Microsoft’s $80 video games are now not only a looming menace — The Outer Worlds 2 is the primary Xbox title to hold the hefty price ticket, launching this October.

The Outer Worlds 2’s worth reveal comes shortly after the discharge of Mario Kart World, which is Nintendo’s first $80 sport. These worth hikes will hit players’ wallets and certain make gamers extra selective about attempting video games they’re not sure of.

Solely time will inform whether or not Microsoft can transfer the identical variety of items at the next worth — The Outer Worlds 2 is actually no Grand Theft Auto 6 — however the firm’s technique might not depend on promoting extra copies in any respect.

Xbox’s first-party video games are sometimes included on Sport Go at launch, and The Outer Worlds 2 isn’t any exception. If $80 video games turn out to be the brand new regular for the Xbox model, then the $10 per thirty days subscription service out of the blue appears to be like far more engaging by comparability.

With a slew of video games from the Xbox Showcase arriving on Sport Go on day one, this may very well be a gambit to transform extra players into subscribers.

Microsoft’s Sport Go technique

As beforehand Xbox-exclusive video games proceed to go reside throughout a number of platforms — launching on PlayStation in addition to PC — Microsoft is deprioritizing its console {hardware} gross sales in favor of delivering premium gaming experiences.

Nonetheless, the corporate has an ecosystem of customers to take care of and it might nonetheless be a poor transfer to cede each benefit to Sony. Sport Go is Microsoft’s nice equalizer, as a result of you may’t entry the subscription service on PlayStation consoles (and choosing up PC subscribers is tapping into a wholly totally different a part of the market).

PlayStation players who wish to play the most recent Xbox first-party titles should cough up $80 — a form of exclusivity-lite for these exterior Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Creating Sport Go subscribers gives Microsoft with a gentle stream of gaming income, although, and Xbox and PC players who’re delay by growing AAA sport costs are going to be funnelled towards the digital gaming service.

This can be a nice deal for players, too — the most effective worth propositions in the marketplace proper now. The core Sport Go subscription prices $120 for 12 months (or $144 for PC Sport Go), which suggests you are still getting deal for those who solely get pleasure from two of the Xbox titles that launch on the platform annually.

Microsoft’s showcase simply revealed almost two dozen video games which are coming to Sport Go over the subsequent yr and a half, so odds are good that you can discover at the least a small handful of $80 video games you get pleasure from enjoying that you simply’d have by no means pulled the set off on shopping for in any other case.

Along with the AAA video games touchdown on Sport Go, the subscription service homes among the most critically acclaimed indie darlings of all time, together with Celeste, Lifeless Cells, Stardew Valley and extra. These aren’t your $80 juggernauts, however they pad out the service’s spectacular library (and inflict huge selection paralysis within the course of).

Sport Go was already the most effective offers in gaming. The rise of $80 video games will merely make the service much more engaging.

American Affiliation of Automated Door Producers (AAADM) has joined PASS, the Associate Alliance for Safer Faculties. Based in 2014, PASS is a nationwide group that brings collectively representatives from schooling, public security, and business to advertise efficient use of confirmed safety practices in Okay-12 faculty environments.

Kathleen Carroll, a longtime advocate for the automated door business at each the state and federal ranges, championed AAADM’s involvement with PASS. She emphasizes that automated doorways play a essential function in enabling secure and inclusive entry for all — college students, employees, and guests, together with people with disabilities — with out compromising faculty safety. These doorways could be totally built-in with current safety methods and supply choices similar to distant activation to assist lockdown procedures or managed entry. By balancing accessibility and security, the automated door business is uniquely positioned to assist PASS’s mission of making safe, inclusive studying environments.

PASS’s hottest publication is its “Security and Safety Tips for Okay-12 Faculties.”  Carroll is trying ahead to working with PASS to replace these tips with helpful details about the steps colleges can take to include automated doorways in a way that promotes security for folks contained in the constructing in addition to entry for folks with professional must get inside to attend courses or carry out their jobs.

The Tips doc is powerful, operating greater than 80 pages lengthy. Its greatest observe suggestions are divided by inward-moving perimeters, beginning with district-wide, then grounds and parking heaps for particular person colleges, constructing exteriors, and, lastly, school rooms. Inside every part of the information, there’s an entry management element. It’s right here that AAADM might possible take advantage of affect, significantly because it pertains to constructing exteriors and inside school rooms.

Carroll believes that some faculty directors are reluctant so as to add automated doorways to their buildings as a result of they consider it’ll compromise security. In her view, AAADM is uniquely positioned to clear up this misunderstanding and supply useful data on how automated doorways could be utilized to serve each entry and security objectives.

“Accessibility remains to be a problem in lots of Okay-12 faculty buildings,” stated Carroll. “This impacts not solely college students, but additionally faculty workers and anybody else who makes use of the varsity. Consider grandparents hoping to attend a basketball sport within the gymnasium.”

Along with updates to the Tips doc, Carroll can also be eyeing the event of a white paper on the subject of automated doorways and colleges, which might be made accessible by way of the PASS web site.

Fortnite is celebrating Star Wars in a giant manner as its subsequent season – Galactic Battle – is arriving on Could 2 and can characteristic not solely a Star Wars-themed Battle Move and a five-part saga with loads of surprises, but in addition the arrival of Darth Jar Jar to the Battle Royale.

The stunning but unimaginable information was shared throughout Star Wars Celebration, and we acquired a tease of much more of the Star Wars enjoyable headed our manner subsequent month, together with that Pressure Lightning will probably be becoming a member of the sport as an in-game skill.

Star Wars Themed Battle Move
Weekly Gameplay Content material
Culminating in a Reside Finish of Season Narrative Occasion
Fortnite Galactic Battle arrives Could 2, 2025 pic.twitter.com/JmRStRA2Um

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 20, 2025

It was additionally confirmed that Emperor Palpatine and mashups like Wookiee Cuddle Crew Chief will probably be a part of the Battle Move, new Merchandise Store choices will embrace Mace Windu, gamers will be capable of pilot and co-pilot X-Wings and TIE Fighters, there will probably be themed map places, and way more.

As for the Star Wars saga we will probably be experiencing, every week may have a “completely different overarching theme,” and they’re as follows;

• Imperial Takeover – Could 2, 2025
• The Pull of the Pressure – Could 8, 2025
• Mandalorian Rising – Could 22, 2025
• Star Destroyer Bombardment – Could 29, 2025
• Loss of life Star Sabotage – June 7, 2025

And sure, this saga will culminate in an in-game narrative dwell occasion that can “absolutely have gamers feeling like they have the destiny of the entire galaxy of their palms.”

For extra from Star Wars Celebration, try how The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Sigourney Weaver had Grogu steal her coronary heart, our chat with Hayden Christensen about returning to Anakin, how and all the largest information from The Mandalorian & Grogu, Ahsoka, Andor panels.

Adam Bankhurst is a author for IGN. You possibly can observe him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.