Pixel P&L: Microsoft Teases Next Xbox

Welcome to another Pixel P&L edition. This issue takes 5 minutes to read. If you only have one, here are the 5 most important things:

• Microsoft's next Xbox, codenamed "Project Helix," will play both Xbox and PC games

• Google slashes Play Store fees to 20% in Epic settlement.

• Call of Duty co-founder alleges Activision pushed Iran-Israel war game after studio takeover.

• Nvidia's Jensen Huang claims his company "created the modern videogame industry" at an investor conference.

• Indonesia launches DARA, a counseling platform targeting youth gaming addiction rates 10x the global average.

Let's get into it.

Microsoft's Next Xbox Will Double as a PC Gaming Machine, New Gaming Chief Says

Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console, codenamed "Project Helix," will play both Xbox and PC games, new gaming CEO Asha Sharma announced on X. "Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games," Sharma wrote, weeks after taking over from Sarah Bond, who had described the upcoming console as "a very premium, very high-end curated experience."

The hybrid approach reflects Microsoft's broader effort to straddle console and PC gaming after years of pushing Xbox titles onto rival platforms. Sharma has signaled a course correction, listing the "return of Xbox" as one of her top three priorities and acknowledging fan frustration over the lack of exclusives.

No launch date has been confirmed. AMD suggested in February it could support a 2027 release. Xbox VP Jason Ronald is expected to share more at GDC next week.

Google Cuts Play Store Fees to 20% in Epic Settlement Payout

Google will reduce its Play Store in-app purchase commissions from 30% to 20% under a restructured billing model announced by Sameer Samat, president of the company's Android ecosystem. The change, stemming from its settlement with Epic Games, decouples billing fees from service fees and introduces region-specific rates.

Developers in the U.S., U.K., and European Economic Area will pay an additional 5% service fee on top of the base commission. Those in the Apps Experience or Google Play Games Level Up programs get further reductions: 20% on existing installs and 15% on new ones.

The new rates take effect in the U.S., U.K., and EEA by June 30, 2026, with Australia following in September and Korea and Japan by year-end. A full global rollout is set for September 2027.

Google will also launch an optional sideloading program supporting third-party app stores outside the U.S. first, pending court approval. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed Fortnite will return to Google Play globally and that Android installation will get easier later this year.

Call of Duty Co-Founder Says Activision Pushed Iran-Israel War Game After Studio Takeover

Chance Glasco, a founding developer at Infinity Ward, alleged this week that Activision pressured the studio to build a Call of Duty campaign around Iran attacking Israel following the publisher's takeover of the franchise.

"The vast majority of our devs were disgusted by the idea, and it got shot down," Glasco wrote on X.

The comments came in response to a White House post showing U.S. strikes on Iran overlaid with Call of Duty UI elements, including a minimap and XP notifications. The U.S. and Israel began coordinated attacks on Iran last weekend in an operation estimated to have killed at least 1,230 people.

Activision fired Infinity Ward's founders in 2010 over alleged insubordination, after which Jason West and the late Vince Zampella formed Respawn Entertainment.

Glasco also defended the franchise's "No Russian" mission, saying early Call of Duty games were designed to make players feel the weight of war, not celebrate it.

⚡️Quick Bytes

New Publisher Launches to Support VR Game Developers

A new VR publisher launched Wednesday with a bet that indie studios can outlast the industry's current downturn. Evolution Publishing, founded by Kevin Joyce, will fund developers through revenue-share agreements, taking no equity or IP ownership. Joyce sees Meta's pivot away from VR content as an opening for indie developers to gain store visibility, even as Reality Labs posted a $19.2 billion loss in 2025.

Nvidia's Huang Claims Credit for Modern Gaming at Morgan Stanley Conference

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told attendees at the Morgan Stanley Media and Telecom Conference that his company "created the modern videogame industry," citing its 3D graphics algorithms, game engine integrations, and GPU architecture as foundational to contemporary game development. Huang noted Nvidia's technology runs throughout Epic's Unreal Engine, while acknowledging the claim invites debate given gaming's pre-Nvidia origins.

Baldur's Gate 3 Star Jennifer English Says AI Casting Would Strip the Humanity That Makes RPGs Worth Playing

Jennifer English, who voiced characters in Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, called replacing actors with AI "dumb as hell" in a Radio Times podcast. The RPGs are beloved precisely because human performers "infuse" their own stories into them, she said. "Don't replace humans with AI. I find it all a bit embarrassing and stupid, frankly."

Indonesia Launches Online Counseling Platform to Combat Youth Gaming Addiction

Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs launched DARA, a web-based platform offering counseling and educational resources to address gaming addiction in children. The move follows domestic research showing 33% to 39% of Indonesian high school students experience moderate to severe gaming addiction, far above the global average of under 3%. DARA includes a diagnostic chatbot and referrals to professional counselors.

⚔️Side Quest

🤣Laugh:

📺 Listen: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel on Mewgenics is a candid post-launch breakdown from two developers whose six-year cat-breeding strategy game sold a million copies in its first week. The most useful stretch is their dissection of the traditional publishing model as a "pitch cycle" that traps developers financially, and why they self-publish instead.  

🎮 Play: Equinox: Homecoming is the horse game that the genre has needed for years, and it's not finished yet. Early Access, placeholder assets, saddle clipping issues and all. But the story holds up, the devs ship updates consistently, and the demo's first chapter is free. For anyone who's watched a dozen promising horse games die in development, this one has a different feel. Try the demo before writing it off.

📚 Read: Frank Lantz asks why five years of generative AI hype has produced almost no games worth playing in his latest. He runs through the usual suspects (bad business models, gamer backlash) before landing on the more interesting argument: LLMs aren't intrinsically fun because fun comes from simple, deterministic rules generating emergent complexity, not from starting with complexity already baked in. "A stick is fun. A ball is fun." Short, sharp, and the best explanation yet for why AI Dungeon never became the future of anything.

💡Did You Know

More than 800 players took an exam to beat a 1987 adventure game, only two passed. Last Saturday, developer Woe Industries administered the first "Adventure Game Aptitude Test," a proctored exam where players had four hours to beat Lucasfilm Games' Maniac Mansion without a walkthrough. Participants didn't know the game in advance and were monitored via webcam for cheating. Of 831 registered attempts, two passed. That's a 0.24% pass rate. One test-taker was disqualified for cheating, another for starting late. Two others submitted Fallout 4 screenshots instead of a win screen. Woe Industries confessed they ran practice sessions while building the site and "are definitely not AGAT certified gamers."

📜 Quote of the Day

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