Xbox is reported to be planning further layoffs, a Game Pass redesign and costly new hardware, EA Sports announced the return of Fight Night, AMD’s FSR 4.1 upscaling is heading to Xbox consoles and handhelds, Shrek 2 Remastered got a November date, and two firms launched a company to bring games to film and television.
Xbox reportedly plans three more rounds of layoffs and a Game Pass overhaul
Xbox is preparing three further rounds of job cuts, in October, November and January, according to people familiar with the plans of chief executive Asha Sharma, who said the timetable could still change. The cuts would complete a programme of about 3,200 job losses meant to return the division to profit, after more than 1,600 roles went in July and 268 in September, when Obsidian was moved under Bethesda and Rare and World’s Edge joined Activision.
The same people said Xbox is redesigning Game Pass so subscribers can pick features individually, such as console games, cloud play and multiplayer, within a tiered structure. They also said Xbox aims to release a next-generation handheld by the end of 2027 and its next console, codenamed Project Helix, by the 2028 holidays, with internal projections putting the console’s price between 1,200 and 1,800 dollars if memory costs stay high. Staff at The Coalition, maker of Gears of War: E-Day, fear they could be affected.
Xbox, formerly called Microsoft Gaming, was set up in 2022 to bring all of Microsoft’s games businesses into one division, and it grew after the purchase of Activision Blizzard in 2023 made Microsoft the third-largest games company by revenue. Its labels include Xbox Game Studios, Mojang, King, Bethesda and Blizzard, and it owns franchises such as Call of Duty, Minecraft, Halo and Candy Crush. Its workforce is put at about 14,000 people worldwide, and Sharma has led it since 2026.
EA Sports says its Fight Night boxing series is coming back after 15 years
EA Sports has announced that its Fight Night boxing series will return, 15 years after the last instalment, Fight Night Champion, came out in 2011. A newly created account for the series posted that Fight Night was coming back and thanked fans who had stayed in its corner. No platforms, release date or roster have been given. The five-game series sold more than 9.5 million copies around the world before the publisher stopped making it.
The announcement follows the 55 billion dollar takeover of Electronic Arts by a group including Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Turki Alalshikh, the Saudi official behind several of boxing’s largest recent events, including Canelo Álvarez against Terence Crawford and the coming bout between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, has invested heavily in the sport. The new game will compete with Undisputed, a boxing game from Steel City Interactive, whose makers say a sequel is in development.
Fight Night began in 2004 as the successor to Knockout Kings, a boxing series that EA released almost every year between 1998 and 2003 across several consoles. The games were well received by critics, with Fight Night Round 4 on PlayStation 3 earning a Metacritic score of 88 out of 100, and several entries topped sales charts. EA’s sports catalogue today also includes its football series EA Sports FC, Madden NFL and a series based on the UFC mixed martial arts promotion.
AMD brings FSR 4.1 upscaling to Xbox Series consoles and ROG Xbox Ally handhelds
AMD has announced that FSR 4.1, the latest version of its upscaling technology, will be available on Xbox Series X and Series S consoles and on the ROG Xbox Ally X and ROG Xbox Ally X20 handhelds. On the handhelds, it will arrive as a preview update on 23 October, which owners can install through the Armoury Crate SE app’s update centre. Because it is a preview release, it may still contain bugs or behave unpredictably, the companies said.
FSR draws games at a lower resolution and then uses machine learning to produce a sharper picture, freeing processing power to raise frame rates. On PC, the Adrenalin Edition 26.10.1 driver extends FSR 4.1 to Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards and to several Ryzen AI processor families, according to ASUS. AMD says more than 400 games support the feature, including 007 First Light, Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
The Xbox Series X and Series S went on sale in November 2020 as Microsoft’s fourth generation of consoles, alongside Sony’s PlayStation 5. Both run on AMD processors and graphics. The Series X was designed to render games at 4K and 60 frames per second, while the cheaper, disc-free Series S targets 1440p with upscaling to 4K. Microsoft is estimated to have sold more than 35 million of the consoles worldwide by February 2026.
Shrek 2 Remastered is set for November with a trailer styled on GTA 6
Aspyr has announced Shrek 2 Remastered for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and PC, unveiling it at an ID@Xbox showcase with a trailer that imitates the look of the Grand Theft Auto VI previews. Most accounts give a launch date of 10 November, while one lists the 11th. The game will cost 29.99 dollars, with a 10% pre-order discount on digital copies in the United States. It sits between a Zelda remake and GTA VI in the November schedule.
The remaster rebuilds the 2004 game with sharper textures, a new interface, 4K resolution and updated cutscenes, while keeping the original gameplay. Players can switch between characters such as Shrek, Fiona and Donkey, and up to four can play together locally, online or in a mix of both. New additions include a Photo Mode and a Cheats Menu. Levels include Shrek’s swamp and the kingdom of Far Far Away, and a fifth Shrek film is due in cinemas next year.
The original Shrek 2 game was an action-adventure released in 2004 by Activision to accompany the DreamWorks Animation film of the same name. Luxoflux developed it for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, while KnowWonder made the PC version, sold as Shrek 2: Team Action. Many players still regard it as one of the more competent film tie-ins of its time, and the remaster arrives more than 22 years after the original release.
Griffin Gaming Partners and Entertainment 360 launch a company to adapt games for the screen
Investment firm Griffin Gaming Partners and management and production company Entertainment 360 have launched HITpoint Entertainment to develop film and television adaptations of video games. The firms said the venture will combine Griffin’s ties with developers and publishers with Entertainment 360’s experience producing franchise projects, matching each game with suitable writers, directors, actors and studios while keeping its creators involved from early development through production. It plans to adapt both major franchises and independent titles.
Griffin co-founder Peter Levin, a key investor in Amazon’s Fallout series, said adapting games successfully requires understanding the creativity of the people who make them, and described the venture as a resource for Griffin’s more than 100 portfolio companies. Independent projects could come through Griffin’s 100 million dollar fund for indie games, led by Hooded Horse chief executive Tim Bender, which has backed 15 titles and six unannounced projects. Entertainment 360 clients are working on the live-action Legend of Zelda film.
Critics have counted Fallout among the strongest adaptations of a video game so far. Based on the role-playing franchise created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the Prime Video series premiered in April 2024, with Bethesda Game Studios involved in production and Jonathan Nolan directing its first episodes. Critics welcomed its faithfulness to the source material, and it has received Emmy nominations, including for outstanding drama series, and been renewed for a third season.