Just a few years afterOverwatch 2’s free-to-play 5v5replaced the original, Blizzardannounced it’s dropping the “2.” There’s been a steady flow of other changes lately (like the return of 6v6), butthe plan for this next year includes 10 new heroes (Domina, Emre, Mizuki, Anran, and Jetpack Cat arrive when S1 launches February 10th), new maps, menu updates, a Conquest meta event, Reign of Talon narrative arc, and more.

Forza Horizon 6 andFable look promising, but they continue the trendI just wrote about of big publishers leaning more on familiar franchises. (Xbox’s 2026 also includes a newGears andtheHalo remake.) Happy Double Fine isdoing its thing, though, and Game Freak’sBeast of Reincarnation seems right up my alley.

Double Fine just announced a new multiplayer party gamecalledKiln where you can make and play as pots. It all looks quite silly.Kiln will be available this spring on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, and there will be a closed beta.

You can catch the show onYouTube starting at 1PM ET. The event will feature the Playground Games’Fable andForza Horizon 6 andBeast of Reincarnation from Game Freak. We’ll be watching the livestream and covering what’s announced.

Microsoftalso said that “more than 85% of the Game Pass catalog is compatible with these PCs,” now, after arocky journey for ARM gaming support on PC.

Othernew Xbox app updates, like the new Game Save Sync Indicator and Handheld Compatibility Program labeling, also seem to be well-timed ahead of a possibleQualcomm PC gaming handheld launch in March.

We knew thatObsidian’s fantasy RPG was getting a major update soon, and during the New Game Plus livestream the studio also confirmed a nice surprise: the game is coming to the PS5 on February 17th. You can check out the full reveal below.

Microsoft is addingStar Wars Outlaws to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass on January 13th, followed byResident Evil Village for Ultimate, Premium, and PC Game Pass subscribers a week later on January 20th. Other titlescoming to Game Pass this month includeBrews & Bastards,Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition,Final Fantasy,My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery, andMio: Memories in Orbit.

Microsoft’s firstXbox announcement of 2026 is the launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming on select Hisense and V homeOS-powered smart TVs. The Xbox app first launched onSamsung TVs, followedAmazon Fire TV devices, then selectLG TVs, and now Hisense TVs. We don’t have an exact date for when the Xbox app will be available on Hisense and V homeOS-powered TVs, but Microsoft says it’s coming at some point in 2026.

“The newest models of the Fire TV 4-Series and Fire TV Omni QLED Series now feature the Xbox app built right in, with additional models coming in the future,” accordingto Amazon.

[Amazon]

Last night was the first Xbox Bowl, with Arkansas State taking the trophy,presented by Halo’s Master Chief, over Missouri State. Every player received a freeROG Xbox Ally handheld ahead of the game, but the winning team also received a playable trophy to, presumably, lock away in their case.

According toa new blog post:

...we do not plan to introduce new cars, tracks, features, or regular bug fixes for Forza Motorsport. However, we will continue supporting the game by keeping online servers active, hosting special events and competitions, and reintroducing previously released Featured Tours and reward cars on a monthly basis, until all content is available for you to enjoy anytime.

Developer Turn 10 washit hard by this summer’s Xbox layoffs.

Ahead of The Game Awards, Compulsion Games has announced that South of Midnight is going multi-platform. The southern gothic action-adventure game, first releasedon Xbox earlier this year, is coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch 2 in spring 2026. Come for the incredibly cool southern folklore inspired narrative, but stay for your adorable companion Crouton and the yarn-spinnin’ Catfish.

Following aFallout-themed Xbox controller released last year featuring Vault Boy, Microsoft hasannounced a new version inspired by Pip-Boy. Thestandard controller is available now for $82.97, but both it and the Elite controller can befurther customized through the Xbox Design Lab. Season two ofAmazon’sFallout series debuts on December 17th.

It’s “Wrapped” season, so it’s fitting thatMicrosoft shared the top third-party game for Game Pass. It was none other than Sandfall Interactive’s well-paced and overall fantasticClair Obscur: Expedition 33, which had more unique users after 30 days post-launch than others. Y’all have good taste. This is my GOTY.

As the increasingly pricey future of Xbox depends less on anactual box, Microsoftannounced the recent launch of Xbox Cloud Gaming in India (just as Nvidiadelayed its GeForce Now launch), and some new stats:

Players are streaming their games more than ever — cloud gaming hours from Game Pass subscribers has increased 45% compared to this time last year. And, console players are embracing flexibility, spending 45% more time cloud streaming on console and 24% more on other devices.

Over one yearafter its release on PS5 and PC, theSilent Hill 2 remake has finally made its way to Xbox Series X | S consoles. To celebrate its release, Konami is makingSilent Hill 2 available on Xbox and PS5 for $34.99 instead of $69.99 for a limited time, with a similar discount coming to PC next week.

[Konami Digital Entertainment]