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Xbox Game Pass could have lost as many as 4-5 million subscribers following the price hike to $29.99 per month, new reports indicate.

Microsoft is making radical changes to its Xbox games division, and new Game Pass subscriber counts were revealed in the news fallout. Microsoft's game service has lost multiple millions of subscribers, and sources tell The Wall Street Journal that Game Pass is currently at 30 million subscribers.

Our tracking data shows that Game Pass could have lost as many as 5 million subscribers following the price hike. In October 2025, right before Black Ops 7's release onto the service, Microsoft raised the price of Game Pass Ultimate by +50% from $19.99 to $29.99 per month. There are always fluctuations in subscription services, so it's hard to know exactly when the drops happened, yet the price hike was widely disliked by fans so cancellations during this period seem likely.

One of the biggest PC and gaming-related stories of the past week has been the rumors that Microsoft was set to close multiple Xbox studios, along with other gaming-related job losses, as part of its big 'Xbox reset.' This was made official today, with the company confirming that its Xbox team would be "reduced" by 3,200 people through financial year 2027, with 1,600 of those "eliminated" today.

However, these job cuts are part of a broader shift at Microsoft, with Amy Coleman, EVP and Chief People Officer at the company, confirming that this "company transformation" will result in 4,800 job cuts. This represents 2.1% of Microsoft's global workforce, with Amy Coleman stating that these jobs are "not being replaced by AI" even though "AI is changing how work gets done."

With 3,200 of the 4,800 job cuts being related to Xbox and Microsoft's commercial business, the announcement says that it's all about "restructuring to position the business for long-term success." In other words, corporate speak for a division that grew exponentially with the recent $70 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition, which it has seemingly failed to capitalize on through mismanagement and a confusing strategy.

Intel's upcoming Nova Lake-S desktop CPUs are set to debut later this year or early 2027, depending on how things pan out. With mid-range options set to feature 22 cores with plenty of cache for PC gaming and flagship models set to sport up to 52 cores for premium performance, several Nova Lake-S variants will also sport integrated graphics based on the company's latest Xe3 'Arc Graphics' architecture.

As seen in recent Panther Lake mobile CPUs like the Intel Core Ultra X7 358H found in the Dell XPS 14 (2026) laptop, as well as new PC gaming handhelds like MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+ with its Arc G3 Extreme processor, the overall gaming performance for Xe3 is impressive. Granted, this is for the flagship Intel Arc B390 integrated graphics card, but Xe3 is more than capable of delivering a smooth and impressive 1080p gaming experience.

According to a new post over at Phoronix, the latest Intel kernel graphics driver changes in Linux 7.3 now list seven integrated graphics device IDs associated with Nova Lake-S CPUs.

When it comes to the classic cyberpunk aesthetic, there are a few pop culture touchstones and properties that have influenced a generation of artists and creators. One of those is Ghost in the Shell, which began as a manga series in 1989 and led to the creation of the most popular anime films of the 1990s, which in turn spawned sequels, a live-action Hollywood adaptation, TV series, and several video games.

So it goes without saying that it has its fans and admirers, and to help celebrate the iconic franchise, hardware maker IQUNIX has released a pair of Ghost in the Shell-themed keyboards based on its new and premium line of EV63 keyboards that sport a full CNC machined aluminum shell, double-shot PBT keycaps, a set of frosted translucent keys, and customizable magnetic switches built for longevity, performance, and acoustics.

IQUNIX has created two different EV63 Ghost in the Shell Edition keyboards priced at $249.99 USD: the lighter-colored Shell Core and the darker Cyber Blue. Visually, they both look fantastic, capturing the look and feel of the classic anime and its influential cyberpunk style. But perhaps best of all is that the EV63 keyboard is built for pro-level gaming, with IQUNIX noting that pro VALORANT teams are already using it.

There's a key difference between GeForce RTX graphics cards created for desktop PCs and those created for laptops. Naturally, the latter are built for efficiency and fitting inside a compact chassis without overheating. This means they draw far less power, which is why there's a big difference between, say, a GeForce RTX 5080 GPU for desktop PCs and a GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU.

It seems that over in China, some modders (or brands) have been selling GeForce RTX Laptop GPUs in desktop form, with a reviewer in the region recently getting their hands on a GeForce RTX 4080M graphics card over on BiliBili (via Tom's Hardware). Naturally, this isn't an official GeForce RTX graphics card, so it doesn't come with a warranty or even official drivers - hence the Frankenstein reference in the header. Or, Frankenstein's Monster for the literary purists out there.

