In 2022, 269,737 Xbox Series X|S consoles were sold in Japan. This brings the total number of units sold since launch to 398,395 and also makes it clear that last year was the most successful one for the current Xbox console generation.

It’s worth noting that this report makes no distinction between the premium Xbox Series X console and the more wallet-friendly Xbox Series S. Sales of both are conflated.

Compared to the rival video game consoles, Microsoft’s Xbox consoles came in third behind Nintendo’s Switch (4,804,546) and Sony’s PlayStation 5 (1,154,054) and beat out sales of the last-gen PlayStation 4 (22,823) and Nintendo 3DS (10,449) consoles.

While the Switch and PS5 clearly outsold Xbox Series X|S consoles overall in 2022, the Xbox consoles did, on occasion, sell better than the PS5.

The change was officially announced earlier this week as part of a 2022-2023 financial report released by Ubisoft.

“The additional time has already paid off and brought impressive improvements to its quality, which has been confirmed by recent playtests,” the passage in the report relating to Skull and Bones reads. “We believe players will be positively surprised by its evolution. We have decided to postpone its release in order to have more time to showcase a much more polished and balanced experience and to build awareness. Skull and Bones will now be released early 2023-24.”

An upcoming beta testing period for Skull and Bones was also mentioned though such a test was always expected pre-launch given the online nature of the video game.

Are you disappointed by the constant Skull and Bones delays? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below.

The first volume will feature 432 pages focusing on key art from the game’s opening movie in addition to concept and development art relating to Elden Ring’s open-world, dungeons, characters, and armors.

The second Elden Ring art book will have 384 pages and will focus on the game’s villains, weapons, and items.

While the official cover artwork for each volume has yet to be added to Amazon listings for each volume, a look at both the covers and interior artwork can be seen on the Amazon Japan listings as both the first and second Elden Ring art books have already been released in Japan.

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The Oreo cookies are being made with cookie designs showing the Xbox logo, the ABXY controller buttons, and the D-pad directional arrow. All cookies within a pack can be rearranged to form a code which can then be entered on the official Oreo Xbox website. If entered correctly, correct codes will unlock Oreo-themed skins in Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, or Sea of Thieves and can also reward participants with a variety of real-world prizes ranging from Game Pass subscriptions and Xbox consoles to an actual trip for an entire family.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has collaborated with Oreo. Back in 2019, the tech giant released an Xbox One X console with an Oreo cream-inspired skin.

After installing this update, Telegram users will be able to hide list members from others, upload custom photos for contacts, and customize privacy settings for profile photos.

Here’s the release notes:

Hidden Media

• Media with spoiler effects. You can wrap photos and videos you send in a fuzzy cover by selecting media in the attachment menu and tapping (⋯) > Hide With Spoiler.

Profile Pictures for Your Contacts

• Setting pictures for your contacts. You can choose your own picture for a contact – only you will see it on their profile.
• Suggested profile pictures. When editing your contacts, you can suggest a photo for their profile. It will take them just two clicks to add the picture you suggested.
• Public profile pictures. If you only allow certain users to see your profile photos, you can set a public picture for everyone else.
• Ultimate profile picture privacy. You can set Who can see my profile photos to Nobody and add some users or groups as exceptions.

Hiding Members in Large Groups

• Member list privacy. Owners of large groups can hide the list of members.

In addition to these Windows app changes, a variety of new features and functions have also been added to both the Android and iOS Telegram apps. You can read all about those here.

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Telegram Messenger (Free, Microsoft Store) →

A total of 17 free items are available to claim with the deadline to claim them all being January 3rd 2023. Given that all of the items are Christmas themed, it’s worth claiming most of them now so that they can be used in-game during the actual Christmas season.

Note that some will continue to unlock on a daily basis until they’re all unlocked so if you’re unable to unwrap all of the presents, simply check back in daily to claim them.

The free items range from wraps and backblings to entire new outfits and all of the items are exclusive to this year’s Cozy Lodge and won’t be made available to purchase at a later date.

In addition to all of the Winterfest 2022 items, an additional Christmas outfit, Gruff Gringle, can also be claimed by opening Fortnite via the Epic Games launcher on Windows PC.

Fortnite isn’t the only video game getting festive right now. Halo Infinite and Overwatch 2 also currently have Christmas events running and a variety of free items for players to claim.

Fortnite (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Fortnite - Polar Legends Pack (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Fortnite - Frozen Legends Pack (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Simply logging into Overwatch 2 will unlock the Festive Wreath weapon charm and 2023 player icon items. A number of additional festive items can also be unlocked for free by completing several in-game challenges. One such item is the Ice Queen Epic Brigitte skin which makes its debut during this event.

