Of all the layoffs that came down on Xbox Game Studios developers this week as part of Microsoft and Xbox's 3,200 "reset" cuts and four studio divestments, the ones that hit the DOOM developer id Software were the most shocking to many given the popularity and success of its modern trilogy of games.

It's been reported that well over half of id was axed from Xbox, with 136 developers — 96 at its Texas headquarters and an additional 40 remote workers — let go from the studio. The cuts impacted nearly every department within the developer, including the teams building, maintaining, and improving its id Tech game engine used for a variety of ZeniMax projects.

Individual DOOM devs have shared reactions to the layoffs, though id Software itself hadn't yet shared a response until today. Now it has, with the studio posting a statement to the community on social media to assuage fears about its future under Microsoft and Xbox.

"Thank you for all the support this week. While our studio was impacted, those changes were spread across teams. We still have the crew we need to build the games and tech we're known for," reads id's letter. "The team today is about the same size we were when making DOOM (2016). We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker, and we will remain true to that philosophy moving forward."

"We are focused on supporting each other and team members impacted. We're going to keep building the great games and tech that have defined us for the past 35 years, and we're looking forward to seeing you at QuakeCon this August," it added.

Notably, this statement confirms our recent, earlier report that in the wake of the layoffs, id Software is now about the size that it was when it released the 2016 DOOM reboot ten years ago, and that the studio isn't in danger of being closed or split away from Microsoft and Xbox.

It also confirms that the developer will still move forward with new games, though it seems unlikely it will have a chance to explore some of its experimental ideas. Still, I expect that we'll see additional DOOM titles from the team, and that it will continue to iterate upon id Tech for the benefit of Wolfenstein dev MachineGames and other studios.

Ultimately, this news is quite relieving to hear from id Software — though to be clear, I'm not downplaying the severity of the cuts in saying that. On the contrary, I'm glad that the developer still has a future under Xbox's wing despite how significantly it was affected by the dismissals.

The layoffs at id represent a large portion of about 440 total cuts across all of ZeniMax and Bethesda, with other teams hit including Bethesda Game Studios (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Starfield) and ZeniMax Online Studios (The Elder Scrolls Online).

Bethesda devs fear that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer crunch and delays because of the layoffs, and the reduction in force at ZeniMax Online Studios has led to "shifting" roadmaps for The Elder Scrolls Online. Bethesda's official union, OneBGS, plans to protest against the cuts next week with a "Save Our Devs" march.

What are your thoughts on the layoffs at id Software? Do you feel Microsoft and Xbox went too far with them based on everything we know? Share your take in the comments, and vote in the above poll.

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In response to this week's wave of mass Xbox layoffs from Microsoft that have cut 3,200 roles and four studios from the company, union workers at Bethesda Game Studios — the developer behind Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield, among other titles — are organizing a protest to fight back.

Several public listings for the rally — titled "Save Our Devs" — have been spotted for Bethesda's various different locations, including its Rockville headquarters and offices in Austin, Dallas, and Montreal. These calls to action confirm that unionized OneBGS staffers are coordinating to march on July 15 next week.

"Microsoft and ZeniMax leadership have made the devastating decision to slash over 440 positions across BGS, ZOS, id, ZWU (QA) and ZeniMax corporate (including CTO and CSUR)," wrote the union. "Because we organized and certified our Unions, we have hard-won legal rights and protections that non-unionized studios simply do not have."

"The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won't let that happen. Our next steps are to mobilize," it continued. "We need every single member visible and unified. To that end, we are announcing our Save Our Devs March across all studios on Wednesday July 15th."

In an email sent to union workers seen by Game Developer, OneBGS has reportedly stated that 35 Bethesda Game Studios devs have been let go in the US, with 12 also laid off in Montreal. This roughly lines up with a previous report that about 50 employees have been laid off from the studio.

Reportedly, "this has had a crushing effect on morale" at Bethesda, with devs fearing that The Elder Scrolls 6 will suffer delays and crunch as a result of the redundancies. There are also concerns that support for Fallout 76 may end.

Elsewhere under the ZeniMax and Bethesda banner, the cuts go even deeper. Over 200 developers were laid off from The Elder Scrolls Online studio ZeniMax Online Studios, and well over half of DOOM maker id Software has been axed as well — though it's been reported that the situation there isn't as dire as some say. A small comfort.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated the layoffs are part of a "reset" for the Xbox business after it "overextended" with its ambitions; OneBGS claims that Microsoft referred to them as an "entrepreneurial change in the scope of business," which is a notion it's fighting against as it negotiates to have affected developers brought into open roles across Xbox Game Studios.

"While we push that legal fight forward, Microsoft is still legally required right now to sit down with us for 'Effects Bargaining.' This means we have the right to negotiate exactly how these layoffs impact our people, and we are heading to the table to fight for every single affected worker," it explained.

"We are going to be demanding preferential transfers to force Microsoft to place affected BGS workers into open roles across Xbox and Microsoft first, stronger severance and extended healthcare to ensure no one is financially abandoned, as well as recall rights to ensure our laid-off members are the first ones hired back when BGS expands."

"Stay strong, look out for one another, and we look forward to seeing us all marching together on the 15th," concluded the union. Whether next week's protest has a meaningful impact or not remains to be seen, but ultimately, I hope it helps laid off ZeniMax and Bethesda devs find new opportunities and get the best severance and healthcare packages possible.

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Summer is taking a heavy toll on us all. Not just because of the heat, but also because of rising tech prices across the board, driven by RAM-hungry AI and other economic factors.

Fortunately, Dell has come to cool off the frustrations of PC gamers and desk workers alike with a collection of advanced laptops, desktops, and monitors now on sale for a limited time, such as a 46% discount on the Alienware 16X Aurora Gaming laptop for $1,729.99 at Dell and a 38% discount on the Dell 14 Plus Laptop for $859.99 at Dell, to name just a couple.

FAQ

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Microsoft’s latest sustainability report sparked claims that the company produced 34 million metric tons of carbon emissions in a single year. That figure was never reported by the company. What the report actually shows is a 25 percent year‑over‑year increase driven by AI datacenter expansion and Microsoft’s decision to stop buying unbundled renewable energy certificates.

The Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report shows a complicated progression of rising emissions caused by AI datacenters, controversial "greenwashing" tactics, and enough wiggle room to leave space for debate.

Real emissions vs estimated emissions

When I first read the coverage surrounding the Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report, it seemed like a clear case of AI hurting the planet and a tech giant callously damaging the environment. I was ready to write a piece calling out Microsoft for setting carbon neutral goals and then increasing carbon emissions by 25% in a single year.

But as I do with any story I cover, I went to the source material and did some digging. What surprised me is that the Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report does not indicate unbridled burning of fuel to power AI datacenters. Instead, it shows efforts to reduce emissions and make meaningful changes.

I want to be clear, AI datacenters do create high carbon emissions. Microsoft is not faultless when it comes to energy use or pollution. I think there is a lot more the company could do to help the environment. I also think there's some misunderstood data seeping onto social media and throughout the web.

The above chart from the Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report shows Microsoft's actual reported emissions over the years and the estimated emissions without select interventions. The footnote on the chart directs to a clarifying statement on the estimate. I'll include the full footnote here but highlight the most relevant text:

"The solid line represents Microsoft’s reported greenhouse gas emissions (Scopes 1, 2, and 3) for FY20–FY25, prepared in accordance with GHG Protocol and management’s criteria, and uses a market-based emissions approach. The dotted line represents an illustrative counterfactual scenario of estimated emissions had select, discrete carbon reduction initiatives not been undertaken. These initiatives include energy efficiency improvements for XBOX consoles, renewable energy purchases, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and sustainable marine fuel (SMF) certificates, and supply chain decarbonization of Surface devices. The difference between the two lines is an estimate of emissions avoided through these specific initiatives relative to a scenario without those initiatives occurring. This estimate is directional in nature, does not represent the full scope of Microsoft’s decarbonization efforts, and is not part of our reported greenhouse gas inventory. It should not be interpreted as a comprehensive measure of total emissions reductions or as additive to other carbon reduction or removal claims."

Basically, the chart shows Microsoft's actual emissions and then a rough estimate of how much the company would have emitted had it not taken steps to reduce its carbon footprint. But Microsoft did take those steps. Microsoft did not have 34 million metric tons of carbon emissions in the last year. The actual emissions figure is 20 million metric tons.

That's still a massive amount of emissions, and 20 million metric tons is a 25% increase year-over-year, but there's some needed context.

What are unbundled renewable energy certificates?

Microsoft's carbon emissions increased by 25% in a single year. The increase was driven primarily by Microsoft's expansion of datacenter infrastructure and the fact that the company paused the purchase of unbundled renewable energy certificates.

