Xbox is in a rough shape as we learned this week that some promising upcoming titles have been cancelled. And while I wish that was it, some exciting projects in development from Polish studios have been canned as well. Plus, we got an update on some upcoming Ubisoft titles. So, sit back and let me talk you through the biggest gaming news of the week. And by the way, Jordan is currently out of office, so I’ll be stepping in this week to take over the Sunday video. And let’s start by talking about Xbox because there is a ton of news to go over. On Wednesday this week, the news broke that Microsoft has been hit by a ton of layoffs as over 9,000 employees are being let go from the company. To be clear, Microsoft is of course a much bigger company than just Xbox and not all of these employees work at Microsoft gaming division. However, as we would find out not much later, these layoffs have a huge impact on Xbox’s upcoming lineup of games with the future of many titles now looking uncertain at best and bleak at the very worst. So, let’s rip the band-aid off straight away. The biggest news that comes as a result of these layoffs is the cancellation of the Perfect Dark reboot and the closure of the developing studio, The Initiative. The studio was founded in 2018 and as far as I can tell, had been working on Perfect Dark for its entire existence. The reboot was already revealed in 2020, but it wasn’t until 2024 that we received our first glimpse at what gameplay would look like, or well, what The Initiative had wanted the game to look like. as we now learned that the game was in a rougher shape than that that trailer implied. But even still, a Deos X meets James Bond style of game has a ton of potential. And the initiative also brought in a ton of talent from renowned studios across the industry. In fact, Insomniac’s Brian Horton, previously creative director on the Wolverine game, became creative director for the initiative in October last year, which makes the game being cancelled even weirder. Like you don’t hire a creative director of that caliber if you plan to can a project a little over half a year later. But it doesn’t stop there as the fantasy title Ever Wild that was in development at Rare has also been cancelled. Like Perfect Dark, this title had been in development for a long time as the reveal trailer was released in November 2019. According to VGC, studio veteran Greg Males, responsible for directing Banjo Kasoui and Sea of Thieves, has also decided to leave the company as a result of these developments. And the third major title that we know of that got cancelled was the upcoming project Blackbird. As reported by Windows Central, this was an upcoming MMO RPG in development at Zenamax Online, who also made the Elder Scrolls Online. And just like with Rare’s Greg Males, studio boss Matt Fer is stepping down after 18 years of leading the company after receiving the news. So yeah, this has been a bloodbath. There’s really no other way to put it with three promising titles being cancelled and one studio shutting down on top of layoffs at studios like Bethesda, Blizzard, and many more. And it stings even more because it’s not just a single incident. It’s a symptom of a pattern that has been going on for a while now. Microsoft’s gaming division is losing trust both from the public due to them not living up to their promises and clearly from employees as important deafs who have been at their studios for decades decide that now is the time to jump ship. It’s disheartening to see, especially since Phil Spencer notes in an internal email that these changes come at a time when we have more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before. Obviously, I don’t have the numbers to verify that claim, but it feels surreal to make these kinds of decisions while you’re reportedly at your peak. And while I’d love to stop talking about game cancellations, we unfortunately have some more to go over. I do hope you enjoy the video so far. And if you do, be sure to leave a like and subscribe as we do one of these news roundups on every Sunday. Now, let’s move on to quick shots where I quickly want to go over some important news. We received an update on the next entry in the Ghost Recon franchise this week, which goes by the code name Over. Insider Gaming reports that according to their sources, the game will be going into its internal alpha later this year. They also indicate that the time it takes from alpha to release is projected to be about 12 months, meaning that if the alpha starts somewhere later this year, the projected release window is fall 2026 at the earliest, which lines up with earlier reports from Insider Gaming, which noted that Ubisoft has delayed its significant IPs to improve game quality. In that article, a quote from the financial report reads that Ubisoft expects that financial year 2026 2027 and financial year 2027 20228 will see significant growth with the new Ghost Recon title likely being part of the push that will cause this growth. We don’t have any concrete details on the title yet, but early leaks report a return to the firsterson perspective while retaining the focus on squad-based combat. It’s also more Millsiml like in its approach to both gameplay and style, taking inspirations from titles like Ready or Not, Squad, and the Modern Warfare series. I’m personally pretty excited to see what that would look like, but with no knowledge of when a potential reveal would take place. We’ll just have to be patient for now. Up next, Naughty Dog Neil Drugman is putting a hold on his creative involvement with The Last of Us HBO show. He released a statement on X, noting that with