Video game news digest: Saturday, October 24, 2026

Microsoft gives Arkane Lyon one more month to find a buyer, Xbox loses its chief operating officer and Shigeru Miyamoto becomes the first game creator to receive the Order of Culture. Friday also brought news on WoW: Forever, Titan Quest II and Steam.

Arkane Lyon gets one more month to find a buyer

Microsoft has extended the consultation with Arkane Lyon's works council by one month while it looks for a partner to support the studio through the development of Marvel's Blade, the publisher told PC Gamer. According to Le Monde, management told the Dishonored and Deathloop studio's 217 employees on July 16 that it intended to close it, and the search for a buyer was due to end on November 13. Internal documents cited by the newspaper schedule a complete shutdown from the end of 2026 through the first quarter of 2027. Microsoft says those documents are part of the required process and do not represent a final decision. The STJV and Printemps Écologique unions still hope to save the studio and its jobs.

Helen Chiang leaves Xbox's COO role after three months

Helen Chiang, named Xbox's first chief operating officer in July, is leaving Microsoft, according to an internal memo from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma seen by The Verge. She spent 21 years at the company and led Minecraft before that promotion. Her duties are being split among other Xbox leaders, with more on the COO role to come once plans are finalized. Microsoft did not explain the exit: "We don't discuss individual personnel matters," its communications team said.

Shigeru Miyamoto receives Japan's highest cultural honor

The creator of Mario and Zelda is one of eight 2026 recipients of the Order of Culture, announced by the Japanese government on October 23, Gamekult and GamesIndustry.biz report. No video game creator had received the decoration, established in 1937, before him. The Emperor is set to present it on Tuesday, November 3, Japan's Culture Day. "As I have often said, these achievements were not the work of one person, but the result of collaboration with many others. I accept this honour on their behalf," Miyamoto said.

WoW: Forever will reshuffle players less at launch

Blizzard is reworking World of Warcraft: Forever's layering, which runs several copies of the world side by side to avoid overcrowding, ahead of launch, the studio told GameSpot. During the beta, players were split from the people around them after boat or zeppelin rides, and large groups scattered when entering or leaving capital cities. Both cases are being fixed, so you'll stay with the players you rode with once the loading screen ends. Blizzard warns some layering will remain, but promises more improvements after release.

Titan Quest II adds a final chapter and endgame in 1.0

For its 1.0 release on Tuesday, January 19, 2027, Titan Quest II adds a fifth and final chapter in the Taygetos Mountains, where you'll cut through an army of Cyclopes and Automatons to kill Nemesis (Grimlore Games' roadmap). Once the campaign is done, you can switch on Kaos Curses of your choice that buff enemies or weaken you, in exchange for better rewards. Rare and Infrequent items will roll up to six affixes instead of four, and Epic Armors join the loot pool. That same day, the action RPG leaves early access on PC and also launches on PS5 and Xbox Series, as its game page lays out.

Steam's Personal Calendar becomes a permanent feature

First launched as a Steam Labs experiment in October 2025, the Personal Calendar is now a full part of the store, reachable from its front page, Valve announced. It shows recent releases and games due over the next eight weeks, picked from the games you play most and what players with similar habits wishlist. Recommendations are retrained daily.