claims of "cheating" when, in truth, a GameSir controller can be customized in much the same way as many competing pro-grade controllers.

But that's not the topic of discussion for today. The focus is firmly on the GameSir Tarantula 8K, a controller that packs the same sort of spec sheet as more established brands with a far more attractive price.

That's not an exaggeration, either. At $70 right now, the GameSir Tarantula 8K is priced in the same ballpark as Microsoft's limited-edition Xbox 25 controller and runs rings around it. There are caveats; for one, this isn't for console, it's a PC controller, and it's wired. But honestly, I opened the box not knowing what to expect, and it didn't take long to be impressed. The GameSir Tarantula 8K is one of the best controllers I've ever used.

GameSir Tarantula 8K specs

A PlayStation-esque design packed with the latest tech

Gamers who outright don't like the side-by-side analog stick design will for sure be disappointed to see it here. But try to look beyond that, because it's not the defining feature. The overall form factor is very reminiscent of a Sony DualShock, but I think it works well. Especially for smaller hands such as my own.

For the basics, it ticks all the right boxes. The rear buttons are exactly in the right spot, everything is reachable without ever feeling like you're stretching, and all the main controls feel glorious. I also love that those rear buttons can be locked, so if you physically don't want them to press, they won't. You have support for multiple profiles on the controller, but if you quickly want to disable the rear buttons, you can.

The face buttons have mouse switches beneath them so you get a positive response and a satisfying click. The triggers, too, when the stops are engaged, are also mouse switches. This type of tech isn't new to me; I've been using Razer's controllers that take a similar approach. But, again, this is an affordable controller.

There are also a frankly absurd number of customizable buttons on the Tarantula 8K. Besides the two on the back, there are four on the face of the controller and an additional two extra bumper controls, as well as the black part that says "GameSir".

These are in addition to the dedicated start, menu, and capture buttons and the GameSir logo button, which will launch the Xbox Game Bar quick switcher to jump in and out of games and launchers quickly.

Then we get to the sticks (there's no time to catch your breath). As you'd hope on a pro-grade controller, the sticks are TMR, so stick drift is no concern, and they're good. They're smooth, and the stock thumbcaps are nice. I typically go for a concave design, which these are not, but they feel like a hybrid. The edges are textured and raised above a convex surface, and I think it's my new favorite design.

As the name implies, too, the Tarantula 8K supports 8,000 Hz polling, with options to restrict it to 250 Hz, 1,000 Hz, and 4,000 Hz. An 8,000 Hz polling rate is still overkill (at least I think), but it's there. Generally I'm running at 4,000 Hz in Call of Duty (which still seems to be all I play), and overall I've not noticed any difference. But importantly, it feels every bit as fast and responsive as my Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, which is about the best controller I've ever used. High praise for the Tarantula 8K.

Testing that 8,000 Hz claim also bears fruit using the Gamepadla Polling tool to test. It has no problem hitting or getting very close to that magic number connected to a USB 3.2 port on my motherboard.

As when I tested the Razer Wolverine V3 Pro 8K, it's advisable if you have a desktop PC to connect it directly to the motherboard if you're chasing the highest performance. The USB ports on the front of my PC case may say they're USB 3.2, but once again, the controller doesn't report quite the same polling rates connected to these.

A word on the weight, too. It's very light at just 180 g, and that's largely down to an absence of any haptics or rumble motors. If you want vibrations, you have no option at all, but the benefit is that it's an extremely lightweight controller.

As it's targeted at competitive players that typically won't have vibration turned on anyway, I don't see this as a drawback, but if you also dabble in, say, racing games, be aware you won't have any feedback.

Plenty of customization through an easy-to-use app

The software is where the recent talk of "built-in cheats" started coming from, and I've addressed that already in a post. There was a feature originally that interfered with rotational aim assist in Apex Legends, and that has since been removed. And yes, you can get really in the weeds, customize your curves, and extract every last drop of performance from this controller.

But for us average players, it's just nice to have these features, to have customizable profiles, and things we can tweak in an app that doesn't take a degree in computing to understand.

The app is where you set up your customized keybindings; you can tweak how you want the triggers to respond, the lighting, all that jazz. Additionally, if, somehow, there aren't enough buttons on the Tarantula 8K for you, you can use the Shift Layer to add even more.

Importantly, you don't need the app. Once you've set everything up, you can save it to the controller and then use the M button on the rear in conjunction with a direction on the right stick to cycle between your profiles. If you don't want to change anything, you don't ever have to open it once; it'll work right out of the box.

