This GFN Thursday brings more games, more power and more ways to play on GeForce NOW.
The cloud gaming service is expanding with a new GeForce RTX 5080-powered server in Toronto, bringing dedicated high performance in the cloud closer to members across the region.
NTE: Neverness to Everness also gets an update in the cloud, making it even easier to jump into the latest content from the supernatural adventure without a single download or more storage space needed. It leads the way for GeForce NOW bringing native touch control to the game, coming soon.
There’s even more to explore with three new games joining the GeForce NOW library this week.
Take It to the Next Level in Toronto
The forecast is looking cloudy in Canada.
A new GeForce RTX 5080-powered GeForce NOW server is coming to Toronto, expanding service in the region and bringing dedicated cloud gaming performance closer to local members. The new server will roll out within days, giving more players access to top-tier cloud gaming across Canada.
Ultimate members can stream across PCs, Macs, handhelds, mobile devices, TVs and more with GeForce RTX 5080-class power in the cloud. Enjoy up to 4K resolution and beyond on supported ultrawide displays, up to 120 frames per second, plus NVIDIA DLSS, ray tracing and NVIDIA Reflex technologies.
Bring on the ‘999 Nights’
Reality bends — on any device.
Step into the surreal world of NTE: Neverness to Everness with the NTE Version 1.2 “999 Nights” update.
This version introduces a massive gameplay evolution, plunging players into an immersive, tabletop-inspired fantasy role-playing game on the Warren Continent — a new permanent game mode featuring its own dedicated progression system.
This narrative and mechanical expansion is elevated by the debut of two powerful characters, Shinku and Iroi, alongside an unprecedented fashion upgrade featuring a sweeping collection of 19 new character outfits.
To top it off, exploration gets a high-octane upgrade with Draco, a revolutionary new motorcycle vehicle, making this version an absolute playground for combat strategy, stylish customization and high-speed urban traversal.
Plus, GeForce NOW will soon be rolling out native touch controls to NTE: Neverness to Everness, which will make it even easier to explore the city’s mysteries from supported mobile devices.
Look for the game in the GeForce NOW app to seamlessly jump between devices and continue the adventure — no downloads, storage space or expensive additional hardware required.
Embark on Expanded Adventures
The journey continues in Granblue Fantasy: Relink with the Endless Ragnarok expansion. Known for its dynamic combat, diverse roster of Skyfarers and thrilling online co-op, Relink returns with fresh story content as mysterious beings known as the Ragnalia threaten the Zegagrande Skydom. Strange gateways, powerful new foes — including the mighty Beelzebub — and fresh challenges await across the skies.
The expansion also introduces additional ways to play, including summon abilities that add another layer of combat strategy, co-op quest tiers and a solo mode filled with unpredictable encounters. Master traits offer more opportunities to customize favorite characters, giving both longtime Skyfarers and newcomers plenty of reasons to take flight.
Jump into the latest action with the following games to play this week:
Esports Manager 2026 (New release on Steam, available July 6)
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced(New release on Steam and Ubisoft Connect, available July 9)
Another longtime PC gamer shared how GeForce NOW completely changed their perspective after years of skepticism, calling it “a good alternative” for casual players and encouraging others to “try the one month and upgrade to the yearly before the sale ends.”
What are you planning to play this weekend? Let us know on X or in the comments below.
Laura Fryer, a veteran of the video game industry and one of the founding members of the original Xbox project, is sounding the alarm amidst the industry’s shift toward all-digital games.
Fryer recently uploaded a new video to her YouTube channel in which she warns specifically against PlayStation’s recent announcement that it’s ending production of physical game discs starting in 2028. She uses a story about her family’s Rock Band tradition to make a point about the impermanence of digital-only games, explaining that she once spent “hundreds of dollars on Rock Band songs” only to lose them over a licensing issue. After her original Xbox died and was replaced by a newer model, she was unable to download the songs on her working console because they had been delisted. “Eventually, we just gave up,” Fryer says, tragically. “We gave up on our favorite family game.”
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’ve shared a similar experience with digital games over the years. Publishers have offered fully digital versions of games for decades now, and most purchases made on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox storefronts don’t come with any sort of physical token guaranteeing permanent ownership, but with PlayStation moving away from physical discs altogether, it’s likely situations like Fryer’s will become much more commonplace in the next console generation.
