Microsoft and Discord announced a new partnership introducing the Xbox Game Pass Starter Edition for Discord Nitro members, which includes over 50 console and PC games plus 10 hours of cloud gaming per month. The offering keeps Nitro pricing unchanged at $10 monthly while expanding benefits and building on their prior collaboration that provided free Nitro to Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
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Xbox confirmed it is eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the XGS management layer, and is reorganizing studios so Activision develops the next Halo while Obsidian moves under Bethesda. Official Xbox Wire says the company is roughly three-quarters through its previously announced 3,200-role restructuring.
Microsoft has acknowledged a major Xbox Network outage preventing users from signing in, creating accounts, or launching profile-required games on PC and consoles. The disruption comes after two months without issues and follows a prior outage that lasted more than 15 hours.
Hideo Kojima revealed he learned of Sony's decision to cancel funding for Physint during a June Zoom call, leaving him in shock and immediately concerned for his studio's 200 employees and its 10th anniversary. The news comes after PlayStation publicly stepped away earlier this month and Xbox took over the project, highlighting the tough conditions across the game industry.
Hideo Kojima confirmed Bill Skarsgård as the lead actor in Physint and said development on OD is on schedule during an Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 presentation on September 17. The update is the first since Xbox took over publishing both games following Sony's departure from Physint last week.
Nearly 1,900 Blizzard workers have ratified their first union contract with Microsoft, requiring bargaining over AI use and adding recall rights plus extra severance after layoffs. The deal sets potential new standards for video game industry labor agreements at a time of widespread job cuts.