But without using the app, you'll be locked to a 250 Hz polling rate, and you won't be able to update the firmware. So it's worth getting, but it doesn't sit there running in the background or anything. Open it up, make your changes, close it, and go play your games. That simple.

Is there anything not to like about the GameSir Tarantula 8K

The Tarantula 8K is worthy of high praise, but there are still a couple of bits that I'm not so keen on. The first is the grip, because it's not very grippy. It's ever so slightly textured plastic, and it's just enough to get grubby the more you use it, but it doesn't actually feel like it really helps me grip the controller better.

The same applies to the triggers and bumpers. There's the slightest texture, and I don't dislike it, but it also seems like it just gets grubby over providing any real benefit in use.

The extra bumper buttons are also very close to the traditional bumpers. As in close enough to just avoid touching. If you don't want to use these, then you won't see a problem, but for the purposes of testing, I remapped the X button (reload in Call of Duty).

It's a button I typically map to the rear, but since there are only two buttons to use here, I tried the extra right-hand bumper instead. And when I tell you that I've accidentally thrown a grenade instead of reloading my weapon on several occasions, you'll understand why I think they're a little close together.

It's just too easy to press one over the other in the heat of gameplay. Likewise, when I want to throw a grenade, I have on occasion reloaded my weapon instead.

I'd also like an option that isn't orange to choose from for the color. But that's just personal preference.

The GameSir Tarantula 8K puts the industry on notice

When you look at the package GameSir has put together here for $70 it's pretty mindblowing and should put the industry on notice. I'm particularly looking at Xbox here, too, because the standard Xbox controller still sells for a price that is now no longer acceptable for the hardware inside it.

It's inexcusable in 2026 not to at least have Hall Effect sticks in a time when a company like GameSir is pushing out a fully capable professional-grade controller with 8,000 Hz, TMR sticks, mouse switches, and all this goodness, and Xbox is still phoning it in with ancient tech.

I've used GameSir controllers over the years, and the G7 SE was my most recent, and I very much enjoyed it. Once again it was a budget price controller with not-budget specs. The Tarantula 8K is the same story. Right now, there's really nothing more I could expect inside a high-end controller, yet this one is priced like a budget model.

If you're on Xbox, there is a dedicated version of the Tarantula, albeit not exactly the same, and it tops out at 1,000 Hz on PC. Additionally, if you prefer the Xbox-style layout but still want an 8K-capable controller, GameSir has the G7 Pro for you.

GameSir deserves a seat at the table with the likes of Razer and Scuf. The Tarantula 8K is that good, and you should absolutely buy one if you're looking for a competitive controller for PC.

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Amid the latest wave of updates at Xbox, which includes huge bombshells like Halo moving under Activision, we also got word that Obsidian, the developers behind Fallout: New Vegas, Avowed, and The Outer Worlds, are being moved under ZeniMax. For those keeping track, ZeniMax is the parent company of Bethesda, which, of course, all fits under the Xbox umbrella following the 2021 acquisition for $7.5 billion.

We also recently learned that Obsidian would be making a new Fallout game, a project that no doubt will require deep collaboration between both Bethesda and Obsidian. Given that Xbox has owned Obsidian since 2018, I’m genuinely shocked it’s taken this long, but with Asha Sharma’s push to focus more on heavy-hitting IP, I’m glad something is happening, even though it’s five years later than I’d have hoped.

The big question remains, as I’m sure many have seen online, whether Obsidian will lose any and all autonomy under ZeniMax. Bethesda President Jill Braff has come out to clarify that this isn’t the case. In an email obtained by Aftermath, she explains:

"The creative identity and strengths that make Obsidian distinct will remain at the core of their studio and work… Feargus [Urquhart] and the Obsidian leadership team will continue to lead Obsidian, with the studio reporting to me. Bethesda Game Studios will continue to lead the Fallout franchise."

"Together, the teams will build on their longstanding relationship and the early work already underway on a new Fallout project, with more to share in the months ahead. This structure supports the franchise-led model we've been strengthening while keeping accountability for both the studio and the franchise clear."

It’s a relief, I’m sure, for many. However, it’s also just something that we’ll have to wait and see how everything pans out. The Fallout project is very clearly in its early days, and despite Todd Howard refuting claims of any bad blood between Bethesda and Obsidian, I think fans will tread on the side of caution and prefer to see results over words.

Regardless of how you feel, it’s hard to deny that Asha Sharma hasn’t hit the ground running with Xbox. Whilst it’s still early days in her tenure as CEO, I’m personally much more optimistic about the changes we’re seeing, as opposed to those online who believe Xbox is consolidating studios in order to make the likes of ZeniMax and Activision more appealing for sale.

