More than a decade after its original release, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is getting the remaster treatment, and CD Projekt Red isn't charging existing owners a cent for it. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered launches September 29, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and a native Nintendo Switch 2 version, arriving as a free upgrade for anyone who already owns the game on a qualifying platform. Here's everything included in the remaster, plus details on the newly announced expansion that's coming after it.

What's Actually Changing

CD Projekt Red isn't just bumping up the resolution and calling it a day. The remaster brings a genuinely long list of improvements across visuals, combat, and general feel:

• Upgraded visuals across environments, lighting, and character models
• Enhanced combat systems and revamped mount handling
• Improved traversal and movement
• New effects for witcher signs
• Enhanced monster behaviors
• A full skill tree revamp
• Transmogrification, letting players keep their favorite armor's appearance while using better stats
• New finishing moves
• An expanded photo mode

That's on top of the game already being a sprawling, densely packed open-world RPG, so the remaster is effectively asking players to rediscover a game many already consider one of the best of its generation, now with over a decade of technical hindsight applied to it.

It's Free, and So Are the Expansions

The headline detail here is the price: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered is a free upgrade for existing owners on qualifying platforms. CD Projekt Red is also making the game's two major expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, free for all players going forward, removing what was previously a genuine barrier to experiencing some of the best-reviewed DLC ever made for an RPG.

For a game this old to get a meaningful visual and mechanical overhaul at no additional cost is a notably generous move in an industry increasingly comfortable charging full price for remasters of games that are barely a few years old.

A New Expansion Is Already on the Way

Alongside the remaster announcement, CD Projekt Red revealed Songs of the Past, a new paid expansion set for release in 2027 across all platforms. Unlike the free remaster, this is genuinely new content, sending Geralt to the previously unseen region of Letten, described as "a seemingly idyllic land that hides a dark secret beneath its peaceful surface."

The expansion adds new enemies and a new chain weapon for Geralt to use, and it's being co-developed with Fool's Theory, a studio staffed by veterans who previously worked on The Witcher 3 itself. That pedigree alone has fans cautiously optimistic that Songs of the Past will feel like a natural continuation of the base game's design philosophy rather than a bolted-on afterthought.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has already sold tens of millions of copies and cemented its place as one of the defining RPGs of its era, and this remaster looks like CD Projekt Red's way of making sure a new generation of players on Switch 2 and current consoles experiences it the way it was always meant to be seen. With Songs of the Past already confirmed for 2027, this isn't the last we'll hear from White Orchard and beyond. Will you be diving back into the Northern Realms when the remaster drops? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

BlizzCon is back this weekend after a multi-year absence, and Blizzard has locked in the full schedule. The convention runs Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with developer update streams for World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo all landing on day one. Every pass is sold out, but the main programming is streaming free. Here is what is on the schedule and where to watch it.

The Schedule

Both days run 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. PDT. The tentpole moments are front-loaded into Saturday.

• Opening Ceremony: Saturday, September 12 at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Hall D
• World of Warcraft developer update: Saturday afternoon
• Overwatch developer update: Saturday afternoon
• Diablo developer update: Saturday at 1:45 p.m. PDT
• Community Night: showcasing fan creations, cosplay and community projects
• Esports: tournament play across both days

Sunday carries the rest of the panel programming plus the traditional community events, so day two is worth showing up for even though the announcements cluster on Saturday.

Community Events Worth Knowing

• Cosplay group photo at the Grand Plaza Fountain, Saturday at 3:00 p.m. PDT
• Darkmoon Faire After Hours, Saturday from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. PDT
• March of the Murlocs, Sunday, gathering in the Arena Plaza at 11:45 a.m.

How To Watch Without A Pass

All BlizzCon 2026 passes are sold out, which was expected for the first in-person show in years. Blizzard is streaming the main programming free across its official YouTube and Twitch channels as well as Battle.net, so the Opening Ceremony and the developer updates are all accessible from home.

That is a meaningful change from earlier BlizzCons, which gated a chunk of the programming behind a paid virtual ticket. Putting the core streams out free removes the main complaint people had about following the show remotely.

