Significant Xbox layoffs imminent, perhaps another studio closure as well

[iamthemilkman]

Booty should've gotten the boot along with Spencer and Bond. I don't understand how games like Kiln and South of Midnight got greenlit. It was obvious from the start that they wouldn't be profitable games.

 

[NovumVeritas]

https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-on-xbox-we-have-to-turn-this-into-a-sustainable-business/

Nadella, also with a comment on this. Seriously, the Xbox brand is just cooked. They don't have any clue what to do with it.

 

[Pearly]

Microsoft always struck me as the company who joined the 'creating a videogame console country club' for the shits and giggles. They're too rich to EVER care about profits or anything that serves the creative art. If they did, it was pure happenstance and the rare moments of striking gold without the conscious thought.

Comes a time where if studios are bought by Microsoft they should KNOW what they're getting into at this point if they accept the deal. Let's stop pretending there's not going to be a second rake to walk into when we've already slammed ourselves hard on the first one.

Bill Gates was actually Jealous of Japan's dominance when it came to video games and vowed to make sure windows could actually run games, which it had a very difficult time doing before a certain point in windows history. He made a serious effort to play up windows 95 being able to run doom by being in an advertisement with a trench coat and a shotgun

It's why he kept pushing Xbox so much as a brand and even clearly oversaw and advertised the Xbox far more than he did anything else in his latter years at Microsoft, he was at store launches for both consoles and went far and beyond anything he did advertising anything else for Microsoft.

I have no idea why he was so hell bent on making sure Microsoft had a dedicated video games related division that seems to have been bleeding money from the beginning and even when Microsoft sent errand boys to Japan to buy out companies to make games exclusively for Xbox, they got laughed out of boardrooms, including one at square enix as how they went about it was so "Here's a bag of cash, now do our bidding!!", that doesn't really fly with Japanese companies, especially not during their peak of raking in cash of the late ps2 era.

I will say the halo 1 remake and forza 6 look really fun. The soundtrack for Forza Horizon 6 seems to be the best since Horizon 1.

 

[Tsukishima]

I will say the halo 1 remake and forza 6 look really fun. The soundtrack for Forza Horizon 6 seems to be the best since Horizon 1.

The Halo 1 remake is something I'm admittedly a little curious on, since it's actually doing something with it like adding new missions, I saw a screenshot about piloting a Spectre and the space missions were to play something like Reach. I loved the atmosphere and hopelessness during those missions of Reach.

But you know, I've never liked 343 Studios and what they did with the franchise Halo 4 onwards. It wasn't Halo to me anymore.
Sometimes we all gotta realize with long running franchises like this, is that the people who made those dreams of ours come true, simply don't work there anymore. The people who still work on them are the misguided people who didn't understand the original intent of the franchise.

 

[Hsp_Kolo_HsP]

Link

This will 100% be either Double Fine or Arkane. Double Fine will have the same cause as Tango GameWorks, not being profitable enough and Arkane has stumbled for the past 5/6 and their Blade game is nowhere to be seen.

 

[BigTony]

They gotta cut the fat its time for Xbox to put their foot down and tell their studios to actually make games. Bethesda in particular is really bad the size of the company has tripled in the last 10 years but their output of games has slowed way down

 

[Vardalis]

They gotta cut the fat its time for Xbox to put their foot down and tell their studios to actually make games. Bethesda in particular is really bad the size of the company has tripled in the last 10 years but their output of games has slowed way down

The whole slowing of output thing seems to be more industry wide, but I completely agree with your point in the Microsoft case. I mean, since they went on that buying spree years ago, how many games have came out from each of the studios they've acquired? Most of them just seem like seriously bad investments, regardless of what you think of the individual studios.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Xbox always destroy their own momentum. Sharma comes in, gets people excited, says Xbox is getting back to its roots, they put on a good show where most, if not all, of the stuff looks really good, and then all of this stuff hits. It happens every single time where it looks like Xbox is trying to course correct.

