TECH NEWS

Xbox weighs canceling Blade game and shuttering Arkane

Microsoft is set to announce a wave of layoffs for its Xbox studios and employees next week. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the layoffs will lead to studio closures or spinoffs, potential mergers of studios, and canceled games.

I understand Microsoft is currently weighing closing at least five studios, including the developers behind Marvel’s Blade. Sources tell me Microsoft wants to cancel Blade as part of a wave of cost cuts and job losses that are planned for the company’s Xbox gaming division.

Developed by France-based Arkane Studios, best-known for the Dishonored series, Blade was originally supposed to debut later this year according to sources familiar with the game’s development. I’m told the internal ship date for the game slipped to late 2027, and it’s also running over budget.

While Microsoft is weighing canceling Blade, it’s also exploring options to sell Arkane Studios. Bloomberg...

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Source: OpenAI engineers earlier this month told some colleagues they had figured out a way to more than halve the cost of inference

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https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/06/x-hosted-mcp-server-ai-tools-api.avif

X launches hosted MCP server so AI tools can plug into its API directly

TL;DR X now offers a hosted MCP server that lets AI tools like Claude and Cursor connect to its API directly, joining GitHub, Slack, and Stripe in the MCP wave. X has launched a hosted Model Context Protocol server that lets AI tools like Claude, Cursor, and Grok Build

https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/06/etched-800-million-jane-street-tsmc-inference-chip.avif

Nvidia rival Etched raises $800M with backing from Jane Street and a TSMC-linked fund

TL;DR AI chip startup Etched has raised $800M backed by Jane Street and a TSMC-linked fund, with one billion dollars in sales contracts and summer shipments planned. AI chip startup Etched has raised $800 million and revealed that its backers include trading firm Jane Street and VentureTech Alliance, a

https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/06/online-shopping.avif

AI shopping just beat search at its own game on Prime Day

Amazon built Prime Day to keep shoppers inside its own marketplace. This year, AI shopping sent its best customers in from outside: a chatbot made the recommendation. US shoppers spent a record $26.4bn across retail sites during the four-day Prime Day event, according to Adobe Analytics. The more interesting

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Source: OpenAI engineers earlier this month told some colleagues they had figured out a way to more than halve the cost of inference

X launches hosted MCP server so AI tools can plug into its API directly

Nvidia rival Etched raises $800M with backing from Jane Street and a TSMC-linked fund

AI shopping just beat search at its own game on Prime Day