Another skin debuting in the game this week is the Legendary Gingerbread Bastion skin (see top image) which can be purchased in-game for just one Overwatch coin.

In addition to new items and skins, four special modes, Mei’s Snowball Offensive, Yeti Hunter, Snowball Deathmatch, and Freeze Thaw Elimination are now live and playable until the end of Winter Wonderland 2022.

Overwatch 2 launched a few months ago in October and, while its launch was plagued by several issues, things mostly seem to be going well nowadays.

Overwatch® 2 (Free, Microsoft Store) →

A Standard and Deluxe Edition are available on Microsoft’s Xbox Series X family of consoles. Pre-ordering either will also unlock an exclusive DLC pack of cosmetics inspired by Star Wars icon, Obi-Wan Kenobi, called the Jedi Survival Cosmetic Pack.

The Jedi Survival Cosmetic Pack includes the Hermit outfit, the Hermit Lightsaber Set, and the Combustion Blaster Set. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will feature both blaster and lightsaber customisation so these aren’t just basic skins for the weapons but likely a collection of numerous aspects that can be selected or deselected to fully change the appearance of the main weapons.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Deluxe Edition also includes two DLC packs with content inspired by Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The Galactic Hero Cosmetic Pack features the Scoundrel outfit and Rugged BD-1 design plus the DL-44 Blaster Set while the New Hero Cosmetic Pack includes the Luke Skywalker New Hero outfit, the BD-Astro BD-1 Cosmetic, and the Rebel Hero Lightsaber Set.

Here’s what each item looks like:

In addition to the Standard and Deluxe Editions, a special Collector’s Edition is also available. This collectible is limited to just 1,500 copies for the Xbox Series X version, will set fans back $299.99, and is expected out after the game’s release.

The Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Collector’s Edition will likely prove popular though as it includes a replica of Cal’s lightsaber, a box to hold it in, and a steelbook.

A new trailer featuring Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gameplay footage was also released today. Check it out below:

Are you excited for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor? Let us know which version you’re planning to pre-order in the comments below and then follow us on Twitter for more Xbox news.

STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor Standard Edition (Free, Microsoft Store) →

STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor Deluxe Edition (Free, Microsoft Store) →

Mention of this major news is noticeably absent from the official Gwent website and social channels though IGN did reach out for a comment from CD Projekt Red.

“When it comes to Gwent and its community, I would like to say that this is not the end and that we have another great year (and more) ahead of us,” Paweł Burza, CD Projekt Red’s senior communications manager, informed IGN.

While official tournaments and new card additions will cease by the end of 2023, the game itself won’t go completely offline. Instead, it seems as if the aim is to get Gwent into a perfect state by 2024 so that it can simply exist as is. The servers will remain online indefinitely for players to use and a small number of staff will remain invested in the title to deal with any major technical issues that arise.

This is actually pretty similar to what happened with Star Wars Battlefront II with its last batch of updates intended to fill out the character roster and locations to add enough content for fans to continue playing. Even though Battlefront II hasn’t received any new content for a few years now, it’s still incredibly active on both Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

Gwent originally launched in a beta testing phase in 2016 on Xbox One consoles and in 2017 on Windows PC via a Microsoft Store version of the game that featured full cross-play with the console version. Unfortunately, but the end of 2019, both of these versions shut down as the game transitioned to Android and iOS tablets and smartphones and a new PC version that was disconnected from the Xbox ecosystem.

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“Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King,” Spencer tweeted from his personal account. “Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play.”

A follow-up tweet also announced that Microsoft would continue to release Call of Duty video games on the Steam marketplace for those playing on PCs. Again, if the proposed merger with Activision Blizzard King goes through.

Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to @Nintendo following the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King.  Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people – however they choose to play. @ATVI_AB

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022

Microsoft has already confirmed that Call of Duty titles would continue to release on Sony’s PlayStation consoles for the near future. Though a 10-year deal, like that announced today for Nintendo, hasn’t been made yet.

“Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before,” Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith, tweeted soon after Spencer’s above tweets. “That’s good for competition and good for consumers. Thank you Nintendo. Any day Sony wants to sit down and talk, we’ll be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well.”

Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before. That's good for competition and good for consumers. Thank you @Nintendo. Any day @Sony wants to sit down and talk, we'll be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well. https://t.co/m1IQxdeo6n

— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) December 7, 2022

While there are clearly numerous gamers who are happy to hear this news for both Steam and Nintendo support, it’s clear that these announcements were made more to prove to the FTC that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision wouldn’t be the apocalyptic monopoly that some critics fear.

Currently, the FTC is still undecided on whether to approve the acquisition though, at least as of yesterday, it does seem as though it could be approved if some concessions are made. Stay tuned.