Microsoft's Play Anywhere initiative is growing once again. Now, Ubisoft games are included for the first time, meaning for titles like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, you now only need to purchase the game once to get access across both Xbox consoles and PC. 

According to the announcement on Xbox Wire, a wide range of Ubisoft titles have been updated with premium editions and add‑on content on the Xbox PC app. Ubisoft is also enabling a new console to PC offer, allowing players who own the digital Xbox console version of select games to access the PC version through Ubisoft Connect without paying anything extra. This applies to many of Ubisoft’s biggest franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, The Crew and Watch Dogs.

The full list of Ubisoft Play Anywhere titles includes

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
• Far Cry 6
• Immortals Fenyx Rising
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Riders Republic
• Skull and Bones
• The Crew 2
• The Crew Motorfest
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
• Watch Dogs Legion

From today, anyone purchasing a digital version of these titles will automatically receive both the Xbox console and Xbox on PC versions. Existing owners of the Xbox digital versions will see the PC editions added to their Ubisoft Connect library, just as long as you've linked your Xbox and Ubisoft accounts through the Xbox PC app. Most DLC and season pass content will transfer across, although consumable items and in‑game currencies are excluded.

KitGuru Says: Xbox Play Anywhere has been around for almost a decade now but it has lacked serious third-party support until recently. Hopefully this will soon expand to include all Ubisoft games, not just a handful of big but slightly older titles. 

Microsoft officially launched console backwards compatibility for PC last week, bringing over a handful of original Xbox titles to the PC platform for the first time. Now, evidence suggests that Xbox 360 titles will soon be supported too.

According to a new report from Tom’s Hardware, the backwards compatible releases shipped with a native x86 version of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 emulator. Modders quickly discovered that the PC versions of the newly released OG Xbox titles were running inside Xe03, the same emulator used for backwards compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. This discovery was further backed up by dataminer findings shared by TheLunarixus, confirming that the PC packages contain both the 360 emulator and the OG Xbox emulator nested inside it.

With Xe03 now running natively on PC, modders have already begun loading Xbox 360 executables directly into the emulator with promising results. Early tests have seen titles like Plants vs Zombies, Steins Gate, Fuzion Frenzy and Midnight Club Los Angeles booting with varying degrees of stability. This opens the door for major Xbox 360 exclusives such as Gears of War 2 and 3, Fable 2 and Fable 3 and many more console-only titles to finally make their way to PC in the future, either through official releases or community driven projects.

Microsoft has promised to bring more backwards compatible games to PC over time, but it has not yet announced plans for Xbox 360 support. However, the fact that the emulation tech is already in place shows that Xbox 360 titles will be making their way over to PC in the near future.

KitGuru Says: There are a ton of exclusives from the original Xbox era and the Xbox 360 era that never came to PC. With official emulation tools in place, that should soon change. Even if a game isn't officially supported in the backwards compatibility program, there is a chance that those with enough know-how will be able to run unsupported games through Microsoft's own emulator. 

In the age of (primarily) digital gaming, having solid download speeds is vital, especially as games continue to grow in scope and size. While there are tons of different factors which can lead to slow speeds, Microsoft is trying to alleviate issues on their end – announcing a new Xbox system update which optimises “game install and update speeds.”

As part of the latest Xbox Firmware update (available to those signed up to Xbox’s Insider program), Microsoft is introducing a new system which should make game download speeds smoother and more consistent, writing:
“Users will experience a new feature to optimize game install and update speeds by introducing a smart download client.”

Explaining how it functions, they continued, “Shortly after your game download begins, the client will check which content servers are available for the install or update. It will then test the connection speed to each server pool and select the fastest available connection for that install. The speed test will rerun periodically during the install or update to ensure that the client continues using the fastest available connection.”

Reactions to the update have been mixed so far, with some users lamenting the fact that server pool switching wasn’t already being used – while others claim to have never had any issues with downloads in the first place.

As mentioned, downloads speeds are a fickle thing, with countless factors going into the experience. That said, it is welcome to see Microsoft attempting to make the whole process a little bit easier on their end. Hopefully this change does have a notable impact.

KitGuru says: Are you part of Xbox’s Insider Program? Have you tried to download anything since the update? If so, have you noticed a difference? Let us know down below.

