Xbox February Updates Bring Wolfenstein Rumors, Cloud Gaming Boosts, and Game Pass Changes

​Xbox has been keeping busy over the past week, and there's a lot to catch up on. From new game announcements to updates on console features, there's something for pretty much every Xbox fan. First off, we'll go over one of the biggest rumors floating around: Wolfenstein 3. According to a report from MP First, a casting call for a project called Codename Valkyrie has surfaced. This could be our first glimpse at what might be coming next in the franchise.

The project appears to involve two names you might recognize from Machine Games: performance director Tom Keegan and casting director Emily Schweber. Keegan's experience includes directing performances for the cast of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, so seeing him return is promising.

According to what has been revealed, the story appears to revolve around Sophia, an 8–11-year-old Ukrainian orphan who develops a relationship with William Blasovitz, the series' main character. Despite being described as having war-related trauma, which makes her wary and suspicious, Sophia is ultimately shown as a strong survivor. Although the studio hasn't officially confirmed it yet, it appears that the Wolfenstein trilogy may be nearing completion.

Moving on from potential new releases, there's also been some executive-level news.

After a video surfaced showing Phil Spencer introducing Asha Sharma as the new CEO for Xbox, it's clear there's a lot of respect for Spencer within Team Xbox and Microsoft as a whole. Sharma is now stepping into her new role, and the video shows a warm welcome from employees and appreciation for Spencer's contributions over the last 12 years. It's a new chapter for Xbox leadership, and it'll be interesting to see how things evolve under her guidance.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection got a surprise update for both Xbox consoles and PCs in a gameplay update. The main goal was to improve the Exchange feature, which lets players earn Spartan points and unlock gear customizations. This update makes almost all of the Exchange content available forever, so you don't have to worry about missing items because of time limits.

A few remaining limited drops will appear on quarterly rotations, so you'll want to check in occasionally if you're chasing specific items. The patch notes also note that some rare customization items, which had only appeared once in the past, will now be gifted to anyone who logs into the game. If you're a Halo fan, that's definitely worth a login.

Of course, the big news for February 2026 is the Xbox update itself, which rolled out across consoles, PCs, and handheld devices.

The update includes higher-resolution streaming for Xbox Cloud Gaming on consoles, new navigation sounds for the Xbox PC app, and improvements to the ROG Xbox Ally experience. The most notable feature is the new 1440p streaming option on Xbox Series X and S consoles, as well as Xbox One consoles, for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. This version is a significant upgrade for cloud gaming, especially since 1440p was previously limited to PC and mobile. If you've tried cloud gaming on a console before, this should make a noticeable difference.

In addition to improvements to cloud gaming, Xbox has also added the console's navigation sounds to PC and handheld devices. This makes the experience feel more consistent across all platforms. For Xbox ROG Alloy devices, there's now an advanced shader delivery indicator that shows whether shaders for supported games were precompiled during the loading screen. Beyond these main features, the update includes new games for handheld compatibility, Xbox Play Anywhere editions, more Stream Your Game titles, more games for mouse and keyboard support, and updates for Xbox Retro Classics.

For game releases, last week marked the first Xbox Game Studios release of 2026 with Towerbone officially leaving Early Access. The game has been reworked extensively and transitioned from a free-to-play title to a paid release priced at $25, or about 20 pounds in the UK. It now functions fully offline but still supports online co-op if you want it.

Towerbone is a side-scrolling action RPG from Stoic, the studio behind Banner Saga.

You can play solo or with up to three friends in a story campaign where you defend the belfry and fight back the corruption threatening humanity. The full 1.0 release includes a comprehensive campaign, new bosses, and an improved leveling system, which addresses issues many players had with the Early Access version. Towerbone is available now on Game Pass for Ultimate, Premium, and PC users, and it’s well worth checking out.

Speaking of Game Pass, some helpful new features are coming to the Microsoft Store. You'll soon be able to sort games by discount from high to low, which makes it easier to find the best deals on sale. There's also a most-wishlisted tab that shows the games players have been adding to their wishlists the most. It might seem small, but this makes browsing the store much more convenient for anyone looking for new games.

On the news front for older releases, Final Fantasy 7 Remake has been receiving praise for its Xbox launch.

Co-director Hamaguchi Son shared that both the Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S versions launched strongly, with high rankings on digital storefronts and physical copies selling out at major retailers. This is encouraging news for fans, especially after the softer-than-expected launch of FF7 Rebirth on PS5. Hopefully, the Xbox release of Rebirth will see similar success.

There's also news about upcoming departures from Game Pass. Six games are leaving in early March 2026, including Enter the Dungeon and an older F1 title, F1 23. Bratz Rhythm and Style is also on the list, which is surprising since it only joined Game Pass in December, so it's unclear if that’s an error.

Wave one of March's new Game Pass titles is expected to be announced soon, so keeping an eye out will make sure you don't miss any additions.

It's been a busy but fun week for Xbox overall. There are a lot of things to keep track of, like possible new games like Wolfenstein 3, updates to old games like Halo, big improvements to cloud gaming and console features, and changes to Game Pass. The Xbox ecosystem seldom disappoints, and this time is no different, whether you're checking out the new Towerbone release, streaming in 1440p, or logging in to get rare Halo items.