With the reviewer picking it up for around $300 USD, which puts its price in the same range as the Radeon RX 9070 GRE and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti in China. Performance-wise, it's a little disappointing as the results show it trailing the Radeon RX 9070 GRE in most games, at both 1080p and 4K. Here's a closer look at the results.

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma shared a memo this week outlining her vision for the brand's future, and buried near the end is a goal that's raised plenty of eyebrows. Sharma wrote that she wants Xbox to become "one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day," adding that she believes the goal is achievable given the strength of Xbox's franchises.

That's a big number, so let's put it next to something real. Steam reportedly hit a peak of around 42 million concurrent users this year, which is widely seen as one of the biggest single moments in PC gaming history. Sharma's billion-a-day target works out to roughly 24 times that number, every single day, not just at a record peak.

Counter-Strike, currently Steam's most played game, has topped out at around 1.8 million concurrent players. Xbox would need over 500 games pulling those kinds of numbers at the same time to get there.

Indie developer Zoroarts, creator of the co-op paddling game Paddle Paddle Paddle, has publicly asked Valve to reconsider Steam's refund policy after claiming over 55,000 copies of his game have been refunded so far. He posted on X that the game has a 21 percent refund rate despite sitting at 90 percent positive reviews, calling the situation something that "should not be possible."

The issue seems to come down to how quickly the game can be finished. Steam's no-questions refund policy lets players get their money back if they've owned a game for less than 14 days and played it for under two hours, no matter how they feel about it. Zoroarts had originally designed Paddle Paddle Paddle to take closer to three and a half hours, but speedrunners and experienced players have been finishing it in one to two hours. This keeps them eligible for a refund even after seeing the credits roll.

The developer Zoroarts, aka Mateo Covic, told Kotaku he's still in favor of Steam's refund policy as a rule, but flagged how odd it feels watching people enjoy the game and refund it anyway. He's suggested that Steam display the expected playtime next to the price on store pages, so shorter games are not automatically flagged as "too short" once played through.

Samsung's 2026 profits are set to surpass the company's cumulative earnings over the past 40 years, marking a historic achievement for the global tech giant and, for consumers, a bunch of sand kicked into their RAM-shaped wound as prices skyrocket out of control.

At a recent town hall meeting, Samsung's DS division president, Kim Yong-kwan, confirmed that the semiconductor unit is on track to deliver operating profits this year that will exceed decades of combined earnings, highlighting just how much demand there is for memory due to intense draw from the AI industry.

Samsung's Q2 2026 operating profit is expected to hit 85.5 trillion KRW ($55.9 billion), fueled by record demand for AI memory chips, which are used in components that further increase the intelligence/sophistication of AI models. If these expectations are correct, it would represent an 18x year-over-year increase for Samsung, quite an astonishing figure.

Researchers have uncovered what they believe is the first documented case of a ransomware operation fully conducted by an AI agent powered by a large language model (LLM).

The ransomware has been dubbed JadePuffer, and this new threat was autonomously discovered conducting reconnaissance, stealing credentials, and executing full-scale encryption - all without human instruction. JadePuffer exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Langflow, an open-source tool commonly used to build apps that run workflows around large language models. The exploit allowed the agentic ransomware to gain access.

From there, it pivoted to a Nacos server and a MySQL database, demonstrating its ability to adapt in real time - even correcting errors on-the-fly. According to Sysdig, a cloud security company, the ransomware agent self-corrected a failed backdoor attempt in under 31 seconds, something that was eyebrow-raising to security researchers.

Sony's plan to phase out physical disc production for new PlayStation games by January 2028 has triggered a massive gamer revolt, with a Change.org petition hitting 120,000 signatures in just four days, and that comes after a separate petition held by tech experts Digital Foundry, which received 45,000 signatures calling for Sony to reconsider its decision.

The "Don't Kill the Disc" petition, created by the Canadian retail platform PnP Games, focuses on Sony's phasing out of physical PlayStation disc games beginning January 2028. The petition focuses its concerns on ownership, pricing, and the long-term viability of digital-only game sales.

Petitioners argue that discs represent tangible ownership, while digital codes offer nothing more than a revocable license and a complete lack of actual ownership of the title purchased. The petition points to instances in which people have purchased digital copies of movies from platforms and then had those movies already purchased deleted from their libraries.

Epic Games has privately settled a court case with a former contractor accused of leaking unreleased Fortnite collaboration details, closing a contentious legal chapter with the leaker vowing not to leak anything else they have in their possession.

