Call of Duty has crossed $40 billion in lifetime franchise revenue, according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma. She shared the milestone on X on October 26, a few days after Modern Warfare 4's full launch on October 23, calling it one of the most celebrated games in the series' history and thanking both the Activision team and the players. The series debuted in 2003 and has seen a new entry almost every year since, along with Warzone and mobile spin-offs, so that figure covers a lot of ground. PC Gamer's math puts it at a staggering $4,762,472 a day, which is hard to wrap your head around. It's also worth remembering that this is revenue, not profit, and Activision doesn't disclose development or marketing budgets for its games.

Sharma, however, didn't say how Modern Warfare 4 is selling, or whether it was the game that pushed the franchise over the line. Early signs have been good, at least on PC. The game picked up a 90% positive Steam rating during campaign early access, a far cry from the reception Black Ops 7 got, and even climbed the Steam Top's Sellers list rapidly. Activision has also called it the conclusion of the current Modern Warfare series, with a new sub-franchise set to follow. For some context, Microsoft paid $68.7 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard back in 2023, though only some of that $40 billion would have come in under Microsoft's ownership.

It was recently revealed that Microsoft is planning a massive round of layoffs at its Xbox Gaming division, with several studios allegedly already on the brink of closure shortly after the news of layoffs broke. Now, according to Wccftech, who attended a virtual press conference by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), over 3,500 unionized Xbox employees are preparing to fight back against the rumored layoffs. Right off the bat, Frank Arce, vice president of CWA District 9, kicked things off by declaring that workers at Xbox, unionized or not, "will not be treated as disposable," with developers and former developers from ZeniMax Online, Activision-Blizzard, and Arkane Austin contributing their experiences and hardships in the gaming industry, with everyone in agreement that Xbox employees needed protections against layoffs, including advanced notice, hiring freezes to allow former employees an opportunity of internal transfers, and strong severance packages where layoffs are necessary.

The union will wait until Microsoft announces the Xbox layoffs before calling Microsoft to the negotiations table—although there have apparently already been hushed internal discussions about the future of the aforementioned studios facing closure. Members who spoke at the meeting were adamant that Xbox workers needed certainty, with Blizzard editor, Alison Veneto, saying that "Everyone at Xbox deserves long-term certainty on where they stand should layoffs happen," and others emphasizing the importance of knowing that, in the event that layoffs are necessary, every other avenue has already been exhausted. CWA higher-ups spoke on the discrepancy between Microsoft's announced intentions and its actions, such as lamenting recent AI-inflicted RAM price hikes when announcing the Xbox Series X|S price increases while simultaneously pouring money into AI investment.

For the last few weeks, Blizzard has been going big. Blizzard Showcase brought together the four key titles—Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Hearthstone—and gave the space to bring their updates, announcements (and some surprises!) in their own ways. It's all a part of the road to BlizzCon 2026: the year of Blizzard's 35th anniversary, not to mention the 30th anniversary of Diablo, and the 10th anniversary of Overwatch. This is the perfect space in time to look back at the universes that have brought us together and look forward to the future.

For Blizzard President, Johanna Faries—speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast—the Showcase has been a combination of careful planning and happy serendipity: "We've been really thoughtful about (giving) our players what they're hoping for, and hopefully delight them and surprise them in some big ways. I think those have landed. And we'll just continue to sort of prime what we hope to be a very, very big year as we continue on here in 2026."

Blizzard Entertainment's ongoing early 2026 showcase—and 35th anniversary celebration—has not produced many big surprises, although Overwatch 2's recent absorption into the larger/overall "Overwatch" brand has raised an eyebrow or three. Looking further ahead, new IP announcements could be made during September's BlizzCon 2026 event. Naturally, the North American company's dormant StarCraft franchise will be the topic of renewed online speculation. A 2017 remaster of Blizzard Entertainment's original title (1998) was not deemed substantial or good enough for a lot of the sci-fi RTS IP's fan base. The final tranche of StarCraft II DLC arrived back in late 2016; as the "Nova Covert Ops" single-player mission pack. According to a dnews report from a week ago, Blizzard and Nexon are co-operating on a "reimagination" of StarCraft as a "shooter experience." The South Korean news publication believes that "full-scale development" has commenced on a "new game utilizing the StarCraft IP (intellectual property)."