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Fryer says her Rock Band story isn’t just a “one-off technical glitch,” but “the blueprint for what Sony is planning next. “So when people ask me what I think about Sony’s recent announcement that they’re going all digital, that’s all I can think about.”
The Rock Band Warning: Why Ownership Matters – YouTube
Fryer also wades into the debate about physical’s market share compared to digital, which some analysts say is as low as 10% physical vs 90% digital, but Fryer argues that the inclusion of digital-only games in those comparisons makes “digital look way more dominant than it actually is.”
“Sony waited for Rockstar to make the first move, take the heat, and now they’re going all-in to make this the new normal,” she says.
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Fryer also makes the convincing argument that PlayStation going discless isn’t just about reducing production costs for new games and hardware, claiming that it’s also about erasing the second-hand market and re-gaining complete control over its ecosystem. “All the major players; Sony, Microsoft, even Hollywood; they’re all aligned here. Digital kills the used market and it stops the old library from competing with new games on the next console,” she says.
Ultimately, Fryer says a digital future is likely “inevitable” due to convenience, but says even a company as trusted by gamers as Valve is prone to leadership changes that could potentially result in digital libraries like the ones on Steam becoming just as vulnerable as song collections on Rock Band.
“I admit, most of my Steam library is digital too, because I trust they won’t pull the games,” Fryer says. “But I worry about that, because platforms depend on good leadership. Gabe Newell will not run Steam forever, and we’ve seen from Xbox how fast priorities can shift when you get new leadership,” she adds, seemingly referring to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s big “reset.”
Wrapping up her argument against a digital-only marketplace, Fryer goes full circle with what she calls her “Rock Band warning:
“Digital is convenient until someone else decides you’ve had enough, and there are some games and movies where I will never have enough,” she says. “Physical gives you real ownership, right? And in my case, physical would’ve protected those irreplaceable memories.”
One of the convenient things about the Steam Deck is Valve’s handy verification system, which tells you how a game is (ideally) going to run on the handheld PC before you boot it up, and whether you can stick with the default settings or need to do some tweaking. If a game has been tested by the company, it’ll be badged as either Verified, Playable or Unsupported, and while it isn’t a perfect system, it goes a long way to bridging that gap between complicated PC gaming and out-of-the-box console ease. It took a while to arrive, but the very same compatibility details are now starting to pop up for the Steam Machine, albeit bizarrely hidden away.
As spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun, there was a lot of confusion about the newly launched Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced being awarded Steam Machine verification without there actually being any evidence of it on Steam. But that has changed, if you know where to look.
I (very sadly) don’t have a Steam Machine, so I don’t know what happens if you load up the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced store page through SteamOS on the new PC, but I went into the Steam desktop app on my MacBook and found its Steam Machine verification buried inside the Steam Deck compatibility details. If you scroll down to that section (it’s located on the right of the page under the languages section) and click “Learn more,” you’ll see a tab for the Steam Machine next to the Deck’s in the pop-up. Click that and you get the usual three-tick approval found on Verified Steam Deck games.
According to Steam, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced fully supports controllers when played on the Steam Machine, displays controller icons and performs well with the Steam Machine’s default graphics configuration. This means it earns that all-important Verified badge. I also tried searching for a few other games that popped into my head, including Devil May Cry 5 and Cuphead, and they’re also showing up as Verified. In a strange turn of events, Valve’s own Dota 2 is only listed as “Playable” (as it is on Steam Deck) due to pesky mouse and keyboard icons occasionally popping up and the game sometimes requiring you to use an on-screen keyboard to enter text.
Valve is presumably planning to make Steam Machine compatibility more immediately clear in its store eventually, but for now at least, anyone lucky (and deep-pocketed) enough to have snagged a launch unit knows where to look. And if you’re still weighing up whether you want to part with the best part (or considerably more) of $1,000 on Valve’s new living room-friendly gaming PC, Engadget’s review went live this week.
Regardless of your gender, if you’ve ever created a female or femme-presenting player-character–especially in an RPG–you’ve almost certainly encountered an issue that has been plaguing the genre since games first made the jump from 2D to 3D: really, really, really bad hairstyle options for female characters. And look, I get it. Animating a million little strands of hair is difficult and time-consuming, and devs don’t always have the funding to make a ton of flowing hairstyle options with long, luscious locks.
