Game Luster

Multiple current and former Bethesda Game Studios staff have told IGN that this week’s Xbox layoffs will have a “substantial and cascading effect” on The Elder Scrolls 6, with more than 50 staff cut from active development – including, per one source, a developer who had been at the studio since Morrowind.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has admitted that Game Pass failed to grow at the pace Microsoft expected, with IGN reporting – citing a Wall Street Journal analysis – that the service currently sits at roughly 30 million subscribers against an internal target of approximately 77 million by this year, a shortfall of nearly 47 million paying members. Here’s the context: The 77 million projection was not a casual stretch goal.

CD Projekt has confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 has now sold 40 million copies worldwide – up 5 million from the 35 million milestone the studio announced in November 2025 – as reported by IGN in a piece published July 3, 2026. Cyberpunk 2077 has reached 40 million copies sold, up from 35 million in November 2025.

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced sold more than two million copies in its first 24 hours on sale, Ubisoft has confirmed, more than doubling the day-one figure posted by Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which recorded one million players on its opening day – a sales-versus-players distinction that makes the comparison even more striking, as reported by Push Square. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced launched to two million day-one sales across all platforms.

Unionized workers at Bethesda Game Studios are planning a protest against the mass layoffs sweeping through Microsoft’s gaming division, in what represents the most direct organized labor action yet against the ongoing restructuring that has cut hundreds of jobs across Xbox-owned studios. Here’s the context: Bethesda’s union is part of a wave of organizing that has reshaped labor relations inside Microsoft’s gaming arm over the past two years.

Remaining Xbox staff are being “asked to do more with less” following the division’s first wave of 1,600 job cuts this week, with a further 1,600 redundancies still to come across the fiscal year, as reported by Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier. Xbox’s restructuring has now affected virtually every corner of the division.

Sony and Bungie have reached a settlement with Christopher Barrett, a former Bungie employee who filed suit seeking more than $200 million in damages following his departure from the company, according to reporting on the case. Here’s the context: According to court filings and reporting, Barrett held a senior role at Bungie with credits on major franchises including Halo, Destiny, and Destiny 2, and was reportedly serving as game director on the Marathon reboot at the time of his departure.

OneBGS, the CWA-affiliated union representing workers at Bethesda Game Studios, has announced a coordinated “Save Our Devs” march across all four of its studio locations on July 15, 2026, at 12:30 PM Eastern, protesting the elimination of 440 union positions across Bethesda and ZeniMax in the latest wave of Xbox mass layoffs, as reported by Kotaku. OneBGS workers are planning marches at studios in Rockville, Montreal, Austin, and Dallas on July 15.

Xbox is cutting 3,200 employees – 20% of its total workforce – and spinning off or selling five of its first-party studios as part of what the company is calling a full reset, as reported by Geoff Keighley on July 6, 2026, with the five studios named as Arkane Lyon, Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs.

Bethesda has confirmed a free native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S upgrade for Fallout 76 – targeting higher resolutions, improved textures, faster load times, and a 60 FPS performance mode – alongside a playable Super Mutant race, with public testing on console scheduled for June 2026 and a full release later that summer, per official developer broadcasts and coverage from IGN and Windows Central.