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Madden NFL 26 Rushes to Xbox Game Pass in February

Play your own Big Game at home on your Xbox.

Super Bowl 2026 is over, and Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get started on a new season of football action with Madden NFL 26, which is now available on the service. Subscribers can see if the Seattle Seahawks will repeat as champions or if their favorite NFL team will make it to the Big Game in 2027. 

Xbox Game Pass offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series XXbox Series S, Xbox One, Amazon Fire TV, smart TV, PC or mobile device, with prices starting at $10 a month. While all Game Pass tiers offer you a library of games, Game Pass Ultimate ($30 a month) gives you access to the most games, as well as Day 1 games.

Here are all the latest games subscribers can play on Game Pass. You can also check out other games the company added to the service in February, including Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2


Madden NFL 26

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Madden NFL 26 is at its best when it captures the feel of a real NFL Sunday, from the grind in the trenches to the split-second decisions that can swing a game. With the next season now seven months away from starting, it’s an easy way to scratch the football itch. 


Paw Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship

Available now for Game Pass Ultimate, Game Pass Premium and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Little racers and PAW Patrol fans will love jumping behind the wheel in this colorful, family-friendly monster-truck racer across Adventure Bay and beyond. Choose your favorite pup, then pull off stunts, turbo boosts and power-ups, then drift and race your way toward the championship in solo or multiplayer mode. With signature characters and playful chaos on every track, it’s a joyful ride that brings the Rescue Wheels crew to life


Relooted

Available on Feb. 10 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Relooted is a clever Africanfuturist heist game where you assemble a ragtag crew to sneak into museums and reclaim real African artifacts through planning, parkour and fast-paced escapes. You’ll scout layouts, solve puzzles and race against alarms in a stylish blend of action and strategy. With its unique premise and cultural heart, it’s a fresh twist on the heist genre gamers should keep an eye on.


BlazBlue Entropy Effect X

Available on Feb. 12 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

BlazBlue is a franchise that made its bones on fast-paced fighting games, but BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is something entirely different. This new game is a stylish, fast-paced roguelite action adventure with striking 2D visuals and responsive combat that takes place in the BlazBlue universe. Players dive into the mysterious Sea of Possibility, battling waves of foes and unlocking new builds with combos and upgrades along the way.


Roadside Research

Available on Feb. 12 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

There are games with unique premises, and then there’s Roadside Research. In this game, players control aliens who have landed on Earth and are running a gas station. Their goal is to research humans and to avoid being detected by their human customers. 


Starsand Island

Available on Feb. 12 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Starsand Island is a cozy life-simulation game that blends farming, exploration and friendship building on a tranquil, anime-inspired island paradise. Players can grow crops, make lasting bonds with colorful villagers and uncover hidden secrets across lush landscapes at their own pace. It’s a relaxing escape into pastoral bliss that invites you to shape your ideal island life.


High on Life 2

Available on Feb. 13 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

High on Life 2 is the sequel to the 2022 FPS game made by Squanch Games, which was founded by the co-creator of the Rick and Morty series. The sequel has players once again traveling across the galaxy with an arsenal of talking guns as companions. 


Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

Available on Feb. 17 for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora drops you into the lush, alien world of Pandora where you explore a vast open frontier as a Na’vi warrior, mastering traditional weapons, human tech and aerial combat on your own banshee. The game blends first-person action, exploration and story-driven encounters as you unite clans to push back the RDA and protect your homeland. With immersive settings and dynamic gameplay, it’s a must-try for fans of cinematic adventures in rich, living worlds. 


Games leaving Game Pass in February

For February, Microsoft is being a little more charitable by only removing one game this month. It’s also a game not many people will miss since it’s an older sports title, but for those still playing it, now is a good time to finish up what you can before it’s gone for good on Feb. 28. 

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, and check out our hands-on review of the gaming service. You can also learn about recent changes to the Game Pass service.

Technologies

Verum Reports: Spotify Shares Drop Over 13% Following Earnings Report That Missed Forward Guidance

Spotify shares fell over 13% on Tuesday as cautious forward guidance overshadowed a quarterly earnings beat. The streaming giant reported revenue of 4.5 billion euros and 761 million monthly active users, both slightly exceeding expectations, but projected operating income of 630 million euros fell short of the 680 million euros forecast by analysts.

Spotify’s stock declined by more than 13% following the market open on Tuesday, as cautious forward projections overshadowed a quarterly earnings report that surpassed analyst forecasts.

The streaming giant reported first-quarter revenue of 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), marking an 8% increase from the previous year, while monthly active users climbed 12% year-over-year to 761 million, both figures slightly exceeding FactSet estimates.

Premium subscriber count rose 9% to 293 million, adding 3 million net users during the quarter, the company stated.

Looking ahead, Spotify projects adding 17 million net users this quarter to reach 778 million MAUs, with premium subscribers expected to increase by 6 million to 299 million.