What To Expect From The Announcements

Blizzard has already spent 2026 setting the table. The Blizzard Showcase ran as four separate online presentations in late January and early February, covering World of Warcraft's State of Azeroth on January 29, an Overwatch Spotlight on February 4, a Hearthstone Spotlight on February 9 and a Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight on February 11.

Those streams handled the near-term roadmap work, which frees BlizzCon to do what BlizzCon has historically done best: reveal the things that are further out. The Diablo slot is the one to watch given the anniversary framing earlier in the year, and World of Warcraft traditionally uses the Opening Ceremony for its biggest swing.

A reasonable expectation is expansion-scale news for at least one franchise, roadmap detail for the rest, and the usual mix of cinematics and hardware and merchandise reveals. Blizzard has not pre-announced specific reveals, so anything more precise than that is guesswork.

BlizzCon 2026 runs September 12 and 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, with the Opening Ceremony at 10:30 a.m. PDT on Saturday and developer updates for World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo following through the afternoon. If you are watching from home, the free streams on YouTube, Twitch and Battle.net cover the parts that matter. Saturday morning is where to start.

Which Blizzard franchise are you hoping gets the big reveal? Come make your case in the NerdBlocks forum.

Gears of War has always opened after the world already ended. E-Day is the game that shows the ending happening. Xbox Game Studios, The Coalition, and People Can Fly premiered the two-minute story trailer during Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 25, and it confirms an October 6, 2026 launch with day one Game Pass availability. Here is what the trailer sets up, what has changed under the hood, and why this prequel is a harder sell than it looks.

What the Trailer Actually Shows

The story trailer covers the first hours of Emergence Day on the planet Sera, and it is deliberately less about firefights than about a city coming apart.

The setup:

• Fourteen years before the original 2006 game. This is the event every previous Gears title referenced but never depicted.
• Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago as young soldiers. Both have just come home as veterans of the Pendulum Wars, expecting the war to be over.
• The Locust Horde erupts through Sera's surface. Cities are torn apart and civilians die within hours, with no warning and no established counter to any of it.

The tonal shift matters. The original trilogy dropped players into a military campaign already grinding through year fourteen of a losing war. E-Day starts with soldiers who have never seen a Locust and have no idea what they are looking at.

The Technical Rebuild

The Coalition and People Can Fly rebuilt E-Day from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 rather than extending the existing Gears toolchain.

What that buys them:

• Destruction physics driving environmental collapse as the Locust surface
• Upgraded character rendering, with the franchise's grim visual language intact
• RTX Mega Geometry on GeForce RTX hardware, announced by NVIDIA the same day
• Full DLSS 4.5 support, including the Ray Reconstruction update that shipped August 25

The PC version is getting more attention than Gears releases usually receive, which fits a strategy where Xbox is treating PC as a first-class platform rather than a port target.

Where and When You Can Play It

E-Day launches globally on October 6, 2026, on Xbox Series X and S and PC, including Steam. Premium Edition buyers get up to five days of early access starting October 1.

It arrives day one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, which is now the default for first-party Xbox releases and remains the single strongest argument for the subscription.

A prequel about a known catastrophe has an inherent problem: everyone already knows how it ends badly. E-Day's answer appears to be making the not-knowing the point, putting players in the shoes of two soldiers who spend the campaign discovering what the audience learned twenty years ago. October 6 will settle whether that framing carries a full campaign or wears thin by the third act.

What do you think - is a Gears prequel the right call, or would you rather see the series move forward? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

CD PROJEKT RED closed out gamescom Opening Night Live by giving Geralt fans two things they did not expect on the same night: a release date and a price tag of zero. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered arrives September 29, 2026, and it is a free upgrade for anyone who already owns the game on a qualifying platform. The studio also handed out Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine to every existing owner at no cost, and teased a brand new expansion called Songs of the Past for 2027. Here is what is actually changing, which platforms are getting it, and why the Battle.net announcement is stranger than it sounds.

What Remastered Actually Changes

This is not a resolution bump with a new lighting pass slapped on top. CD PROJEKT RED is co-developing Remastered with Yigsoft, a Hungarian studio that already worked on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition and Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and the feature list reaches well past visuals.