But that doesn’t stop them from attempting to portray longer hair–it just tends to be styled in a convoluted up-do that says, “See, this character totally has a lot of hair, she just spends six hours every morning following intricate Ye Olde Hair Tutorials to ensure her locks will not move no matter how many heavy attacks she takes.”
Now, RPG players are bringing these off-the-wall hairstyles to life via tongue-in-cheek videos depicting the struggle players face when trying to create a female character with long hair. From long ponytails that do not react to physics whatsoever to traffic cone-shaped up-dos, here are some of our favorite player-made takes on female video game hairstyles.
1. Cursed pigtails
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DagFarxh9ul/
No matter when or where an RPG is set, for some reason there always seem to be at least six different pigtail-style hair options, all of which somehow manage to both suck and look wildly out of place, especially when your character is fully decked out in heavy armor.
Nothing says, “I am the chosen one, here to save the realm!” like rocking up to the battle looking like an Owlbear just tried to build a nest in your hair. Why accurately emulate the look of historical hairstyles when you can just give ’em the ol’ “haircut courtesy of my five-year-old sister” special?
If you do find a long hairstyle, make no mistake: It absolutely will not move. If, by some miracle, it does move, it will move as one singular mega-hair rather than a head of individual strands.
Nothing says “elegant badass” like a single, tiny braid in the middle of your forehead.
5. Long hair, but make it look short
Inevitably, when you do find a longer hair style, devs will have gone out of their way to make sure it looks weird from just about every angle, with strands that have been twisted, braided, and wrapped around themselves to the point that even getting hit with Storm of Vengeance wouldn’t blow a single hair out of place. These styles are often very tall or wide, to give the appearance of length, while ensuring nobody actually has to animate it.
On the bright side, things are definitely getting better–as much as I struggled to enjoy Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I do have to give credit where credit is due: My character may have looked like a half-melted Bratz doll, but every single strand of her hip-length hair moved individually, and responded appropriately to wind, body movement, and changes in inertia. The most fun I had with that game was watching my Rook’s hair flip around as she dove and dodged in combat. Veilguard also had a phenomenal selection of POC hairstyles, going far beyond the usual “generic fade for men, afro or short braids for women” offerings found in most games. (EA’s Frostbite Engine is the source of the magic behind Veilguard’s great hair physics.)
Still, there’s definitely room for improvement when it comes to hair animation in the games industry. As much as I get a kick out of seeing what lengths studios will go to in order to avoid having to animate long hair, I do hope that more studios–especially those working on RPGs with custom player-characters–take the time to animate hair with the care it deserves.
In the meantime, I’ll be over here trying to figure out where I can get my hands on some of this magical, gravity-defying hairspray that seems to be available to every female NPC in every RPG game ever.
German director Uwe Boll is infamous for his so-bad-they’re-actually-just-bad movie adaptations of video games like Bloodrayne, Postal, and House of the Dead. Now, in a surprising twist, Boll’s latest single-digit-score Rotten Tomatoes movie is getting an official video game adaptation. It’s perfectly timed to capitalize on the controversy surrounding the filmmaker’s new pic, Citizen Vigilante.
Citizen Vigilante — previously titled The Dark Knight — stars once-promising actor Armie Hammer (The Social Network, Call Me By Your Name) as Sanders, a man who “takes justice into his own hands,” according to the film’s official website. Sanders’ vigilante crusade, mostly targeting a wave of criminal migrants, makes him a social media star but puts him at odds with a local police chief played by Costas Mandylor of Saw franchise fame. Boll’s hyper-violent film is based on real events, its creators say, and critics have blasted it as “morally bankrupt,” “borderline snuff,” and “cheap, incoherent and embarrassingly badly acted.”
Still, it’s been a hit with a certain noxious online audience. It’s been on Prime Video’s top 10 purchases and rentals this week, in part thanks to a promotional boost from insufferable tech dork Elon Musk, who — with Boll’s permission — made Citizen Vigilante free to watch on X for two days. That has apparently endeared it to a subset of cinephiles who can still stomach their X feed: Citizen Vigilante boasts a 93% Popcornmeter audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, a stark contrast to the 6% Tomatometer score from critics.
Boll’s never been a critical darling, largely due to the quality of the work he releases and his attacks on critics. Back in 2006, he physically fought some of them. Boll allegedly retired from filmmaking in 2016, a pledge that didn’t hold. In 2022, he released Hanau, a movie described as “a psychological profile of the first QAnon mass murderer,” and he’s been back churning out his brand of cinema since.
