Saturday morning and the Wolfenstein news is the one everyone’s talking about: MachineGames has confirmed the third mainline entry is in active production. No date, no trailer, just a straight confirmation from the studio that made The New Order and The New Colossus. Meanwhile, DOOM: The Dark Ages is dropping a free Slaughter Mode on November 16. Halo’s Firefight is coming back this winter. Spider-Man 2 just got Sony’s new QSSR upscaling on PS5. Xbox turns 25 this week and Microsoft’s giving everyone a personalized history recap. Oh, and the Xbox Live outage is still rolling into day two. Let’s get into it.
The big one
Wolfenstein 3 is officially in production at MachineGames. The studio confirmed it yesterday with no release window and no platforms announced. The team behind The New Order (2014), The Old Blood (2015), The New Colossus (2017), and Youngblood (2019) is building the next mainline Wolfenstein. That’s nearly seven years since The New Colossus and five since Youngblood. MachineGames has been deep on Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which launches December 9, so Wolfenstein 3 has likely been ramping up in parallel. The confirmation came through a financial report from parent company Embracer Group, which noted the project is “in production” alongside Indiana Jones. For a series that defined modern single-player FPS design, this is the news even without a trailer.
MachineGames doesn’t rush. The gap between The New Order and The New Colossus was three years; Youngblood was a co-op spin-off two years after that. If Wolfenstein 3 follows a similar cadence from Indiana Jones’ launch on December 9, we’re looking at a reveal sometime in 2027 and a launch in 2028 or later. The studio has also been hiring for “unannounced AAA” roles throughout 2026. No platform confirmation yet, but every MachineGames title since The New Order has launched day-one on PC and Xbox, with PlayStation versions following: expect the same pattern here. This timeline also means Wolfenstein 3 will likely skip the current console generation’s midpoint and target whatever hardware comes next. Our Wolfenstein 3 production story has the full Embracer Group financial report details.
Also happening
DOOM: The Dark Ages Slaughter Mode arrives free November 16. id Software’s horde-survival mode adds 22 maps, a progression system with 25 ranks, and leaderboards. It’s a post-launch addition, not a separate release: just update the game and it’s there. We covered the Slaughter Mode details including the map list and rank rewards.
Halo: Campaign Evolved Firefight update is free this winter. 343 Industries is bringing the classic wave-based mode to the fan-made Halo: Campaign Evolved project (the one that adds modern features to the original Halo: Combat Evolved). No exact date, but “this winter” puts it before March. Our Halo Firefight story has the 343 Industries blog post source.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 gets QSSR on PS5 Friday. QSSR (Quick-Settle Super-Resolution) is Sony’s new upscaling tech that reduces shimmer and improves temporal stability. Insomniac’s update is live, promising sharper image stability in both Performance and Fidelity modes. It’s the same tech now in Control Resonant, The Finals, ARC Raiders, and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam. We covered Friday’s Spider-Man 2 QSSR update with Insomniac’s technical details.
Xbox 25th Anniversary Collection and Xbox Playback are live. Xbox Playback is a personalized history tool that shows your achievements, most-played games, and gamerscore across all four Xbox generations. Microsoft launched it alongside a merch drop at gear.xbox.com. Available in 15 countries through December 31.
Microsoft outage day two: Xbox Live still affected. The Azure/Entra ID incident that started Thursday continues to hit sign-ins, matchmaking, and store purchases. Microsoft’s next update is slated for 10:30 AM CT today. Our Xbox outage coverage tracks the ongoing status.
Jingle Jam 2026 charity bundle announced. The Yogscast’s annual fundraiser returns December 1 to 14 with Chained Together and Len’s Island as the first confirmed games. More titles and creators to be revealed.
Out today
No major game launches today. The week’s big releases already landed: Metaphor: ReFantazio and Pikmin 4 on Switch 2 (Nov 12), Path of Exile: Covens of Umbra expansion (Nov 13), and 9 Kings 1.0 (Nov 12). Next up: Crusader Kings III: Silk & Silver chapter pack on November 17, then Grand Theft Auto VI on November 19.
Deal of the day
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun for $3.99 on GOG (90% off, was $39.99). Mimimi’s Edo-period stealth tactics game holds an 85 Metacritic and is widely considered the genre’s modern peak. You control a team of five specialists: samurai, shinobi, sniper, trapper, and a child across 13 missions with multiple solutions each. The GOG version is DRM-free. Sale ends November 18. This matches its all-time low on GOG; the Steam version last hit this price in July 2026.
| Platform | Price | Discount | DRM-free |
|---|---|---|---|
| GOG | $3.99 | 90% | Yes |
| Steam | $3.99 (historic low) | 80% | No |
Quick verdict: GOG is the better buy for DRM-free ownership at the same price. Steam only matches this price during major sales.
One more thing
The original Xbox launched November 15, 2001: 25 years ago this Saturday. Halo: Combat Evolved was the launch title, and it turned a box with a green jewel into a platform. Xbox Playback will show you your own history across those 25 years if you sign in. My first achievement? “The Pillar of Autumn” on Halo: CE Anniversary, 2011. What’s yours?
Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report
Comments
Join the discussion What's your earliest Xbox memory — and which Wolfenstein game got you hooked on the series?
Loading comments…