In February 2025, Microsoft announced that it "ceased purchasing non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates." That decision led to the massive jump in emissions seen in the recently published sustainability report (in conjunction with AI datacenter infrastructure expansion).

Renewable energy certificates (RECs) represent the legal ownership of the "renewable-ness" of generated electricity. Unbundled RECs are sold separately from the electricity itself.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency notes that "Unbundled Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) refer to RECs that are sold, delivered, or purchased separately from electricity. RECs provide no physical delivery of electricity to customers and as such the customer is purchasing power from a separate entity than the one selling them the REC."

The separation of generated electricity from the legal ownership of the "renewable-ness" is controversial (that phrase comes straight from the EPA).

Many, including myself, view unbundled RECs as a form of greenwashing. Microsoft or any other company can legally say they are powered by renewable electricity without actually using the electricity that was generated.

The defense is that buying unbundled RECs financially contributes to the development of renewable energies.

Microsoft did not refer to unbundled RECs as a form of greenwashing, but its statement is telling:

"While we continue to apply the carbon fee to investments in emissions reductions, we have ceased purchasing non-additional, unbundled renewable energy certificates. We are refocusing the use of these funds on more long-term, higher-impact investments across carbon reduction, carbon removal, and clean electricity procurement. These interventions are expected to more effectively help us achieve our goal of becoming carbon negative by 2030 and may take us out of carbon-neutral position."

Microsoft implied that unbundled RECs are not the most effective way to have a long-term positive impact on the environment.

The rest of the report

The Microsoft Environmental Sustainability Report is 65 pages of dense information. It links to several external resources as well. If it were a paper report, there'd be a good joke here about an environmental report killing so many trees.

A large portion of the report is dedicated to discussion about Microsoft's use of water, which is a critical component of its environmental strategy. Notably, Microsoft replenished more water than it withdrew in the year.

Because of the size of the report, I've focused on the carbon emissions of Microsoft, but I suggest people read the entire report to get perspective on what's being done and where Microsoft still falls short.

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With Sony planning to stop making discs for games and revoke access to movies and TV shows people paid for, physical media is more important than ever. Xbox is considering a disc-to-digital program for Project Helix, proving Microsoft weighs the importance of physical media when making decisions.

But the physical media debate isn't really about discs; it's about control. People want to control the content and devices they've purchased. Microsoft's newly expanded options for resetting PCs showcase how choice and control can be given to consumers.

Like many, I've spoken out against Sony's plans and advocated for physical media to be preserved. So, it might come as a surprise to hear that I'm happy about the new option to reset a Windows 11 PC that relies entirely on the cloud and does not use a USB drive.

While I advocate for physical media to preserve ownership of games and movies, when it comes to the pure utility of fixing a broken PC, convenience wins.

A new feature called Cloud rebuild is in testing on Windows 11. It lets you restore a PC to a clean state without needing an external drive.

What is Cloud rebuild on Windows 11?

Cloud rebuild is a feature that lets you reinstall Windows and your PC's drivers by using the internet. Rather than requiring a USB drive that's been set up, you can reset your PC entirely through the cloud.

Microsoft explained Cloud rebuild recently when the feature shipped to Insiders:

"Unlike Reset this PC, Cloud rebuild downloads both the target Windows image and the device's drivers from Windows Update, so the device comes back fully functional without USB media, without a custom image, and without depending on the health of the currently installed OS."

While Reset this PC and Cloud rebuild both let you recover your PC, they differ in important ways apart from the fact that one uses a USB drive and the other uses the cloud.

Reset this PC gives you the option to retain your personal files, which could save vital content from being lost. But even if you have an external USB install drive ready to go, you can only use Reset this PC if Windows is bootable.

The feature also requires you to have manually created a USB installer ahead of time on a working computer.

In contrast, Cloud rebuild works even if your PC refuses to boot. The downside is that it does not provide an option to maintain apps and files.

Cloud rebuild brings your PC to a clean slate with Windows working and device drivers in place.

The biggest advantage of Cloud rebuild is reliability. Cloud rebuild doesn't rely on a tool you've set up in advance or ensured was formatted correctly. It just pulls a fresh image and drivers through Windows Update.

All my files are stored on OneDrive and backed up elsewhere, so I don't need the option to retain my files. It would save a bit of time after a reset, but it's not essential.

Cloud rebuild does depend on having an internet connection, so a USB installer is still the safer option for people in low‑connectivity environments.

Let the people decide

Of course, having the option to use a USB drive or the cloud is best. While I personally prefer Cloud rebuild for restoring my PC, I want both options to be available. Many people prefer to have physical tools they know are reliable and that can run locally.

That's what the current debate about physical media comes down to: choice and control. The vast majority of game sales are digital, but people want the option to own physical media.

Windows 11 management is the same way. Some will rely on the cloud while others will have USB drives to reset their PC and SSDs stored away to back up files.

Cloud rebuild is the better option for my workflow, but the point isn’t to replace USB recovery. It’s to give people the choice and control. Just like physical media, recovery tools shouldn’t be taken away; they should coexist.

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The launch of Assassin's Creed Black Flag: Resynced, the highly anticipated (and high-scoring) remaster of one of the best games in the Assassin's Creed series, has been followed by 51 of its game designers from Ubisoft Barcelona being laid off, according to an exclusive report by Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming.

The report states that Ubisoft tends to assign teams to new projects long before they finish their current project (sometimes up to a year in advance, at least). The developers tried to raise their concerns with Ubisoft's higher-ups about not being given a new project back in 2025, yet in this case, they were never given a new assignment to work on before being laid off.

In fact, one employee who was affected by these layoffs (who wishes to remain anonymous) informed Insider Gaming:

The report then states that, in response to this, Ubisoft Barcelona's staff will go on strike every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from June 30, 2026, to July 16, 2026.

Windows Central's take

To compound the severity of this depressing situation, these layoffs were announced shortly after Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced had a successful launch. It is currently enjoying a high overall Metacritic score of 84 — based on 84 critics — and fans are leaving mostly positive reviews on its Steam Page.

We even gave Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced a near-perfect 4.5 review score for improving upon the original Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's already stellar naval combat, beautiful graphics redone from the ground up, and new content along with story-rewrites that has made the story more compelling (the fact they got rid of the modern-day segments from the original game already makes this remake superior in my book).

This will no doubt degrade the morale of Ubisoft's developers, knowing that even if a game launches to critical and fan acclaim, they will still be laid off before the official sales numbers even start to come in.

Will the strike at Ubisoft Barcelona convince Ubisoft to improve working conditions? Will we see more layoffs at Ubisoft on the level of Xbox's massive 'Reset' that has laid off over 3,200 people? We'll watch for further developments.

Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is now available for purchase on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.

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The tech world is sweating, and it’s not just the summer heatwave. This week on the Windows Central Podcast, Daniel Rubino, Zac Bowden, and Jez Cordon sit down to unpack a massive wave of Microsoft layoffs. We break down Asha Sharma’s internal memo revealing a staggering 14 layers of middle management at Xbox, why the gaming division has struggled to capitalize on massive acquisitions like Fallout and Minecraft, and whether turning Xbox into an independent subsidiary is the brand's last chance for survival.

Zac walks us through the shocking Discord leak of "Project Ion," an experimental, web-native Copilot Operating System built entirely inside Microsoft Edge. Finally, we break down the quiet arrival of Snapdragon X2-powered Surface devices, the new 24 GB RAM "sweet spot," and why sources tell us the Surface Go lineup is officially dead.

• Microsoft and Xbox Layoffs: An in-depth look at the 4,800 job cuts, why the brunt is hitting Xbox, and a critique of management's failure to capitalize on massive IPs like Fallout and Minecraft.
• Leaked "Project Aion" (Copilot OS): Zac reveals an internal 2024 incubation project that leaked on Discord—an experimental, platform-agnostic, web-native operating system built entirely inside Microsoft Edge where Copilot replaces the traditional Start menu.
• The Tech Industry's AI Bubble: A philosophical debate on consumer pushback against AI, the staggering cloud costs of large language models, and the lack of quantifiable productivity gains for regular users.
• Snapdragon X2 Surface Refresh: Details on the consumer launch of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12, the introduction of a 24 GB RAM middle-tier "sweet spot," and lower-cost 8 GB configurations engineered to beat the RAM crisis.
• The Death of the Surface Go Lineup: Breaking down exclusive source info confirming that the 10-inch Surface Go and the Surface Laptop Go lines have been canceled, leaving a major gap for enterprise and ultra-portable tablet fans.

Have a question you want us to answer on the podcast? Send it to us at [email protected]

Hosts:

• Daniel Rubino
• Jez Corden
• Zac Bowden

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This week has mostly been a depressing affair for the gaming industry, what with Sony killing off physical PlayStation Discs and Microsoft laying off over 3,200 roles at Xbox.