The announced improvements include:

• Upgraded visuals and performance across the board
• Enhanced combat, including new finishers
• Improved traversal and movement
• New visual effects for witcher signs
• Revamped mount handling
• Enhanced monster behaviors
• A reworked skill tree
• Transmogrification
• An expanded photo mode

The skill tree revamp is the one worth watching. The original 2015 build funneled most players into the same handful of alchemy and fast attack setups, and a genuine rebalance would change how a 2026 replay feels more than any texture pass could.

Every Platform, Including Two New Ones

Remastered launches on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It also lands on two platforms The Witcher 3 has never officially occupied.

Nintendo Switch 2

A native Switch 2 version arrives the same day, with pre-orders already open. Anyone who bought the game on the original Switch gets the Switch 2 upgrade free, which is a notably generous read of a platform transition that other publishers have been charging for.

Battle.net

CD PROJEKT RED has partnered with Blizzard Entertainment to bring Remastered and Songs of the Past to Battle.net on September 29. Buying the expansion through Blizzard's storefront unlocks a Geralt-inspired skin in Diablo 4, with more details promised when CD PROJEKT RED shows up at BlizzCon in September. A Polish RPG shipping on Blizzard's launcher is not a sentence anyone was writing a year ago.

Songs of the Past Takes Geralt Somewhere New

The other half of the announcement was a first look at Songs of the Past, a paid expansion arriving in 2027 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2. It sends Geralt to Letten, a new region built around rural tradition, folklore, bountiful harvests, and festivals, with something considerably worse waiting underneath all of it.

Geralt picks up new abilities and a new weapon for the trip, a chain, and the expansion promises never-before-seen enemies alongside returning faces. Fool's Theory is co-developing with CD PROJEKT RED, which matters: the Polish studio's leadership includes Witcher 3 veterans, and the team is also working on The Witcher Remake. Songs of the Past is available to wishlist now on select platforms.

The short version is that CD PROJEKT RED spent gamescom giving things away. A remaster that costs nothing, two expansions handed to every existing owner, and a free Switch 2 upgrade all landed in the same announcement, with a paid expansion a year out as the actual business case. The Witcher 3 has sold more than 65 million copies and collected over 250 Game of the Year awards since 2015, so the audience for a modernized version is already enormous, and September 29 is close enough that nobody has to take it on faith for long.

What do you think, is a free remaster enough to pull you back into Velen for another 100 hours? Come argue about builds in the NerdBlocks forum.

Palworld is getting a full mobile spinoff, and it is not a cheap cash-in. Garena announced Palworld Online on August 3, an officially licensed mobile MMORPG built in partnership with developer Pocketpair, set to launch on iOS and Android sometime in 2026. The reveal turns Palworld's creature-catching survival formula into a persistent online world built around shared bases, co-op hunts, and PvP. Here is what was shown, who is building it, and what it means for a series that already sold tens of millions of copies on PC and console.

What Garena Revealed

Garena, the Singapore-based publisher best known for Free Fire, is developing and publishing Palworld Online under an official license from Pocketpair. That distinction matters: this is not a fan project or a knockoff riding on Palworld's name, it is a sanctioned spinoff built with the original studio's blessing.

The pitch is straightforward: take the open-world exploration, Pal-catching, and base-building that made Palworld a breakout hit, then wrap it in the kind of live-service, always-online structure that mobile MMOs are built around.

Key features announced so far

• Open-world exploration built for touchscreen play on iOS and Android
• Cooperative base-building, letting groups of players construct and manage shared settlements
• Large-scale PvE encounters designed around group play
• PvP battles alongside the option to visit other players' bases and hunt rare Pals together
• An original storyline and side quests exclusive to the mobile version, not ported from the base game

Why Garena and Not Pocketpair Alone

Pocketpair is a relatively small studio that was caught off guard by Palworld's explosive popularity in 2024, and it has spent much of the time since fielding lawsuits, patching the game toward its full 1.0 release, and expanding to new platforms. Building and operating a live-service mobile MMO is a different discipline entirely, one built on server infrastructure, monetization tuning, and live-ops teams that most console and PC studios simply do not have in-house.