 

[Pearly]

The Halo 1 remake is something I'm admittedly a little curious on, since it's actually doing something with it like adding new missions, I saw a screenshot about piloting a Spectre and the space missions were to play something like Reach. I loved the atmosphere and hopelessness during those missions of Reach.

But you know, I've never liked 343 Studios and what they did with the franchise Halo 4 onwards. It wasn't Halo to me anymore.
Sometimes we all gotta realize with long running franchises like this, is that the people who made those dreams of ours come true, simply don't work there anymore. The people who still work on them are the misguided people who didn't understand the original intent of the franchise.

Well, they have the blurprints for three great games, 5 if we count reach and ODST, and I'll take expansions of those games any day with QOL upgrades.

I agree 343 suck, I was a massive Halo fan back in the late 2000's I loved halo wars and even had the master chief Hemet edition of 3, got the encyclopedia etc.

Then 4 came out and I was like, only it's decent but their first game so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, then 5 and infinite came out

I was a big fan of the forerunner lore in the bungie games and then bungie made odst and reach instead of starting a new trilogy, some of the concept artwork for their own forerunners in what could have been halo 4 was pretty cool. The halo 4 that never was . 343 just seriously sh*t the bed with their "lore", if we can call it that.

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

The new Gears game looks like a return to form. I'm probably gonna be PC gaming all the way for the foreseeable, but based off of the strengths of their recent showcases, I might consider going Xbox for the next home console.

 

[BigTony]

The whole slowing of output thing seems to be more industry wide, but I completely agree with your point in the Microsoft case. I mean, since they went on that buying spree years ago, how many games have came out from each of the studios they've acquired? Most of them just seem like seriously bad investments, regardless of what you think of the individual studios.

I wonder if it's related to covid this isn't an issue exclusive to games productivity overall still hasn't got to where it was before COVID from my understanding. Also I love your avatar I wanna give him a kiss and a gepgun

 

[Vardalis]

I wonder if it's related to covid this isn't an issue exclusive to games productivity overall still hasn't got to where it was before COVID from my understanding.

I think it's that and this perceived "everything must be more graphically impressive and everything must be live service and have infinite content" thing with the industry now. Where I'm sure a solid six to eight hour single player game with middling graphics that didn't outstay it's welcome would probably make just as much cash as some of these flops or vaporware projects.

 

[hormonemaximum]

south of midnight was fucking awesome. the only reason you didn't hear about it was "being deep in the hobby" these days consists of mostly posting on forums where everyone has the same taste and opening storefronts to see what's under "top selling" every few days.

 

[iamthemilkman]

south of midnight was fucking awesome. the only reason you didn't hear about it was "being deep in the hobby" these days consists of mostly posting on forums where everyone has the same taste and opening storefronts to see what's under "top selling" every few days.

I liked the art direction, setting, and soundtrack. The platforming gameplay was merely serviceable, the combat was mediocre, and the stop motion effect was horrendous. Thankfully, you could disable the effect.

Post automatically merged: Monday at 6:16 PM

It's now being reported that Compulsion's indeed being shut down. Additionally, there's word that Arkane might be the second studio on that chopping block. While I had very little interest in their Blade game, the Dishonored games are some of my favorite immersive sim/stealth games ever. So yeah, that'll suck if that happens since that'll mean that AAA immersive sims are pretty much dead.

 

[iamthemilkman]

• Several Xbox studios, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in negotiations to spin off as they try to thwart closure.
• The studios may have the opportunity to buy themselves back from Xbox and go independent, although many employees will likely lose their jobs.
• The potential closures are part of a broader reorganization being overseen by Xbox's new chief executive officer, Asha Sharma, who is prioritizing the biggest franchises to return to growth.

Link

It looks like Ninja Theory and Double Fine are also potentially getting shutdown if they're unable to spin off like Toys for Bob.

When all is said and done, this is going to be an absolute bloodbath.

EDIT: Ninja Theory's closure confirmed. Unless they're spun off, it appears the newly announced Senua game will never see the light of day.

 

[Kovlak]

Ninja Theory is a wasted studio stuck churning uninspired Senua games.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Ninja Theory is a wasted studio stuck churning uninspired Senua games.

