❌

Normal view

Yesterday β€” 19 June 2026Main stream

Game Pass Could’ve Worked, Moon Studios Boss Says, But Xbox Never Delivered the Big Hits It Needed

19 June 2026 at 17:00

Promotional artwork for Starfield featuring various characters and a robot, with the Xbox Game Pass logo prominently displayed.

The ongoing issues at Xbox, with several studios at risk of being shut down (chiefly Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, and Double Fine Productions) and more layoffs sadly rumored to be on the way, have inevitably become a topic of discussion among industry members, even publicly. Replying to Duke Nukem creator George Broussard, who had wondered "where did Game Pass come from?", Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler (Ori, No Rest for the Wicked) tweeted his theory that Game Pass is "a little like Communism" in that it does not give developers the incentive to "go the extra mile". Ultimately, he mused, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/game-pass-couldve-worked-xbox-big-hit-needed/

Before yesterdayMain stream

Games Revenue Hit a Record $201.6 Billion in 2025 β€” But Developers Keep Getting Laid Off

18 June 2026 at 17:00

Three-panel image featuring characters from games Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Battlefield 6, and MindsEye.

In the middle of the umpteenth round of layoffs and studio closures at game development companies, big and small alike, gaming market analytics firm Newzoo reports that the games market reached a new revenue record in 2025, at $201.6 billion, surpassing $200 billion for the first time in history. Global gaming revenue was up 9.1 percent year over year, with PC and mobile doing most of the heavy lifting while console grew more modestly. The PC platform shone brightest, posting its strongest annual growth in Newzoo's historical dataset, reaching 43.6 billion (+12%) thanks to a broad slate of premium titles […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/games-revenue-record-2025-layoffs/

Xbox’s $7.5 billion ZeniMax Bet Turns Brutal as Deep Cuts May Threaten Arkane Lyon, MachineGames, and even id Software

18 June 2026 at 12:00

The image features the logos 'XBOX + Bethesda' from when Microsoft acquired ZeniMax, with cover art from games including Dishonored, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Starfield, The Evil Within, and Prey.

We've heard increasingly loud rumblings about mass layoffs at Xbox for a couple of weeks now, and now, it seems like the turn of ZeniMax has arrived. This past Monday, several sources pointed to Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, and Ninja Theory all desperately trying to negotiate an exit with Microsoft, whether that is going independent or being sold to some other publisher. But the rumors said other studios would be affected, too: a French journalist namedropped Arkane Lyon, Bethesda Game Studios, and id Software. All three of these studios were under the ZeniMax Media umbrella prior to the $7.5 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/xbox-zenimax-deep-cuts-threaten-arkane-lyon-machinegames-id-software/

Beauty is in the cart of the shopper

14 June 2026 at 04:30
This week, we track how SEA’s beauty commerce players aren’t messing around and how layoffs have become a pretty regular feature of the tech world.

❌
❌