Enough about my thoughts, though. Do let me know how you feel in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Xbox players have long wanted an answer to PlayStation's Platinum Trophy, something to chase that rewards achievement hunters for getting them all.

We're finally getting that, and thanks to some poking around in the latest version of the Xbox app on Windows 11, we've got some new information to go on.

For one, the badge and the sound that plays when it unlocks have now been seen (and heard) for the first time.

I think it looks pretty good. I mean, it's just a little icon, after all, but I think the design is certainly a little fancier than PlayStation's equivalent, which is just a trophy.

Xbox hasn't publicly detailed anything as yet around the Mythic Achievement and its requirements, but it was always assumed we'd be getting something that rewards for completing all the achievements attached to a game.

The folks at XCT.live have been poking around inside the bits of the app we mere mortals never see and appear to have extracted some key bits of information on how the new Mythic Achievement will work. Crucially, it doesn't look to be a fully 100% requirement, isolating any achievements linked to DLC outside of the Mythic unlock process:

"The Xbox app works out Mythic from a group of achievements that it calls BaseGame. The unlock toast says “Unlocked all N achievements in the original game”. The game page has a “Required for Mythic achievement” filter, and it labels every achievement outside the group as “Add-on”. DLC achievements are not in the BaseGame group, so they do not count. The app counts achievements, not Gamerscore. It is not a “100% Gamerscore” reward."

Code in the app indicates that it is not a 100% Gamerscore requirement, either. It counts achievements within the BaseGame group, not the associated Gamerscore. So it sounds like if you start a game that had more achievements added over time, you'll still be able to get the Mythic Achievement by hitting all the original ones, not having to get all of the new ones as well.

Hopefully it's also retroactively applied to games that you've already completed the requirements for. Either way, it looks like it's beginning to gather steam, and hopefully we'll see it for ourselves sooner rather than later.

What's the first game you'll be trying to get the Mythic Achievement for? It's got to be here in time for GTA 6, hasn't it?

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The echo chamber on the internet would have you believe that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was a horrible game. After many hundreds of hours playing, I don't agree with that, at least not entirely. Like most games, it has its good points and its bad points.

But as we're approaching yet another yearly cycle with Modern Warfare 4 arriving next month, once again it's time for opinions to be voiced around how the franchise should become "good" again.

For many, it's a return to the glory days of multiplayer. There are those who believe that Warzone should be completely split off as its own thing, too, and not tied to the yearly release. And plenty more besides.

But on the Warzone front, I agree, and a video I watched by dkdynamite on YouTube takes this idea and applies it to Zombies. There are so many different experiences under Call of Duty these days, but I'm not so sure this approach of making one game to suit everyone is working.

I think it's time that parties from Microsoft/Xbox and Activision get their respective heads together and think long and hard about what the road ahead looks like. I think that road should be a break up of Call of Duty.

Break up Call of Duty? What do you mean?

The traditional core of Call of Duty is the campaign and the multiplayer. As the years have passed, though, Zombies has grown to be a huge part of the game's audience, and of course, there's Warzone. The free-to-play battle royale mode that I personally think has infected too much of the main game.

Using Black Ops 7 as an example, there has been a ridiculous amount of content to play. Beyond the core campaign and multiplayer, there's an extensive Zombies mode, there's Endgame, and there have been limited-time modes and special events across all three, and Warzone is there on the side with its own batch of content.

There are players who will dive into each mode, but it's impossible to do so fully in a year. For many of us, the camo grind and calling card challenges draw us in long enough to complete them, and then we'll go back to our preferred mode.

Zombies players are the best example right now, because after five consecutive Call of Duty releases with Zombies (of some form), Modern Warfare 4 is arriving without. So what's attracting those players to Modern Warfare 4 for the next year? Aside from the campaign, there's a grand total of zero content (at least confirmed for now) of a PvE nature in Modern Warfare 4. DMZ has PvP, with no sign so far of a dedicated PvE mode.

This is why I think it's time to stop the cycle and start breaking apart the various aspects of Call of Duty. Does that mean a standalone Zombies game that runs alongside but is separated from a yearly release or multiple yearly releases? Does that mean Warzone is just Warzone and does its own thing? DMZ getting more than a year of live support and continuing into 2028 or beyond?

Yes to all. I sure wish Black Ops 7 Endgame was getting a second year.