Garena brings exactly that. The publisher has years of experience running Free Fire as a global live-service mobile title, and in announcements about the partnership, Garena President Terry Zhao said the goal is to preserve the freedom and scale of the original Palworld while adapting it for mobile hardware. Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe echoed that, framing Garena's live-service publishing experience as the reason for the partnership.

What This Means for the Palworld Series

Palworld Online will not replace or alter the PC and console version, which reached its full 1.0 release earlier this summer. Instead, it is a parallel product aimed at mobile audiences and players who want a more social, MMO-flavored take on the same world. That kind of spinoff strategy has become increasingly common for breakout survival and crafting games looking to reach markets where mobile play dominates, particularly across Southeast Asia, where Garena already has a massive install base.

No firm release date, pricing model, or beta sign-up window has been announced yet, and Garena has not detailed monetization, though a game built by a mobile-first publisher will almost certainly include some form of live-service spending. Watch the official Palworld Online channels for a release window and early access details in the months ahead.

What do you think, are you interested in an MMO take on Palworld, or does the series work best as a single-player and co-op survival game? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Geoff Keighley's two-hour hype machine is back, and it fires up today. Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 runs Tuesday, August 25 from Cologne, Germany, and it is the show that traditionally sets the tone for the entire back half of the gaming year. This year's confirmed list already includes the first major Witcher 3 expansion in a decade, a Final Fantasy VII spinoff, and Gears of War: E-Day. Here is when it starts, where to watch it, and everything Keighley has already put on the record.

When Opening Night Live Starts

The main show begins Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 8:00 pm CEST in Cologne. In other regions:

• 11:00 am PDT (Los Angeles)
• 1:00 pm CDT (Chicago)
• 2:00 pm EDT (New York)
• 3:00 pm BRT (Sao Paulo)
• 7:00 pm BST (London)
• 3:00 am JST, Wednesday August 26 (Tokyo)
• 4:00 am AEST, Wednesday August 26 (Sydney)
• 6:00 am NZST, Wednesday August 26 (Auckland)

There is also a 30-minute pre-show that starts at 1:30 pm EDT / 10:30 am PDT / 7:30 pm CEST. That is not filler. Keighley has used the ONL pre-show for real reveals in past years, so plan to be in your seat early rather than at the top of the hour.

The main broadcast is expected to run roughly two hours.

Where to Watch

Opening Night Live streams free, with no signup or ticket required. The official simulcast goes out on:

• The Game Awards YouTube channel
• The gamescom YouTube channel
• The Game Awards Twitch channel

The official livestream page is already live, so you can set a reminder now instead of scrambling for a link at 2pm. Plenty of outlets and creators will run co-streams as well, but the two YouTube feeds above are the primary sources and typically carry the cleanest video.

Every Game Keighley Has Confirmed

Keighley has publicly named eight titles for the main show. This is the confirmed core of the broadcast:

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past - The first major Witcher 3 expansion in about ten years, with a new gameplay reveal attached. This is the headline for a lot of viewers.
• Final Fantasy VII Revelation - Director Naoki Hamaguchi is appearing on stage in person, which usually signals something more substantial than a teaser.
• Gears of War: E-Day - The prequel returning to Emergence Day, and one of Xbox's biggest outstanding swings.
• Ananta - Confirmed to bring a gameplay demo rather than a cinematic.
• Tides of Annihilation - The Arthurian action title continuing its long ONL-adjacent rollout.
• Metro 2039 - The next entry in the post-apocalyptic first-person series.
• Game of Thrones: War for Westeros - Already confirmed to have slipped to 2027, so expect a status update rather than a launch date.
• Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons - The D&D-licensed project getting a showcase slot.

Titles Teased or Expected Separately

Beyond Keighley's official list, several games have been tied to gamescom week through their own announcements or publisher teases. These are not all confirmed for the ONL stage specifically, but they are in the mix this week:

• Silent Hill: Townfall
• Exodus
• Path of Exile 2
• Monster Hunter Outlanders
• Alien Isolation 2, with a playable prologue on the show floor
• AION 2
• Valor Mortis
• Showa American Story
• Pony Island 2
• Cinder City
• ONTOS

Treat that second group as likely rather than locked. Confirmed lists are always a fraction of the runtime, and the surprises are the entire reason people watch live.

