Last night, Jason Schreier over at Bloomberg published a report that outlined plans for more Xbox layoffs in the near future, said to be of the "major" kind and taking place in July 2026.

The report says that the "exact scale" of the layoffs isn't clear yet, but they're expected "shortly after the close of Microsoft’s fiscal year on June 30". We'll obviously keep an eye out for that news and let you know about it ASAP.

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The late 2000s and early 2010s were an extremely important time for EA Sports' FIFA series, which had spent much of the past decade losing out in the gameplay department to Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer. With the arrival of the likes of FIFA 08 and FIFA 09, however, the development team began to craft the perfect formula both on and off the pitch, taking the series to new heights while also introducing new features such as Pro Clubs and Ultimate Team that would become literal game-changers for not only FIFA, but EA Sports as a whole.

The team behind the FIFA franchise was riding a massive high going into 2010, and with the South Africa World Cup taking place that summer, EA Sports delivered a dedicated Xbox 360 game to celebrate the tournament. I've personally been playing FIFA games since all the way back to FIFA 95, and I think 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa might just be my favourite of all time. Yes, it was really that good!

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Remember when Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, and everyone assumed that Xbox would become the dominant force on the back of franchises like Call of Duty?

It hasn't quite played out like that; since the merger was done, Xbox hardware sales have slumped. Microsoft has also made multiple rounds of layoffs across its business, including Xbox Game Studios. Thousands of roles have been lost, and several studios have been closed down.

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Xbox boss Asha Sharma has been speaking to Fortune about the wider industry and the future of gaming hardware, and it should come as no great shock to learn that AI came up as a topic at one point.

Sharma's previous role was President of Microsoft's CoreAI product, so you'd imagine she'd be quite bullish about the impact of the highly controversial technology – but, as she has proven in the past, she's keen to see it applied in ways that make sense for players.

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Back in July of 2023, Major Nelson (real name Larry Hryb) announced his departure from Xbox and Microsoft after 20 years, and it marked a sad moment for the community that had loved his work throughout the history of the brand.

Of course, a lot of that work was behind-the-scenes — he was the Principal Program Manager at Xbox for nine years, helping to build the Xbox Live and achievement systems amongst other things, and then spent the next 11 years as Senior Director of Corporate Communications. However, Major Nelson also played a key role in highlighting the likes of Games with Gold, Xbox Live Arcade and various Xbox first-party releases in video form, and was always a beloved ever-present figure when it came to Xbox's marketing campaigns.

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As always, Xbox is continuing the formula of adding Premium Upgrades for the likes of Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day and Fable, all of which kicked off their pre-orders following the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday.

The Premium Upgrade contains all the same content as the Premium Edition for these games, but with one key difference - it doesn't include the base game. Basically, the idea is that the "Upgrade" is for people who can already access the game through Xbox Game Pass, whereas the full-fat Premium Edition is for people to want to buy it outright.

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The same person who revealed that Spyro the Dragon is returning has now suggested that Xbox is looking to revive Crash Bandicoot – the same character who was once the 'face' of Sony's 32-bit PlayStation.

As spotted by Comic Book.com, insider No Arms and No Legs, upon the confirmation of the new Spyro outing, posted on social media that "a new Crash Bandicoot game is scheduled too, but will not be unveiled for the moment."

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Yes, sorry... we're talking exclusives again. Everyone at Team Xbox keeps getting asked about them!

The latest word is from Xbox boss Asha Sharma, who was questioned on the topic in last night's Fortune interview. She didn't really have much to add compared to what we've heard already, but we thought we'd share the quote anyway.

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Legendary game designer Hideo Kojima has teased on social media that filming has recommenced for the upcoming Xbox exclusive OD.

The game was formally announced all the way back in 2022, with the first teaser arriving a year later.

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It's already been a hectic few days for Xbox Game Pass! We covered the additions for Monday (June 8th) yesterday, which included Undisputed and Solarpunk, and now we've got another two titles that might go under the radar on Tuesday and Wednesday - Persona 5 Royal on Tuesday, and 33 Immortals 1.0 on Wednesday.

You probably don't need much introduction to Persona 5 Royal, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest RPGS ever made. Just make sure you set aside plenty of time, as you're looking at around 100 hours to beat it!

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Xbox boss Asha Sharma has been appearing as part of a new interview with Fortune, and one of the topics she addressed was that of consoles and where they might be going in the future.

Sharma spent some time talking about how component prices and shortages are causing a "crisis" for hardware makers right now, and therefore Xbox "must think about other options" for "cost construction" going into consoles.

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And just like that, the busy week of June 2026 showcases is over! We've seen a heck of a lot over the past few days, including the Xbox Showcase, Summer Game Fest, State of Play, Nintendo Direct and various other great events.

We're obviously biased, but we think the Xbox Games Showcase stole the show this year. It was packed with so many amazing games, so many great moments, and a ridiculous number of Xbox Game Pass announcements to boot!

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Today's Nintendo Direct event for June 2026 included a bunch of games that are also coming to Xbox, including the likes of Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen, Final Fantasy Resonance, Kingdom Hearts IV and a whole lot more!