We could all use some levity after this string of bad news, so we're going to do that by marveling at the creative ingenuity of YouTuber 'Game of Tobi'.

For you see, this clever tinkerer has managed to get a version of the legendary Minecraft running on two iconic portable consoles that helped pave the way for gaming handhelds as we know them today: the Game Boy Color from 1998 and the original Game Boy from 1989.

This fan-made game "3D Minecraft" isn't a lower-resolution port of Minecraft. It's a unique creation where the player can play on a flat map or a full 3D-generated world. Like in regular Minecraft, you can place blocks, explore the world, and even build.

Granted, the graphics, frame rate, and gameplay are limited compared to the real thing, especially when running on the original Game Boy, as it has no colors other than black and white. Yet the fact that this creator managed to get Minecraft working on a 1998 gaming handheld and an even older one from 1989 is nothing short of technical wizardry.

This isn't the first time 'Game of Tobi' got a modern game to work on retro hardware, as they made working versions of Minecraft on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in the past that more closely resemble and play like regular Minecraft (complete with Survival Mode!).

In addition, they also made a Nintendo DS version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a Nintendo 3DS version of Super Mario Odyssey, and more.

Personally, I like seeing people using their technical know-how to make games we love playable on platforms we wouldn't expect (look no further than DOOM being playable on Notepad.exe or even a pregnancy test), and these Game Boy ports of Minecraft are no exception.

It just makes you wonder what the gaming world would've looked like if Minecraft had been made in the 1990s instead of 2011, and whether it would've been as successful back then, when gaming was still niche.

Plus, having a physical, offline version of Minecraft that isn't beholden to online servers to keep it running sounds like a pretty good idea, especially in this day and age, when online games can be delisted at any time, at the whim of a corporation, for whatever reason.

Either way, Game of Tobi has my YouTube subscription for this invention, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they make next (here's hoping they make Minecraft playable on the Nintendo Virtual Boy just for the sheer, eye-bleeding hilarity of seeing the Nether rendered entirely in the system's Red and Black color scheme).

What do you think of 'Game of Tobi's' Game Boy Color and Game Boy versions of Minecraft? Would you like to play an offline version of Minecraft on older hardware for the nostalgic novelty?

If you have any thoughts, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

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Xbox's cuts over the past week have been brutal; let's not mince words here.

Four studios divested with a possible fifth in progress, over a thousand jobs removed already, with a further 2000 planned. The atmosphere within Xbox right now is dire — a total 180 following the wave of optimism from new CEO Asha Sharma's appointment in spring.

As a result, there are tons of stories coming out about what the fate of Xbox's remaining studios might be. A lot of the discourse has fallen on id Software right now, the beloved maker of DOOM. The studio is an industry staple, and arguably one of the most important and influential brands in the modern gaming canon.

Cuts at id Software have been heavy and painful. Some have claimed the studio's lauded id Tech engine is effectively on ice, and that id is no longer large enough to produce its own games.

What's the truth here? I've been investigating Microsoft's plans for id. Despite the callousness of Microsoft's bean counters, I'm confident the studio will endure.

Microsoft has no plans to shelve id Tech

DOOM and other id Software games have long been powered by the id Tech engine. The engine was designed originally for Quake back in the 90s, and has since powered a huge variety of titles, including open-world games like RAGE, horror games like The Evil Within, Wolfenstein shooters, and, of course, the modern DOOM games. More recently, Machine Games' Indiana Jones and DOOM: The Dark Ages were built on the latest versions of id Tech.

It has a very different feel to Unreal Engine, particularly for first-person games. It's been lauded for its optimization on lower-end hardware stacks, as well as its general versatility.

The cuts to id Software have hit the teams that develop id Tech hard, with decades of expertise wiped out over night. But rumors that there's now virtually nobody working on the engine are false. Sources tell me that there remains a solid stack of expertise for id Tech across id Software itself, and Machine Games. I'm told Microsoft also has no plans to shift either studio forcibly to Unreal Engine, which seems to have become the default for Microsoft and many other core game makers.

Microsoft provided us this statement on the topic: "There are dozens of people working on id Tech across multiple locations. Reports that there’s only one person left in Texas are inaccurate."

In my view, Microsoft would have to be miserably short-sighted to deprecate id Tech. Handing even more power to Unreal Engine opens them up to monopolistic price increases down the line, which would be fiscally irresponsible. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma herself said in her memo to staff that she wants Microsoft to rely less on vendors for things like this. As such, I would argue that Microsoft should invest more in id Tech, not less.

But hey, quarterly thinking is Microsoft's M.O. these days. And it is true that generational talent and knowledge has been carelessly cast aside.

id Software's headcount is now similar to what it was for DOOM (2016)

The other rumor flying around is that id Software has shrunk to a headcount that is untenable for future self-made products, relegating them to "support studio" status. This too, is false.

While the cuts have been alarmingly callous, my understanding is that the remaining id Software core team is roughly the same as it was when DOOM (2016) shipped. DOOM (2016) is arguably the studio's best-ever game in my view, despite the comparatively smaller headcount that produced it. That's not too suggest in any capacity that we should expect the same quality bar without proof ... Microsoft removed mountains of incredible talent from the pool.

Still, I'm not sure exactly what id Software could be making next. There have been reports that id Software had a variety of pitches in the pipeline, including a Perfect Dark reboot and a Western-styled shooter dubbed Ironwood. It's unclear if any of these will be greenlit.

id Software just shipped DOOM: The Dark Ages Revelations, a sizeable story expansion for last year's DOOM prequel. What the studio builds next remains to be seen, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma specifically called out DOOM and Quake as franchises to invest in.

Microsoft wants to grow its most staple and recognizable IP, which at least in the near term, likely excludes "new" franchise ideas. I'd still like to see what a modern Hexen would look like ... perhaps we'll learn more at Quakecon, which is still going ahead.

It's still been a needlessly brutal exercise

While rumors of id Software's demise have been greatly exaggerated, the layoffs have still been callous and brutal. Staffers with decades of expertise and tenure were let go, despite the success of the modern DOOM trilogy.

Microsoft's gaming aspirations have been heavily reduced over the past week, in what CEO Asha Sharma has been describing as a "reset." This has led to sizeable reductions in teams working on a variety of projects, from The Elder Scrolls to Xbox's social media delivery and platform features. Other studios, like Blizzard, seem to have emerged largely unscathed so far. And Xbox's hardware team building Helix has also been left intact.

Xbox has worked hard to save studios like Undead Labs from outright closure. But, it hasn't prevented Microsoft from expunging hundreds of jobs in other areas, inside Xbox and beyond. Microsoft's huge bets on artificial intelligence haven't really delivered meaningful returns, and the vast capital expenditure on data center buildouts is spooking investors.

At Xbox, the layoffs reflect a challenging time in traditional gaming. Core gaming has seen a contraction owing to increased costs and lack of investment in younger cohorts, which dropped consoles in favor of Roblox on mobile devices, alongside non-gaming activities. Microsoft's lack of investment in Xbox's platform and social features have prevented it from finding new users out of the Gen-X and Gen-Y cohorts, many of whom are starting to age out.

Where Xbox goes from here wholly remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: DOOM is eternal, and it will outlive Microsoft's bad decision-making.

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Though it launched to scathing criticism and widespread controversy in late 2018 due to lackluster content offerings and severe technical issues, Fallout 76 — Bethesda Game Studios' multiplayer-focused MMO-lite take on the post-apocalyptic RPG series — grew to become fairly popular over time, with the title still enjoying regular content updates and a healthy community eight years later.

In the wake of this week's massive wave of 3,200 Xbox layoffs and four studio divestments, however, there are fears that support for the long-running Appalachian adventure may soon come to an end. Teams under the ZeniMax and Bethesda umbrella have been affected "significantly," including the game's steward, Bethesda Game Studios.

It's been reported that over 50 staffers have been cut from Bethesda across its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland and its office in Dallas, Texas — a reduction in force that has The Elder Scrolls 6 devs fearing crunch on and delays of the long-awaited RPG moving forward. Some also worry that a significant amount of time will have to be spent training contractors to use Bethesda's proprietary tools like the Creation Engine.

Notably, though, one Bethesda developer commented to IGN that they "have no idea how they'll continue updating Fallout 76 without hiring an external studio," which suggests development of the experimental Fallout title could end at some point in the near future.

Another possibility is that Fallout 76 support will ultimately continue, but with its updates and patches being reduced in size and cadence. This appears to be what's happening with The Elder Scrolls Online and ZeniMax Online Studios; content roadmaps for that game are "shifting" after its developer suffered over 200 cuts this week.

