Latest Reviews of Microsoft Games
Review Minecraft Legends (Switch) - A Jankier, Less-Fun Pikmin, And A Massive Disappointment
Not quite legendary
Few games have had more cultural impact than Minecraft, but it seems that Mojang has struggled to recapture anywhere near the same success in its efforts to expand the IP beyond its sandbox origins. Minecraft: Story Mode was a decent, if uninspiring Telltale game, while Minecraft Dungeons proved to be a solid, but unexceptional...
Review Ori And The Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Switch) - An Unmissable Experience
A light shining the way
There was a time when a platform holder publishing games for a rival format would have been completely unheard of. Unthinkable, even! Yet, a bizarre chain of events has seen Microsoft Studios release a handful of games for our beloved Switch, including the likes of Minecraft and, surprisingly, even Cuphead. While Microsoft...
Microsoft Games
Latest Microsoft News
News Xbox Is Reportedly Expected To Fall Short Of 3,200 Layoffs
Damage control
Earlier this week, Xbox announced it would be continuing its "reset" with more eliminations across its gaming division. The latest round of layoffs has impacted multiple developers and also led to organisational restructures, with a bunch of developers now reporting directly to companies such as Activision and Bethesda. According to...
News Banjo-Kazooie Developer Rare Is Now Reporting Directly To Activision
More big changes at Xbox
More big news is coming out of Xbox this week as the company looks to continue its reset. There are a few things to go through here, but the headline for us is that Xbox is looking to leverage its purchase of Activision and consolidate more power into the subsidiary. So that means that several teams, including Halo Studios,...
Microsoft's reset of its gaming division continues
Some big industry news about Xbox is expected to drop this week, according to a new "exclusive" from The Information. Just months after Microsoft's game division confirmed over 3,000 job cuts, eliminating approximately 1,600 positions at the time, wave two is now expected to take place, potentially...
News Call Of Duty Movie Sets Its Sights On A 2028 Release
Update: The movie will be set in the Modern Warfare universe
[Sat 18th Apr, 2026 09:00 BST]: Video game movies are all the rage nowadays, and it's quickly led to Hollywood adapting every series it can get its hands on. Now, to add to this, Paramount has officially confirmed during a presentation at CinemaCon that the "Call of Duty" movie will...
News Toys For Bob Reiterates Its Desire To Make A New Banjo-Kazooie Game
"If the opportunity ever arose, that would be amazing"
Toys for Bob, the developer behind the upcoming Spyro: A Realm Beyond, has once again reiterated its desire to create a new Banjo-Kazooie game. This comes via Kinda Funny Games (thanks, Pure Xbox), which recently hosted Toys for Bob's Associate Creative Director Louis Studdert and Studio Head...
News DOOM's Developer id Software Has Supposedly Lost Around 50% Of Its Team
Update: id Software shares official statement
Xbox's new boss Asha Sharma is "resetting" Microsoft's gaming division and this week confirmed over 3,000 job cuts within the next 12 months, with approximately 1,600 positions already eliminated. We already know multiple teams have been impacted, while other developers like Double Fine (Psychonauts)...
News Multiple Xbox Studios Reportedly In Active Negotiations With Microsoft To Avoid Closure
Update: Ninja Theory's future was "planned" before Senua's reveal
[Tue 16th Jun, 2026 04:45 BST]: Reports this week have revealed multiple studios under the Xbox division are currently in "active negotiations" with Microsoft about their future. This supposedly includes Compulsion Games, which released its new action-adventure South of Midnight on...
News Xbox Is Reportedly Having "Very Big Discussions" About Exclusivity
Update: Xbox provides official update
[Wed 15th Apr, 2026 03:55 BST]: Since Asha Sharma took over Phil Spencer's role as Microsoft Gaming CEO, there have been multiple reports about Xbox returning to "exclusives" and how it could potentially impact future releases on other platforms (including Switch 2). As highlighted by our colleagues at
"Even Wii U was interesting and cool"
Xbox's co-creator, Seamus Blackley, has been known to be pretty blunt with his opinions in the past, especially in relation to the direction that Microsoft has taken its gaming division in recent years. In a new interview with The Expansion Pass (thanks, Go Nintendo), Blackley touched on the idea that Microsoft...