Trying to please everyone pleases no one

Sure, it would require a significant shift and some reorganization, but Call of Duty is owned by Microsoft, one of the biggest companies on the planet.

But the current yearly cycle isn't pleasing anyone. Warzone players are peeved that every year their game gets changed based on whatever that year's main release is. Zombies players now have nothing new until at least next year, or 2028, when Treyarch returns. Multiplayer fans are constantly aggravated by something.

There are so many plates spinning.

There's no way that the yearly release cycle will end, no matter how many of us think it should. The money has to keep rolling in. But I argue that happy players are players who spend money on a game, whatever form that takes.

Call of Duty is big enough that it could be a collection of games, not just one. Give us a new multiplayer every year and a new campaign. But how about a standalone PvE game based on Zombies that lives for multiple years alongside it?

The problem is I feel, and I'm sure I'm not alone, that the cycle and every game is built with the top priority being monetization, not getting people to play and enjoy playing. We saw it with the price increase to Game Pass post-Black Ops 6 and when that didn't work out, the subsequent removal of Call of Duty from being a day-one Game Pass release.

The revenue took a dive because people were jumping in on Game Pass, not paying $80 whether they played it for a week or a year, on top of any additional microtransactions. So it's off Game Pass.

Would it not be better to have more dedicated experiences for players to enjoy for longer? Give teams a focus, time to breathe, and time to work their magic and focus on making and supporting games that players want to play, rather than keep tolerating.

Older Call of Duty games prove this could work

People will stick around. They will keep playing older Call of Duty games. I recently tried Modern Warfare 3 Zombies for the first time in my life, and it's still stacked with players.

Black Ops Cold War is now on Game Pass, which has brought a lot of us back in, but there are plenty who never stopped.

Lest we forget the recent Black Ops and Black Ops 2 ports on PS5. How popular they have been despite their issues.

The point is that a good experience lasts, and players will stick around playing it. So instead of getting to a point where everyone's tired of the current game and goes back to the older ones, how about we just build longer-lasting experiences to begin with? I think part of why the older games still hold up is because we don't really appreciate them until they're in the rearview mirror and we have more time to take it all in.

Don't expect Warzone players to play multiplayer or Zombies. Don't expect either of those two types of players to want to play Warzone. Hell, if casual mode didn't exist, I wouldn't have done the mastery camo. Even then it was 65 hours of misery because I just don't like Warzone. But give each type of player their own bespoke experience.

Give each mode the space, and importantly, the time, to breathe. From the creation to post-launch support.

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Microsoft just revealed another round of "restructures" for Xbox and its game studios, with Ninja Theory, Obsidian, Turn 10, Halo Studios, and others impacted in various ways.

Last July, Microsoft announced it would be looking to reduce its gaming workforce by around 3,200 staffers. Sources suggest that the total figure will fall short of that previous estimate, as Microsoft opts for restructuring and moving employees around to other departments as much as possible.

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One way Microsoft has sought to achieve some of this is via divestitures. Double Fine and Compulsion have both returned to being independent game studios, for example, with the former starting a Kickstarter to fund its next title. Undead Labs of State of Decay fame is also moving to another publisher, although it has not been revealed exactly who this is just yet. Discussions around the future of Arkane are still ongoing.

Unfortunately, Microsoft revealed today that two previous attempts to divest Ninja Theory of Hellblade fame have fallen through. Microsoft has entered into redundancy consultations with the UK government as a result, per local law. Sources say Microsoft is still trying to find a buyer for Ninja Theory and the Hellblade franchise, but it's still looking a bit bleak.

Furthermore, Halo Studios is also looking at major layoffs in the 100s, as Microsoft seeks a major restructure to the way Halo is run.

In its heyday, Halo was a cultural phenomenon. It turbo-charged the Xbox platform, giving Microsoft's incumbent console a strong basis for growth in a market dominated by Nintendo and PlayStation. Halo 2 and 3 sent the platform even higher, and defined a new era of console-oriented first-person shooters. Those times are well and truly behind it, though.

Through years of mismanagement, Halo is now a shadow of its former self. A disastrous TV show, and two previous games that arguably missed the mark in different ways, Halo Studios' most recent outing (yet another remaster of Halo Combat Evolved) also received mixed reviews from fans and critics for various reasons.

Microsoft announced that it is effectively downsizing Halo Studios into the franchise's production and administration arm, and will place stewardship of the franchise under Activision — confirming some vague industry rumors I'd heard over the summer. Microsoft says around 230 roles will be lost as a result.