But Boll finally has something for people who play games, not just watch them be lazily adapted. On Monday, the director, who received the Razzie Awards’ Worst Career Achievement dishonor in 2009 for his impressively consistent output of dreck, announced that a video game adaptation of Citizen Vigilante is coming to PlayStation 5 this month. Developed by Daniel Wengenroth, who runs German game studio Polygon Art (no relation to Polygon.com), the official Citizen Vigilante video game promises a similarly violent and gory revenge tale.
“When the system fails, justice becomes personal,” reads the game’s PlayStation Store description. “A city consumed by crime. A system pushed to its limits. People are losing faith. You are Sanders — not a hero, not a savior, but a man who decided to act. Take justice into your own hands, hunt down criminals, uncover corruption, and face the consequences of your actions. Some will call you a hero. Others will call you a threat.”
Citizen Vigilante promises “brutal, fast-paced action combat” and “gritty, violent gameplay with gore and dismemberment.”
Take a look, y’all.
Polygon Art’s output thus far, like Boll’s, is prolific. The studio has developed or published at least 14 titles over the past seven years, mostly military shooters and job simulation games on Steam.
News of the Citizen Vigilante game arrives just as the film’s star is reportedly regretting taking part in the project. In a story on Puck, an unnamed source in Armie Hammer’s camp said the actor was “in tears” after seeing the film for the first time. Said a source, “He called me and said, ‘Fuck. This is hateful, disgusting.’”
We’ll report back on how well Citizen Vigilante, the video game, has turned out when it arrives on PlayStation 5 on July 17.
Starting… uh, last week, we’re making a bunch of improvements to the RPS Supporter Program, the super-special subscription service through which impossibly cool RPS readers can support our writing and reporting directly. The catch? Ha ha! There isn’t one.
Playing Black Flag for the first time on XBOX Series X|S is like discovering a back catalog of your favorite artist. I’ve played nearly a dozen of these games over the years – I loved Origins, the Ezio Trilogy is tops, and Valhalla was truly epic – but somehow the original Black Flag never made it into my rotation (I also never played Odyssey but that’s a tale for another time). That’s to say, I have an appreciation and familiarly of this “classic” version of the franchise and Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced feels like a return to form.
For the unfamiliar, this time you’re in the shoes of one Edward Kenway, an up-and-coming (and well-connected) pirate who has stumbled into the mysterious world of Assassins, Templars, and mythical artifacts. With his ship, the Jackdaw, and a loyal crew by his side, you’ll set sail across 1700’s Caribbean in search of fortune and adventure.
I really like how quickly Black Flag Resynced gets you moving by having Kenway falling into this hidden world – impersonating a Templar gives us a peak into that side of the franchise’s epic sci-fi and mystical yarn, but at the same time allowing Kenway to be an opportunistic pirate, blending the mystery of the artifacts with the search for hidden treasure. It’s a nice and natural push to get you going.
And it’s not just the narrative that moves quickly. Less than a few hours into the game you have essentially everything you need to start exploring the Caribbean, with multiple side quests and activities that let you upgrade your ship and crew. Sticking to the critical path in the early going is mandatory, as it unlocks additional weapons and features, but for the most part I welcomed how much freedom the game gives you so early on – but you really should spend some of that coin on ship and crew upgrades as soon as you get the chance.
It also looks fantastic – this ground-up rebuild of the original is using advanced graphic tech like ray tracing, higher resolution textures, and Dolby Atmos to bring the world of Black Flag even more to life. Water and reflections look amazing, clothes look ragged and torn, and facial details are well-defined – is there anyone in this world who doesn’t have a scar?
Gameplay systems have also reportedly been revamped; having never played the original, I can only speak to how this current version functions and it feels modern and refined. Combat has a crisp parry and dodge rhythm to it – enemy weapons flash blue for a parry; red for a dodge – which makes the flow of sword and hand-to-hand combat feel slick. And if it seems like you’re able to dispatch everyone a bit too easily, you can tweak a variety of difficulty sliders as you see fit.
The combat is punctuated by having you execute some truly brutal finishing moves – by breaking down your enemy’s health and guard meter, you’ll be able to trigger these moves by pressing Y button that will have you running your sword through the chest of enemies or stabbing them in the face with your hidden blade. More than a few times I found myself with an audible, “woah!” complimented with an ear-to-ear grin at some of these flashy moves that Kenway was pulling off.