We may also see external support for Fallout 76 come, as in a letter sent to staff, Bethesda president Jill Braff emphasized the need for the studio to better support its "strongest franchises" — echoing recent sentiment from Xbox's CEO Asha Sharma that it needs to "move faster" with core IPs like Fallout.

Ending support for the most recent game in the series would arguably go against that goal — especially while the extremely popular Fallout TV show is bringing countless new eyes to the property. With that said, Fallout 76 is now eight years old and isn't massively popular, and with Obsidian now making a new Fallout game, Microsoft may not see much value in continuing to invest resources in the title.

In the end, it's impossible to say what will happen with Fallout 76 moving forward until we hear something official from Microsoft, Xbox, or Bethesda. Based on the aforementioned comment from a developer, though, I do think it's likely that the game's live-service development will change in some way.

Whether it ends up stopping completely or just slowing down remains to be seen, but I can't imagine that this week's cuts won't be reflected in Fallout 76's update cadence somehow.

In the wake of Microsoft's Xbox layoffs, should support for Fallout 76 continue? Or do you think Bethesda should move on from the game? Let me know in the comments, and in the above poll.

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Microsoft is using AI to protect Windows against attackers. The development represents an arms race because AI is also being used increasingly to find vulnerabilities modern tech, as highlighted by The Hacker News.

Hackers can use AI to find and take advantage of vulnerabilities that could then be weaponized. It's not just discovery that's been sped up, reverse engineering security flaws is now a quicker process because of AI. That means attackers can find flaws and quickly take advantage of them before traditional methods of protection could take effect.

To combat those malicious actors and evolving tactics, Microsoft is deploying MDASH (Multi-Model Agentic Scanning Harness) at scale across Windows.

Pavan Davuluri, EVP of Windows and Devices at Microsoft, shared a blog post about the new methods the company is using to protect Windows.

"The fastest way to reduce customer exposure is to find issues before attackers can use them," said Davuluri. "Windows is expanding its ability across the platform to find issues earlier, accelerate the engineering work to fix them, strengthen validation, and deliver timely, high-quality updates that keep customers protected."

Using AI to identify potential flaws, prioritize fixes, and scale discovery across the codebase of Windows lets Microsoft quickly roll out protection to customers.

To scale MDASH to Windows, a dedicated cloud infrastructure was set up for scanning for potential flaws. A separate prove pipeline then is used to eliminate false positives. The Windows engineering team can then act on the most likely candidates that need addressing.

Microsoft will expand its use of AI for scanning and proving to other parts of the company.

Using AI to improve work

When Microsoft announced 4,800 layoffs across the company, its leaders emphasized that the eliminated roles are not being replaced by AI. People across a wide range of sectors are concerned about automation taking human jobs.

The approach Microsoft is using to scan for issues and streamline the selection process of candidates to address represents AI helping people rather than replacing workers.

When speaking of improving internal systems and practices, Davuluri said, "That means using AI to help identify potential issues earlier in the development process, while relying on human expertise to evaluate findings, make risk-based decisions and ensure fixes meet the quality bar customers expect."

The end result is that more security updates will be included in each security release, which should protect PCs from the growing number of attacks.

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While many different development teams were affected by this week's massive wave of 3,200 Xbox layoffs from Microsoft, studios under the Zenimax and Bethesda banner have reportedly faced some of the most brutal cuts of all. They're going through "a significant overhaul" in their wake, with well over half of DOOM dev id Software axed and over 200 roles removed at The Elder Scrolls Online maker ZeniMax Online Studios.

Bethesda Game Studios — the team behind Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starfield, and the upcoming The Elder Scrolls 6, among other titles — has also been hit, with reports of over 50 of its developers being let go. And according to a new report from IGN, that loss of talent will have a "substantial and cascading effect" on development of the next The Elder Scrolls RPG.

"Their loss will have a substantial and cascading effect on the game and morale of this studio," lamented one Bethesda staffer. "It's been a mix of every discipline: programmers, artists, and designers. One person who's been at the company since Morrowind [the third The Elder Scrolls game released in 2002] was cut," added another.

Those impacted by the layoffs include "key, high-performing people in the trenches" — and those who remain at Bethesda fear that their dismissal will lead to significant complications for The Elder Scrolls 6, including an extensive amount of time spent training contractors, unhealthy amounts of crunch and overtime, and delays for a title that's already reportedly two years away as it is.

"There is a fear that we are going to be replaced by cheaper, contracted labor, or we will hire folks to replace them that will need to be onboarded [due to proprietary tools] resulting in more delays, and we'll need to crunch to make up the time," one Bethesda employee told IGN. Another noted they've heard colleagues have been asked to train new contractors already.

"We've all been very excited and hyped for TES 6 and this has had a crushing effect on morale," said another worker. "We were already running a tight ship and are worried about this delaying the game."

Reportedly, the team working on the RPG will receive support from ZeniMax Online Studios, though it's unclear how extensive of a role the The Elder Scrolls Online studio will play. I can't help but think it will be minor, given the fact that that team just suffered over 200 cuts.

Developers still at Bethesda have been assured they're safe from the 1,600 layoffs of the 3,200 that are coming throughout the next 12 months, though team members worry they'll eventually be let go as well. It's a rational fear, given Microsoft and Xbox's layoff history.

"The 'survivors' were told they're safe from those next 1,600 but it's not entirely reassuring," one asserted. "Even if that's true, who's to say there's not another 1,600 next year after that? It's had the chilling effect of realizing you don't get to retire off your work at Xbox. Your time ends when you quit or are laid off, that's it."

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When Palworld first launched in early 2024, skeptics labeled it simply as"Pokémon with guns" that would surely fold the moment Nintendo's legal team caught wind of it.

Instead, over the proceeding 2 and half years, Pocketpair have built a legitimate survival-crafting funfest that has more than carved it's own path in the gaming industry.

Tomorrow, July 10, Palworld officially exits Early Access and launches version 1.0. Revealed just last month at the Summer Game Fest, the highly anticipated full release has been preceded today by an awesome new trailer, showing Palworld looking sharper and more expansive than ever before.

The scale of Palworld 1.0 is going to be massive

To give you an idea of the sheer scale of this launch, Pocketpair’s Community Manager, Bucky, has been teasing that he's nearly losing his mind trying to format the patch notes.

The update boasts 27 PDF pages totaling over 66,000 characters of changes and additions, so massive it actually broke Steam's standard 32,000-character post limit.

Palworld's rocky road to 1.0

Palworld's success is nothing short of legendary at this point. Launching into Early Access in January 2024, it became a viral hit and secured it's place as Xbox's biggest third party Game Pass launch in history by drawing in over 7 million players. Fast forward to today, and Pocketpair has just announced a mind boggling 40 million total players across all platforms. With 1.0 finally here, I'm hoping that number rises exponentially.

The milestone is made even sweeter as it was achieved against a backdrop of agressive attempts from Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to stamp out the game via patent litigation. Though through proactive changes to the game, like reworking the overworld monster catching mechanics and mounting systems, Pocketpair have successfully minimized the scope of the lawsuit (which is still ongoing in Japan). The case now stands to recover damages of equivalent $30,000 as a best case scenario, and is only relevant now to early access builds. Palworld will be entering 1.0 with it's head held high.

Pocketpair have also confirmed that despite the industry standard of Early Access games to bump up their price for a retail launch, Palworld will remain at $29.99.

"We are incredibly proud of how far Palworld has come. Thanks to the amazing support of our players, it has become a success beyond our wildest dreams."

Is Palworld worth a revist if I played at launch?

Palworld is absolutely worth going back to whether you haven't played since 2024, or even the most recent update.

While Pocketpair has confirmed that your old Early Access save files will still work, Bucky and the dev team strongly recommend starting entirely fresh. The early-to-mid-game progression has been completely overhauled to create a seamless, rewarding experience from the ground up.

Here is a breakdown of the biggest changes you can look forward to at launch:

Biome and world changes

• The Sky Island biome: A massive, beautiful floating island region suspended high above the Palpagos archipelago, serving as the focal point for endgame exploration.
• A new Sky Village: A friendly, inhabited settlement tucked away in the clouds of the new biome.
• Revamped map & story: Vast new areas have been stitched into the world, while older regions have received visual reworks and structural improvements.

Pal & System reworks

• Tower boss overhaul: The game's marquee boss encounters have been entirely redesigned with new mechanics and scaling.
• Wildlife Sanctuary remodel: Sanctuaries are now encased in massive, glowing shield bubbles. They are heavily guarded by flying drone-type defenders and prowled by dangerous, powerful bosses.
• Early-game progression: Brand-new Pals have been strategically distributed into the early stages of the game to make the initial leveling journey feel entirely fresh.