Going into further inside track detail, Nexon has allegedly completed preliminary preparations (aka a pre-production phase) in the recent past. According to an unnamed industry insider, a content development agreement was given the thumbs up by Blizzard leadership, last year. This "cooperation contract" could lead to the creation of—as phrased by the dnews article—a "megaton project capable of shaking the global gaming market." Nexon has reportedly assigned this highly important undertaking to their internal "Shooter Division" studio. Arc Raiders (2025) is a notable hit for the South Korean/Japanese video game developer and publisher, although Sweden's Embark Studios was responsible for the development of this popular PvPvE extraction shooter.

We're kicking off 2026 with the Blizzard Showcase, a series of developer-led spotlights featuring big announcements, sneak peeks, and teases across our universes. As we look toward the future, this event celebrates the artists, makers, and visionaries behind our games, and our players who bring them to life, as we celebrate 35 years of community and craft.

Mark your calendars and catch each presentation live, or view on demand once concluded. We can't wait to share what we've been working on…and with BlizzCon 2026 on the horizon, this is only the beginning.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Season 01 kicks off with a bang: remastered classics like Nuketown 2025 and Standoff, new maps like Fate, Utopia, and Odysseus, and a wild holiday variant, Sleighjacked. Multiplayer fans get a buffet of modes—Prop Hunt, Sticks and Stones, One in the Chamber, Sharpshooter, and Gun Game—each tuned for maximum chaos and competition. Endgame received colossal new World Events. And for Zombies fans? The new Astra Malorum Map and Survival Map: Exit 115 are waiting, with new enemies (hello, O.S.C.A.R.), The Mule Kick Perk-a-Cola, and a new Wonder Weapon to discover.

AMD FSR: Ready to Run
Season 01 is the first to launch with AMD's FSR Redstone features. What does that mean for players? In short: smoother performance, sharper visuals, and a more immersive experience—no matter how intense the firefight gets. FSR is built on machine learning, delivering next-gen upscaling, frame generation, and ray regeneration. Whether you're pushing for 240 Hz on a Radeon RX 9000 series card or just want your game to look and feel incredible at any frame rate, Redstone has you covered

A message from the Call of Duty team: first off, thank you for all for the feedback we have received over the last few months. Call of Duty has enjoyed long-standing success because of all of you, a passionate community that demands excellence and deserves nothing less. We also know that for some of you, the Franchise has not met your expectations fully. To be very clear, we know what you expect and rest assured we will deliver, and overdeliver, on those expectations as we move forward.

With respect to Black Ops 7, we set our sights to deliver a spiritual successor to Black Ops 2 and the studios have poured their passion into making a great game that all of us are very proud of. But it's one thing for us to say it, more importantly it's up to you to try it and judge for yourselves. So as it relates to Black Ops 7 and the future of Call of Duty, here are a few important notes.

As part of the 30th anniversary celebration for Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. is collaborating to bring "Operation Meteor" to Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.'s cross-platform and free-to-play team-based action game Overwatch 2. The iconic Mobile Suits—Wing Gundam Zero (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz), Gundam Epyon (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing), Gundam Deathscythe Hell (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz) and Tallgeese (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)—come to life as Legendary skins for Mercy, Ramattra, Reaper, and Soldier: 76, respectively. The renowned art team at Blizzard Entertainment worked closely with Bandai Namco Entertainment to ensure the perfect blend of Mobile Suits from Gundam Wing meshed with Overwatch 2 heroes. These new Legendary skins are now available to purchase in-game on every platform Overwatch 2 is available on: Windows PC via Battle.net, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch consoles.