Stealth has received some attention as well – instead of an instant failure state if you’re spotted, you must improvise your way out of trouble. I appreciate this approach, not just because I enjoy combat if it comes to brandishing my blades, but I’ve always found that a quick failure feature is counterintuitive to fun, when the slightest slip makes for a more frustrating experience. Now the hardcore players are given the challenge of sneaking by unseen, while giving more novice players the tools to get out of trouble.
Parkour feels just as smooth as I remember from other Creeds, with Kenway effortlessly able to climb and shimmy up the side of buildings. It’s still just as fun as other AC entries where you solve the puzzle of jetted edges and loose bricks to reach the viewpoint.
That touches on another one of the hallmarks of the franchise that shows up well in Black Flag are the incredibly detailed and intricate port cities full of historically accurate buildings and structures, like the Basilica Menor de San Franciso de Asis in Havana or the “nest of infamous bastards” pirate city of Nassau. Having hundreds of citizens going about their day mixed with drunken pirates found hanging about, it really brings the world of Black Flag to life. It’s this meticulousness that has made every entry in the franchise a joy to play, and Resynced is no exception.
Naturally, in a game that has you playing as a pirate, one of the biggest hooks for Black Flag has always been the ship-to-ship combat – it’s a feature I’ve played in other AC titles, but this feels considerably more in-depth. Ship combat is more akin to an arcade-like experience as opposed to a slower, more strategic approach like something found in Sea of Thieves – and it’s incredibly fun. With a variety of shot types, ship upgrades, boarding parties, and a reputation system that can have you outrunning pirate hunters, this could practically be a game all to itself.
The new dynamic weather can also make these combat encounters flashy and challenging, helping to keep them somewhat unpredictable. Trying to line up your shot while dodging a giant waterspout can make for an incredibly cinematic and thrilling experience. Add to that other enemy ships could jump into the fray as well, puts a bow on the entire package that I can see why this entry has always been so revered.
Between these moments of action, Black Flag Resynced can provide some great Zen-like moments as you travel across the sea on your way to your next goal or story beat. Pressing the A button a couple of times will drop you out to an external cinematic camera that showcases your ship in full while listening to sea shanties as you set out for distant shores.
Black Flag has long been on my list to play and now with this definitive version in my hands, I can finally appreciate what I’ve always expected it to be – one of the most fun and exhilarating entries in the franchise, and then some. There’s so much that’s still left for me to discover within the world of Black Flag Resynced, like the new storylines featuring Blackbeard, new cities to discover, and the various sea shanties left to find, I feel my adventure is only just getting started and I can’t wait to play more to see where the wind takes me.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Deluxe Edition
Ubisoft
☆☆☆☆☆ 615
★★★★★
$69.99
Pre-order Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Deluxe Edition and receive, alongside the Blackbeard’s Crimson Pack bonus , a $5 Xbox gift card and an in-game Resource Pack. Use the Resource Pack to instantly upgrade the Jackdaw as you carve your legend on the high seas with useful Materials and valuable Trade Goods. Offer valid for purchases in Microsoft Store online through 11:59 PM PST on July 8, 2026 while supplies last in the United States (including Puerto Rico). View full terms and conditions at aka.ms/ACBF2026.
The Deluxe Edition contains the base game and the following content:
– The Master Assassin Character Pack: Edward costume, sword, pistol, and trinket with unique perks
– The Master Assassin Naval Pack: sail set, ship’s pet, crew attire, wheel, figurehead, and hull trim
BECOME A FEARSOME PIRATE
Strike fear in your foes as you board and sink enemy vessels as Edward Kenway, captain of the Jackdaw. Whether blending into crowds or leading daring assaults, switch between silent takedowns and fierce brawls as you effortlessly wield swords, pistols, and the Hidden Blade.
A CLASSIC REBUILT FOR AN ENHANCED EXPERIENCE
Combat has been rebuilt for more dynamic encounters, emphasizing parries and takedowns, while stealth and parkour have been improved for smoother escapes and assassinations. Continuously upgrade the Jackdaw to face powerful enemy ships with enhanced naval mechanics featuring new alternate fire modes. Quality-of-life additions also address previous pain points, ensuring your experience is improved.