Base building upgrades

• Floating foundations: Say goodbye to land constraints; you can now build your structural foundations directly out onto the water.
• Expanded architecture: New roof variants and decorative statues allow for highly customized aesthetic designs.
• Streamlined expedition stations: The station has received a sleek visual redesign to look much less obtrusive when blending it into your custom bases.

New mechanics & gear

• The Wing pack: A traversal tool described as a "jetpack with wings," custom-built to help you navigate the vertical gaps of the Sky Islands.
• The Fish Sword: A hilarious and powerful new combat mechanic where you unsheathe the literal spine of a fish Pal to use as a sword, mirroring Foxparks' famous flamethrower ability.
• Advanced weaponry: A suite of un-named, high-tier weapons for players to craft.

And don't forget the new Pals!

Pocketpair is dropping more new Pals in this single update than in every prior patch combined. Here are the standout creatures and variants confirmed by trailers and community teasers.

• Ahri & The Crazy Dragon Serpent - The newest Sky Island Tower Boss, heavily tied to a massive, serpentine dragon seen in the cinematic trailers.
• Seekmet - Affectionately dubbed "Catgirl Anubis" by the community; a powerful addition to the roster.
• Soul Mora - A sleek fish Pal first teased in a comic strip. It is an exceptionally rapid swimmer that can curiously be ridden at high speeds on dry land.
• Lefan - A martial-arts-themed panda who serves as a direct counterpart to Mossanda.
• Hoodle & The Sleepy Pal - Hoodle looks like a hoodie possessed by a ghost child, and is constantly accompanied by a guardian Pal that looks like it desperately wants to go to sleep at 6:00 PM.
• Venusa - A wonderfully derpy, happy Gorgon/Medusa-themed snake lady.
• Tropica - A flightless, comical raptor-bird hybrid sporting a giant, floppy flower on its head.
• Dupin - A mischievous, rabbit-jester magician creature.
• Puff & Pikmi - Puff is a yappy, electric-type puppy, while Pikmi is a tiny ghost child Pal that lives to jump-scare players.
• Snock - An electric snail Pal, making its official debut after being hidden away as an official comic-strip exclusive.

Other notable additions to watch out for include: a Beetle-themed Egyptian warrior with arm-whips, and a mysterious silhouette waiting at the very top of the World Tree, and I'm sure many more that I've missed..

What time does Palworld 1.0 go live?

The launch drops simultaneously worldwide. Depending on where you live, you'll be jumping in either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Here are the approximate global release times:

• Los Angeles: 8:30 PM PT (Thursday, July 9)
• New York: 11:30 PM ET (Thursday, July 9)
• London: 4:30 AM BST (Friday, July 10)
• Tokyo: 12:30 PM JST (Friday, July 10)
• Sydney: 1:30 PM AEST (Friday, July 10)

Get your Pal Spheres ready and clear your weekend schedule.

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Despite being one of the studios affected by Xbox's company-wide "Reset" and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma taking direct control of Minecraft with the goal of helping it compete with Roblox, Mojang Studios appears to be still going strong, as it has released a new update for its iconic survival-crafting game.

This update, titled Preview 26.40.30, is bringing with it a slew of gameplay changes, bug fixes, and a couple of new in-game items that felt like they should've been in Minecraft from the beginning: Cushions and a Straw Bed.

Cushions allow players to sit and rest after a long day's adventuring and crafting. They don't offer any statistical gameplay benefits but can make for fun roleplay toys when sitting by campfires or having sleepovers with your friends in co-op.

The Straw Beds are a new type of bed which players can sleep on to recover health without creating a new spawn point that overrides a previous one. This can be handy if you plan on adventuring but don't want to respawn in the middle of a Creeper-infested cave and want to go back home when you die.

The materials needed to craft these items, along with the rest of this update's gameplay changes, can be found in the patch notes below:

Drop 3 Experimental Features

• Cushion
  • The Cushion is an item that the player can place in the world and interact with to sit on
  • Can be crafted in 16 colored variants
  • Cushions are crafted using 3 Wool Slabs of the same color
  • Known Issue: Cushions aren't currently generating in the Abandoned Camps, but can be found in the creative inventory
• Cushion Placement Rules
  • A cushion can be placed on any flat surface
  • Cushions always align horizontally to the grid, but vertically sit on top of the supporting surface
  • Cushions cannot move
  • Cushions break if the supporting block is removed
  • Cushions do not have collision and can overlap with other objects (except other cushions)
• Straw Bed
  • Straw Bed is a new type of bed which can be used to sleep through the night without setting your spawn point
  • It can only be used once and will be destroyed after use
  • It can not be used in the Nether or The End and will be destroyed if you try to sleep on it there
  • It is crafted using 3 Hay Bales and will give you 4 Straw Beds
• Abandoned Camp
  • Abandoned camp now generates in Pale Garden and Flower Forest biomes (MCPE-230024) (MCPE-240045)
  • Straw Beds can now be found in Abandoned Camps
  • Updated Abandoned Camps to place procedural trees
  • Fixed wrong potion names in the loot tables for the Abandoned Camp
• Dappled Forest
  • Changed biome fog settings to match other forest biomes
  • Updated Orange, Red & Yellow Poplar Leaves MERS textures
• Sounds
  • Updated ambient sounds for Poplar leaf blocks
  • Added custom sound events for Red Shrubs and Poplar leaf blocks
• Graphical
  • Added opaque versions to the Poplar leaves to fix black background issue (MCPE-240020)
  • Added hinges to Poplar door icon. Also removed 3 pixels from top door texture that didn't match the palette
  • Fixed Poplar sign texture to follow other sign assets
• Gameplay
  • Added missing recipes for Wool Stairs and Wool Slabs (MCPE-240040)

Features and Bug Fixes

• Accessibility
  • Fixed the focus indicator on the "More options" button on the start screen so it no longer relies on color alone, adding an underline when the button is focused
• Blocks
  • Azalea and Flowering Azalea are no longer see-through when viewed from below (MCPE-217896)
  • Brown and Red Mushrooms can no longer be placed under the sky when it is dark
  • With the Minecraft Education features toggle enabled, it is possible to place charcoal again in the Lab Table (MCPE-240097)
  • Fixed a miscolored pixel in one of the Sulfur Spike textures
• Gameplay
  • Fixed an issue where structure loot would differ on the same seed (MCPE-239951)
• General
  • Brown and Red Mushrooms now generate on Crimson Nylium and Warped Nylium no matter the brightness
• Graphical
  • Fixed a rendering issue with Vibrant Visuals where some items and text could be invisible on certain Android GPUs
  • Updated supported devices for Vibrant Visuals on Android
• Items
  • Fixed issue where book and quill from pre-26.30 worlds freezes the game (MCPE-239753)
  • Arrows of Harming no longer bounce off entities and are now correctly removed on hit (MCPE-239756)
• Character Creator
  • Exiting the dressing room no longer automatically saves your character if you have an unequipped color change.
• Stability and Performance
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when spawning more than one Iron Golem
  • Game servers now attempt to self-repair some player connection issues
  • Fixed a crash that could occur during world generation when placing structures containing double chests
  • Fixed a potential crash issue related to Concrete Powder blocks converting into Concrete.
• User Interface
  • Fixed a bug where text formatting codes in a resource pack's name carried over into the rest of the toast notification when the pack was activated or deactivated (MCPE-182130)
  • Add missing preview image for the Desert flatworld preset (MCPE-194395)
  • Updated the network disconnection message to direct players to enable 'Use Mobile Data' in general settings instead of profile settings
  • Fixed a bug where button touch areas did not align with the buttons in windowed Android modes with a title bar, such as Samsung DeX and pop up view.
  • The Pause Game setting is now rendered in the Main Menu (MCPE-237101)
  • Show "Game unpaused" notification over all screens when the pause screen is open (MCPE-229796)
  • Fixed a soft-lock that prevented further join attempts after a party leader's Experience join was blocked by the party eligibility check
  • Fixed the "How to Play" button being missing from the Settings menu in Minecraft Education
  • Fixed Cloud sync storage banner to not show redundant information that storage is both full and almost full when cloud storage is full (MCPE-240036)
  • Fixed the Beacon screen displaying a duplicated header in the Pocket UI
  • Create New World list is loaded correctly after deleting world data through the "Manage Worlds" button (MCPE-239804)
  • Updated Nintendo Switch terminology for local wireless multiplayer
  • Fixed a problem that caused touch scrolling to be unresponsive in creative inventory. (MCPE-236783)
  • Fixed an issue that prevented splitscreen players from interacting with Game Settings. (MCPE-237830)
  • Updated Marketplace badges to use semantic Tag styling for bordered and spacious variants, with refreshed Tag documentation and tests
  • Fixed skin info button not working on expanded skin pack page
  • After entering the sidebar while spinning the character, it will no longer continue to spin by itself
  • Players with multiplayer-restricted skins can now enter worlds with multiplayer disabled
  • Removed space appearing between the chat tab and the social drawer (MCPE-239456)
• Marketplace
  • Updated Marketplace content cards with new pass and rating iconography, refreshed Minecoin visuals, and a notice badge treatment for surfaced states
• Storage
  • Updated old world conversion flows in the Storage Settings tab.

