Xbox Layoffs, Witcher 3 Remastered, GTA VI Update
Xbox’s sweeping restructuring defines the week, with layoffs reaching Halo Studios, World’s Edge, and Gears of War: E-Day while Microsoft shifts the next Halo project under Activision. At the same time, CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered turns an 11-year-old RPG into one of the year’s best-reviewed releases, while Rockstar Games prepares another Grand Theft Auto VI information drop.
Xbox Restructuring Puts First-Party Studios Under Pressure
Microsoft’s latest Xbox cuts eliminate 268 jobs, with World’s Edge losing nearly half its staff as responsibility for the next Halo game moves to Activision. The restructuring reportedly also places Ninja Theory’s future in doubt, leaves Halo Studios almost dismantled, and cancels a project associated with World’s Edge, although the cancellation has not been officially announced.
The layoffs reach individual projects as well, including Gears of War: E-Day, where the story director is let go shortly before the game’s early access launch after more than four years on the project. Undead Labs becomes an independent, employee-owned studio after separating from Xbox, but says a significant number of employees lose their jobs while development of State of Decay 3 continues.
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Obsidian Entertainment now reports through Bethesda, though Bethesda president Jill Braff says the Fallout: New Vegas and Grounded developer retains its leadership, creative identity, and existing roadmap. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describes the broader effort as “streamlining” and says Xbox needs a sustainable business model capable of reaching more players, comments that follow more than 5,750 Xbox-related job cuts across three years.
Marathon and Arc Raiders Rethink the Extraction Shooter
Bungie is expanding Marathon beyond its original extraction-shooter structure after the PvEvP game experiences a player slump. The studio plans to preserve its winner-takes-all mode while adding less intense ways to play, including a social hub and a fungus-filled Perimeter area.
Embark Studios is taking a similar approach with Arc Raiders through an opt-in PvE test running from October 13 to October 20. The matchmaking toggle prevents human players from damaging one another while keeping the game’s machines dangerous, giving cooperative players an alternative without removing the existing PvEvP format.
Other games show the risks facing live-service and multiplayer projects. Bandai Namco is transforming Synduality: Echo of Ada from a PvPvE extraction shooter into an offline PS5 title, while Build a Rocket Boy enters administration after layoffs and Digital Bros cancels Armed Fantasia alongside two other projects. +1
The Witcher 3 Remastered Leads the Week’s Biggest Launches
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Remastered is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 as a free upgrade for existing owners. CD Projekt Red’s update includes more than 70 major changes to visuals, gameplay, accessibility, and other systems, with the Switch 2 version available at no additional cost to owners of the original Switch edition.
Critics broadly praise the remaster, which is already being described as the highest-scoring game of 2026 on Metacritic. PS5 players also receive access to more than 40 mods at launch, although enabling them disables Trophies.
Control: Resonant provides a contrasting launch story as Remedy Entertainment responds to criticism that its early combat is too difficult. A PS5 hotfix adjusts stun-focused combat, while a larger update planned for next month adds New Game++ and photo mode.
Minecraft Dungeons II also launches as Xbox’s next first-party release, expanding the action RPG with an interconnected world and the Sift dimension. Early reviews are divided, with some praising its ambition and others calling the sequel shallow or overly familiar.
GTA VI and PlayStation’s Next Wave Stay Mostly Under Wraps
Grand Theft Auto VI is the subject of a 14-page Game Informer cover story arriving with interviews from Rockstar Games and a dozen new screenshots. The feature keeps Jason and Lucia at the center of the sequel’s next major information drop, but the available details do not reveal a new release update.
Naughty Dog is taking an even slower approach with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which will not receive its full reveal until 2027 and has no announced release window. The studio also says it is developing two early-stage projects set in The Last of Us universe, though neither has been confirmed as a game.
Sony’s nearer-term PS5 schedule is clearer: God of War Laufey pre-orders open on September 29 ahead of the game’s February 16, 2027 release. Nintendo, meanwhile, confirms that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5, supported by new footage and comparison videos showing its differences from the Nintendo 64 and 3DS versions.