Xbox Restructures, GTA VI Cover Story, Minecraft Expands
Microsoft’s sweeping Xbox reorganization becomes the week’s defining story, moving the next Halo under Activision while cutting deeply into Halo Studios, World’s Edge, Gears of War: E-Day, and other teams. Bungie also changes course on Destiny 2 and Marathon, while Mojang announces Minecraft’s first new dimension in more than a decade.
Xbox Restructuring Moves Halo to Activision and Cuts First-Party Teams
Microsoft confirms that 268 roles are eliminated across Halo Studios and other first-party teams, with the reorganization moving Halo, Rare, and World’s Edge under Activision, shifting Obsidian Entertainment into Bethesda, and merging Playground Games with Turn 10 Studios. Activision now leads the next mainline Halo through a new team separate from Call of Duty, while Halo Studios is reduced to supporting existing games.
The cuts hit Age of Empires developer World’s Edge particularly hard, with the studio losing nearly half its staff during the transition and a project reportedly being canceled. Gears of War: E-Day also loses its story director shortly before the game’s early access launch.
Ninja Theory enters consultation ahead of a proposed closure after two acquisition agreements collapse. Undead Labs instead separates from Xbox as an independent, employee-owned studio, although a significant number of employees lose their jobs and State of Decay 3 remains in development.
Bethesda president Jill Braff tells staff that Obsidian Entertainment retains its leadership, creative identity, and existing roadmap despite the new reporting structure. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella praises Xbox’s “streamlining” just days after the latest layoffs.
Bungie Broadens Marathon as Live-Service Shooters Change Course
Bungie is attempting to rebuild player trust by restoring previously vaulted Destiny 2 campaigns, raids, and destinations, with new leadership describing Destiny as foundational to the studio’s future. The reversal follows the game’s final update and comes alongside an acknowledgment that Marathon needs to evolve.
Marathon launched as a PvEvP extraction shooter, but Bungie now plans to add lower-intensity ways to play without removing its winner-takes-all experience. A social hub and a fungus-filled Perimeter area are among the planned additions intended to make the game more approachable.
Embark Studios takes a similar approach with Arc Raiders, testing an opt-in PvE mode from October 13 through October 20. The test lets players prevent human opponents from damaging one another while machines remain dangerous, giving cooperative players an alternative without removing the existing PvPvE format.
Bandai Namco is also moving Synduality: Echo of Ada away from live service, transforming the PlayStation 5 extraction shooter into an offline game. Bethesda takes Quake Champions in a different direction by ending its free-to-play model on Steam, removing battle passes, loot boxes, premium currency, and the in-game store while ending further content updates.
Xbox Layoffs Arrive as Build a Rocket Boy Enters Administration
The week’s industry instability extends beyond Microsoft. Build a Rocket Boy, the developer behind the poorly received shooter MindsEye, enters administration following another wave of layoffs. Digital Bros also cancels Armed Fantasia, the Wild Arms spiritual successor backed by a successful Kickstarter campaign, along with Directorate: Novitiate and a Battle Islands sequel.
Star Wars Zero Company shows how sales momentum does not necessarily translate into employment stability: the Bit Reactor tactics game passes an estimated one million copies sold while its development team is reportedly furloughed.
Control: Resonant and Dune: Awakening Lead the Week’s Releases
Remedy Entertainment launches Control: Resonant on PS5 and Xbox with a combat hotfix that makes early stun-focused encounters easier after criticism from reviewers and players. A larger update planned for next month adds New Game++ and photo mode, although the PC version currently carries an Unsupported label on Steam Deck.
Funcom brings Dune: Awakening to Xbox Series X|S after its PC release, with the survival game also entering Xbox Game Pass for eligible Ultimate, PC, and Premium members. The smaller Metroidvania Well Dweller launches on PS5, Xbox, and PC with Game Pass availability and opens to review scores of 91 on Metacritic and 90 on OpenCritic.
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Remastered launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on September 29, with original Switch owners receiving access at no extra cost through a separate product rather than an automatic upgrade. On PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the remaster arrives as an update to the Complete Edition.
Hytale Chapter 1 also sets an October 12 release date, adding the game’s first hand-crafted dungeon and a multi-phase boss fight.
Minecraft The Sift Adds a New Dimension in 2027
Mojang announces The Sift for Minecraft Java Edition and Bedrock Edition in 2027, making it the game’s fourth dimension alongside the Overworld, Nether, and The End. The addition marks Minecraft’s first new dimension since The End arrives in 2011, while The Sift is also scheduled to appear in Minecraft Dungeons II the following week.
Nintendo also confirms that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, with new footage showing Link’s encounter with Ganondorf. Epic brings Five Nights at Freddy’s to Fortnite’s Fortnitemares event, while Rocket Racing faces an Xbox server shutdown across October and November.
Grand Theft Auto VI Gets a Game Informer Cover Story
Grand Theft Auto VI becomes the week’s biggest upcoming-game story as Game Informer announces a 14-page cover feature with exclusive Rockstar Games interviews and a dozen new screenshots. The issue focuses on protagonists Jason and Lucia and arrives on September 29.
Rockstar Games also tightens its mod rules ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI, restricting mods involving missions, maps, updated storylines, third-party intellectual property, and established Grand Theft Auto continuity. Take-Two Interactive is separately removing footage of scrapped Grand Theft Auto V DLC and an early Grand Theft Auto VI map.