Technical Updates

• Commands
  • Allow self selection expansion when using commands (i.e. /tell) for non-operator players.
  • Fixed clone command cloning partial beds, both parts must be fully inside cloning volume
  • Fixed the /fill command from improperly placing blocks defined with the minecraft:multi_block trait
• Graphical
  • Tightened the anti-x-ray trigger box to avoid false-positive cases when riding a mob
  • Fixed custom blocks rendering a stray solid face that could bleed through textures when a model face was hidden by setting one of its UV size dimensions to zero
  • Fixed texture bleeding on custom blocks using automatic block face UV assignment with undersized textures
• Actor Components
  • Made schemas for the following components stricter when parsing and will fail to load an entity json that has invalid data in versions 1.26.40 and newer.
    • minecraft:cannot_be_attacked
    • minecraft:ignore_cannot_be_attacked
    • minecraft:floats_in_liquid
    • minecraft:wants_jockey
• AI Goals
  • Fixed a bug where the on_kill event in the following behavior components was incorrectly mapped to the on_attack field, causing the event to never fire when an entity killed its target. The fix applies to entity definitions with format version 1.26.40 and above.
    • minecraft:behavior.melee_attack
    • minecraft:behavior.melee_box_attack
    • minecraft:behavior.delayed_attack
    • minecraft:behavior.stomp_attack
    • minecraft:behavior.use_kinetic_weapon
• API
  • Fixed minecraft:hopper_minecart to fire EntityItemPickupAfterEvent and EntityItemPickupBeforeEvent for items above the cart.
  • Released LootItem.conditions in @minecraft/server v2.4.0 (moved from beta to stable)
• DDUI
  • Fixed Images in CustomForms not being centered in the form.
  • Added ImageOptions.onClick and ImageOptions.tooltip which allow for a callback on click of an image and a tooltip on images, for use with CustomForm.image.
• Blocks
  • N-way rotation on geometry components no longer requires upcoming creator features experiment
  • minecraft:sixteen_way_rotation state on placement direction block trait no longer requires upcoming creator features experiment
  • Align brightness sampling strategies between custom and vanilla blocks (MCPE-237493)
  • Jigsaw Block replacement will now log when an invalid final_state is encountered
  • Added new biome decoration feature "minecraft:multi_block_feature", which can be used exclusively to place blocks defined with the "minecraft:multi_block" trait
  • Released the minecraft:instrument_sound component from experimental.
• Crafting
  • "minecraft:recipe_smithing_transform" now accepts items tagged with "minecraft:transform_materials" in its "addition" field
• Editor
  • Fixed a bug where copying and pasting a double chest with the Paste Preview or Structure tool pasted it as two separate single chests instead of a single double chest
  • The Block Inspector tool now highlights the currently selected block with a bounding box, giving a clear visual indicator of which block is being inspected
  • Fixed the Primitives Tool preview and placement to follow the Fixed Distance cursor projection
  • The Flood Tool no longer errors when pressing Ctrl+D to remove a preview that has already been removed
  • Editor property pane items no longer display an empty tooltip when there is no tooltip text to show, such as the Flood Tool progress bar
  • The Dimensions tool now returns the player to their last-known position in the target dimension, or the origin on first visit
  • The Farm Generator tool now offers Pale Oak, Dark Oak, Nether Brick, and Mangrove fence options
  • Fixed a bug in the Biome Data Assignment tool where the Allow biome tag list was matched with a logical AND, so only biomes containing every allowed tag were eligible; allowed tags are now matched with a logical OR, so a biome is eligible if it has any of the allowed tags
  • Fixed a bug in the Vibrant Visuals color settings where dragging a timeline playhead no longer scrubbed the viewport time, so color and value keyframes could not be previewed across the day/night cycle
  • Fixed a bug that caused the sliders connected to any Vibrant Visuals "Enabled" checkbox to be manipulated with the checkbox toggled off
  • Fixed a bug that caused incorrect theme color to display for disabled text field
  • Added a Timeline panel to the Cinematic Tool for visualizing and editing keyframes along the camera path
  • Renamed "Control Points" to "Keyframes" throughout the Cinematic Tool to align with standard animation terminology
  • Removed all transaction recording and management functionality from the TransactionManager API and moved it to the PendingTransaction object. Transactions are now created through createPendingTransaction function, while staged changes are finalized using the submit and discard methods
  • Added pending transaction support for ClipboardItem.writeToWorld and BrushShapeManager APIs
  • Added a drag handle to the cinematics timeline so the timeline duration can be adjusted directly in the editor
  • Fixed a bug that caused placeholder string in text field to be incorrectly styled
  • The Navigation panel's minimap now uses the new minimap control
    • World locations are now stored per-dimension and shared across all clients
    • Lowered the Nether's minimap scan Y-level so the map skips the bedrock ceiling
  • Removed the "X" button from progress windows for the Custom Mesh, Primitive, and Flood tools
  • Fixed a bug that appears in Layout Template Manager during 'Copy Template' operation when copying a template with structures. The template is copied along with name and display name. The fix is that the name and display name metadata are set from the caller.
  • Fixed a bug where the custom cursor does not change from wait/load icon after canceling the flood operation
  • Fixed a bug that caused Collection Tree UI element width to be incorrect
• Entity Components
  • Made the should_bounce boolean field of the minecraft:projectile component into an enum:
  • no: the projectile never bounces (default)
  • if_invulnerable: the projectile bounces only when the target is invulnerable to the damage source (e.g. creative mode, shield blocking)
  • if_no_damage_dealt: the projectile bounces whenever no damage was dealt, regardless of the reason (invulnerability, damage sensor, invulnerability frames)
  • Content authored against earlier format versions is automatically upgraded when loaded in 1.26.40 or later: true becomes if_invulnerable and false becomes no
• Features
  • Fixed incorrect example json for Height Difference Filter documentation
• Graphical
  • The MERS textures for following baby mobs and Rabbits are now visible
    • Baby Humanoid Chainmail Armor
    • Baby Dolphin
    • Baby Fox
    • Baby Goat
    • Baby Hoglin
    • Baby Panda
    • Baby Warm Pig
    • Baby Zombie Piglin
    • Rabbits
    • Snifflet
• JSON Schema
  • Updated the generated Minecraft JSON Schema files to use a more granular schema layout instead of producing one self-contained schema file per registered type. This reduces duplicated schema content and makes the generated schemas easier to consume with external tools.
  • Added binary-protocol metadata to generated SharedTypes JSON Schemas, including ordinal index, control value type, underlying type, and serialization options. This gives tools more information about the binary layout of the objects described by the JSON Schemas.
• Mobs
  • The tamed baby Wolf's collar now has a proper MERS texture
• Sounds
  • Fixed the destroy block sound position to be at the center of the block instead of at the corner (MCPE-60799)

Experimental Technical Updates

• API
  • Added getShapes method on PrimitiveShapesManager.
  • Added interface PrimitiveShapeQueryOptions for use with getShapes.
  • Added AllowListEntry to @minecraft/server-admin with optional name and xuid properties in beta
  • AllowList changes in @minecraft/server-admin all in beta
  • Added entries: AllowListEntry[] property
  • Changed add() to accept either a Player or AllowListEntry and removed accepting string as parameter. Adds InvalidArgumentError to this function when AllowListEntry has both name and xuid properties set to undefined.
  • Changed remove() to accept either a Player or AllowListEntry and removed accepting string as parameter. Adds InvalidArgumentError to this function when AllowListEntry has both name and xuid properties set to undefined.
  • Changed contains() to accept either a Player or AllowListEntry and removed accepting string as parameter. Adds InvalidArgumentError to this function when AllowListEntry has both name and xuid properties set to undefined.
  • Added new beta enum CloneMode with values Copy, ForceCopy, and Move that specifies how blocks are cloned between regions
• Dimension
  • Added cloneBlocks method to beta that clones a region of blocks from one area of the dimension to another, with support for clone modes and an optional block filter
• Sound Duration Info
  • The playback position now reflects calls to SoundInstance.seekTo
  • While a sound is paused via SoundInstance.pause, the playback position no longer advances; SoundInstance.resume continues from where it was paused
• Editor
  • Removed and replaced uses of minecraft/server CompoundBlockVolume in the Experimental API with the beta minecraft/server-editor RelativeVolumeListBlockVolume
• Graphical
  • Fixed a performance issue when in the Nether
  • Added a system to dynamically scale per-point-light shadow resources
  • Increased the maximum number of point lights
  • Fixed a bug where point light shadows would flicker during dynamic scaling
• Sound
  • Added minecaft:sound block component
    • it requires format version 1.26.20 and Experimental Upcoming Creator Features
    • it can be used to assign a set of sounds to block and its permutations similar to sound field in blocks.json
    • blocks.json overrides values of minecraft:sound component, including values in all permutations

Stay tuned for more as we keep an eye out for news regarding all things Minecraft, including the upcoming Minecraft Movie sequel and Minecraft Dungeons 2.

