News

Forza Horizon 6 has delivered another major win for Xbox Game Studios, this time on Steam. Playground Games’ new racing title reached a peak of 273,148 concurrent players on launch day, May 19, making it the most played Xbox Game Studios title on Steam by concurrent player count. That number puts Forza Horizon 6 just ahead of Halo Infinite, which previously held the record.

Microsoft appears to have made a small hardware revision to the standard Xbox Series X and S controller, starting with the new Forza Horizon 6 Limited Edition pad. The change is simple but noticeable for long time Xbox players: the old proprietary headset port has been blocked off, leaving the normal 3.5mm headphone jack in place. This does not mean wired headsets are going

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has praised Xbox’s latest leadership changes, calling Microsoft’s new gaming team “world class” and saying the hires suggest a serious commitment to the future of gaming. His comments came after Xbox made more executive appointments as Microsoft continues to reshape its gaming division under Asha Sharma. Sweeney’s reaction matters because he is one of the most visible voices in

Bethesda is finally giving Fallout 4 players on Xbox much more room for Creations, with a major console update set for May 27. The biggest upgrade is coming to Xbox Series X and Series S, where Creations storage will become scalable up to 100GB. That is a huge jump from the old 2GB limit and should make modded Fallout 4 much more flexible on

Microsoft has launched an official Xbox Game Studios Shop, giving fans one central place to buy merchandise based on Xbox’s first party games. The store includes items tied to franchises such as Halo, Forza, Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Avowed, Hellblade 2, Age of Empires, and more, with Gears of War and Fable merchandise listed as coming soon. The shop is starting with a relatively

Xbox players have two notable new free demos to try this week, with Square Enix’s The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales and the anime style racing game Screamer both now available on Xbox Series X and S and PC. The demos arrive during a quieter stretch for new Xbox trial releases, making both additions stand out for players who want to sample upcoming

Playasia has strongly criticized a rumored Xbox disc to digital program, calling the idea anti consumer and warning that it could hurt the future of physical games. The reaction came after a rumor suggested Microsoft may be exploring a way for players to convert physical Xbox discs into digital licenses, possibly because the next generation Xbox system, often referred to as Project Helix, may

Xbox’s long missing Game Pass Family Plan may have been blocked partly because of publisher concerns, with EA reportedly among the biggest opponents. The plan was tested in 2022 and 2023 as Xbox Game Pass Friends and Family, but it was later put on hold before a wider rollout could happen. At the time, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the Xbox team still

Xbox Free Play Days is back for the May 21 to 24 weekend, and this week’s lineup is built entirely around Warhammer. To mark the Warhammer Skulls event, Microsoft is letting Xbox Game Pass members try five Warhammer games for free across the weekend, giving players a chance to sample several different parts of the franchise before deciding whether to buy. The free weekend

Luna Abyss is now available on Xbox Game Pass as a day one release, giving subscribers a new single player shooter to try across Xbox Series X and S, PC, and cloud. The game mixes first person shooting, platforming, and bullet hell combat inside a dark sci fi setting built around a mysterious moon and the abyss beneath it. The early response is positive.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is now available to preload on Xbox Series X and Series S ahead of its June 3, 2026 launch, but players will need to clear a lot of storage before installing it. The Microsoft Store lists the Xbox preload at about 170GB, making it one of the largest recent downloads on the platform. That size is especially important for Xbox

Forza Horizon 6 has only been out for a few days, but Playground Games is already working on several early areas of improvement. The studio has identified four main issues it is reviewing right now: Drivatar balance, AMD GPU performance on PC, audio crackling on some PC setups, and crashes or invalid loading errors in the PC version. The biggest player facing issue appears

Xbox Game Pass has quietly added two more games to its June 2026 lineup, giving subscribers another pair of day one style releases to watch next month. The newly confirmed titles are RV There Yet? and STARSEEKER: Astroneer Expeditions, both coming to Xbox Series X and S, PC, and cloud. The additions arrive as May’s Game Pass schedule is winding down and Microsoft starts

Xbox has shipped its first small feature in response to the new Xbox Player Voice feedback program. The change switches playtime tracking on Xbox consoles from days to total hours, making it easier for players to understand and compare how much time they have spent in a game. The request had recently reached the top 10 list on the Xbox Player Voice website. It

Humble has launched a new 4X strategy bundle aimed at players who enjoy long, layered games built around exploration, expansion, resource control, and conquest. The Humble 4X: Xplore, Xpand, Xploit, Xterminate Bundle includes eight strategy games, several DLC packs, and a few discount coupons, with many of the included titles marked as Steam Deck Playable or Verified. The bundle is split into two main

Valve has released new SteamOS updates for both the stable and beta channels, giving Steam Deck owners another round of security, stability, and device specific fixes. The stable update is smaller and focuses on general security and stability work, while the beta update includes more visible fixes for Steam Deck OLED, Desktop Mode, discrete GPU systems, and ASUS ROG Ally controls. The stable release

Darksiders Warmastered Edition has received a surprise update nearly 10 years after its last major patch, and the biggest improvement is much better Steam Deck performance. The update adds Vulkan rendering support, which is especially useful for Linux based systems such as SteamOS because Vulkan works more naturally on the platform than DirectX through Proton. The patch is unexpected because Darksiders Warmastered Edition launched

Tavern Keeper has received a major update that makes the management sim much better on Steam Deck. The game was already playable on Valve’s handheld, but it had a few issues that made it less comfortable than it should have been, especially around interface scaling and controller support. The latest update fixes those problems and helps the game earn its Verified status more convincingly.

Valve has released another Steam Deck beta client update, and this one continues the recent focus on fixing Steam Controller problems. The May 21 update improves controller detection, adjusts trigger haptics, fixes gyro polling stutter, and cleans up layout issues linked to the newer settings changes from the May 13 beta. The update is aimed at Steam Deck owners who are using the Beta

Fanatical has brought back its BYO Bethesda Bundle for GOG, giving PC and Steam Deck players a low cost way to pick up several classic Bethesda published games. The bundle includes Fallout, Dishonored, Wolfenstein, The Evil Within, The Elder Scrolls, Prey, Quake, and DOOM 3, with prices starting at $3.50 per game and dropping to $3 each if you buy five or more titles.