An optimistic vision of near-future Earth, Overwatch 2 is about a world worth fighting for, where super soldiers, scientists, cyborgs, and omnics clash for control of real-world-inspired locations from around the globe. Overwatch 2's 43 unique heroes—each armed with potent abilities and weaponry—battle across a variety of lively maps and locales, where players must work together and adapt to a variety of unique situations.

Hi everyone—I have some big news to share, so I'll cut right to the chase: we have hired a new CEO to lead Discord through our next chapter of growth and someday becoming a public company. I am thrilled to share that Humam Sakhnini will take on this role, and I will continue as a member of our Board of Directors and Advisor to the CEO. Read on for the details. Building Discord has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. From the very beginning, our mission has been about bringing people together around games. It's a mission I've dedicated my career to, and seeing it come to life through all of you and the impact we've made together has been nothing short of extraordinary. I've learned more than I ever imagined I would, and I'm deeply grateful for so many friendships, challenges, and achievements along the way.

As we enter our next phase, I've been reflecting on how I can best contribute to Discord's long-term success. The job of a CEO is constantly evolving, and over the years I have continuously "hired myself out of a job." Usually that means delegating work and then taking on different leadership challenges. However, as I look at what is needed of Discord's CEO over the next few years, I realize that it's time for me to literally "hire myself out of a job." One thing I know for sure: our company is bigger than any one person. Its future depends not just on me, but on a strong leadership team, a clear vision for what comes next, and all of your incredible talent, care, and hard work. Today's Discord has all of that. It's by far the best version of the company we've ever had. We have a clear strategy, new business lines to grow into, love and passion from our users, and an incredible team of people working tirelessly to deliver for them.

Get ready to explore the Deep South. South of Midnight, the action-adventure game from Compulsion Games, launches today on GeForce NOW. Following last week's launch of Advanced Access in the cloud, GeForce NOW members can now pick up where they left off or dive into the adventure for the first time. It leads six games available in the cloud this week. Plus, catch the newest update from Epic Games' Fortnite and miHoYo's Honkai: Star Rail v3.2, just in time to celebrate the game's second anniversary.

Unleash the Magic
South of Midnight, a captivating third-person action-adventure game, is set against the backdrop of a Gothic fantasy version of the American Deep South. Step into the shoes of Hazel, a young woman who embarks on a journey to find her missing mother and discovers her unique abilities as a Weaver—a magical individual who can mend broken bonds and spirits. Throughout her quest, Hazel encounters intriguing mythical creatures inspired by Southern folklore, explores surreal landscapes and unravels deep family secrets.

We're back with more day one games for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, more games for Game Pass Standard, and more games for Game Pass Core! There is a little bit of everything, including co-op battles, classic console games, survival action and more. Let's get to the games!

Available Today: 33 Immortals (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)
Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass
Available on day one! 33 Immortals is a co-op action-roguelike for 33 players. Play as a damned soul, and rebel against God's final judgment. Dive straight into epic, 33-player co-op battles with instant "pick-up and raid" matchmaking. Cooperate with your allies to survive against hordes of monsters and massive, challenging bosses. Expand your arsenal and equip powerful new relics to permanently upgrade your soul.

BlizzCon is back! The ultimate celebration of our games and the community that unites us is returning to the Anaheim Convention Center Saturday, September 12, and Sunday, September 13, in 2026. One of our favorite traditions, BlizzCon brings us together over our shared passion for Blizzard's universes, but at its heart, BlizzCon has always been about so much more. It's about you, the communities you are a part of, and gives us the chance to connect, build friendships, and create unforgettable memories together.