Agree, but at least Senua looked like an actual video game unlike Hellblade 2 which was essentially a walking sim.

It seems like the layoffs are going to massive and industry wide, not just contained to Xbox. Here's what a French journo's saying:

He also hinted at Bioware layoffs or a closure, which definitely wouldn't surprise me. I don't think we're ever getting another Mass Effect. Thankfully, The Expanse and Exodus seem to be doing Mass Effect better than Bioware did with Andromeda. Quantic Dream also doesn't surprise me since that Star Wars game was announced forever ago and we haven't seen anything from it. Their last game, Detroit: Become Human, came out 8 years ago.

 

[Kovlak]

Agree, but at least Senua looked like an actual video game unlike Hellblade 2 which was essentially a walking sim.

It seems like the layoffs are going to massive and industry wide, not just contained to Xbox. Here's what a French journo's saying:
View attachment 198564
He also hinted at Bioware layoffs or a closure, which definitely wouldn't surprise me. I don't think we're ever getting another Mass Effect. Thankfully, The Expanse and Exodus seem to be doing Mass Effect better than Bioware did with Andromeda. Quantic Dream also doesn't surprise me since that Star Wars game was announced forever ago and we haven't seen anything from it. Their last game, Detroit: Become Human, came out 8 years ago.

Yeah, it sounds terrible! So many reputed developers. Sounds like the end of an era. And unfortunately a number of others seem to be on thin ice. Naughty Dog hasn't released a new game this gen and Intergalactic isn't very popular. Sony is bound to step in eventually. Ubisoft...

 

[aquova]

Shutting down your studio less than two weeks after announcing a new game is wild. I wonder if anyone at Xbox was even aware of what some of their studios were up to. I get the feeling they just bought people up left right and center and just assumed that owning the IPs would be a money printing machine. Now the belts are tightening and they're looking around realizing they haven't set a cohesive plan for their studios or even their platform as a whole. On the one hand, I think it's creatively more interesting to not force their studios into the eternal CoD pipeline and let them make what they want, but it sounds like all these studios were releasing titles that had a longshot to being profitable.

I had assumed for a while that the next Xbox would just be a pre-built gaming PC with a default Xbox app; like the console version of a Steam Deck. Now I'm wondering if we'll get a next Xbox at all.

 

[iamthemilkman]

Yeah, it sounds terrible! So many reputed developers. Sounds like the end of an era. And unfortunately a number of others seem to be on thin ice. Naughty Dog hasn't released a new game this gen and Intergalactic isn't very popular. Sony is bound to step in eventually. Ubisoft...

What happened to Ubi? They used to be very competent when it came to milking franchises on a yearly basis. Now they can't even get Prince of Persia remakes and Far Cry games out the door.

 

[Kovlak]

What happened to Ubi? They used to be very competent when it came to milking franchises on a yearly basis. Now they can't even get Prince of Persia remakes and Far Cry games out the door.

And it's a toss if they can even find profit in Assassin's Creed, or if they milked that cow dry.

 

[Vardalis]

I get the feeling they just bought people up left right and center and just assumed that owning the IPs would be a money printing machine. Now the belts are tightening and they're looking around realizing they haven't set a cohesive plan for their studios or even their platform as a whole.

I thought the same thing a while into them buying up any studio they could seemingly get their hands on. I think the strategy was "oh, if we own all of these companies they'll make game pass games for us and basically just give our subscription service infinite additional value". But it doesn't seem like the leadership, direction or general wrangling was there when that sort of initiative would desperately need it.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[iamthemilkman]

Word going around that every Zenimax studio not working on Elder Scrolls and Fallout might be on the chopping block. That means Arkane, id, MachineGames, etc. If true, that would suck since those are 3 of my favorite studios that Xbox has.

 

[Vardalis]

Word going around that every Zenimax studio not working on Elder Scrolls and Fallout might be on the chopping block. That means Arkane, id, MachineGames, etc. If true, that would suck since those are 3 of my favorite studios that Xbox has.
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If they're looking to take a hatchet to something, Blizzard has long overstayed its execution for the most part.