What do you think of Minecraft's latest patch and the new Cushion and Straw Bed items it's providing? Are you looking forward to the second Minecraft Movie and Minecraft Dungeons 2?

If you have any thoughts, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit page.

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Microsoft's share price has slid 22% in the past year, as investors increasingly cast doubt on the firm's long-term AI strategy.

Artificial intelligence has been billed as the next coming by Big Tech, with everyone from Amazon to Google trying to figure out how to leverage the expensive technology to generate profits. The problem is, nobody is even close to having an answer.

Generative AI is incredibly costly to run, and the return on investment is unclear at best. Many companies are starting to discover that, in fact, it's cheaper and more effective to simply use human labor. Companies that previously laid off engineers in favor of AI models later found themselves crawling back to those fired, and others have put large restrictions on token expenditure as returns remain elusive.

I saw a clip on CNBC from Ed Zitron, creator of the Where's Your Ed At newsletter and host of the Better Offline podcast recently. It summarized Microsoft's AI conundrum in pro wrestling terminology — which appealed to my simple brain. His full analysis is anything but simplistic, though. It speaks to the hard reality companies like Microsoft are facing: Is any of this actually worth it?

Zitron describes the challenges of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic joining SpaceX in going public, describing how the company's financial realities betray the almost demented hype around them.

"They'd be the first to be this bad, other than WeWork, and this is so much worse than that. OpenAI burned $20.9 billion dollars in 2025. The problem with these companies is ... their margins are getting worse. Their costs increase linearly with their revenues. There's no proof they can improve their margins. No amount of specialist silicon will bring these costs down.

"We're at a point where OpenAI is pushing their IPO to 2027 because they couldn't get a trillion-dollar valuation. People are wising up to the problem of generative AI: there's not really a business there."

Zitron posits that none of the hyperscalers and companies like OpenAI and Anthropic "encourage waste," while potentially stealing ideas generated by companies using their models, citing Claude Design and Figma. Indeed, the only public company that seems to be flying on its AI hype right now is Google. I would argue that's less to do with innovating, and more because they've found a way to steal revenue from human creators via Gemini's Google Search summary box — instantaneously creating infinite, dynamic (albeit hallucinating) ad-scaling opportunities.

This wholesale content theft is not as readily available to OpenAI, Anthropic, or Microsoft. Google Search remains the dominant tool for browsing the web, and thanks to Chrome and Android, Google owns the entire stack here.

Microsoft very much does not own the entire stack. It barely owns a stack at all here.

Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI is on the verge of collapse, pending contractual obligations that will expire over the next few years. It's already ditching OpenAI's pricey models in favor of supposedly more-efficient MAI home-grown models in some products. Microsoft Copilot is already barely used, despite being baked into Windows. It languishes at lower than 10% of the market, according to estimates, far behind the likes of Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT.

CEO Satya Nadella's decision to give up on Windows Phone and internal Android projects has precluded Microsoft from any form of mobile play here. Mobile is where all new consumer tech will thrive, whether or not it's AI or something else. The historical open nature of Windows prevents it from reaching consumers with any of its products. Nobody uses Bing, Edge, or Copilot, and it's a result of Microsoft's wholesale lack of foresight.

Microsoft bet that it could provide the underlying infrastructure instead, and has spent monstrous amounts of CapEx on data centers in the past few years. But Zitron posited in a large report from May that it might be exaggerating, or perhaps even outright lying, about its data center expansion plans. Indeed, there's little evidence that Microsoft has actually expanded its capacity since 2024. Zitron tracked a variety of Microsoft-announced data center projects and found them in various states of incompletion.

Is this a signal that there's no real demand? Is Microsoft intentionally stalling and dragging out construction because it knows there's no actual ROI incoming from these projects?

AI-adjacent stocks, including SpaceX, Oracle, and Microsoft, have all been in near free-fall decline recently, as investors seem to bet that there's gross over-extension going on. Meta is also reportedly spinning up a cloud company to try and offload excess compute it had previously invested in AI specifically, despite not having any actual demand.

"The only reason Big Tech is investing in this is that they've run out of hypergrowth ideas," Zitron said, on the general AI industry. "They don't have a next iPhone, they don't have a new Google Search. They've put over a trillion, with trillions more to come, into a kind of dead-end industry. When that ends, they'll have to admit that they don't have anything else."

"In the future, I see [AI] as a boring hardware-based business, kind of the Oracle licensing hardware model. I think this is a $10 to $30 billion TAM [total addressable market] industry, pretending to be a $1 trillion industry."

"Everyone is just kind of pretending. It's the kayfabe of a tech industry that really has run out of ideas."

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Alienware makes gaming laptops and desktops, sure, but the line I enjoy looking at most is its QD-OLED gaming monitors. They're immensely popular after being the first to market in 2022; they're generally well-rated, and they're usually competitively priced.

One of the most popular Alienware gaming monitors is the AW3425DW, and it has now received a significant update for 2026. Dell let me get my hands on the new AW3426DW ultrawide monitor early so I could get a true feel of what it's like, and I'm here to share my thoughts on whether or not it's worth a buy.

Dell had no input, nor saw the contents of this review, prior to publication.

How much does the Alienware AW3426DW cost?

The AW3426DW launched at $799.99 — which is the same price at which the last-gen AW3425DW made its debut — and it's also launching at £709 in the United Kingdom.

It's worth noting that the older model is currently sitting at $649.99 after a $150 discount, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that price drop stick around now that the new model is here.

Here's a closer look at the specs that make up the Alienware AW3426DW.

A generational upgrade for Alienware's iconic ultrawide

Compared to the older AW3425DW model we reviewed favorably last year, there are several standout improvements in the new AW3426DW.

The main change arrives for the Quantum Dot-Organic Light Emitting Diode (QD-OLED) panel. It's using Samsung's new fifth-gen Penta Tandem tech that was revealed earlier this year, which the company says has twice as long a lifespan as well as 1.3 times better brightness. Text should be easier to read, and there are improvements to dark colors in bright ambient light. More on that below.

Alongside the higher brightness, the monitor now has an anti-reflective coating to better combat glare. And, finally, the refresh rate has been raised from 240Hz to 280Hz.

What I like about the Alienware AW3426DW

From a purely design standpoint, the Alienware AW3426DW hasn't changed much compared to the AW3425DW. Its case has a pleasant Interstellar Indigo color scheme, with minimal interruptions on the back panel.

An Alienware head logo is off to the left of the stand, and there's the secondary AI logo on the other side. These logos are surrounded by venting, altogether offering a clean look.

For a bit of extra jazz, the Alienware head has customizable lighting. The same applies to the monitor's power button on the bottom edge of the casing.

The front of the monitor features Alienware branding, and that's basically it. Bezels are nice and slim, and the rounded stand seems like a perfect pairing.

On that note, the stand is plenty sturdy. It doesn't offer much rotation (this is an ultrawide, after all), but there's enough tilt and swivel to keep me happy. If I were keeping the screen, it'd go onto my MSI dual-arm VESA mount thanks to 100x100mm compatibility.

All OSD settings are controlled with a single joystick. There are a ton of menu options to play around with should you want to tweak the picture, and the monitor includes quite a few presets for different tasks and gaming styles. You can also change shortcuts for easier control.

Smart HDR, Dolby Vision, refresh rates, and much more are all customizable. You can choose how the monitor handles multiple inputs. And, for those who game and work on the same screen, I'm happy to report that the Picture-in-Picture (PiP) and Picture-by-Picture (PbP) features work flawlessly.

The older AW3425DW's OSD menu, or "Command Center," had issues with freezing and closing randomly, but I've not seen those issues in the newer AW3426DW model.

How is the Alienware AW3426DW's color and brightness?

Thanks to the new fifth-gen QD-OLED panel, Alienware's flagship line of ultrawide gaming monitors has never looked better.

One of the biggest complaints about the older model was that black colors often appeared purple when in a bright room. That's been significantly improved here, and it seems that no matter how much light is falling on the screen, dark colors remain dark.

This latest model includes a new anti-reflective finish that Dell says reduces glare by up to 30%. I can't test for that precisely, but I can say that the only time I had issues with glare was in a sun-drenched room with direct light hitting the screen. If you're in an office or a gaming room, you should have no issues.

