When it was first announced, the PlayStation Portal was sort of a joke. The Nintendo Switch was a megahit, and many PlayStation fans had long hoped Sony would respond with a new handheld of its own. It did… in the form of a $200 peripheral that can only stream games over the internet and required you to already own a PlayStation 5.
Nintendo has been a bit more focused on mobile apps in recent years, having released the likes of Nintendo Today! and Nintendo Music (not to mention games like
Slowly but surely, Sony has been transforming the initially limited PlayStation Portal into a viable handheld for PS5 gamers, albeit only those with a solid internet connection.
The last 12 months have been pretty depressing for anyone invested in the long-term future of Xbox and the general health of the games industry.
Players aren't the only ones facing higher price tags from Xbox. According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft has upped the cost of the Xbox Development Kit from $1,500 to $2,000. That's a 33 percent jump in cost for these custom hardware kits, which are essential for devs to make and test games for release on the console.
It's that time of year when trick-or-treaters are finalizing their costumes and horror movie streaming service Shudder surely sees an uptick in usage.
Xbox is at a crossroads. While the PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 continue to gain popularity, multiple price hikes for the Xbox Series S and X have killed their momentum.
It’s been quite the week for Xbox news. A lot of people are still coming to terms with Microsoft's veritable gut-punch of an announcement that the price of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription is about to soar by 50 percent.
A few years ago, Microsoft offered some of the best deals in gaming. The spartan Xbox Series S was well-priced at $300 (and you could often find it even cheaper if you hunted for deals). A $15 monthly subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offered a vast catalog of games new and old. But my, how things have changed in 2025.
Here are all the games Microsoft added to Game Pass today, including a whole lot of Assassin's Creed
Xbox owners got a bit of a nasty surprise thanks to Microsoft’s sudden announcement today that the monthly cost of a Game Pass Ultimate subscription is getting a 50 percent increase. The new $30 monthly price, up from $20, is going to really sting for a lot of people, especially with no cheaper annual or quarterly options offered.