Double Fine cuts staff, Xbox Game Pass struggles, and FF14 stirs the pot

Double Fine has laid off 23 employees after separating from Xbox, with Tim Schafer citing the studio's survival as the sole reason for the cuts. The news lands alongside a grim analyst read on Xbox Game Pass, which reportedly missed subscriber targets because most people simply don't play enough games to justify a subscription — and a pivot toward indie titles isn't expected to close the gap.

Final Fantasy 14's next expansion is getting a crossover with Final Fantasy 7, a pairing that has predictably split the fanbase. Separately, reports are coalescing around Naughty Dog's Intergalactic and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Hexe both targeting 2027 releases, which would make that year a notably heavy one for big-budget action titles. Xbox has also confirmed its Gamescom lineup, headlined by Fable and Alien Isolation 2.

A survival game facing a 17 percent review score on Steam has prompted its developer to apologize for bugs and announce — somewhat remarkably — that a save feature is on the way. On a more optimistic note, Sandfall Interactive, fresh off Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, says it intends to go creatively ambitious with its next project. And Warframe studio boss says the game is seeing massive growth as Destiny 2 winds down.