Microsoft Just Advertised Xbox Using Earth's Mightiest Billboard

On the stage of BlizzCon 2023's opening ceremony, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra had the chance to welcome his former boss Phil Spencer, who made a surprise appearance.

In an official Microsoft developer blog post, Xbox announced that it's partnering with Inworld to "build AI game dialogue and narrative tools". In practice, that means "turning prompts into detailed scripts, dialogue trees, quests, and more".

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

A senior Google executive disputed suggestions that the company rushed to release its artificial intelligence-based chatbot Bard earlier this year to beat a similar offering from rival Microsoft Corp. Testifying in Google's defense at the Justice Department's antitrust trial against the search giant, Elizabeth Reid, a vice president of search, acknowledged that Bard gave “a wrong answer” during its public unveiling in February. But she rejected the contention by government lawyer David Dahlquist that Bard was “rushed” out after Microsoft announced it was integrating generative AI into its own Bing search engine.

Just a couple of weeks after finishing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is making some changes to its Xbox studio structure. In an internal memo acquired by The Verge, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is being promoted to president of game content and studios, a role that will put him in charge of ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios, including Bethesda Softworks.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella now has one less milestone to worry about when it comes to his performance-based pay, as the company has dropped growth targets from the metrics used to determine his compensation. Although a LinkedIn post from September indicated that Game Pass may have over 30 million subscribers, this seemingly still falls short of the number of players the gaming giant had hoped to attract to its subscription service.

With Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally complete, the company controls a larger than ever share of the game industry. According to CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft now plans to double down on game publishing and development.

Microsoft will live stream an ‘Xbox Partner Preview’ event this Wednesday, October 25, it’s announced.

Square Enix has given a release window for the upcoming Xbox open beta of Final Fantasy 14.

There is one mechanic in that is considered broken, but the truth to the fact is that it may simply be misunderstood. The new open-world RPG by Bethesda is set in space, where players can travel across the galaxy and visit several planets while uncovering the mysteries of the universe. While doing so, players can approach the game in whatever manner they prefer. They can, for instance, train to become ace pilots, while their general survivability skills on land are suboptimal. Alternatively, they can become masters of combat with physical builds in , or perhaps become sweet-tongued diplomats capable of talking their way out of danger.

PlayStation has taken over the Las Vegas Sphere, a day after Xbox used the venue to paint the Nevada skyline green.