What to Actually Expect

Opening Night Live has a predictable rhythm once you have watched a few. Roughly a third of the runtime goes to games you already know getting release dates, a third goes to world premieres, and the rest is spent on sponsor segments and on-stage interviews.

A few things worth watching for this year:

• Release dates over reveals. The 2026 holiday window is unusually crowded, and ONL is where publishers stake their claim. Expect several dates to move or firm up.
• Xbox positioning. Gears of War: E-Day appearing on the ONL stage the night before Microsoft's own broadcasts suggests Xbox is treating the whole week as one campaign, not one show.
• Switch 2 presence. Nintendo is not running a first-party showcase, but Switch 2 demos are on the gamescom floor, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and 007 First Light. Final Fantasy VII Revelation is the Switch 2 title with the most ONL visibility.

The Rest of Gamescom Week

ONL is the opener, not the whole event. Gamescom 2026 itself runs August 26 through 30 in Cologne, with these broadcasts scheduled after tonight:

• Xbox Broadcast 1 - Wednesday, August 26, 10:00 am EDT
• Future Games Show - Wednesday, August 26, 1:00 pm EDT
• Xbox Broadcast 2 - Thursday, August 27, 10:00 am EDT
• Gamescom Awesome Indies - Thursday, August 27, 2:00 pm EDT
• Future Games Show: Best of Gamescom - Sunday, August 30, 1:00 pm EDT

Xbox's two broadcasts are the ones to circle. Gears of War: E-Day, Fable, Forza Horizon 6, and Persona 4: Revival have all been floated for that block.

Opening Night Live is the closest thing the industry has to a mid-year state of the union, and this year it arrives with a genuinely strong confirmed list rather than the usual scattering of teasers. The Witcher 3 expansion alone would carry a lesser show. Set a reminder for 1:30 pm EDT so you catch the pre-show, and expect the confirmed eight to be a floor rather than a ceiling.

Which reveal are you most hoping for tonight, and do you think the Witcher 3 expansion can live up to a ten-year wait? Come talk it out at the NerdBlocks forum.

FAQ

When is Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026?

Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 2:00 pm EDT / 11:00 am PDT / 7:00 pm BST / 8:00 pm CEST, with a 30-minute pre-show starting at 1:30 pm EDT.

Where can I watch Opening Night Live?

Free on The Game Awards YouTube channel, the gamescom YouTube channel, and The Game Awards Twitch channel.

How long does Opening Night Live run?

The main show runs roughly two hours, plus the 30-minute pre-show before it.

Who hosts Opening Night Live?

Geoff Keighley, who also created and hosts The Game Awards.

What games are confirmed for ONL 2026?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Songs of the Past, Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Gears of War: E-Day, Ananta, Tides of Annihilation, Metro 2039, Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, and Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons.

When is the rest of Gamescom 2026?

Gamescom runs August 26 through 30 in Cologne, Germany, with Xbox broadcasts on August 26 and 27 and the Future Games Show Best of Gamescom on August 30.

Electronic Arts is stepping back into Star Wars with something genuinely different: a single-player, turn-based tactics game set during the twilight of the Clone Wars. Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, developed by Bit Reactor - a studio founded by veterans of Firaxis' XCOM series - in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. Here's what the game is, who's leading the squad, and why tactics fans should have this one on their radar.

What Is Star Wars Zero Company?

Zero Company puts players in command of an elite, unconventional squad of operatives navigating a cinematic original story set in the Clone Wars era. Rather than following the Republic's standard clone army, the roster leans into scoundrels, astromechs, and even a Jedi working together outside the normal chain of command.

Key features revealed so far include:

• Turn-based tactical combat across an ever-shifting battlefield
• A base-of-operations layer where players manage and upgrade their squad between missions
• Branching outcomes based on player decisions that affect how the story unfolds
• Deep customization of squad members' loadouts, abilities, and appearance

The Squad

The gameplay trailer showcased a roster built around a wide variety of character archetypes, with an appearance from a young Anakin Skywalker adding a direct tie to the wider Star Wars timeline. Bit Reactor has leaned into original characters rather than leaning entirely on established Star Wars names, giving the story more room to take risks with who lives, dies, or changes sides.