We've come a long way since our first event in 2005. Over the past nearly 20 years since its inception, BlizzCon has inspired us to innovate, push the boundaries of creativity, and deliver once-in-a-lifetime moments. It's important that we put on an event worthy of our community. For 2026, alongside BlizzCon staples like Opening Ceremony, in-depth panels, the Darkmoon Faire, friendly competition, hands-on gameplay, and more, we aim to meaningfully elevate this iconic celebration and create an unforgettable experience for all who take part in it. We are building this event just like we build our games: with a deep commitment to our players, with respect for your connections to our universes, and as a celebration of the strength of the bonds formed through shared adventure.

The Birdman returns on July 11—Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 is back. Launching on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Battle.net, Windows PC, Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, and available day one with Game Pass, THPS 3+4 is at once a faithful remake of the original classic skateboarding games, but expands on the experience with new parks, skaters, and music, as well as cross-platform multiplayer, new creation tools, a New Game+ mode, and more. Rebuilt from the ground up, THPS 3+4 will include parks from the original games as well as new locations (more on that later), plus a Career Mode that includes the original tours from both. Playing with friends? Cross-platform multiplayer supports up to 8 skaters at one time, meaning you'll have plenty of competition.

Multiple new skaters are joining the original line-up, and you'll also be able to create your own skater, not only customizing their appearance, but their hometown, skating style, and more. And of course, no Tony Hawk game would be complete without music, and you'll be skating along to tracks from the original soundtrack, as well as new tracks. THPS 3+4 builds on the work started by Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, bringing the easy-to-learn, hard-to-master controls and handling you'd expect - and for those taking on the series for the first time, an in-depth tutorial from Tony Hawk himself will walk you through exactly how to play.

As we gear up for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025, we couldn't be more excited to meet up with our friends and colleagues in the industry and explore the many incredible new opportunities that await. This year, GDC takes place from March 17-21 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. We'll host partner meetings, participate in conference sessions, and sponsor events like the IGF Awards and the ESA Foundation's Nite to Unite. Attendees that come by the Xbox Lounge in Moscone South will have a chance to see the latest Xbox experience on PC, join a Q&A with an Xbox development expert, and learn about the opportunities and benefits of building with Xbox across PC, Cloud and Console.

Xbox is expanding to any screen on any device, making it easier for anyone to play with the friends they want - whether they choose to play with Xbox console, PC, Smart TV or mobile. At GDC, we're inviting game developers to go behind the scenes to better understand what it means for Xbox to be playable on any screen. We're committed to empowering game developers to tap into that opportunity by building cross-capable games that take advantage of Xbox across devices. Our presence will reveal the many ways game developers can reach more players with Xbox and showcase success stories of developers who are maximizing the opportunity.

Microsoft's gaming division faced an uncertain future back in 2021, according to an article published by The Information mid-week. The long-form piece mainly focuses on Xbox's current predicaments, but the wider gaming press picked up on surprising allegations from days past. The story goes that Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO's, presided over two paths: either keep Xbox Game Studios going, or mothball the whole operation. History shows us that he kept his company's gaming department alive—a series of acquisitions (during and since 2021) have expanded development and publishing operations—but Xbox's journey has been rocky in the ensuing years. Investors and industry analysts believe that Microsoft's $68.7 billion takeover of Activision/Blizzard/King—back in 2023—has not boosted overall revenues to expected levels.

Insider Gaming has managed to make contact with a Microsoft spokesperson—extracted comments have been published in an "exclusive" report. The brand ambassador insisted that Nadella remains resolute about his company being "all in on gaming"—the CEO never entertained the notion of Microsoft winding down "its games business entirely." Industry experts have also criticized Xbox's Game Pass business model—many believe that the service's reach has faltered. The spokesperson commented on these opinions—proposing that engagement on Xbox platforms is "at an all-time high," helped in part by the recent launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Additionally, Microsoft believes that its audience count is in a healthy spot, with: "well over 500 million monthly players and over the last year, we've seen consistent growth in monthly users on cloud".

Diablo IV received some severe backlash over microtransactions when it launched back in 2023, with some bundles even costing more than the $69.99 base game. It appears, however, that its microtransaction-laden monetization strategy has paid off, according to an accidental leak on LinkedIn from senior product manager, Harrison Froeschke.