work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects. And while we know there are multiple single player projects in development, the biggest one right now is, of course, Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit. Dugman is the creative director and one of the writers on this project. So, it’s good to know that the game will have his full attention as it heads into the final years of development. And yes, I say years because reliable source and industry insider Jason Shrier said in March of this year that he does not expect Intergalactic to come out in 2026, which means a 2027 release date if he’s right since Naughty Dog has been working on the game since 2020. So I don’t see them pushing it any later. As for The Last of Us Show, that will continue with Craig Mason as the sole writer. And as Neil said, no meaningful work has been done on the next season yet. So it will likely take a while before we see that air. And bad news for loser shooter fans as we also learned this week that Outr Rididers 2 has been cancelled. Okay, to be fair, technically speaking, we already knew about this as the cancellation of Project Gemini was announced at the start of June, but we did not know what that game was. But now, thanks to reports from news websites Thump Wars and Insider Gaming, we have confirmation that Project Gemini was indeed the working title for Outr Rididers 2. His other gaming even received footage of the title under embargo which shows that the game wasn’t in a stage deemed nearly finished which some other outlets did report while also stating that it was in its motion capture stage of development earlier this year. Now what I find interesting is that when the cancellation was originally reported one of the main problems according to People Can Fly was a lack of communication from the publisher which is referring to Square Enix. the same Square Enix who noted the IP was on track to become the company’s next major franchise back in 2021. And while People Can Fly has been struggling for a while, you usually see studios gravitate towards ideas with a high chance of success, like a sequel for a relatively well-received and sold game. But yeah, that’s obviously not happening anymore, which is a damn shame because I think Outr Rider showed a ton of potential that could have been realized with a sequel. As for the future of the studio, People Can Fly is still currently working on other projects like the survival game Lost Rift and the co-development of the Gears of War prequel Eay. And unfortunately, the cancellations just keep coming as we also learned that Dying Light developer Techland has canled two upcoming projects. The news was again revealed by Insider Gaming, who stated that Techland sent out a press release which revealed that two games had been cancelled, but resources had been moved to a yet to be announced project. The article also confirms that one of the two cancelled projects is Project Cornerstone, Techlon’s previously announced fantasy title. While we only have this artwork to go off, the game was initially revealed in 2022 as a AAA openw world action RPG in a fantasy setting with the announcement including the news that some prior CDPR staff had joined the team to work on the game. Insider Gaming also says that while it was a fantasy setting, Star Wars was a heavy inspiration because players would be able to use the force to move objects and also possess other abilities such as the ability to stop time. So yeah, this sucks. I was really looking forward to what the studio behind Dying Light would do in the fantasy setting, but that is not happening anymore. It’s currently unknown what the second cancelled project is or what new projects these themes have been moved to. Insider Gaming mentions that a new Call of Wars title is currently in development. So that is an option. But we also know the studio is working on multiple Dying Alive projects that will release after the beast which is coming out on August 22nd. One silver lining though is that Techland has confirmed this move did not result in any layoffs as all developers have simply been moved to a different project. Now, let’s do a quick rumor roundup where we give stars as to how likely a rumor is to be true, with three being, I believe this, and one being not very likely. There’s once again talk of an Assassin’s Creed Black Flag remake. And the source really matters here, as the news stems from a quote by Matt Ryan, the actor behind Edward Kenway. Talking to a fan at a convention, Ryan says that he may have to beat it again. It of course referring to Black Flag. He then follows up by saying, “There’s a reason I say that, but I can’t say anything.” And you don’t need to say anything, sir. That little head tilt is saying more than enough. But yeah, the exciting part here is, of course, that it implies the involvement of Matt Ryan, as I don’t think he would know about the project if he wasn’t doing work on it. And yeah, with how many clues we have that point towards the existence of a Black Flag remake, I’m going to rate this one three stars. It barely feels like a rumor at this point. We just need the official confirmation from Ubisoft. This coming week sees the release of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 and 4 remake on Friday. And you can also look forward to Jordan discussing all the weekly news in his liveream as there’s still some stuff I didn’t go over here. Of course, at the end of the week, you can expect another one of these weekly news roundups. So, subscribe to not miss it. Leave a like if you enjoyed this one, and you can watch the previous Sunday vid by clicking on the screen. I’ll see you in the next one. Goodbye.