Who's Making It

Bit Reactor was founded by former Firaxis developers who worked on the modern XCOM series, and that pedigree shows in Zero Company's turn-based, squad-tactics DNA. The studio is working alongside Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games, with Electronic Arts publishing. It's EA's most substantial new Star Wars game since Jedi: Survivor, and the first major swing at a turn-based tactics entry in the license since the Republic Commando era of Star Wars games.

Release Details

Star Wars Zero Company launches August 27 on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders are live now, with a bonus cosmetic pack offered to players who pre-purchase.

For a franchise that's leaned heavily on action and shooters in recent years, a grounded tactics game built by an XCOM-pedigree studio is a notable change of pace. If Bit Reactor nails the tone and the tactical depth, Zero Company could carve out a permanent spot alongside XCOM and Mario + Rabbids in the genre's upper tier.

Star Wars Zero Company arrives August 27. Are you ready to command your own squad through the Clone Wars, or does this genre shift have you skeptical? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

Halo: Combat Evolved is getting its most ambitious makeover yet, and as of July 28, 2026, anyone can play it. Halo: Campaign Evolved rebuilds the 2001 original from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, and it marks the first time a mainline Halo campaign has launched day one on PlayStation. Early reviews suggest Halo Studios threaded a difficult needle: modernizing the look without losing what made the Ringworld special in the first place. Here's what's new, what carried over, and where you can play it.

A Rebuilt Game That Still Feels Like Halo

Every visual asset in Campaign Evolved was recreated from scratch for Unreal Engine 5, giving the Ring, the Pillar of Autumn, and the Covenant a level of detail the original hardware could never have supported. But Halo Studios made a deliberate choice under the hood: rather than rewrite the simulation layer, the team kept the core code from Bungie's original Blam engine, specifically the Halo: Reach fork, to drive physics, enemy AI, and ballistics.

That decision shows up in how the game plays. Reviewers have noted that the Warthog still handles the way longtime fans remember, and the Elites still react to combat the way they always have. The new coat of paint didn't come at the cost of the old feel.

What's new in this version

• Three new prequel missions not found in the original release
• Around nine additional weapons unavailable in 2001
• Sprinting added to the control scheme, along with revamped controls overall
• Re-recorded dialogue and remastered music
• Four player online co-op across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 5, up from the original's two
• Local split screen for two players preserved on console
• Campaign Remix and 42 collectible skulls

Available Everywhere, Including PlayStation

Halo: Campaign Evolved is out now on Xbox Series X/S, PC via Steam and the Windows Store, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and PlayStation 5 (paid link). Premium Edition buyers got early access starting July 23, five days ahead of the wide release.

The PS5 launch is the headline detail here. Microsoft has kept Halo campaigns as Xbox exclusives for over two decades, so day one availability on a PlayStation console is a genuine break from that history. Early PS5 reviews have flagged some frame rate inconsistency in the base experience even as the Ringworld's signature physics and combat sandbox hold up, suggesting a patch or two may be needed to smooth out performance on that platform.

Reception So Far

Reviews published ahead of and on launch day have been largely positive, with critics calling it close to everything longtime fans could have asked for from a remake. The consensus points to the visual overhaul being the most obvious selling point, but the retained Blam-derived simulation code is what's earning it credibility with players who were burned by remasters that looked good but played differently than they remembered.

Halo: Campaign Evolved is available now across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation 5, with cross platform co-op letting friends play together regardless of which system they picked up the game on. What happens next for the Halo franchise, including whether this engine and this level of cross platform commitment carries over to future entries, is the question worth watching. Are you diving back into the Ring? Come talk about it in the NerdBlocks forum.

The Scale of the Cuts

Microsoft's broader layoffs total 4,800 jobs, representing 2.1% of the company's overall workforce, but Xbox is absorbing the largest share of that reduction with 3,200 positions eliminated. The cuts are being rolled out in stages: the first 1,600 roles were eliminated immediately on July 6, while the remaining 1,600 employees are scheduled to exit by June 30, 2027, the end of Microsoft's fiscal year. This marks the fifth distinct wave of Xbox layoffs since Microsoft closed its Activision Blizzard acquisition in October 2023.