According to the now-deleted LinkedIn profile update, Diablo IV has managed to generate a total of $1 billion in total revenue since it launched, with $150 million of that coming from microtransactions and in-game purchases. Perhaps more interestingly, though, is the fact that this is unusually low for an Activision-Blizzard game.

In a statement shared with Call Of Duty news website Charlie Intel, Activision confirms that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be sticking with a single global launch around October 25, 2024, with no early access benefits. As a result, players who are eager to try out what the Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 narrative campaign's complex storytelling has in-store for us, will have to wait until its official release. Activision are going to be focusing on a massive global launch for all game modes on October 25.

Unlike Black Ops 6, previously released Call Of Duty titles granted early access to the campaign mode for players who pre-order the title, with access to multiplayer matches for everyone during the official launch of the game.

Today (on March 26), wanderers can conquer the horrors of Hell with a suite of new graphical enhancements available to them with patch 1.3.5. Arriving alongside our next content update, Sanctuary will be further imbued with the luscious shadows and enhanced reflections of ray tracing, plus other visual enhancements.

BASK IN THE GLOW OF NVIDIA GeForce
Players using GeForce RTX 40 Series can max out their ray tracing settings and frame rates with NVIDIA DLSS 3 Frame Generation, while other GeForce RTX users can accelerate performance with DLSS 2's Super Resolution technology. With a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU, you can multiply performance by up to 3X thanks to DLSS 3. NVIDIA Reflex is a game-changer, reducing system latency on GeForce graphics cards and laptops. Pinpoint accuracy and timing are key to overcoming Diablo IV's most difficult fights; NVIDIA Reflex reduces system latency, making gameplay smooth and more responsive, delivering the reaction time needed in critical moments. The newest GeForce Game Ready Driver delivers the optimum experience with ray tracing, available now for download.

This "coming soon" announcement we're going to many different places with Game Pass, including the Old West, the open road, the other roads meant for toy themed cars, and even going to hell. That's just a small taste of where Game Pass is taking us, so let's dive in!

Available Today
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S)—Available on day one with Game Pass: Start your interstellar homestead in this peaceful open-world farming adventure! Build your sustainable exofarm, grow alien crops, customize your mech, and explore a new world full of mystery with up to three friends!

MLB The Show 24 (Cloud and Console) —Available on day one with Game Pass: Swing for the fences, experience game-deciding moments, become a legend and live out your baseball dreams in MLB The Show 24.

As part of our effort to make Battle.net more welcoming to more players, we routinely review which currencies we support and what new ones we should add. This can make submitting payments less difficult and may help reduce or eliminate fees you pay to your card issuer for foreign currency transactions. Subscriptions for Argentinian players will be canceled and not automatically renewed to avoid enrolling players into subscriptions that may see a price increase in Argentina after this currency update.

The new currencies we're rolling out include: United Arab Emirates dirham (AED), Colombian peso (COP), Costa Rican colon (CRC), Indonesian rupiah (IDR), Israeli new shekel (ILS), Malaysian ringgit (MYR), Peruvian sol (PEN), Qatari riyal (QAR), Serbian dinar (RSD), Saudi riyal (SAR), Singapore dollar (SGD), Thai baht (THB), and Uruguayan peso (UYU). We've put together a brief FAQ to provide you with more information on the coming changes.

In March last year, we announced a 10-year partnership with Boosteroid to bring Xbox PC games to more players around the world. In June, we brought the first batch of Xbox PC games to Boosteroid and today, we're taking another step in our partnership. We're bringing more high-quality, immersive PC games by giving players another option to stream select games purchased through Microsoft Store on Windows, or available with a Game Pass membership. Our partnership continues to accelerate access to players by letting them choose how and where they play their games.