THE CARIBBEAN LIKE NEVER BEFORE
Whether you’re sailing the open seas or journeying across untamed lands, discover a seamless open world built with the latest Anvil engine. Take in sweeping vistas as you brave stormy waters, dive into underwater shipwrecks, or push through dense tropical jungles. Enhanced by features such as Dolby Atmos and ray tracing, every scene feels more immersive, bringing the world’s beauty to life.
EXPANDING EDWARD’S ADVENTURE
Building on top of the original story, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced introduces exclusive new content. Familiar faces will return, with new storylines dedicated to fan-favorite characters such as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. Unexpected allies will also cross your path, as three officers join you on your journey as part of the main narrative. More surprises await such as new sea shanties, pets, photo mode, and more.
Internet connection, Ubisoft account and Microsoft Account required to access online features.
Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced
Ubisoft
☆☆☆☆☆ 615
★★★★★
Pre-order now and get the exclusive Blackbeard’s Crimson Pack bonus. Includes a costume for Edward, a sword, and a pistol.
BECOME A FEARSOME PIRATE
Strike fear in your foes as you board and sink enemy vessels as Edward Kenway, captain of the Jackdaw. Whether blending into crowds or leading daring assaults, switch between silent takedowns and fierce brawls as you effortlessly wield swords, pistols, and the Hidden Blade. With a cast of historical pirate legends at your side, defy empires amidst the age-old conflict opposing Assassins and Templars.
A CLASSIC REBUILT FOR AN ENHANCED EXPERIENCE
Combat has been rebuilt for more dynamic encounters, emphasizing parries and takedowns, while stealth and parkour have been improved for smoother escapes and assassinations. Continuously upgrade the Jackdaw to face powerful enemy ships with enhanced naval mechanics featuring new alternate fire modes. Quality-of-life additions also address previous pain points, ensuring your experience is improved.
THE CARIBBEAN LIKE NEVER BEFORE
Whether you’re sailing the open seas or journeying across untamed lands, discover a seamless open world built with the latest Anvil engine. Take in sweeping vistas as you brave stormy waters, dive into underwater shipwrecks, or push through dense tropical jungles. Enhanced by features such as Dolby Atmos and ray tracing, every scene feels more immersive, bringing the world’s beauty to life.
EXPANDING EDWARD’S ADVENTURE
Building on top of the original story, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced introduces exclusive new content. Familiar faces will return, with new storylines dedicated to fan-favorite characters such as Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. Unexpected allies will also cross your path, as three officers join you on your journey as part of the main narrative. More surprises await such as new sea shanties, pets, a photo mode, and more.
Internet connection, Ubisoft account and Microsoft Account required to access online features.
Yesterday’s layoffs at Xbox took, and will continue to take, a terrible toll. Some trumpeted the fact that no studios were closed, although the practical impact of spinning them out to independence or new ownership remains to be seen, but that has no bearing on the blow to morale caused by such deep cuts to long-standing dev teams.
One former Elder Scrolls Online developer put words to those feelings in a short, poignant thread on X, lamenting the state of the game and developer ZeniMax Online Studios, which was reportedly purged of half its employees in the layoffs.
“I’m just so angry today,” wrote Andrew Young, a content designer on Elder Scrolls Online who worked at ZeniMax Online Studios from 2012-2042. “People will never know the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making ESO or how we basically funded other failing projects while never getting enough resources to really keep up with our release cadence. The team deserved much better.”
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The Elder Scrolls Online has had a tough go of it over the years. Its launch in 2014 did not make a great impression, and while the shift to Tamriel Unlimited a year later turned things around, it always felt to me a bit like an afterthought MMO: The second cousin to World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 whose face you recognize in photos, but whose name you can’t quite put your finger on.
(Image credit: Andrew Young (Twitter))
But things seemed to take a darker turn in 2025. Just a year after a GDC talk extolling the actually-quite-remarkable success of TESO, game director Matt Firor—also the president of ZeniMax Online Studios—suddenly left the studio, a move he later said was the direct result of Microsoft’s 2025 bloodbath layoffs that also saw the cancellation of a new ZeniMax Online MMO known as Project Blackbird.