Exactly which Activision studio will handle Halo going forward remains to be seen, but it's certainly true that Activision's Call of Duty teams have had far more success than Halo Studios has at building broadly appealing live service shooters.

Furthermore, Microsoft is also placing Rare and Sea of Thieves under Activision too, with Obsidian and Grounded moving under ZeniMax to work more closely with Bethesda Softworks on Fallout. World's Edge and the Age of Empires franchise will also move under Activision. Xbox Game Studios will remain as Playground (which is absorbing Turn 10), The Coalition, InXile, and Xbox's publishing arm, handling games like Hideo Kojima's PHYSINT.

A new dawn for Halo?

The job losses at Xbox have been regrettable over the summer, but it's hard to overlook the fact that in order to have a sustainable business ... games need to actually sell. Whether it's small and quirky projects like Keeper or mismanaged live service ops like Halo Infinite, Microsoft hasn't exactly handled its portfolio effectively in recent years. There's less free time and money for gaming among consumers, and more competition than ever, making the stakes higher than they likely were previously.

Microsoft has seen some big success stories. Minecraft is bigger than ever, as is Forza Horizon, Flight Simulator, Age of Empires, and Blizzard has well and truly thrived in its post-Activision era. Microsoft wants to double down on the bigger opportunities like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, building TV and movie adaptations for its bigger properties like Diablo and Overwatch.

There's also a corporate structural issue here that Microsoft is looking to address. Moving some of its game teams out from the Microsoft umbrella also moves employees out from under Microsoft's bureaucracy and corporate structure, potentially reducing overheads and costs.

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Halo Studios' proximity to Microsoft HQ, I've heard, has long been a source of corporate inertia and cost bloating — which is absolutely no fault of the employees working there. Those employees and projects also have to deal with A.I. money inflating wages of software engineering-adjacent professions, making some game projects unsustainable purely on the basis of the A.I. bubble. It's a weird economy right now.

As for Halo and other games, it remains to be seen if the restructure will actually lead to higher quality products. Halo fans have been long-suffering, waiting years upon years for a truly consistent delivery schedule for the franchise. I've often wondered myself what an Infinity Ward-led Halo might look like ... perhaps we'll find out exactly what that'll be like in the coming years.

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When I learned that it wouldn't be StarCraft, but instead World of Warcraft: Forever to close out BlizzCon 2026, I was admittedly a bit puzzled. After seeing how World of Warcraft: Forever's beta has been going, though, now I get it.

I've been playing WoW since vanilla, and I've seen every permutation of the game since its inception. All the bugs, content droughts, story highs and lows ... World of Warcraft has been an absolutely wild ride since my teens, and it's showing no signs of slowing down.

At BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard revealed the latest incarnation of its legendary MMORPG with thousands of WoW fans and Xbox execs in attendance. World of Warcraft: Forever was received to huge fanfare and promises to deliver on a "Classic+" experience many fans have been asking for for years.

In essence, WoW: Forever is a take on the game's classic era, remixing the original game with new content in a slightly divergent timeline. It adds new characters, thousands of new quests, a variety of new features, new dungeons and raids, and aims to double down on what made classic WoW such a legend. The world itself will be the main character, with leveling, immersion, and social systems as the core driver of play.

World of Warcraft's retail version has shortened its gameplay loop to the game's detriment in my view, hyper-optimizing for maximum convenience and minimal friction. The leveling experience has become trivial, immersion is practically non-existent given that you can just fly over all the content, and the rewards revolve around a weekly chest which feels a bit like picking up a salary from a job.

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It's still fun tackling high-end challenges in Mythic difficulty in modern WoW — but many players yearn for a time when WoW felt more like an RPG, and less like an arcade game. That's what WoW: Forever aims to deliver, and thousands have poured into the beta to catch a glimpse.

To learn more, I spoke to World of Warcraft Forever's lead game designer, Tim Jones, and lead software engineer Nora Valleta all about what the plans are.

World of Warcraft Forever vs. World of Warcraft retail

"I think [World of Warcraft] Classic and Retail just serve different types of audience at this point," Nora Valleta explains. "Like Retail has evolved over the many years, and I was part of that evolution, part of making those decisions along the way."

"For Classic players, it's much more about a social experience. They don't want to queue, they want to be out in the world exploring and have to physically make their way to the dungeon. They like being immersed in the world, meeting people in the wilds. The world is the main character. It's not about Thrall or Jaina, it's about your friends, these places. Your story of, 'oh, we went into this cave, Bob did something dumb, then we had to rescue Tim, and then Tim died.' That story is more important than stories about the NPCs ... and we're providing the immersive world for it to happen."