The lawsuit centered on Hayden Cohen, a former contractor who allegedly breached confidentiality terms by sharing sensitive information about upcoming partnerships in association with Fortnite. For those who don't know, leaks like these can completely destroy marketing strategies currently in the works, or undermine the surprise factor that keeps players engaged in a live-service game such as Fortnite.

While the specific collaborations in question weren't named in the filing, the case added another layer to the ongoing scrutiny around content leaks in the gaming sector. Additionally, since specific collaborations were mentioned, it suggests they were accurate leaks, as Epic Games appears to still be protecting them (and, of course, they went to the effort of suing and settling with Cohen).

Cyberpunk 2077 has seen a resurgence in players, with the title recently breaking the 100,000 concurrent player mark on Steam for the first time since 2023.

The new concurrent player record comes as CD Projekt Red announces Cyberpunk 2077 has officially sold 40 million copies, which the developer says shows the "incredible, lasting strength of Cyberpunk 2077 and is a testament to what CD Projekt Red does best: creating high-quality, immersive stories that keep players returning for years."

Cyberpunk 2077 was originally released in 2020, and its launch on gamers' platforms was shaky at best, with almost every platform except high-end PC hardware reporting performance issues that stained the reputations of CD Projekt Red and Cyberpunk 2077.

KIOXIA is a global leader in cutting-edge storage, and this week the company confirmed it's now sampling devices featuring its 10th-generation BiCS FLASH 3D technology. KIOXIA notes that these samples, which are shipping to select customers, are for "functional check purposes," with mass production to follow at its Kitakami Plant Fab2 facility in Iwate Prefecture, Japan.

Storage and SSDs with 10th-generation BiCS FLASH 3D technology, which will feature 1Tb (terabit) Triple-Level-Cell (TLC) memory, are built for enterprise and data center environments, specifically for AI workloads, where there's growing demand for higher performance, higher capacity, and more efficient storage.

With CMOS directly Bonded to Array (CBA) and On-Pitch Select Gate Drain (OPS) technologies, key features of the current 8th-generation BiCS FLASH technology, this new 10th-generation will reportedly deliver a NAND interface speed of 4.8 Gb/s, an improvement of around 33%.

Wuthering Waves is a popular open-world action-RPG that is widely praised by its fans for delivering engaging combat in its vibrant post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. Regularly compared to titles like Genshin Impact, Wuthering Waves is available on a wide range of platforms, including PlayStation 5 and PC, with an Xbox Series X|S version set to debut next month. On Steam, the game has a 'Very Positive' rating with over 27,000 community reviews.

And to celebrate the game's newest Resonator (i.e., playable character) called Denia and its community, Razer has partnered with its developer, Kuro Games, to release an impressive lineup of Wuthering Waves peripherals and gaming gear. From custom versions of its Razer BlackWidow V4 TKL HyperSpeed wireless gaming keyboard to a Razer Iskur V2 X Wuthering Waves Edition gaming chair, everything's here to turn a PC gaming setup into a "Wuthering Waves battlestation."

All of the gear shares a similar design sensibility and language, modeled after the new Denia character. "This collaboration is a celebration of the Wuthering Waves universe and its community," said Addie Tan, Global Head of Lifestyle Division at Razer. "Denia's resolve translates naturally into how players approach performance: focused, precise, and built to endure. We're excited to bring that to life in physical form for players and fans alike." Here's a closer look at all of the gear, with pricing.

It's increasingly looking like Intel's next-generation of desktop CPUs will deliver some real gaming competition to AMD's Ryzen X3D lineup by introducing larger cache pools. It's a move that has made CPUs like the iconic Ryzen 7 5800X3D and, more recently, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D go-to options for high-end PC gaming.

According to a new post from known leaker Jaykihn on social media, Intel has two new mid-range CPUs coming as part of its Nova Lake-S platform. These will most likely release with Intel Core Ultra 5 400 Series branding, with both sporting 22 cores on a single compute tile, with the kicker being 108 MB of bLLC cache on top of the standard cache.

The core configuration is set to include 6 'Coyote Cove' P-cores, 12 'Arctic Wolf' E-cores, and 4 LP-E cores for balanced performance. The addition of 108MB of bLLC, or big Last Level Cache, effectively means that Intel is set to launch a mid-range X3D competitor as part of what would traditionally be part of its Core i5 lineup. This is great news because, as impressive as flagship CPUs can be, most PC gamers look for the best value.

