Booty noted that Xbox has “over 20 franchises that have made a billion dollars, lifetime.” He went on to speak about the responsibility he feels to “shepherd” these franchises. “We’re the stewards of that IP. We’re not the owners, because really, the communities own those.”

Sharma, in turn, spoke about just how massive Xbox’s franchises have been in recent times, especially when it comes to cross-media properties like Amazon’s Fallout series and the Minecraft movie. As for games, she also spoke about the massive success of the Call of Duty franchise.

“You won’t see us try to become the biggest linear provider in the world or anything like that, but I think great games are culture, and culture is entertainment,” said Sharma. “If you think about it, we’ve got the number two show of all time on Amazon [Fallout], Minecraft was top 5 in 2025, Call of Duty is bigger than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, it all measures. [There’s] more appetite to work with us on titles than ever before.”

Booty also spoke about Netflix’s live-action Gears of War film adaptation that is currently in production, being directed by David Leitch (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train), and written by Jon Spaihts. The film’s story will revolve around the origins of Delta Squad, which has been described as “a ragtag crew of soldiers who wage a desperate war for survival against the Locust, a race of subterranean creatures set on destroying humanity.”

Booty spoke about how the core of the Gears franchise has been about the bonds between the various team members that the games focus on. “When you go visit the studio, their tagline is ‘Never Fight Alone.’ So when you think about that for a dramatic narrative, it’s a pretty good starting point.”

However, when asked if Halo might ever see another adaptation after the poor reception of the one produced by Paramount+, Booty didn’t quite commit to any solid plans for the future. He did, however, talk about the franchise being one of the most important ones for Xbox.

“Halo, first and foremost, is one of our biggest franchises,” he said. “It’s iconic to Xbox, and we’re certainly going to invest going forward.”

As for Sharma, she spoke about how her first job as CEO of Xbox would be to learn about the division, its past, and how it became the company that it is known as today. “I’m learning a lot about the brilliance of our artists and what it takes to make a game — and not just a game that is beautiful, but a game that is just so deep with characters and worlds and has potential to invite millions, if not tens of millions of players,” she said.

Toys for Bob has discussed this before, but in an interview with GamesRadar, associate creative director Lou Studdert said the team is aiming for “a zen-like fluidity; we want chaining of moves and exploration – for you to really be interacting with the environment as this quadruped who is its own unique beast.” It’s all for the sake of enabling players to seamlessly transition between exploration on the ground and in the skies.

And it’s far from a gimmick. “Honing in on that feeling, that experience, has been our north star. We want to push the sense of wonder, adventure, and awe that this franchise uniquely delivers,” said Studdert.

But is there a danger of diverting too far from what made the original trilogy, which Toys for Bob remade to great success? Studdert points to the studio’s experience with Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. “What we like to do when we start working on a new project, especially if it is an established IP, is to really hone in on what emotions it brings out.”

Studio head Paul Yan added, “That tension is so real, right? I’m proud of the team. They are thinking that through very thoughtfully, and listening to the community as we do. Because you have these two extremes: If you stick too much to nostalgia, then you basically just rehash what’s been done before; and on the other extreme, if you innovate too much, then all of a sudden players don’t recognize the series anymore.”

Thankfully, those who enjoyed the Reignited Trilogy should feel right at home with A Realm Beyond. “We learned a lot during the development of Reignited,” continued Yan. “We’ve carried a lot of those lessons forward into A Realm Beyond – and obviously they are very different projects; we aren’t recreating classics this time. But we’ve built up a confidence in our instincts for what feels tonally right for this character, and I can’t wait for fans to see the direction we’re taking the series in.”

Spyro: A Realm Beyond launches in 2027 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. For more details on how the flight mechanics work and how Toys for Bob is designing its worlds around the same, head here.

With Gordon stepping down after having worked at Treyarch for 22 years, the studio has announced that Kevin Hendrickson and Yale Miller will be stepping up as its new co-studio heads.

Gordon’s departure from the company comes at a time of relative stability for Treyarch, since the company isn’t working on this year’s entry in the Call of Duty franchise. However, its last title, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, was critically-panned, and reports have indicated that Activision has also been quite disappointed in its commercial performance.

As for this year, the next Call of Duty title is going to be the Infinity Ward-developed Modern Warfare 4. The title was unveiled in May, and is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. It is slated for release on October 23rd, with advanced access to the campaign beginning on October 16th. Eagle-eyed readers might notice that this will be the first entry in the Call of Duty franchise to skip the PS4 and Xbox One as target platforms since the 2013 release of Call of Duty: Ghosts.

The story of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will revolve around a conflict on the Korean peninsula, with North Korea invading South Korea. The player takes on the role of South Korean soldier Private Park, who will get to meet Captain Price. Interestingly, the captain is noted as being in a “personal war” of his own, having cut ties with Task Force 141. Among the locations players will get to visit throughout the single-player campaign will be Paris, New York, and Mumbai.