The company has come a long way since its acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006. This transformed it from a CPU maker to a full-fledged computing giant. Twenty Years Later, the ATI Acquisition Remains AMD's Most Important Milestone, Which Helped in Driving Innovation from Radeon Graphics to AI Accelerators On July 24, 2006, AMD announced one of the biggest acquisitions in semiconductor history by acquiring ATI Technologies in a deal worth approximately $5.4 billion. At that time, it was seen as a big gamble that would put AMD directly against giants like Intel and NVIDIA. Exactly two decades later, it […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/20-years-since-amds-5-4-billion-ati-acquisition/

After years of rumors and speculation, original Xbox games are now finally playable on PC thanks to the early access debut of official Xbox Backward Compatibility on Windows 11. While Microsoft has promised that the program will be significantly expanded in the coming months with the addition of Achievements, among other things, dataminers made some interesting discoveries which suggest that Xbox 360 games are likely coming to PC in the future. The reason why this is very likely is simple. The four backward compatible games now available on PC, including Fuzion Frenzy, use the same tech that the Xbox One […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/microsofts-pc-xbox-backward-compatibility-hides-360-emulator/

For quite a while now, we had been hearing various leaks and rumours pertaining to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, with insiders claiming that the console maker is planning to offer some form of ad-supported game streaming tier. Though yet to be officially announced, Microsoft has now unveiled that it is testing “an ad-supported way to stream select games from your library for a limited time.”

Taking to the Xbox Wire blog to make the announcement, ‘Team XBOX’ officially unveiled their first test for this long-rumoured ad-supported game streaming tier, writing:

“Today, we’re starting to test an ad-supported way to stream select games from your library for a limited time, available to XBOX Insiders. During this test period, XBOX Insiders with an XBOX account will be able to stream games they own for free with ads. Players will have one hour session limits across supported devices and regions.”

Speaking on their mentality behind this decision, Microsoft continued, “Advertising has existed in gaming for decades, from in-game placements to free-to-play models. But it hasn’t always been built with the player in mind. When done well, advertising can help lower the cost of access. It creates another way for players to get into games without an upfront streaming purchase and expands audiences through new ways to play. For brands, this only works if showing up here adds to the experience, not takes away from it.”

Seemingly built as an alternative to Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft promises that ads will only appear ‘before’ the session itself begins, meaning players shouldn’t encounter any distractions mid-game. That said, with the 1 hour time limit currently in place, sessions will wind up being interrupted regardless.

Of course, cloud streaming isn’t free for Microsoft, and so it seems they believe having an ad-supported version could bring in additional revenue in its own right, while also hopefully drawing players into the full fat Game Pass experience.

As with other insider programs, Microsoft will be monitoring feedback, and so it will be interesting to see what the final form of this ‘Ad-supported Game Streaming Test’ winds up looking like.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this latest announcement? Does it entice you in any way? Would you rather stream your games using remote play without ads, or cloud streaming with ads? Let us know down below.

Following confirmation that Xbox will cut a total of 3,200 jobs by July 2027, most of the studios still under their umbrella underwent significant upheavals, including studios that most believed would be safe from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's business reset, such as Bethesda Game Studios. Although the developer behind The Elder Scrolls and Fallout was affected by the Microsoft layoffs, it confirmed last week that it would double down on its two tentpole franchises, with remasters of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas on the way ahead of the fifth entry in the series. This sudden and unexpected confirmation seemed to suggest that Xbox is now […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/bethesda-pushes-back-xbox-control-claims-fallout/

Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game was set to have a massive multi-platform launch today. However, at the very last minute, the developers have announced that the Xbox version has been delayed by six weeks, mere hours before the game was set to become downloadable on Xbox consoles. 

In an announcement shared earlier today, the developers said that “the Xbox version of Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game will now launch on September 3rd. This delay is due to unforeseen backend issues that require additional time to resolve”. The developers have no plans to cancel pre-orders for the game due to the delay.

It is incredibly strange to see a game delayed for one platform, but it is even stranger to see the delay arrive less than one day before launch. If backend issues in the Xbox version went unnoticed until the final moments before release, then one has to wonder whether the rest of the game is in a fit state.

Beyond the Xbox delay, the development team has also revealed that the Nintendo Switch version of the game will be missing features at launch. For starters, English will be the only language option available from day-one, and cross-platform multiplayer won't be supported. However, additional language options and crossplay are expected to be implemented in a future patch.

KitGuru Says: While this delay is disappointing and extremely odd, I think it is still worth noting that Avatar Legends looks like a quality fighting game. If you are a fan of the series, it should be worth picking up, assuming there aren't any other major issues waiting to be discovered upon release. 

2026 has been a year of great change at Xbox, with the console maker engaging in a major restructure leading to the parting of ways with 5 different studios and thousands of employees. One notable move made by Xbox was the appointment of Jared Palmer as the new vice-president of engineering. Joining the brand this past May, Palmer has already announced that he is leaving Xbox.

