#xbox

#xbox

Xbox has hired your favorite video game developer's favorite industry analyst, Matthew Ball, as its new Chief Strategy Officer. As reported by The Game Business and confirmed via his LinkedIn, Ball is joining Xbox with the stated goal of strengthening its console segment, which is in dire straits due to global memory shortages, recent corporate upheaval at Microsoft, and unrelenting competition from Sony, Nintendo and, soon, Valve.

It has been awhile since Xbox released a refresh to the Elite controller. The second generation of the hardware debuted back in 2019, and it became customizable in the Design Lab in 2022. And since at least one national regulator is currently looking at the device, it seems likely that the product is close to hitting store shelves. Xbox's big summer showcase is just a few weeks away, but after today's leak fest, Microsoft might be inclined to make the official announcement sooner than later.

"Three weeks ago, we filed an amicus because mobile competition still matters and we believe the future of play should be more open. While I am still learning, the idea of an Xbox mobile store is not dead."

The small form factor SSDs that Microsoft manufactures with Seagate for the Xbox Series X and S aren't proprietary, instead using a format that has been used with digital cameras for some time.

The original Xbox prototype, revealed at GDC 2000, was a massive X carved from a single block of aluminum, reportedly costing around $18,000 per unit.

Beginning this year, future Call of Duty titles won't join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. New Call of Duty games will be added to Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass during the following holiday season (about a year later), while existing Call of Duty titles already in the library will continue to be available.

If you read Kotaku even semi-regularly, you already know that Xbox has been in a weird spot for some time now. And with today's news that both Xbox boss Phil Spencer and President Sarah Bond are leaving and the new head of the brand will be a former Meta exec who previously lead Microsoft's AI division, I think it's time to call it. Xbox is dead. Time of death: February 20, 2026.