Video game news digest: Thursday, October 22, 2026

On Wednesday, Electronic Arts shut down BioWare and ended work on the next Mass Effect, Xbox opened cloud streaming to players without Game Pass, and CD Projekt Red detailed the Cyberpunk 2077 update that brings mods to consoles.

EA closes BioWare and cancels the next Mass Effect

BioWare, the Canadian studio behind Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect and Dragon Age, is closing after more than thirty years, and early development on the next Mass Effect is over, the studio announced. According to Bloomberg, Electronic Arts is cutting around 400 jobs, about 3% of its workforce, including roughly 50 at BioWare. EA's internal memo, quoted by Game File, also pauses Project Lotus, a mobile-focused Sims project, and shrinks the skate team. Apex Legends, Battlefield, the next Star Wars Jedi game and the Iron Man game carry on, while teams from DICE and Respawn are joining forces on a new project. The moves come less than three months after EA's buyout by Saudi Arabia's PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners closed on August 4.

Xbox Cloud Gaming without Game Pass: pay by the hour

Since Wednesday, Xbox Insiders without a Game Pass subscription can buy cloud playtime packs, Xbox Wire announced: 10 hours for $3.99, 25 hours for $7.99 or 50 hours for $11.99, at introductory US pricing. The hours are ad-free, stay on your account until you use them and promise shorter waits before a session starts. You still need to own the game, except for some free-to-play titles. A wider rollout is planned for November, alongside free ad-supported cloud gaming, which Insiders are also testing.

AMD's FSR 4.1 is coming to Xbox Series X|S

Microsoft and AMD have confirmed that FSR 4.1, which renders games at a lower resolution and then upscales them with machine learning for a sharper or smoother picture, is coming to Xbox Series X|S (GamesIndustry.biz). There is no date yet. Developers will need to patch each game to use it, so older titles won't improve on their own. The ROG Xbox Ally handhelds are getting it too, Eurogamer notes.

Cyberpunk 2077's 2.5 update brings mods to consoles

New since Tuesday's announcement: Cyberpunk 2077's 2.5 update lets you install mods on console from an in-game menu powered by Mod.io, as CD Projekt Red showed in Wednesday's stream, reported by Eurogamer and The Verge. It launches today, Thursday, October 22, on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, with the Switch 2 version following a few days later. A new quest serves as a prequel to the second season of the Edgerunners series. Around Night City, five new shops let you recolor and restyle your implants, and a field of view slider finally arrives.

World of Warcraft: Forever's beta runs until Friday

The World of Warcraft: Forever beta, which was due to close on Tuesday, now stays open until Friday, October 23 at 10am PT, Blizzard said on X, as IGN and Eurogamer report. Name reservations for three characters open on Tuesday, October 27, ahead of the game's Wednesday, November 4 launch.

Once Human sets sail on PS5

Isles of Abyss, Once Human's free expansion, arrives on PS5 on October 22 with five ocean regions to explore, per the PlayStation Blog. The basic raft you start with grows into a floating fortress you build and arm yourself, doubling as a mobile base. Resources gathered on the islands upgrade your ship, while diving yields materials for your gear on land.