Taking to Twitter, the recently-appointed VP of Engineering at Xbox – Jared Palmer – announced his departure from the company, writing:

“Personal update: I’ve joined @Cognition to lead engineering. I’m grateful to [Asha Sharma] and everyone at Xbox for an amazing year. Excited for this next chapter with [Scott Wu] and team.”

As mentioned, Palmer was a relatively recent addition to the Xbox team, with the announcement happening just a couple months ago in early May. At the time, Palmer was said to be joining “as a member of technical staff to work on product, engineering, developer tools and infrastructure” while also serving as a”taste” maker of sorts.

As with Sharma herself, Palmer came from an AI background, previously serving as the ‘CoreAI vice president of product’ and a ‘senior vice president of Microsoft's GitHub subsidiary.’

Whether his short stint at Xbox was always part of the plan or not, we will have to wait and find out. Either way, this latest change does not lend a great deal of confidence to the new Xbox regime.

KitGuru says: What do you think of this latest move? Is it an indicator of deeper issues? Or did Palmer simply receive an offer he couldn’t refuse? Let us know your thoughts down below.

For years, there have been rumours that Microsoft is working on an official emulation tool to bring classic Xbox and Xbox 360 games to the PC platform. Now, Microsoft is making it official, with the first wave of original Xbox games becoming PC compatible for the first time.

The Xbox Backwards Compatibility program has re-opened after spending the last few years on pause. Now, Microsoft is turning its attention to bringing console titles to PC, starting with four original Xbox titles, including Blinx The Time Sweeper, Conker Live and Reloaded, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge and Fuzion Frenzy. All four games are available for purchase via the Xbox App and support Play Anywhere, so you only have to buy it once to access it on both console and PC.

This isn't just the same console version now running on PC hardware. Microsoft has taken extra steps to implement customisable graphics settings, so users can enable enhanced anti-aliasing, higher anisotropic filtering, run games in fullscreen or windowed modes, enable or disable V-Sync and boost resolution by up to 4x. While the initial wave of PC-compatible Xbox games is small, Microsoft has plans to add more titles in the future.

In order to run backwards compatible Xbox games, you won't need a particularly powerful PC. These games should run on current-generation PC gaming handhelds, and if you have a DIY PC, anything with a GTX 950 or newer should do the trick. You will need to be on Windows 11 though.

KitGuru Says: Are there any original Xbox or Xbox 360 games that you would like to see brought over to PC?

Back when Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl was first announced, it was revealed as an Xbox console exclusive, as well as a day-one game for Xbox Game Pass. How much does a deal like that cost? Well it turns out it was enough to more than cover the development costs for the entire game.

In a recent interview with YouTube channel OLDboi, GSC Game World founder, Sergiy Grygorovych, spoke a little about their deal with Xbox for Stalker 2, saying that the timed exclusivity deal meant that the game “paid for itself before the first day”.

The deal was hashed out pretty quickly too, with the founder saying that it only took Microsoft around a week to send over the documents to sign. The extra money from the Xbox deal came at a good time too, as GSC Game World had to move its studio operations out of Ukraine in the middle of development due to Russia's invasion of the country.

Stalker 2 eventually launched in late 2024 after a couple of delays, but the day-one version of the game was not great. The game still sold millions of copies during its first few months on the market, but certain in-game systems were broken and there were various bugs and performance issues. Most of that was ironed out by late 2025, when the game's timed exclusivity window ran out and the game finally came to PS5.

Stalker 2 is in a much better state now than at launch. This year is a good time for those who skipped it to pick it up, as there is a major expansion coming later this year.

KitGuru Says: Have you played Stalker 2 since launch? Are you planning on jumping back in for the new expansion later this year? 

As part of one of Microsoft’s earlier Xbox restructures – in which the likes of Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were shut down – a lesser-known team was also impacted, with Alpha Dog Games unfortunately being closed. Like with Tango Gameworks however, reports of Alpha Dog Games’ death were ‘exaggerated’, with the studio now back and independent once again.

As shared by Timur222, Alpha Dog Games founder Shawn Woods updated their LinkedIn page revealing that the studio, which was shuttered by Microsoft back in 2024, has since been revived.

Said to have been opened back up in May of 2025, Woods confirmed that Alpha Dog Games is once again an independent studio – suggesting that they stuck a similar deal to that seen with the likes of Double Fine and Compulsion Games more recently.

As of now, no new details have been shared on what the team is working on, however they did give a bit of a timeline on their independence, writing: “Originally acquired by Bethesda in 2019 and later becoming part of Microsoft Xbox through the ZeniMax Media acquisition in 2021, Alpha Dog returned to independent ownership in 2025 when the founding team reacquired the studio.”

