Black Monday at Xbox

Xbox made a series of brutal cuts last week, including parting ways with four studios. Find out the latest details. Also, the Spiel des Jahres announced their 2026 winners. All this and the latest gaming news. Let’s go.

Xbox’s massive cuts

Microsoft used the term “reset” to describe their most recent round of brutal layoffs and studio closures that started last week. The Xbox division will lose over 3,200 employees, with 1,600 being cut loose immediately, and the rest expected before the end of the fiscal year. 

The layoffs mark the third time Xbox has laid off thousands of employees since 2024. As part of their cuts, Xbox announced five studios would either be spun off or closed. They include: 

• Double Fine - the studio behind Psychonauts, Keeper and Kinn was released by Microsoft. They will now be an independent studio and allowed to keep the rights to the games they created while under Microsoft. 
• Compulsion - the makers of South of Midnight have a similar agreement. Both studios thanked Microsoft for letting them retain ownership of their games while becoming independent. 
• Ninja Theory - after the recent announcement of their new game Senua at Summer Game Fest, the studio was purchased by an unnamed company. 
• Undead Labs - the company currently making State of Decay 3 was also reportedly sold. Both studios will also retain the rights to their games, and State of Decay 3 is no longer obligated to release on Xbox Game Pass.
• Arkane Studios - the makers of Dishonored and Prey is reviewing “potential strategic options” to operate outside of Xbox. If no buyer is found, the studio could be shut down. Arkane is currently working on the new Blade game. 

Apart from the studios being spun off or sold, Xbox made significant cuts and changes at the properties they retained, including:

• Bethesda - the studio behind Elder Scrolls, Fallout and Starfield was hit hard by the layoffs, with 380 expected to lose their jobs. Half of the employees working on The Elder Scrolls Online were reportedly let go as the game’s roadmap is being reevaluated. Many of those left at Bethesda and some other studios will be redirected to work on the company’s more popular games. 
• Obsidian - the makers of The Outer Worlds and Avowed reportedly lost 25% of their staff despite their recent success. According to reports, the company cancelled Avowed 2 among other projects and is now working on a new Fallout game headed by the director of Fallout: New Vegas. 
• id - the makers of Doom and Quake suffered severe layoffs, with over half of their staff being dismissed. The studio recently launched an expansion to their popular Doom: The Dark Ages game. 

As we mentioned earlier, these layoffs are just the first wave. This has many who are still employed scared and nervous about their future with the company. 

As part of the cuts, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma sent an email to staff. In it, she says she wants Xbox to reach 1 billion people each day. The company currently reaches that many people in a year. 

The mass layoffs come after a decade of studio acquisitions by Xbox. The goal was to build a catalog for their online subscription Game Pass. Bloomberg wrote last week on how their subscription strategy failed. Game Pass has reportedly lost millions of users since 2024, and is down to 30 million subscribers today. This is half of their original target.

The 2026 Spiel des Jahres winners

One of the most prestigious board game awards announced their 2026 winners. 

The Spiel des Jahres is a German award that focuses on casual or family-friendly board games. Each year they choose games from a list of nominees in three categories. Here are the 2026 winners:

Spiel des Jahres (GOTY): JinxO

Manufacturer’s description: JinxO is a competitive word-association game. The aim: to score the most points by writing down answers that matches other people in the group. Be careful with your words! If your answer doesn't match anybody in the group, you jinxed it and receive no points. However, if only one other person matches with you, you score more points - it`s a JinxO!

Kennerspiel des Jahres (enthusiast's game of the year): Rebirth

Manufacturer’s description: Following a series of calamities that left civilization in shambles, societies around the world are being rebuilt anew in harmony with nature. Scotland lies in ruins, and the ancient clans have taken it upon themselves to restore the land. As clan leaders, you will compete for strategic control of the land by rebuilding its prestigious castles.

Kinderspiel des Jahres (best kid’s game): Mooki Island

Manufacturer’s description: Mooki Island is a quick, engaging game in which you’ll collect as many Mookies from each family as possible to win Trophies! Can you get the shiny Legendary Mookie cards? And above all: Watch out for that strange-looking Spider who’s just waiting to play a trick on you!

Congratulations to all the 2026 winners and nominees.

Side Quests (more stories worth reading)

🏈 After receiving mostly negative reviews, EA says they will remove the microtransactions they added to previously free content in College Football 27.

💻 IGN breaks down everything announced during the Pokémon Go 10 year anniversary livestream.

📱 PC ports have led the way as mobile game releases were up 77% in 2025.

💰 Steam has reportedly made over $11 billion already this year, its largest ever six-month span. 

⛔ Mobile game Mario Kart Tour will shut down later this year. 

⚽ All 60 teams in the Japanese professional football league were assigned a specific Pokémon to celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary.

🧶 To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Stardew Valley is getting an official crochet book that features 45 projects. 

📈 Round numbers: Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced sold over 2 million copies.

New Releases this week:

Check out our article on 10 new games to play in July. 

7/14: D-topia (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
7/15: Denshattack! (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
7/15: Teeto (PlayStation, Switch and PC)
7/15: The Mound: Omen of Cthulhu (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
7/16: Moss: The Forgotten Relic (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)

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