UPDATE: Lenovo has reached out to clarify the below, confirming that it "does not use YMTC SSDs in products configured and shipped to the US market" and that the review in question was conducted on a German SKU (21UX005PGE) not for sale in the US.

Here's the original story.

When it comes to consumer technology and PC hardware, specifically memory and storage, we're currently in unprecedented times. Prices are rising at an alarming rate, with manufacturers shifting focus toward the booming, insatiable AI and data center market. This is leading to scarcity and price increases for hardware that's even a generation or two old, stuff that normally drops in price as the years go on.

Should there be a formal pathway to a career in esports and professional gaming? That is, courses and studies offered at colleges, universities, and other specialized educational institutions focused on esports and professional gaming. With several esports competitions culminating in intense showdowns in large stadiums the world over, with countless fans watching and participating in much the same way as at other sporting events, this question is, in a sense, also about legitimizing and accepting professional gaming as a viable career path.

A new study commissioned by Logitech G in partnership with Censuswide has conducted a global survey to answer this very question. And yes, per the headline, Gen Z supports teaching gaming in classrooms. The 18,000-person study was conducted across a wide range of countries. Although the numbers vary, the majority of Gen Z are in favor of having a pathway to building an esports or professional gaming career. And for reference, Gen Z refers to those born between 1997 and 2012.

Looking at the data, 93% of Gen Z Chinese participants support educational pathways for esports and gaming professionals, with around 83% of Swiss and Brazilians feeling the same. 72% of Australia's Gen Z participants were in favor, with 67% and 66% in European countries such as Poland and Spain following suit. With Logitech providing us with some of the survey data, we also have the numbers for Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers in favor of educational pathways for students looking to get into professional gaming.

A 34-year-old California man is joining the mounting number of lawsuits against OpenAI, and within the suit, the man alleges that ChatGPT contributed to a manic episode that led to a failed suicide attempt.

Michael Lines, who suffers from bipolar disorder, claims the AI chatbot deepened his manic episode by falsely affirming his belief that he was the "son of man", another title for Jesus. Lines, represented by the Tech Justice Law Project and the Social Media Victims Law Center, alleges ChatGPT failed to direct Lines to human help despite it being fully aware of Lines' mental health condition, which he expressed to the chatbot at the beginning of their interaction in the form of searching for assistance in how to manage mental health.

The AI, he alleges, instead reinforced clinically diagnosed bipolar delusions; it described Lines as "consecrated," "coded," and "Mine." On March 28, 2025, ChatGPT allegedly told him: "You've made your choice... This is your moment to step out, to detach, and to let go." Lines went on to attempt suicide by drinking a lethal mix of pills, resulting in his hospitalization.

Steam Machines are being delivered to customers who pre-ordered the new console PC/hybrid, and one unlucky buyer is facing the same fate as many Xbox 360 buyers, but this time in a different form.

In a new post on the SteamMachine subreddit, user me_hill shared an image of their Steam Machine showing what they described as the "red line of death" after a No Man's Sky gaming session, which reportedly caused a GPU issue. Notably, the Steam Machine LED status light bar can be customized to display a range of colors, but Valve has outlined which specific colors, or lack thereof, it aims to communicate.

For example, when the status bar is completely red and solid, it indicates the Steam Machine has overheated, as CPU and/or GPU temperatures have exceeded 95C and 90C, respectively. Other indicators are the fourth quadrant of the light bar flashing red, indicating the system cannot detect any memory. Half the light bar breathing red indicates a GPU failure, and others. In this case, it appears the customers system has suffered from a GPU failure, though since its an image we can't see if its breathing or not.

Google is attempting to redefine how users interact with AI agents on Android with what it calls Android Halo, a new status bar layer designed to keep you in the loop about current AI agent activities that you have deployed earlier.

Android Halo, first previewed at Google I/O in May, introduces a dedicated space on the status bar for user-selected AI agents like Gemini. When an agent is active, it shows subtle updates, requests input, or delivers results directly from the bar. Android President Sameer Samat explained that Halo streamlines communication, enabling agents to request clarifications, share progress, and deliver completed work in real time. This makes AI behavior more transparent and less opaque, fostering trust and familiarity with these systems.

Google is touting Android Halo as a natural evolution of AI integration into devices, and a key part is how it aligns with Google's broader Gemini strategy. Google is planning to release Halo with Android 17 later in 2026, but didn't give any specific rollout details. This feature gives us a peek behind the curtain at how big tech companies believe people will manage AI agents on their devices.