Alpha Dog Games was one of Zenimax / Bethesda’s lesser-known studios, with the small team being responsible for the mobile-focused Mighty DOOM – which launched to mixed reviews. That said, many of the complaints came from its monetisation practices, and so it will be interesting to see how an independent Alpha Dog Games will approach their next title in this regard.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: What did you think of Mighty Doom? How was the gameplay itself? Are you glad to see most studios survive their Xbox exodus? Let us know down below.

Microsoft has revealed the next wave of titles for Xbox Game Pass. For starters, Hell is Us is joining the service this week after a year on the market, offering a very non-linear post-apocalyptic adventure that will test your wits and combat skill. The big headliner though is of course Halo: Campaign Evolved, a complete remake of the original Halo campaign with some added content.

Halo: Campaign Evolved marks a major change for the series, being the first to run completely on Unreal Engine 5. Graphically, the game looks great, but we will have to play it for ourselves to see if the classic feel of the Halo shooters translates over well in the new engine.

Here is the full list of titles joining Game Pass over the next couple of weeks along with supported platforms and dates:

• Shift at Midnight (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, PC) – July 22
• Hell is Us (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, PC) – July 23
• Halo: Campaign Evolved (Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC) – July 28
• Mistfall Hunter (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, PC) – July 30
• Corsair Cove (PC) – July 31
• Heretic + Hexen (Cloud, Console, Handheld, PC) – August 4
• Beast of Reincarnation (Cloud, XBOX Series X|S, Handheld, PC) – August 4

As usual, there will be a handful of games leaving the Game Pass library this month. Starting from July 31st, the following games will no longer be available:

• Back to the Dawn (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Celeste (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Crusader Kings 3 (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• My Friendly Neighborhood (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Rain World (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Sniper Elite Resistance (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Whiskerwood (PC)

KitGuru Says: Are you planning on installing any of the new Game Pass titles? Hell is Us has been on my radar for a while now so I'm looking forward to trying it. 

In recent years we have seen an influx of unofficial PC ports, bringing long console-exclusive titles like Mario Kart to the PC platform for the first time without emulation. Gears of War 2 is the latest game to get this treatment. 

While Microsoft has gone back and re-released Gears of War 1 on PC twice, the other titles from the original Xbox 360 trilogy remain console exclusive. That is now changing for Gears of War 2, with one developer taking a leaked 2008 Windows build of the game and polishing it up for release.

The developer, xHeliosx, has created a launcher for the unofficial Gears of War 2 PC port, known as Gears of War 2: Hollow. However, certain features, like multiplayer modes, are not guaranteed to work.

In order to get the game working, you will also need to obtain the game files from elsewhere, as the launcher available on ModDB does not include them due to copyright. Fortunately, you only need to head to the comment section of the ModDB post to be pointed in the right direction.

KitGuru Says: After bringing Gears of War 1 over to PC back in 2015, I thought Microsoft would make the effort to bring over the full trilogy. Unfortunately, that never happened, but at least now PC gamers have a way to experience the sequel, which also happens to be the best game in the entire series. 

In a surprise announcement last week, Bethesda Game Studios shared a lengthy post detailing their future, including confirmation that Fallout 5 is a real thing alongside official details on the long-rumoured Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters. As part of this, the team also offered updates on the sales performance for its RPGs, revealing that Starfield has amassed just two million more players over the course of the past year and a half.

As part of their recent post detailing the future of Fallout, The Elder Scrolls and Bethesda as a whole, the team at BGS also gave up-to-date sales figures for its past 3 titles, writing: “With over 65 million copies sold, players are still exploring Skyrim 15 years later.”

With regards to Fallout 4, BGS claimed that “Fallout 4, the most award-winning game in the franchise, just celebrated its 10-year anniversary and recently passed over 35 million copies sold, continuing to attract a new audience every year.”

Curiously, when it came to discussing Starfield, the verbiage used was quite different, writing: “With over 17 million players logging almost a billion hours to date, Starfield remains an important part of our future.”

As always, 17 million players does not equate to 17 million copies sold, especially given the fact that Starfield was a day-one Game Pass addition. Offering some further context, it appears as though interest in Starfield has dwindled, with this latest announcement marking an increase of just 2 million players compared to their last performance update back in late 2024.

Starfield was a pretty launch-heavy game, interest-wise, with the 2023 title amassing over 10 million players in its first month on the market. Given that nearly 3 years on from this, the total number of players has only increased to 17 million, it’s safe to assume that Bethesda’s first new IP in decades will not be able to match the scale of either Fallout or The Elder Scrolls.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you one of the 17 million players? What’s your opinion on Starfield in 2026? How many copies do you think have been sold? Let us know down below.