Double Fine and Compulsion Games Go Independent

Double Fine, the studio behind Psychonauts, and Compulsion Games, known for We Happy Few and South of Midnight, have both been confirmed as independent spin-offs. Both studios are set to "return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games," giving them ownership of their existing libraries as they leave the Xbox umbrella.

Ninja Theory and Undead Labs Head Toward New Owners

Unlike Double Fine and Compulsion, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are proceeding toward sale to undisclosed buyers rather than becoming independent. Both studios are effectively leaving Xbox's first-party stable, though what happens to their existing projects and IP under new ownership remains unclear. A fifth studio, Arkane, is reportedly one legally required French labor review away from facing a similar fate, suggesting the restructuring is not yet finished.

Conclusion

This latest round of cuts continues a pattern that has defined Xbox's post-Activision era, with five separate layoff waves in under three years reshaping the division's internal structure. With Double Fine and Compulsion charting independent paths and Ninja Theory and Undead Labs headed for new ownership, the shape of Xbox's first-party studio roster looks meaningfully different than it did just a few years ago, and further changes at Arkane may still be coming.

FAQ

How many jobs is Xbox cutting?

Xbox is cutting 3,200 positions, part of a broader 4,800-job reduction across Microsoft announced July 6, 2026.

When do the layoffs take effect?

The first 1,600 roles were eliminated immediately on July 6. The remaining 1,600 are scheduled to exit by June 30, 2027.

What is happening to Double Fine and Compulsion Games?

Both studios are being spun off as independent companies, retaining their IP and existing game catalogs.

Are Double Fine and Compulsion Games being sold?

No, they are transitioning to independent management rather than being sold to another owner.

What is happening to Ninja Theory and Undead Labs?

Both are proceeding toward sale to currently undisclosed buyers, separate from the independent spin-off path taken by Double Fine and Compulsion.

Is this the first round of Xbox layoffs since the Activision Blizzard deal?

No, this is the fifth distinct wave of Xbox layoffs since Microsoft closed the Activision Blizzard acquisition in October 2023.

Nintendo announced on July 8, 2026 that Mario Kart Tour, its mobile racing game, will permanently shut down on September 30, 2026. Unlike Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, which got an offline version after its own service ended, Nintendo says no offline mode is planned for Mario Kart Tour, meaning years of unlocked characters, karts, and gliders will simply disappear.

What's Actually Ending

Mario Kart Tour launched in September 2019 as Nintendo's answer to mobile gacha-style racers, letting players collect drivers, karts, and gliders through a rotating pass system while racing through remixed versions of tracks from the mainline Mario Kart series. After nearly seven years of biweekly tours, in-game purchases, and collaboration events, Nintendo confirmed the game's servers go dark at 11:00 p.m. Pacific on September 29, 2026.

In the lead-up to shutdown, Nintendo has already disabled Gold Pass auto-renewals and the ability to purchase Rubies, the game's premium currency. Players whose Gold Pass subscriptions extended past the July 7 cutoff can keep most benefits, minus the auto-renewal perks, for free until the game closes.

Why There's No Offline Version

The absence of an offline mode is the part stinging longtime players most. When Nintendo shut down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in 2024, it replaced the mobile app with a standalone offline version that let players keep their collected items and continue playing without a server connection. Mario Kart Tour is not getting the same treatment.

That means every driver, kart, glider, and badge earned since 2019, including ones tied to real money spent on Gold Pass subscriptions and Ruby purchases, will become permanently inaccessible once the servers close. Nintendo has not given a detailed explanation for why Mario Kart Tour isn't getting the Pocket Camp treatment, though the game's heavier reliance on live server-side tour rotations and multiplayer racing likely makes an offline port more complicated than a life-sim spinoff.

Conclusion

Mario Kart Tour's shutdown closes the book on Nintendo's first mobile Mario Kart experiment just as the console side of the franchise gears up for new entries. Players have until September 29 to enjoy what's left of the game, but anything built up over the last seven years won't be coming along for the ride.