Since the Call of Duty franchise is known for its multiplayer gameplay, Infinity Ward has been paying extra attention to how it feels to play during intense matches. The studio recently gave us a look at how the game’s movement will work in multiplayer, giving players the ability to run, sprint, vault over obstacles, slide over the hood of cars, and stay prone. Lead of multiplayer design, Jacky Reynolds, spoke about the new movement options feeling natural and intuitive. Co-studio lead Mark Grigsby noted that the movement options were a way for Infinity Ward to address the criticisms faced by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

“We got kind dinged on Modern Warfare 2 with our movement, where we took some things away,” said Grigsby. “So, for this project, we were like, ‘we need to make some adjustments.’”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will also mark the return of the extraction shooter game mode DMZ. For more on that, check out the gameplay trailer released earlier this month. Also take a look at how the studio has been paying attention to the extraction shooter genre.

It applies to all platforms on which the first-person shooter is available, as well as to the Standard and Vault Editions. Of course, Nintendo Switch 2 players can’t currently pre-order, but that will open up in the coming months.

In a way, it’s an auspicious return – the last title in the series to offer advanced access for the campaign is, ironically, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 in 2023. You could argue that this is a way for Activision to spur pre-orders, or offer an “incentive” for those who can no longer play on Game Pass when launch comes around.

Either way, here’s hoping the campaign is a better experience than its predecessor, never mind Black Ops 7. It’s single-player only and supports offline play, so we’re already off to a better start.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is available on October 23rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Head here to learn more about the recently revealed DMZ, an extraction mode.

“Visually, we’ve made some subtle changes to suggest he’s grown since last we saw him – most notably, we’ve enhanced his wingspan so that he can be much more capable in flight,” explained Yan. “But this is absolutely the same Spyro you know and love, and that’s why we’re so thrilled to have Tom Kenny back to voice him! Tom’s performance delivers the plucky youthful courage that is such an important aspect of Spyro’s personality.”

As for just how capable Spyro will be in flight, Yan went on to reveal that, unlike previous games where he was only capable of gliding down from jumps or flying for short bursts, in Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Spyro is able to “take to the skies and own the airtime.”

“In Spyro: A Realm Beyond, Spyro will experience the freedom of true dragon flight,” said Yan. “He’s small, but mighty, so we had to do a lot of different experiments to explore how he could be both nimble and still be very physical when actively pushing his way through the air.”

Further in the interview, Yan also spoke about how the core design philosophy behind Spyro: A Realm Beyond revolves around giving players more options and freedom than any of the previous entries in the franchise have offered. The addition of full-fledged flight, he said, is a major addition to the series, and has led to the entire game being designed around the concept.

“For now, I can tell you that our biggest ambition in Spyro: A Realm Beyond is to give the player the freedom and fantasy of dragon flight – to be able to take the skies at a moment’s notice and make interesting and active decisions to flow through the spaces as you charge on the ground and now soar through the air,” he said. “This is such a significant addition to the game, and we’ve built a whole world around that promise.”

Spyro: A Realm Beyond was unveiled with a trailer over the weekend, giving us a look at the new title’s “strange and wonderous realm” where the dragon finds himself stranded. Along the way, the plucky hero will also have to deal with a new threat, referred to as Scavs, and to ultimately succeed, he will have to make new friends throughout his journey. Yan has confirmed that the title will feature an entirely new antagonist that will push the young dragon to “new emotional depths that will see Spyro grow as a hero”.

Spyro: A Realm Beyond is being developed for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2, and is slated for release in 2027.

Comparing it with the development of Call of Duty: Warzone, Cecot noted that the studio has always paid attention to its competition while it worked on its own take on the style of gameplay. With regards to the battle royale mode, he said that the studio wanted to try and predict where the genre would go, rather than simply making a battle royale game according to the then-current genre conventions and standards. Infinity Ward wants to do similarly with DMZ and extraction shooters.

“For DMZ, we’ve been paying attention to the genre,” said Cecot. “We try and play every different extraction shooter that comes out, or even games that are slightly similar, just to see what’s clicking with players, what feels good, what doesn’t feel good. I think one of the things in the original DMZ that we wanted, but we couldn’t get to, was meaningful player growth.”

Cecot said that the beta of DMZ helped the studio nail down Infinity Ward’s take on the extraction shooter. Discussing the typical progression systems of the genre, he brought up how it’s typically quite different from battle royales, since players only have to worry about a single match there. Extraction shooters, on the other hand, have slower and longer-term progression systems.

“And so that’s where I think DMZ differs so heavily from the beta: it strives to be a legitimate extraction shooter with persistent inventory, with a Forward Operating Base (FOB) that you’re upgrading, with stations that you can interact with and that help you build out your loadout, build your weapon,” he said. “That’s how I would lay out the DMZ of today versus what we did in the beta.”