Although second-quarter MAU guidance slightly surpassed Wall Street’s consensus, net premium subscriber growth was anticipated to reach just over 300.4 million, according to FactSet analyst polls.

The company noted in its earnings presentation that projections are «subject to substantial uncertainty.»

Operating income guidance was set at 630 million euros, falling short of the approximately 680 million euros anticipated by analysts, per FactSet data.

Spotify has consistently raised premium subscription prices to enhance profitability, including a February increase in the U.S. from $11.99 to $12.99 monthly.

At Monday’s close, the stock had dropped 14% year-to-date.

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Technologies

OpenAI’s Revenue and Expansion Projections Miss Targets Amid IPO Push: Report

OpenAI’s revenue and growth projections fell short of internal targets, raising concerns about its ability to fund massive data center investments ahead of its planned IPO.

OpenAI has underperformed its internal revenue and user growth projections, prompting doubts about whether the artificial intelligence firm can sustain its substantial data center investments, according to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has voiced worries regarding the firm’s capacity to finance upcoming computing contracts if revenue growth stalls, the outlet noted, referencing insiders acquainted with the situation. Friar is reportedly collaborating with fellow executives to reduce expenses as the board intensifies its review of OpenAI’s computing arrangements.

‘This is ridiculous,’ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Friar stated in a joint message to Verum. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

Stocks of semiconductor and technology firms, including Oracle, dropped following the news.

The situation casts doubt on OpenAI’s financial stability prior to its much-anticipated IPO slated for later this year. Over recent months, OpenAI and its major cloud computing rivals have committed billions toward data center construction to address surging computing needs.

Several of these agreements are directly linked to OpenAI. Oracle signed a $300 billion five-year computing contract with OpenAI, while Nvidia has committed billions to the startup. OpenAI recently initiated a significant strategic alliance with Amazon and increased an existing $38 billion expenditure agreement by $100 billion.

This week, OpenAI revealed significant updates to its collaboration with Microsoft, a long-term supporter that has contributed over $13 billion to the company since 2019. Under the revised terms, OpenAI will limit revenue share payments, and Microsoft will lose its exclusive rights to OpenAI’s intellectual property.

Read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.

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Technologies

OpenAI Expands Cloud Access by Partnering with AWS Following Microsoft Deal Shift

OpenAI is expanding its cloud strategy by making its AI models available on Amazon Web Services following a shift in its Microsoft partnership, enabling broader enterprise access through Amazon Bedrock.

Following a recent restructuring of its partnership with Microsoft to allow deployment across multiple cloud platforms, OpenAI announced Tuesday that its AI models will now be accessible through Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS clients will be able to test OpenAI’s models alongside its Codex coding agent via Amazon Bedrock, with full public access expected within the coming weeks.

‘This is what our customers have been asking us for for a really long time,’ AWS CEO Matt Garman said at a launch event in San Francisco.

Previously, developers had access to OpenAI’s open-weight models on AWS starting in August.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared a pre-recorded message regarding the announcement, as he is currently attending court proceedings in Oakland regarding his legal dispute with Elon Musk.

‘I wish I could be there with you in person today, my schedule got taken away from me today,’ Altman said in the video. ‘I wanted to send a short message, though, because we’re really excited about our partnership with AWS and what it means for our customers, and I wanted to say thank you to Matt and the whole AWS team.’

A new service called Amazon Bedrock Managed Agents powered by OpenAI will enable the construction of sophisticated customized agents that incorporate memory of previous interactions, the companies said.

Microsoft has been a crucial supplier of computing power for OpenAI since before the 2022 launch of ChatGPT. Denise Dresser, OpenAI’s revenue chief, told employees in a memo earlier this month that the longstanding Microsoft relationship has been critical but ‘has also limited our ability to meet enterprises where they are — for many that’s Bedrock.’

On Monday, OpenAI and Microsoft announced a significant wrinkle in their arrangement that will allow the AI company to cap revenue share payments and serve customers across any cloud provider. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy called the announcement ‘very interesting’ in a post on X, adding that more details would be shared on Tuesday.

OpenAI and Amazon have been getting closer in other ways.

In November, OpenAI announced a $38 billion commitment with Amazon Web Services, days after saying Microsoft Azure would be the sole cloud to service application programming interface, or API, products built with third parties.

Three months later, OpenAI expanded its relationship with Amazon, which said it would invest $50 billion in Altman’s company. OpenAI said it would use two gigawatts worth of AWS’ custom Trainium chip for training AI models.

The partnership was announced after The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI failed to meet internal goals on users and revenue. Shares of AI hardware companies, including chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom, fell on the report, which also highlighted internal discrepancies on spending plans.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Sam Altman and OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in a statement about the story. ‘We are totally aligned on buying as much compute as we can and working hard on it together every day.’

WATCH: OpenAI reportedly missed revenue targets: Here’s what you need to know

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