Kareem Choudhry has left Microsoft

Metaphor: ReFantazio might not be a Persona game, but developer Atlus is keeping up a trend solidified by its beloved JRPG series by making its user interface absolutely gorgeous, and fans say it's a great example of why UI designers deserve to be paid generously.

Veteran Atlus artist and character designer Kazuma Kaneko has left the Japanese company. Kaneko departed in 2023, ending a tenure that lasted 35 years, joining Tokyo-based publisher and developer COLOPL. He revealed the same in an official interview recently published by his new employer.

Team Folon’s Dean Carter, project lead on the highly anticipated mod Fallout London, has opened up about how Bethesda’s upcoming Fallout 4 update impacted the studio, saying the team felt “blindsided” by the move.

The long-awaited streaming release date has finally been revealed—though U.S. viewers will be left waiting a little while longer. Toho’s acclaimed Academy Award-winning Kaiju movie is finally making its way to smaller screens via a subscription model, and Amazon Prime Video subscribers in Japan will be able to stream the film very soon.

The solo developer of the retro-style FPS Hedon Bloodrite has been left confused after their game was deemed ineligible to participate in Steam's FPS Fest sale – an event focused on, you guessed it, FPS games. 

It continues to be a difficult time at Ascendant Studios, the developers behind last year’s magical shooter flop Immortals of Aveum, as it’s claimed that the studio have now furloughed most of their staff - only a matter of months after almost half of their employees were laid off.

Microsoft teased its plans for next-generation Xbox hardware back in February, saying that it was focussed on delivering the “largest technical leap” for a new console generation with the next Xbox. Now, more details about Microsoft's plans for its next console have emerged, reiterating the same claim. An internal email shared with Xbox staff has revealed that Microsoft is “moving full speed ahead” on its next-generation Xbox hardware.

Kareem Choudhry has left Microsoft as of Friday, April 5, 2024. The former corporate vice president of Emerging Technologies at Xbox, Choudhry most recently spearheaded the company’s exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in gaming.

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From games being taken off stores with little to no notice, to older consoles’ storefronts going permanently offline, to online-only experiences being rendered effectively unplayable once their servers are taken down, the list of things that pose a threat to game preservation continues to grow worryingly longer, though some chosen few companies have been taking admirable steps to work against that.

Xbox has undergone some significant changes in recent months, with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year having been followed by a leadership shake-up in October that saw Sarah Bond being made Xbox president and Matt Booty being promoted to president of content and studios. Now, as reported by Windows Central, the company is seeing more significant internal changes.

Xbox president Sarah Bond has established a new team dedicated to game preservation and backwards compatibility in future hardware.