Back in 2024, Xbox made the shocking decision to pivot away from exclusive games and begin shipping new titles on PS5 and in some cases, Nintendo Switch as well. Now under new leadership, Xbox is pivoting back to exclusives, and Gears of War E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will just be the beginning.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, Xbox Chief Content Officer, Matt Booty, explained that “there has to be a reason for people to buy an Xbox”, adding that exclusives serve as “a reward” for players investing in the platform. To dispel any ideas that Microsoft is going to pivot to ‘timed exclusives' rather than true exclusive games, Xbox Chief Strategy Officer, Matthew Ball, explained that games like Gears of War E-Day and Clockwork Revolution will be “permanent” exclusives and Xbox has no plans to pivot from that.

As for why games like Fable and Halo Campaign Evolved are not part of this transition, Ball explained that those titles were already too far along in production to pivot. However, it certainly sounds like most, if not all future single-player Xbox games will now be exclusive to the platform again, except in rare cases where multiplatform makes sense.

It is also worth pointing out that Microsoft does still count PC as an Xbox platform. When discussing Xbox exclusives, PC is still included in the equation and those games are likely to continue landing on Steam, alongside other storefronts.

Xbox's Matthew Ball acknowledged that fans may be a bit confused by the strategy shift right now, but it will make its approach clearer over time.

KitGuru Says: Do you think moving back towards exclusive games is the right move for Xbox? At this point, I'm also expecting day-one games to eventually be dropped from the Game Pass offering due to its heavy impact on launch-day sales for many titles.

Following on from recent rumours, Bethesda has now confirmed that Obsidian Entertainment is working on a new Fallout game. Beyond that though, there are remasters on the way for both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas, and Bethesda is beginning pre-production on Fallout 5, moving up the timeline for the next mainline game significantly.

If Bethesda had been allowed to continue on its planned track, Fallout 5 work would not have begun properly until after the release of The Elder Scrolls 6 – a game that is still multiple years away from release. However, under new Xbox CEO, Asha Sharma, those plans have now changed. As part of an Xbox ‘reset' intended to funnel efforts towards their biggest IP, Bethesda now has a real roadmap in place for Fallout. We'll still have to wait quite a while for Fallout 5, but there are many other projects also in development that should release in the meantime.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bethesda's Todd Howard said “we could not be more excited to work with Obsidian again”, adding that the “timing is right” to bring Obsidian back into the fold. Whether or not you believe that largely depends on whether you believe the rumours that Obsidian had pitched new a new Fallout game since joining Xbox and was turned down.

As part of the newly shared roadmap, Bethesda has confirmed that Fallout 5 is in pre-production and will be built using the same Creation Engine 3 tools being used for The Elder Scrolls 6. Bethesda also has teams working on remasters for Fallout 3 and New Vegas, and Obsidian itself is now working on a new Fallout game as well. There are no release dates yet for any of these projects, but Bethesda did tease that it would be hosting a special Fallout Day event in Washington next year – the same setting as Fallout 3, so we anticipate an announcement happening then.

Zenimax Online Studios is also being refocused to work directly with Bethesda on future Elder Scrolls content, so ESO will continue to be supported, and they may end up helping out a bit on The Elder Scrolls 6 as well.

KitGuru Says: While layoffs are never a good thing, it does sound like Bethesda is going in the direction that fans have wanted for a long time. BGS should have transitioned into a true multi-game studio a long time ago, but better late than never.

Indie studio AdHoc has confirmed that its choice-based adventure game, Dispatch, will launch on Xbox consoles on July 29th. The superhero workplace comedy is currently available to wishlist on the Xbox Store ahead of its arrival on the platform.

Developed and published by a team of former Telltale Games veterans, the eight-episode title follows the story of Robert Robertson III. Players step into the shoes of a former superhero who takes a job as a dispatcher for villains-turned-superheroes after losing his signature mecha suit in battle.

The game, which initially debuted in 2025 on other platforms, features a renowned voice cast including Aaron Paul, Jeffrey Wright, Laura Bailey, Travis Willingham, Seán McLoughlin, Matthew Mercer, and Alanah Pearce.

In addition to the Xbox launch, AdHoc is also rolling out new localisation options, adding text support for LATAM Spanish, Turkish, Thai, Polish, and Ukrainian. These language updates arrived on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC on July 15th, and will be included in the upcoming Xbox release.

KitGuru says: Have you already played Dispatch, or have you been waiting for it to release on the Xbox?