The team talked about overlap between the two audiences here, and I mentioned that there are things about Classic that I miss in Retail, such as the immersive open world — something I would argue is universally better and more appealing than simply flying over all the content completely free of any sort of danger per Retail.

"I think we [the Classic team] often inspire them to try new things. Retail now has World Bosses inside of a Lair for example now, we borrow ideas from each other," Tim Jones explains. "I could see them borrowing the camping system from us very easily, and perhaps connect it to Player Housing? I would love some day to maybe take Player Housing and bring it into the Classic world."

Lore building and horizontal progression in World of Warcraft: Forever

I asked the team to explain their approach to lore and world-building in WoW: Forever, given that it seems to sit in a slightly different timeline than WoW's modern era. I already wrote a piece about why WoW: Forever's developers decided to include Skyborne elves as the new playable race, despite the fact that there's no mention of them in the modern lore. The team said they want to explore some of the grey areas from Classic, Skyborne will tell the story of Eldre'Thalas and Dire Maul, for example, which was previously never fully fleshed out.

"This is a new continuity," Nora Valleta explains. "We're starting from the same place. Think of adjacent timelines. Some things might be a bit different ... we're not going to do something that is super divergent, like, stopping Arthas from becoming the Lich King for example. Or that Jaina is secretly a Dreadlord ... but who knows?"

"The same philosophy applies to how we'll expand continents. The new zone River Glades for example, the landmass existed in the classic map ... but there was nothing there. It was an opportunity to fill in those spaces and complete those stories too."

"Honestly, every memory you have, every memory that our Classic fans have, we're trying to capitalize on and make something cool out of it. What was that weird gate in Azshara all that time, for example? That's now Timbermaw Hold, right? What's inside Old Ironforge?"

Blizzard is also building a new Legacy system into WoW: Forever to incentivize building alts and experiencing the game in new ways. Indeed, WoW: Forever will be locked at level 60 cap in perpetuity and designed for horizontal progression rather than vertical progression.

"We're really hoping the legacy system will incentivize people to make alternate characters and level up their account through perks, giving them reasons to experience new paths through the world."

Different gameplay milestones will award legacy points in this new system, granting perks in a small talent tree that can boost trade skills, offer extra convenience, and so on. Blizzard says that there are achievements tied to the Legacy system too, which will reward hardcore grinders with exclusive cosmetics. Blizzard wants to add new content at all levels to serve this system, not just the end-game.

"We might add an update where we put in a new zone designed not for level 60, but for level 27 to 32 for example, with a new dungeon. The best way to experience that would be to make a new character. It's not all about level 60, we're going to serve across all levels, as well as awesome level 60 endgame content too."

Approach to difficulty, and Class balance in Classic+

One of the interesting talking points around Classic vs. Retail pertains to difficulty. If you're pushing Mythic+ keys or doing Heroic or Mythic difficulty raiding in Retail, I think there's no real question about which version requires more active involvement. However, Classic's open world is far more punishing than Retail's is. Even if the dungeons and raids are easier, actually acquiring gear is also far more difficult and therefore more rewarding, in my view.

I had a full set of heroic items within a week in the current Retail patch. I remember grinding BWL raids for months before my Nemesis shoulders dropped back in the day. It felt so, sooooo good when I finally got them. In Retail, gear is basically throwaway and forgettable.

There are things about Classic I definitely do not miss, though, and it's how classes were actually balanced. Some specs were just unviable. Prot Paladins couldn't tank serious content owing to not having a taunt, for example. Blizzard is changing its philosophy a bit for WoW: Forever.

"Every single one of our 27 talent trees is now viable for all content in WoW: Forever," says Tim Jones. "That's one big class design goal. That doesn't mean they're all the same ... or all equal. They have strengths and weaknesses. But they're all worthy to bring. None are so powerful that you'll stack your raid with them either."

"You can be a Ret Paladin in raids, you can Seal twist," says Nora Valetta, in reference to how Retribution spec Paladins weren't really raid-viable back in the day. "On the flip side, our attitude towards tuning and dungeon difficulty and raids is that the world should be scary ... raids should be difficult. You'll need to prepare, craft potions, make sure you have class diversity and buffs. Get all the gear you can, do reputation grinds. You should need a good amount of research on what bosses do. But ... we're not going to stomp your face into the ground."

The team explained to me that while they want raids to be tough, they're not gunning for WoW Retail's 100+ wipes Mythic raid difficulty.