As for learning from other successful entries in the genre, Cecot said that some of the key things that set DMZ apart from a title like, for example, ARC Raiders, would be things like Dynamic Ops and Side Ops, which offer players more dynamic choices in their story progressions. Along with this, the studio is also confident about its core combat sandbox and military theme.

“Our rich sandbox combined with our first-person military theme is something that’s going to really resonate with people,” Cecot said. “And I think our weapon feel and our movement are a step above most of the games. It’s that action that’s going to be something that’s very different than other extraction shooters.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4’s DMZ mode was recently showcased with a gameplay trailer, giving us an in-depth look at how intense, and even terrifying, a typical match could feel. The title is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

A dark invading force that Toys for Bob is calling the Scavs is in his way, and it looks like the cheery dragon is going to have to work with some new friends in his effort to get them out of his way and save this new and visually resplendent world in the process. We’re quite curious to see what Spyro’s latest antagonists bring to the table, although that dark and sinister tower is all we get for now.

Thankfully, Spyro is as nimble as ever, and the flight mechanics are looking quite exciting as he boosts, weaves, and climbs his way through the new world. While further details about this one are scarce, we expect that to change over the coming months as it looks at a Spring 2027 release.

We quite enjoyed the announcement trailer, and it’s definitely worth a watch, even if it’s just to see Syro again as he soars through the skies looking as adorable as ever.

The mode will revolve around players stepping into an open-world recreation of an exclusion zone set in some Korean locales where they have to jump in, get their hands on important materials and other loot, and escape. Along the way, they will have to deal with AI-controlled enemies, as well as other players that are also looking for loot.

Gameplay in this new take on Call of Duty’s DMZ mode seems to focus quite a bit more on being tactical, with players in the trailer taking their time in slowly exploring a location to make sure that they don’t give away their locations to potential enemies. The game mode is likely making use of the same core gameplay engine that has been designed for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.

Interestingly, rather than showcasing the gameplay through what will likely be the in-game first-person perspective, the trailer instead makes use of a helmet-mounted camera to show off how intense and frightening the DMZ mode can be. Throughout the trailer, we get to see players take on several enemies with a variety of different weapons. We also get to see how fights might differ based on the different layouts of its variety of environments.

DMZ will form the third core pillar of game modes in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, alongside its single-player campaign and variety of traditional multiplayer modes.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

The bits of gameplay showcased put quite a bit of emphasis on the movement options available to players during multiplayer matches of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4. Along with the standard running and sprinting, players will also be able to slide, stay prone, vault over appropriately-high obstacles, and even slide over the hoods of cars.

Lead of multiplayer design, Jacky Reynolds, says, “What I love is just how natural it feels now. It’s not like the movement options are difficult to wrap your head around; you just pick up the controller, and you can feel it instantly. And so, I think it’s going to feel natural to a casual player, and there’s enough space where you can optimize and master the movement.”

Co-studio lead at Infinity Ward, Mark Grigsby, noted that these new movement options being offered to players are a way for the studio to address the feedback it had seen with the 2022 release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which had toned down some of the traversal options compared to its predecessor – 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

“We got kind dinged on Modern Warfare 2 with our movement, where we took some things away,” said Grigsby. “So for this project, we were like, ‘we need to make some adjustments.’”

Throughout the video, we get a look at just how fluid and dynamic the movement in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 will feel, with plenty of footage of players running around maps and taking advantage of all of their parkour-style options. All of these options also have the added benefit of making the upcoming shooter look like it will play at a faster pace.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 was unveiled with a trailer just last week. The shooter is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 on October 23rd. It is worth noting that this will be the first time in the franchise’s history since 2013’s Call of Duty: Ghosts that it skips PS4 and Xbox One versions.

The main plot in Modern Warfare 4 will revolve around a war breaking out between North Korea and South Korea due to the former’s grander ambitions, throwing the entire peninsula into chaos. Players will take on the role of Private Park, with missions taking place all over the world featuring locations like Paris, Mumbai, and New York, among others. The title is also slated to feature Captain Price in some way.

As for the multiplayer, Infinity Ward has confirmed that it will feature 12 core maps on launch, and will debut the new Kill Block mode. Along with this, its matchmaking is also confirmed to make use of a similar system as Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

As IGN confirmed, the campaign is playable offline. Previously confirmed to be ditching the co-op approach in favor of single-player-only, fans won’t risk losing access if their internet is spotty. Or if the servers go offline, either temporarily or forever.

The other big change is that Modern Warfare 4 won’t have to restart with every new update. Granted, some major patches may facilitate the same; such is the nature of the Call of Duty infrastructure, but hearing that Infinity Ward is trying to get rid of it is good news.

Of course, it’s unconfirmed whether you’ll be able to pause during the campaign and whether difficulty options will be returning. But after last year’s fiasco, there’s honestly nowhere else to go but up.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches on October 23rd for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC, skipping the previous generation’s consoles. The returning DMZ mode will appear at the Xbox Games Showcase on June 7th, so stay tuned for updates.