Microsoft has announced a new lineup of Xbox consoles, including an all-digital white Xbox Series X with a 1TB SSD, priced at $450. The company is also retiring the Carbon Black Series S, replacing it with a white version featuring a 1TB SSD and a $350 price point. Additionally, a new Xbox Series X with a disc drive and 2TB of storage will launch for $600. The move comes as Microsoft continues to focus on digital gaming and subscription services like Game Pass, with reports suggesting that the PS5 is outselling Xbox Series consoles 2:1. The shift has led to minimal physical Xbox game sections in stores and some first-party titles, like Hellblade 2, not receiving physical releases. Despite rumors of a multiplatform approach, Microsoft maintains its commitment to its own gaming machines, promising a new "next-gen" console in the future, potentially utilizing generative-AI technology. Further reading: Upcoming Games Include More Xbox Sequels - and a Medieval 'Doom'.

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Announced during Microsoft's Xbox Games Showcase, Doom: The Dark Ages is id Software's next foray back into hell. [Also available for PS5 and PC.] Doom: The Dark Ages is a medieval spin on the Doom franchise, taking the Doom Slayer back to the beginning. It's coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, sometime in 2025. Microsoft's first trailer for Doom: The Dark Ages shows the frenetic, precision gameplay we've come to expect from the franchise — there's a lot of blasting and shooting and a chainsaw. Oh, and the Doom Slayer can ride a dragon? "Before he became a hero he was the super weapon of gods and kings," says the trailer (which showcases the game's crazy-good graphics...) The 2020 game Doom Eternal sold 3 million copies in its first month, according to Polygon, with its game director telling the site in 2021 that "our hero is somewhat timeless — I mean, literally, he's immortal. So we could tell all kinds of stories..." Other upcoming Xbox games were revealed too. Engadget is excited about the reboot of the first-person shooter Perfect Dark (first released in 2000, but now set in the near future). There's also Gears of War: E-Day, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, State of Decay 3, and Assassin's Creed Shadows, according to Xbox.com — plus "the announcement of three new Xbox Series X|S console options." [Engadget notes it's the first time Microsoft has offered a cheaper all-digital Xbox Series X with no disc drive.] "And on top of all that, we also brought the gameplay reveal of a brand-new Call of Duty game with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6." Meanwhile, Friday's Summer Game Fest 2024 featured Star Wars Outlaws footage (which according to GamesRadar takes place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, featuring not just card games with Lando Calrissian but also Jabba the Hutt and a frozen Han Solo.) Engadget covered all the announcements from Game Fest, including the upcoming game Mixtape, which Engadget calls a "reality-bending adventure" with "a killer '80s soundtrack" about three cusp-of-adulthood teenagers who "Skate. Party. Avoid the law. Make out. Sneak out. Hang out..." for Xbox/PS5/PC.

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Microsoft organise une conférence importante le dimanche 9 juin, dans une période qui aurait été autrefois l’E3. Des grosses annonces sont attendues du côté de la multinationale.

Avec sa réalisation d'orfèvre qui montre enfin ce que la Xbox Series X a dans le ventre, Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 immerge dans un univers viscéral et oppressant. Néanmoins, il agace aussi par ses combats inintéressants. Un tel habillage mériterait un gameplay bien meilleur.

La base que Phil Spencer, patron de Xbox, a construite dans Fallout 76 a été détruite. Mais il ne s'agit pas d'un acte politique pour protester contre les récentes décisions de Microsoft.

During a Bloomberg event today, Xbox president Sarah Bond said the company plans to launch a mobile gaming store to rival Apple and Google. "According to Bond, the as-yet-unnamed store will launch in July on web browsers, rather than a designated app, with Microsoft's recently-acquired Candy Crush Saga serving as a day-one tentpole franchise," reports GeekWire. From the report: Microsoft's entry into the mobile gaming market -- the most lucrative arm of the games industry -- has been anticipated, particularly since the company's recent $69 billion acquisition of California-based mega-developer Activision Blizzard King. In November, Xbox head Phil Spencer that the company was "talking to other partners" to potentially launch a mobile store. The move sets the stage for a new competition between Microsoft and both Google and Apple, since most mobile games are sold and downloaded through their respective app stores. Bond told Bloomberg that the new Microsoft mobile store "goes truly across devices -- where who you are, your library, your identity, your rewards travel with you versus being locked to a single ecosystem."

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Wesley Yin-Poole, reporting for IGN: Microsoft has closed a number of Bethesda studios, including Redfall maker Arkane Austin, Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, and more in devastating cuts at Bethesda, IGN can confirm. Alpha Dog Studios, maker of mobile game Mighty Doom, will also close. Roundhouse Games will be absorbed by The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios. On Redfall, the disastrous vampire co-op game will now not receive promised updates as Microsoft has ended all development on the game. Microsoft said Redfall will remain online to play, and it will provide a "make-good" offer for those who bought the Hero DLC. In an email to staff sent by Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft blamed the cuts on a "reprioritization of titles and resources."

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In its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Microsoft reported a 30% drop in Xbox console sales, after reporting a 30% drop last April. "It blamed the nosedive on a 'lower volume of consoles sold' during the start of 2024," reports Kotaku. From the report: In February, Grand Theft Auto VI parent company Take-Two claimed in a presentation to investors that there were roughly 77 million "gen 9" consoles in people's homes. It didn't take fans long to do the math and speculate that Microsoft had only sold around 25 million Xbox Series X/S consoles to-date. That puts it ahead of the GameCube but behind the Nintendo 64, at least for now. Given the results this quarter as well, it doesn't seem like Game Pass and Starfield have moved the needle much. Maybe that will change once Call of Duty, which Microsoft acquired last fall along with the rest of Activision Blizzard, finally makes its way to Game Pass. Diablo IV only just arrived on the Netflix-like subscription platform this month. But given the fact that the fate of Xbox Series X/S appears to be locked in at this point, it's easy to see why Microsoft is looking at other places it can put its games. Sea of Thieves, the last of four games in this initial volley to come to PS5, dominated the PlayStation Store's top sellers list last week on pre-orders alone. CEO Satya Nadella specifically called this out during a call with investors, noting that Microsoft had more games in the top 25 best sellers on PS5 than any other publisher. "We are committed to meeting players where they are by bringing great games to more people on more devices," he said. If players there continue to flock to the live-service pirate sim, it's not hard to imagine Microsoft bringing another batch of its first-party exclusives to the rival platform. Whether that means more recent blockbusters like Starfield or the upcoming Indiana Jones game will someday make the journey remains to be seen.

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Depuis plusieurs années, la rumeur d'un casque Xbox VR circule. Microsoft, comme Sony, va-t-il se mettre aux jeux immersifs ? L'entreprise va bel et bien lancer un casque de réalité virtuelle, mais avec des ambitions très différentes.