Starting today, you can play Deathloop, Dishonored, Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Gears 5, Gears Tactics, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Pentiment. You can also enjoy cross-play and cross-save features with your Xbox console and Windows PC for these games. We'll continue to add more hits and fan favorites from our extensive catalog of PC games over time. To get started, you'll need to gain access to the game through the Microsoft Store—either via a PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, or by a direct purchase of the game through the Microsoft Store—long with a Boosteroid membership.

We're thrilled to announce that Toys for Bob is spinning off as an independent game development studio! Over the years, we've inspired love, joy, and laughter for the inner child in all gamers. We pioneered new IP and hardware technologies in Skylanders. We raised the bar for best-in-class remasters in Spyro Reignited Trilogy. We've taken Crash Bandicoot to innovative, critically acclaimed new heights.

With the same enthusiasm and passion, we believe that now is the time to take the studio and our future games to the next level. This opportunity allows us to return to our roots of being a small and nimble studio. To make this news even more exciting, we're exploring a possible partnership between our new studio and Microsoft. And while we're in the early days of developing our next new game and a ways away from making any announcements, our team is excited to develop new stories, new characters, and new gameplay experiences.

GFN Thursday celebrates this leap day with the addition of a popular game store to the cloud. Stream the first titles from Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, including Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Call of Duty HQ and Hearthstone, now playable across more devices than ever. They're all part of the 30 new games coming to GeForce NOW in March, with eight available this week. Plus, Day Passes, announced at CES, are coming to the cloud next week, enabling gamers to experience the benefits of GeForce NOW Ultimate and Priority memberships for 24 hours at a time.

Welcome to the Cloud
Battle.net is Blizzard's digital storefront, a gateway to adventures in the Blizzard universe and home to a vibrant gaming community. Members who own Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, Call of Duty HQ and Hearthstone on Battle.net can now stream these triple-A titles from NVIDIA GeForce RTX-powered servers in the cloud without worrying about hardware specs or long download times. Battle the forces of evil in the dark, treacherous world of Diablo IV's Sanctuary at up to 4K resolution and 120 frames per second with an Ultimate membership, even on under-powered devices. Assemble a deck to cast legendary spells in Hearthstone, and engage in epic firefights in Overwatch 2 and Call of Duty HQ at ultra-low latency thanks to the power of NVIDIA Reflex technology. Read this article and search for Hearthstone for more details on supported devices for this title.

As GDC, the world's largest game developer conference, returns to San Francisco, Microsoft and Xbox will be there to engage and empower developers, publishers, and technology partners across the industry. We are committed to supporting game developers on any platform, anywhere in the world, at every stage of development. Our message is simple: Microsoft and Xbox are here to help power your games and empower your teams. From March 18 - 22, the Xbox Lobby Lounge in the Moscone Center South can't be missed—an easy meeting point, and a first step toward learning more about the ID@Xbox publishing program, the Developer Acceleration Program (DAP) for underrepresented creators, Azure cloud gaming services, and anything else developers might need.

GDC features dozens of speakers from across Xbox, Activision, Blizzard, King and ZeniMax who will demonstrate groundbreaking in-game innovations and share community-building strategies. Microsoft technology teams, with support from partners, will also host talks that spotlight new tools, software and services that help increase developer velocity, grow player engagement and help creators grow. See below for the Conference programming details.

Yesterday, during a special edition of the Official Xbox Podcast, we shared an update on plans to continue to bring more games to more people around the world, with the exciting news that the first Activision Blizzard game on Xbox Game Pass will be Diablo IV, beginning March 28. Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond, and Matt Booty also shared the vision on game exclusivity, the future of Xbox hardware, and the overall Xbox promise. There's a lot to talk about, so we encourage you to watch the full episode (see below).

With the combined creativity across Team Xbox, players can expect an incredible 2024 with the likes of Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Towerborne and more coming your way, alongside continued updates for our blockbuster franchises Call of Duty, Minecraft, Forza, The Elder Scrolls Online and Microsoft Flight Simulator.