Microsoft's Xbox division has conducted massive layoffs across its studios, with The Coalition (developer of Gears of War: E-Day) largely spared so far. However, staff at the Vancouver-based studio now fear imminent layoffs following recent cuts and the departure of E-Day's story director, with particular concern about missing bonus payouts if cuts occur right after the game's launch.
Gears of War: E-Day is a prequel to the numbered Gears series that showcases cutting-edge Unreal Engine 5 technologies co-developed by The Coalition and Epic Games. The game implements MegaLights for ray-traced direct lighting supporting thousands of dynamic shadow-casting lights, hardware-accelerated Lumen for global illumination, Nanite skinning for high-poly characters, and advanced destruction systems, achieving 60fps on Xbox Series X at ~936p.
Sharon Yang, a Chromium developer, presented at FOSSY 2026 comparing her experiences working on Chrome at Google versus Chromium at Igalia. She highlighted key differences between the enormous corporation (180,000 employees, $400B+ revenue) and the employee-owned cooperative (180 employees), including compensation structures and organizational models, while noting both companies contribute significantly to Chromium development.
Amtrak's new Airo trains will debut on the Cascades route on Sept. 30, with two trainsets making four daily trips between Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and Eugene. Manufactured by Siemens Mobility, the trains feature upgraded seating, accessible bathrooms, power outlets, and USB-C chargers, with six additional trainsets expected by early 2027 as part of Amtrak's largest fleet replacement program in its 50-year history.
Starbucks is closing 250 underperforming stores nationwide, with six locations in Washington state affected. The closures will incur roughly $300 million in restructuring charges and are expected to be completed by end of 2026. The company is also conducting corporate layoffs in its Seattle headquarters amid broader workforce reductions.
Scientists have captured a subduction zone off Vancouver Island actively breaking apart, revealing that these massive tectonic systems die piece by piece rather than all at once. The discovery, made using seismic imaging from the 2021 Cascadia experiment, shows large faults and fractures tearing through the sinking Juan de Fuca and Explorer plates, with one fault creating a five-kilometer offset.
KelpDAO is suing LayerZero and CEO Bryan Pellegrino over a $292 million rsETH bridge exploit allegedly caused by undisclosed risks and a flawed 1-of-1 verifier setup that enabled North Korea-linked hackers to drain 116,500 rsETH. LayerZero denies the allegations and says it will defend the case in Vancouver courts, while KelpDAO migrates users to a safer bridge.