"We're going to consistently deliver new 10 and 20 player content every patch. Onyxia will be our 40 man raid. Classic players enjoy a casual experience, we don't want people to do 100 attempts on a boss. If you've formed the group and done your homework, you should be on the road to success. Over-prepare and crush the content, that's what Classic players want to do."

Am I too old for WoW: Forever?

I've been playing through WoW: Forever beta over the past week, and it's equal parts nostalgic and intriguing. The new lighting and fog effects make a big difference to the mood of zones like Tirisfal Glades, and new lore and quests make the world feel fresh in a way that reminisces of the Cataclysm revamp of yore.

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I'm curious how rewarding and active WoW: Forever's endgame might end up being for me personally, though. WoW: Forever made me feel old, and maybe a bit broken. Will I have the attention span to spend weeks upon weeks hunting for specific drops in WoW: Forever? Have WoW Retail's Creation Catalyst "insta-gearing" system and infinite epic drops spoiled me? Do I have the free time to build up in-game relationships necessary to find decent raid teams and groups in WoW: Forever?

I'm going to try my best ... at least.

World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4, 2026, for Windows PC.

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Over the weekend, legendary game designer Hideo Kojima was interviewed by The Washington Post and IGN regarding behind-the-scenes details of one of his studio's upcoming Xbox Series X|S titles, Physint.

The first interview at The Washington Post revealed that Sony tried to cancel Physint during a Zoom call with Hideo Kojima. The man was shockingly surprised at Sony's decision; Hideo Kojima then commented, "I didn’t have any anger or sadness. I was just thinking, ‘What should I do?’ It’s a big problem for us, and I couldn’t tell staff at the time."

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Additionally, Kojima took this time to release a statement (which has also been released on Kojima Productions' official X account) regarding speculation people are making about Sony trying to pull the plug on Physint:

He then reassures worried fans that Kojima Productions is in a healthy, profitable state, that development for Physint is progressing with Xbox's backing, and that its relationship with PlayStation remains strong.

In an interview with IGN, he revealed that ever since partnering with Xbox on Physint, Microsoft has given Kojima Productions access to so much new technology and tech support that he jokingly remarked: “There are so many Doc Browns from Back to the Future here!”

He's clearly very excited to get to grips with this new tech, work with Xbox, and figure out what engine he'll decide to use for Physint, something he apparently hasn't chosen yet. Whatever engine Hideo Kojima's new stealth-action game will use, you can be sure we'll report on it as we keep a close eye on Physint's development, as well as Kojima Productions' other upcoming Xbox title, OD, which has survived Xbox's 'big reset'.

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When I first laid eyes on Tarae: The Unbound, it was hard not to think I was looking at a carbon copy of Sanctuary.

Developed by Boundary and published by Krafton, this upcoming dark fantasy action RPG hits all the familiar genre notes at a glance: the isometric camera angle, the frantic screen-clearing mob fights, and the loot-driven progression loop feel intensely reminiscent of Diablo.

Walking into my Gamescom appointment behind the scenes, I’ll admit I was deeply skeptical. The market is endlessly releasing isometric ARPG clones trying to chase Blizzard's crown, and my immediate thought was that this was a classic case of Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V on the Diablo formula I know and love.

I got to sit with the developers and have a go at the game myself while chatting with the minds behind it, and actually the game has enough to differentiate it than I first thought. While the mechanical foundation is deeply familiar, Tarae is rooted deeply in Eastern mythology and Buddhist cosmology, and its lore alone sets it apart from traditional Western medieval fantasy.

Moving beyond the Western medieval tropes

The team behind the game explicitly set out to escape what they describe as the tired, overdone aesthetic of Western medieval Europe. Instead of knights, gothic cathedrals, and, well, other things you'd expect from European folklore, Tarae drops players into a world spanning the 15th to 17th centuries, shaped entirely by Eastern visuals and traditions.

The story follows a crew of seekers trying to stop Agasa from completely breaking the wheel of rebirth. Instead of a basic good-versus-evil setup, the whole universe pulls heavily from Buddhist cosmology and the Six Realms of Rebirth. You are dealing with realms like the Asuras, Hungry Ghosts, and Hell, all tied together by karma, fate, and Yin-Yang mechanics.

A familiar foundation but distinctly it's own thing

You can choose from six classes, all built around historical Eastern jobs. You’ve got a Samurai who swaps stances on the fly, a Tiger Hunter who throws down traps and blasts away with guns, and a Manshin who draws on Korean shamanic traditions.