News Xbox Announces Next Generation Console, Will Play "Xbox And PC Games"
Codenamed 'Project Helix'
There has been plenty of debate about Xbox's future following the recent appointment of Asha Sharna as the new Microsoft Gaming CEO, but it appears the brand will continue as a console maker. In some big industry news this week, Xbox has officially announced "the return of Xbox" in the form of "Project Helix", Microsoft's...
News Activision Shares Update On The Future Of The Call Of Duty Series
"Our strategy going forward is changing"
As we wait for something to come of the 10-year deal between Microsoft and Nintendo, the Call of Duty team at Activision has today announced its strategy "going forward" is changing. From here on out, the team will "no longer do back-to-back releases" of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. The aim is to...
News Call Of Duty Dev Sledgehammer Games Seeking Talent With "Switch Experience"
Signs of life
It's been a while since we heard anything about the Call of Duty series returning to Nintendo platforms, and now following the recent release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 on other platforms earlier this month, there has reportedly been some signs of life. According to Insider Gaming, a new job listing from Sledgehammer Games - seeking...
News Reggie Is "Surprised" We Haven't Seen More Xbox Titles On Switch 2
"I thought there would be much more"
In the last year or two, Microsoft has been very vocal about its desire to support Switch and Switch 2. We've seen a couple of examples of this on the new hardware with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 and the soon-to-come Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but where's the Gears? Where's the Call o
News Microsoft On Its Gaming Business Going Forward: "We Want To Be Everywhere"
"Gaming's competition is not other gaming"
Last month, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reiterated how Xbox would support Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 players going forward, and now the tech giant's Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has chimed in. Speaking to TBPN recently about this "shifting" business model, Nadella mentioned how the company wants to...
News Xbox Reiterates Its Support For Switch 2
Halo was announced for PS5 this week
In some absolutely huge industry news this week, Microsoft yesterday announced the Halo series would be coming to PlayStation 5 in 2026, with a new Unreal Engine 5 remake of Master Chief's original campaign. While there have been rumours for some time now about this iconic serie
News The ROG Xbox Ally X Receives Glowing Reviews, But It's Still Pretty Pricey
Switch 2 is frankly a bargain by comparison
Ahead of its release on 16th October 2025 (yes, tomorrow), the ROG Xbox Ally X has received a whole bunch of reviews, and it sounds like this thing might be the new king of PC handhelds. Heck, at £799 / $999, you'd hope so, wouldn't you? We're going to highlight the review over at Pure Xbox first and...
News Banjo-Kazooie Director Marks Departure From Rare With A Poem
End of an era
If you enjoy Rare's games, then chances are you ought to be thanking Gregg Mayles, a UK-based game designer who not only directed Banjo-Kazooie and its Xbox-only follow-up Nuts & Bolts, but also worked on Banjo-Tooie, Donkey Kong Country, Battletoads, and more. He was a big deal at the studio, and now after 36 years, he's left for...
News Xbox Will Reportedly Announce "More Game Ports" For Other Platforms Soon
"Including Nintendo Switch 2"
Xbox has already voiced its support for the Switch 2, and according to a new report by The Game Business this week, we could be finding out more very soon. With rumours about a Nintendo Direct already doing the rounds online, veteran video game journalist Christopher Dring has now added to this buzz, claiming "Xbox is...
"What a colossal waste of talent."
Last week's layoffs at Microsoft and Xbox Games were shocking to say the least, with over 9,000 people losing their jobs, including veterans at Rare, Romero Games, and the cancellation of big projects such as Perfect Dark. This comes despite the fact that the tech giant reportedly made $26 billion in the last...
News Microsoft Announces Another Wave Of Layoffs, Over 9,000 Jobs Affected
Update 2: Gregg Mayles, Louise O’Connor, and Wil Overton among departures
Microsoft has begun informing staff of a huge second wave of job cuts this year, and the layoffs are expected to hit over 9,000 employees. In a report published by