It also helps that brightness has gone up from a 250-nit cap to 300 nits. Whereas the AW3425DW tested for roughly 252 nits of brightness, I saw the AW3426DW hit 330 nits in SDR, and it goes up to about 1,300 nits with HDR enabled. This additional brightness pushes its HDR certification up to VESA DisplayHDR 500.

You can see for yourself the brightness, color, contrast, and white point ratings in the above chart that I pulled from my SpyderX Pro colorimeter.

Color reproduction has actually improved slightly compared to the previous generation. Whereas we previously tested for 97% P3 and 94% AdobeRGB coverage, the new model hits 99% and 95%, respectively. It otherwise remains at 100% sRGB.

Is Alienware's AW3426DW good for gaming?

Thanks to a curved panel, an ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio, a 3440x1440 resolution, a 280Hz refresh rate, and a 0.02ms response time, the Alienware AW3426DW is an outstanding gaming monitor.

The resolution hits the sweet spot for most gamers, and once you go ultrawide, you'll find it's very hard to go back to a 16:9 aspect ratio. The 280Hz refresh rate has plenty of ceiling for high-end performance hardware, and it's fast enough that you shouldn't mind using it for competitive titles.

Because it's an ultrawide with room for (at least) three separate windows, it's also great for productivity. Text is easier to read with this generation of QD-OLED panel, and you might be surprised at how crisp everything looks if you're coming from an older model.

What I dislike about the Alienware AW3426DW

There's not much to dislike about this monitor from a display quality standpoint. But there are some drawbacks you should know about before buying.

The port selection is notably a bit lacking. There's no 3.5mm audio jack (and no built-in speakers), and for data, there's just USB-C (15W) and USB-A, feeding off an upstream USB-B port.

Video inputs include dual HDMI 2.1 with Fixed Rate Link (FRL) for uncompressed 4K@120Hz gaming, but the single DisplayPort is 1.4 standard with Display Stream Compression (DSC). Some newer monitors are shipping with DP 2.1 with less compression, and I'd say it only really matters for enthusiasts.

Should you buy the Alienware AW3426DW?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You're looking for a competitively priced ultrawide gaming monitor featuring fifth-gen QD-OLED tech.

✅ You have a gaming PC that can handle a 3440x1440 resolution and that can make use of a 280Hz refresh rate.

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You're a competitive gamer who mostly plays at a 16:9 aspect ratio.

❌ You just want a QD-OLED ultrawide and don't care about the generation (go with the AW3425DW from last year that's now usually cheaper).

I loved my time with the Alienware AW3426DW, and it's something I'll recommend to anyone who's searching out a new QD-OLED ultrawide for gaming.

The 280Hz refresh rate is perfect for most people, the fifth-gen panel is better than ever, and the overall design is sleek and balanced.

Although some might complain that the port selection isn't generous enough or that the RGB lighting is lacking, others might not mind those drawbacks nearly as much.

And considering how many perks the monitor has, it's easy to see why this line of monitors from Alienware is so popular. I have to return the review sample, but the AW3426DW is at the top of my list for when it comes time to upgrade.

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Microsoft Forms just got a major upgrade thanks to Copilot. Microsoft 365 Copilot chat now lives within Microsoft Forms, adding a familiar tool to those who use AI in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Copilot in Microsoft Forms can suggest improvements to your polls and forms and present insights from responses.

The Copilot integration is available now to users with Microsoft 365 commercial Copilot licenses.

Microsoft listed all the changes to Forms in a blog post:

• Smarter suggestions & refinements: Get targeted recommendations to improve your form’s structure, clarity, and effectiveness. Copilot can also apply refinements directly to the form, so you can save time making edits – just describe what you want, and watch Copilot make it happen.
• Deeper analysis: Copilot can now analyze your results in-depth to provide clear insights and actionable takeaways for you and your team. You can even ask follow-up questions to help parse and summarize your data and unlock your next step.
• More settings: Review and update form settings with ease, such as applying custom thank-you messages and close dates, so your form is ready to send. You can also adjust question settings in bulk, such as making questions required.
• Open-ended chat: Copilot chat gives you access to a broad world of capabilities, whether you’re seeking inspiration on survey topics or consulting on how to configure your form – the possibilities are broad with Copilot at your fingertips.
• Basic branching: Apply basic branching logic directly through the agent. (Note that some complex scenarios are not yet supported, and you should continue to review your branching logic prior to sending your forms.)

I use Microsoft Forms to gather feedback from my American football team. I admit that I first tried it because my job centers around knowing Microsoft products. But after using Microsoft Forms for a while, I grew to prefer it over Google Forms.

Microsoft Forms can sync with Excel documents, making it much easier to stay on top of responses. I'm deeply entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem, so anything that works seamlessly with the rest of my workflow gets bonus points in my book.

I also prefer some of the features of Microsoft Forms, such as question-level branching. That feature makes filling out forms feel smoother when a poll includes branching questions because it keeps you on the same page.

The layout of Microsoft Forms also presents results quicker because if you want to look at a chart, you don't need to open a separate spreadsheet.

The new Copilot experience in Forms could also be a boon to the platform, though I'll have to see it in action to judge. In my experience, Copilot as a general tool is good at suggesting improvements, performing bulk edits, and creating summaries, so it should thrive within Microsoft Forms.

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It looks like Microsoft is planning to make a small but interesting (ok, maybe not that interesting) change to Windows 11 in the coming weeks, one that has us scratching our heads a bit. The company has revealed (albeit accidentally) that it's making the search box that appears on the Taskbar and in the Start menu a little taller, by 4 whole pixels.

4 pixels doesn't sound like much of a change, but it is a noticeable difference, if you can believe it. The change makes the search box appear chunkier, taking up more visible space above and below it, and bringing it closer to the top edge of the Taskbar itself and slightly pushing content down in Start.

Here's a before and after of the Start menu and Taskbar, in gif format so that it loops making the difference very easy to identify:

Microsoft hasn't explained why it's making this change, but if I had to guess, I'd say the change is being made to align it with the Ask Copilot search box appearance, which differs from the existing Windows Search search box.

Ask Copilot is an alternative search experience coming soon to the Taskbar on Windows 11 that incorporates Copilot chat directly into the user interface. It's currently aimed at commercial customers, and includes a thicker but narrower search box that appears on the Taskbar when enabled.

Ask Copilot is a separate UI to the standard Windows Search experience, and needs to be manually enabled before you can use it. That's why I think Microsoft is making the default search box 4 pixels taller, as the company likes the look of Ask Copilot and would like that appearance to apply to the default search box too.

Here's a closer look at the search box on the Taskbar comparing the new height to the old height. See, it is a noticeable difference! Investigative journalism at its finest on display here.

Either way, you can likely expect to see the search box in the Start menu and on the Taskbar get slightly bigger in the coming months, as Microsoft begins rolling out the change to Insiders before making it generally available to all. The change was unveiled in a changelog for a recent Windows 11 preview build, but a Microsoft engineer has since confirmed to me that the change isn't yet being previewed.

Thanks phantomofearth!

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We have recently heard rumors saying that Zenimax and Bethesda will be 'significantly' impacted by Xbox's company-wide restructuring. So far, these rumors are coming true in depressing ways, as DOOM developer Id Software confirms it has lost over 136 staff, and now the team behind The Elder Scrolls Online, ZeniMax Online is next on the chopping block.

According to a WARN report released by the State of Maryland (via VGC), Zenimax Online has lost 213 employees thanks to Xbox's big "Reset". In addition, Zenimax Media Inc., the company that owns Bethesda Game Studios, has also lost 166 employees.

One of the game developers who previously worked at ZeniMax Online, Andrew Young, has reacted with anger and disappointment at this news, stating that "I’m just so angry today. 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."

This news will no doubt fuel the flames of angry fans letting their harsh criticisms and opinions be known to Microsoft about this decision, spurred on by Bethesda's Union, which feels similar sentiments of frustration about the whole situation.

However, the good news is that there are no reports so far that The Elder Scrolls Online MMO is shutting down as a result of these layoffs, but whether or not ZeniMax Online will be able to bounce back from this loss as it did with 2025's layoffs that forced it to cancel its secret "Project Blackbird game" remains to be seen.

There's little doubt that more official reports of the exact damage done to Xbox's game studios will continue to be released as the company's restructuring goes on. So, we'll keep you posted on further developments regarding the ongoing situation at ZeniMax and Bethesda.

When do you think these mass layoffs will end? Do you think Xbox's game studios will be able to bounce back from these layoffs and continue making games? Do you think The Elder Scrolls Online will be able to survive now that ZeniMax Online has lost a considerable amount of manpower?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, please let us know through the poll, the comments section, or our Reddit community.

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