Where it really starts feeling different from Diablo, though, is how it handles bosses and progression. The team crammed over 80 unique bosses into the game, and they aren't just stat sponges; they are multi-phase fights tied directly to old folklore that force you to actually learn their attack patterns. I will say it's also considerably more difficult than Diablo at least in early game, I died in front of the developers an embarrassing amount of times taking the Samurai for a spin, but after a few humbling deaths I got the hang of it.

Once you beat the campaign with one class, you unlock the rest for the endgame, so you don't have to grind through the whole story again with every single alt.

Not just another Diablo afterall

I went into my appointment expecting a knockoff, a good looking and glossy knockoff, but a knockoff nonetheless. Thankfully I left with the realisation that a genuinely distinct lore and aesthetic can completely change how a familiar genre feels. When it drops in 2027, Tarae: The Unbound might actually prove it's way more than just another ARPG clone.

Tarae: The Unbound is scheduled for a 2027 release, and will be on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and Steam.

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BlizzCon 2026 was epic, but as a World of Warcraft retail enjoyer, I was a tad disappointed at the lack of information.

World of Warcraft: Forever more than stole the show. The announcements of Diablo V and StarCraft were huge, but the fact they're both around half a decade away at least definitely put a dampner on things. WoW: Forever is much closer, set to launch in mid-November (going up against GTA 6 no less).

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WoW: Forever is a remix of the original World of Warcraft experience, complete with OG visuals, old-school simplicity, but deep and immersive open-world gameplay. The game is in beta now, and has already blown up on Twitch and other streaming platforms, as aging gamers (like myself) pile in for a healthy dose of nostalgia.

World of Warcraft retail (also known as 'modern' internally) is ticking over in its own right, with the current expansion "Midnight" holding ground as a solid entry in the game's storied expac pantheon. The next expansion is dubbed "The Last Titan," although Blizzard hasn't really shared much of ... well, anything, about what we can expect from it beyond its Northrend setting.

In my recent interview with Game Director Ion Hazzikostas, I asked how Blizzard would handle the dichotomy between World of Warcraft: Forever and World of Warcraft's modern timeline. There are things about the "classic" game that were objectively better in the old days, one being world-building atop the general levelling experience.

I mentioned how WoW Classic and WoW: Forever's lower stakes and racial starting zones provide a more engaging and immersive experience than anything offered in WoW retail. As such, I asked Hazzikostas if it's reasonable to expect that World of Warcraft's open world in the "modern" game would effectively be forgotten now developers can point to WoW: Forever as an alternative. Ion Hazzikostas said that isn't the goal.

"We do not think along those lines. Those are problems that I acknowledge are real problems in Modern, and things we want to fix," Hazzikostas explained.

Indeed, WoW: Forever even in beta offers a far more cohesive and immersive levelling experience, where players can more slowly and methodically learn their class alongside the RPG setting and racial fantasy. WoW's modern gameplay is designed to speed you as quickly as possible into its choring endgame loop, which while fun ... is definitely less "RPG"-like than the old school game.

Hazzikostas thinks that offering two experiences to players in WoW retail might be the answer, in the form of a new "Heroic World Tier," similar to Diablo. Blizzard already experimented with this in both Legion Remix and a recent mid-season patch in WoW, where some new instanced zones came with a more difficult "Heroic" mode, removing flying mounts and making monsters more challenging to deal with.

"We've done experiments like the Heroic World Tier in Remix ... I think they're promising," Hazzikostas said. "I think we would like to offer something like that in The Last Titan, for people who want a more challenging, rewarding outdoor experience ... as well as more friction, and more purpose. A world where the outer world is devoid of threats or excitement is missing something. We would never say 'Go play Classic if you want that.' All versions of WoW should have that."

Hazzikostas also said that Blizzard is aware that WoW's modern "new player" experience is lacking, and plans to address it again in the future. At present, retail players are dropped into a random island with patronizingly easy and anachronistic gameplay that not only isn't relevant to current in-game timelines, but is miserably easy and unengaging for most players.

WoW: Forever and WoW: Classic offer a far more sensical levelling experience, moving players through slower-paced and more meaningful progression layers on the road to endgame.

RELATED: Full interview with WoW director Ion Hazzikostas

The disparity in quality between aspects of WoW: Forever and WoW's modern era will likely become a broader talking point as both platforms diverge over time. I'm already planning to riot if WoW: Forever gets playable ogres before retail does ...

WoW: Forever already has better lighting, water, and fog effects than retail. Can Blizzard keep both versions of the game well-catered for, or are they going to end up spreading themselves thin? Time will surely tell.

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