It should also be noted that a lot of existing or already-announced Xbox games were included in this broadcast, and the list of those titles is as follows:

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We always look forward to Xbox fan Klobrille sharing their highly-popular Xbox Game Studios roadmap after the conclusion of any big event, and that's exactly what they've done following the Xbox Games Showcase 2026!

This version adds in loads of upcoming Xbox first-party titles including Senua, Spyro: A Realm Reborn and Minecraft Dungeons 2, while also noting the "console exclusive" titles of Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution.

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Now that things have calmed down somewhat after the wild week of showcases that we've seen, it's time to share our opinion on the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 - and just like the Pure Xbox community, we thought it was incredible!

We voted "A" in Sunday's poll, which was the majority vote here on the website:

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There was a lot of controversy in October of last year when Xbox announced that it was increasing the prices of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass by quite a substantial amount - XGPU went from $19.99 to $29.99 per-month.

So, it comes as no surprise that the decision had a severely detrimental effect on the number of subscribers to the service overall, with new Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball confirming in an interview yesterday that "millions" of members were lost because of the change.

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One of the games that we didn't even talk about following last Tuesday's PlayStation State of Play event was Stellar Blade: Blood Rain, as no platforms were revealed for it, and the original game was a launch exclusive for PS5.

It sounds like things are going to be different this time around though, as developer Shift Up has announced it will be self-publishing Blood Rain, whereas Sony Interactive Entertainment published the original.

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One of the big announcements of the Xbox Games Showcase 2026 was that Gears of War: E-Day would be an Xbox console exclusive, so imagine our surprise when a new trailer popped up today with a PS5 logo next to the game!

Yes, as part of the latest Official Xbox Podcast episode, a trailer for Gears of War: E-Day with a mention of PS5 was included in the broadcast. It's since been taken down, but loads of people have been highlighting it on social media.

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We've all heard about how AI has caused component prices to increase substantially over the past few months, highlighted by a significant global RAM shortage amongst other things, and Xbox's Chief Strategy Officer has been speaking today about how it's continuing to cause a "crisis" for new hardware.

In an interview with The Game Business, Xbox's Matthew Ball admitted the crisis could continue for some time yet, and that "it's not a question of appetite" when it comes to fans wanting Xbox consoles, but the demand is hard to satisfy.

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Unsurprisingly, it seems that everyone related to Team Xbox is being asked about exclusive games this week, and that includes the new Xbox Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball.

In an interview with The Game Business, Ball gave a lengthy answer about how Xbox is going to approach exclusivity in the future. He started off by insisting that the mention of two exclusive titles (Gears and Clockwork Revolution) in the Xbox Games Showcase was "important" as it allowed players to understand that "this is not a one-off".

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One of the most well-received announcements from the Xbox Games Showcase was the reveal of the Xbox Series X25 limited edition console to celebrate Xbox's 25th anniversary, and based on first impressions, it seems like it's going to sell extremely well when it releases in November of this year.

That means we could have a potentially troubling situation on our hands - a limited edition product with mass demand. Scalpers will undoubtedly be looking to make a quick buck on the system, and it sounds like Microsoft is going to do everything possible to prevent that from happening.

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Amidst all of the showcases taking place over the past few days, the folks over at IGN held their own type of two-day event that spanned multiple hours - they called it IGN Live 2026.

Despite not being a traditional showcase, this event included loads of announcements for games across multiple platforms, including Xbox. There were so many trailers and deep dives in this event that we can't possibly feature it all, so we thought we'd pick out 10 of the best and most notable announcements we saw for Xbox.

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All the way back in January of 2020, Xbox studio Ninja Theory announced a new "in-development experimental title" in the horror genre known as Project: Mara. Details were very minimal at the time, but we did get a teaser trailer along with a brief description of what they were going for:

"Project: Mara will be a real-world and grounded representation of mental terror. Based on real lived experience accounts and in-depth research, our aim is to recreate the horrors of the mind as accurately and realistically as possible. Project: Mara will be an experimental title and a showcase of what could become a new storytelling medium."

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]]> https://www.purexbox.com/#article-202289 https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/06/xbox-studio-ninja-theory-confirms-project-mara-has-been-cancelled Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:00:00 GMT You thought the showcases were over?!

Last night, immediately following the conclusion of the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, we were treated to another event in the form of the PC Gaming Show 2026 - something that we admittedly weren't paying that much attention to!

Nevertheless, even though this show always focuses on PC above all else, it usually includes plenty of upcoming Xbox games as well. That's exactly what happened last night, with lots of titles mentioned for Xbox along the way.

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]]> https://www.purexbox.com/#article-202265 https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/06/roundup-all-the-biggest-xbox-reveals-from-the-pc-gaming-show-2026 Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Could we see others over the next 12 months?

The big talking point last night was Xbox's decision to make Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution "Xbox console exclusives", which means they won't appear on PS5 or Nintendo Switch 2 in the future.

Xbox CCO Matt Booty then elaborated on this a bit more following the event, stating that Xbox will decide exclusivity on a case-by-case basis going forward, but the team won't be altering "big multiplayer games and live service games" along with games that are already promised for other platforms - those will definitely remain non-exclusives.

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]]> https://www.purexbox.com/#article-202277 https://www.purexbox.com/news/2026/06/it-doesnt-end-with-gears-and-clockwork-xbox-reporter-teases-more-console-exclusives