#microsoft

A July 16 r/Games post shared Aftermath’s report on former and current ZeniMax workers protesting Microsoft’s latest cuts outside offices in the U.S. and Canada.

An r/pcgaming post shared that Windows 10’s ESU program has been extended by one year, moving the security-update end date from October 2026 to October 12, 2027.

Microsoft’s July 6 Xbox reset moves Double Fine and Compulsion back to management as independent studios, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs enter new-ownership terms. The Verge reports 4,800 Microsoft layoffs, including about 1,600 Xbox employees.

Microsoft plans a Pecos, Texas datacenter campus that adds about 2 GW of global capacity. The project ties AI cloud growth directly to dedicated onsite energy infrastructure.

Reuters, citing The Information, says Microsoft has considered spinning out or restructuring Xbox as a wholly owned subsidiary, while Satya Nadella said Xbox must become a sustainable business after 25 years of investment.

Microsoft’s Project Ire classified a 253 KB LOTUSLITE-like Windows DLL as malicious from one decompiler-based run. The sample had only 1 of 72 VirusTotal detections on May 28 and still missed several major EDRs a week later.

Microsoft Discovery became generally available on June 2 for organizations building governed R&D workflows. The platform connects specialized agents, scientific knowledge, simulation tools, validation data, and a new local preview app for researchers.

Microsoft AI made its in-house model strategy more concrete with seven MAI models across reasoning, coding, image, voice, and transcription. The headline numbers are 35B active parameters, a 256K context window, 97% on AIME 2025, and 53% on SWE Bench Pro.

Microsoft has agreed to pay $250 million to settle shareholder litigation tied to its $75.4 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. Court approval is still required, and Reddit discussion focused on Bobby Kotick, the sale price, and the deal’s long-term effect on game industry competition.

Forza Horizon 6 has surpassed $140 million in revenue from its Premium Edition alone, with players citing the package's strong value as a key reason for the high uptake.

Forza Horizon 6's Steam preload files were left unencrypted, leading to widespread piracy over a week before its official release. Developer Turn 10 has threatened franchise-wide and hardware bans against pirates.

The Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CASI) secured agreements with Google DeepMind, Microsoft, and xAI to review frontier AI models for national security risks before launch. The policy shift follows alarm over Anthropic's Claude Mythos autonomous cybersecurity capabilities.