Kicking off the new year, OpenAI unveiled their monumental $500 billion Stargate initiative, aiming to establish data centers nationwide for their AI progress. This announcement sent shockwaves through the tech sphere, with leaders like Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff speculating that Microsoft might steer clear of OpenAI’s technology in the future.
In light of shifting industry trends, we are making some tough decisions. This includes discontinuing the development of Perfect Dark and Everwild, wrapping up several unannounced projects, and ultimately shutting down The Initiative studio. These moves, along with other changes within our teams, aim to realign priorities and maximize resources for future success. Please understand that every project and team involved has been a result of dedicated years of work, creativity, and dedication.
Among the upgrades unveiled for Copilot Wave 2, elements like Copilot Notebooks were included. Some of these new functionalities from this update cycle commenced deployment during Build 2025. Others, which were previously under testing, have either been released or are being progressively rolled out in the coming days.
Over the years, Rare has played an integral role in shaping my personal gaming journey, dating back to my childhood where it introduced me to captivating titles such as Donkey Kong Country, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Banjo-Kazooie, and many more that left a lasting impact.
It can’t be made any better: this is a disappointing day for Xbox fans, as these layoffs come at a time when the game industry has been cutting back harshly for years. This news dampens the enthusiasm generated by Microsoft’s gaming brand, which had recently gained momentum from the Xbox Games Showcase and the announcement of the Xbox Ally handheld devices.
As an analyst, I’m reporting that Microsoft has announced a significant round of layoffs impacting approximately 4% of its global workforce across all divisions. Regrettably, the Xbox division appears to be bearing a substantial brunt of these cuts, with employees from various departments receiving termination notices today. Among those affected is the Xbox studio The Initiative, which unfortunately is being shut down.
Although there’s been much speculation about potential cuts in Microsoft’s hardware division, it appears that the upcoming Xbox hardware line, including a possible successor to the Xbox Series X with potential Steam compatibility, has remained largely untouched by these changes. This recent round of layoffs doesn’t seem to have affected their next-gen Xbox hardware plans.
In its most recent update, PowerToys has been bumped up to version 0.92. This update enhances the speed of the Command Palette, introduces fresh customization possibilities for the Color Picker, and boosts the quality of File Explorer extensions’ display.
According to reports from Windows Central, there have been reductions in ZeniMax Media’s marketing staff in both London, UK and Rockville, MD, USA. However, the extent of these cuts is currently unknown. Additionally, it’s expected that layoffs may occur within certain U.S. teams associated with Xbox, with further information to be revealed soon.
Since 2020, Apple’s introduction of Apple Silicon has significantly raised the bar for the entire PC industry in terms of chip design. To this day, Apple frequently outperforms its competitors in terms of silicon performance and energy efficiency.