Microsoft Is Considering Porting Their Back Catalog To Other Platforms

In a bid to transform the virtual meeting experience, Microsoft has unveiled an innovative feature in its latest Canary test build for Windows 11. The Microsoft Windows 11 Voice Clarity feature, previously exclusive to Surface devices, is now set to enhance audio quality across all Windows machines, including those powered by ARM CPUs.

Hogwarts Legacy has now sold 24 million copies since its release in February last year, publisher Warner Bros. has said.

Remember the PlayStation-exclusive content for Hogwarts Legacy that was available when the game launched in February 2023? It’s finally coming to other platforms later this Summer, per the official Twitter. There will also be additional “updates and features”, and players should stay tuned for more details this year.

The first month of 2024 isn’t over yet, but it’s already been a brutal year for the games industry, with thousands of people having lost their jobs in a barrage of industry-wide layoffs. Microsoft recently added a significant chunk to that number when it announced that it would be cutting 1,900 jobs across its entire gaming division, and it seems those layoffs are also going to come at the cost of the company’s physical distribution.

One area hit during the recent round of layoffs at Microsoft were the departments focused on bringing physical Xbox games to retail. On January 25, word began circulating that Microsoft Gaming was laying off a massive 1,900 employees from its 22,000-person team. A large portion of this number apparently is coming from the customer service group at newly acquired Activision Blizzard, which up till now was known for having relatively solid customer service.

Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.

= Microsoft Corp. said it has begun warning organizations that they were targets of the same Russian-sponsored group that hacked into its executives' emails late last year. 

The recent layoffs across the various Microsoft studios include the vast majority of the customer service team at Blizzard. This means the multiple live service games run by Blizzard are currently operating with next to no moderators, game masters, and customer service representatives.

Microsoft layoffs: The company is laying off about 1,900 employees in its gaming division, according to an internal company memo, just over three months since the tech giant completed its post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, appearing to acknowledge the layoffs. “It's an incredibly hard day and my energy and support will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection on your amazing work,” Ybarra wrote — later adding that his time leading Blizzard “was an absolute honor.”

YouTuber Ross Scott, AKA Accursed Farms, is considering starting a class-action lawsuit over the shutdown ofThe Crew — Ubisoft’s 2014 online-only racing game, which is planned to shut down at the end of March.

As CD Projekt staffs up for its various projects in development, the boss of the company has said it is considering adding multiplayer to the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.

Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, codenamed Orion, could have a multiplayer component. In a recent interview, CD Projekt Red CEO Michał Nowakowski confirmed that the studio is still "considering" multiplayer for the sequel, adding an element that never made it into the first game.