That Microsoft saw fit to cut even deeper into the studio just a year after that has some concerned about its future. Following the layoff announcement, TESO community manager Jessica Folsom reaffirmed the dev team’s commitment to the game but added that previously announced roadmaps for the new seasonal structure “will be shifting.” There’s no indication of anything more serious in the offing but I can’t help thinking of Amazon’s New World, a moderately successful MMO that was nonetheless canned when Amazon decided that its own “go big” strategy for gaming wasn’t working.
“I’ve been gone for a while, but talking to people today and realizing there’s really no one left and no changing it now makes my heart ache,” Young concluded. “For the people, our game, who we were as a team and a studio. This is a serious loss, and I don’t think people know how much.”
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Apogee co-founder George Broussard has commented on the latest wave of Xbox layoffs, saying Microsoft not shutting the studios is simply “decent PR” for them while the studios now face new struggles.
Developer of one-time Doom rival Duke Nukem 3D Broussard also commented on the id layoffs on Twitter, reporting on what he’s heard from the studio about the magnitude of these layoffs. “Tools, programming (except a couple), Quake Champions team, testing team. All gone.” Broussard reports, while another quote says “seems like all they left was leadership and art/design. I think Xbox forgot Quakecon is next month.”
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I’ve seen comments like “the MS layoffs weren’t so bad”.re: id software.Reports are that 50% (95ish of 200) of the studio was laid off. Here are some quotes on other details:“Tools, programming (except a couple), Quake Champions team, testing team. All gone.”“Yeah seems…July 7, 2026
Broussard adds, “It really does sound as if id is now a support team for Bethesda/others. Rip idTech, which was amazing. Maybe Machine Games will carry it on or maybe it will be dropped for future games? But the read is that id is essentially dead. At least for the time being. Yes, the studio wasn’t closed and half still have their jobs. That’s great.”
As for the four studios Microsoft let go, Broussard says, “One view is this is great. For MS they get decent PR for being ‘good guys’. But the truth is that in at least one case (and maybe others), retaining the IP in such a case was written into the original contract when MS purchased them.”
So far, it has been confirmed that Double Fine and Compulsion are retaining their IP as part of their independence, with Undead Labs and Ninja Theory still confirmed to be working on State of Decay 3 and Senua, respectively; however, it’s not clear if the studio’s new owners will also own their franchises.
Broussard adds, “Second, these studios now are out of the MS lifeboat, on their own, and will have [a] short time to find new deals or funding and they will make it or not. Never mind they sold to MS originally to avoid this grind and be ‘safe’.”
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He adds, “Yes, they have a second chance, but more layoffs may simply be deferred and outside the current umbrella of today’s layoff round, so MS doesn’t really get the bad PR of simply shutting studios down. This means continual worry by the employees and stress for mgmt.”
Microsoft is cutting 3,200 jobs in divisions outside of Xbox today, mostly targeting the organization’s Commercial Business segment. The layoffs come in addition to a large but expected firing spree that also hit Microsoft’s Xbox arm on Monday, July 6.
Microsoft EVP and Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announced the Commercial Business layoffs in a blog post reading, “During my time at Microsoft, I’ve seen this company reinvent itself again and again. What makes that possible has always been our people — their resilience, creativity, and willingness to keep learning.”
Microsoft is firing 4,800 people across Xbox and other divisions today, equating to 2.1 percent of its global workforce. While Coleman made it clear that AI will not immediately replace the eliminated employees’ jobs, she hinted that this could and probably would happen in the near future.
“I also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI,” Coleman wrote, apropos of nothing. “At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done. Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves.”
We knew the Xbox layoffs and studio sales were coming, but the additional loss of 3,200 non-gaming employees landed as a surprise on Monday.
In the case of Xbox, Microsoft laid off 1,600 employees today and is preparing for a further 1,600 firings in the coming months. Additionally, it’s spinning off four studios — Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs — and potentially shuttering a fifth, Arkane.
Xbox employees have been bracing for layoffs since an ominous memo sent out by new CEO Asha Sharma and COO Matt Booty on June 10. They wrote that after a decade of massive studio acquisitions and poor current-gen hardware sales, the Xbox division was over-extended and losing money. Sharma reiterated these sentiments with more force in a blog post formally announcing the Xbox layoffs on July 6.
One week before the job cuts, Xbox union members under Communications Workers of America urged Microsoft to engage in good-faith negotiations around job security and layoff processes. Microsoft fired 9,000 people across its divisions in July 2025, including hundreds of Xbox employees, and it laid off 1,900 Xbox employees in early 2024.
