Xbox plans to cut 3,200 jobs as part of a major restructure, and will divest of five studios.
Double Fine Productions (Keeper) and Compulsion Games (South of Midnight) will return to independence. Both studios have been given runway funding by Microsoft to help begin their next projects while they seek additional financing. These studios will retain all their IP and their back catalogue.
Developers Ninja Theory (Hellblade) and Undead Labs (State of Decay) have higher financial requirements and have found new owners. However, the deals have not yet closed. The new owners will get the IP and the back catalogue. Both studios have games out next year (Senua and State of Decay 3).
Meanwhile, Arkane Lyon (Dishonored) will today enter the same process as the studios above. Microsoft hopes it can avoid closure for this team, too.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...93d-9437-4241-91ba-8448e65ae5bc_2654x1452.png
In terms of the 3,200 planned redundancies, these cuts will take place across the whole Xbox business, including other first-party developers. Some studios will barely see any cuts, while others will see much larger reductions. Microsoft didn’t detail which studios will be the worse affected.
One area that will be hit hard is the Xbox platform team, which covers hardware, software services, xCloud and Game Pass. Xbox hopes these cuts will simplify the business and allow it move faster.
The lay-offs will begin with around 1,600 cuts as of today, with an additional 1,600 expected by the end of Microsoft’s 2027 financial year (June 30, 2027). This number includes the divested studios.
On the studios front, Xbox will be shifting from its previous decentralized studio model to a more centralized approach focused around its big franchises. Mojang (Minecraft) and King (Candy Crush) will now report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
Xbox has also announced the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer in Helen Chiang, who previously ran the Minecraft business. Meanwhile, corporate vice president of Xbox product services Dave McCarthy is retiring after 17 years with Xbox.
Sharma wrote that she wants Xbox to reach one billion players daily. The company currently reaches 500 million a month.
“These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one,” Sharma said. “The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we’ve seen before. This year, we’ll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates.”
Source: Xbox plans 3,200 job cuts, and will drop five acclaimed studios
Double Fine Productions (Keeper) and Compulsion Games (South of Midnight) will return to independence. Both studios have been given runway funding by Microsoft to help begin their next projects while they seek additional financing. These studios will retain all their IP and their back catalogue.
Developers Ninja Theory (Hellblade) and Undead Labs (State of Decay) have higher financial requirements and have found new owners. However, the deals have not yet closed. The new owners will get the IP and the back catalogue. Both studios have games out next year (Senua and State of Decay 3).
Meanwhile, Arkane Lyon (Dishonored) will today enter the same process as the studios above. Microsoft hopes it can avoid closure for this team, too.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...93d-9437-4241-91ba-8448e65ae5bc_2654x1452.png
In terms of the 3,200 planned redundancies, these cuts will take place across the whole Xbox business, including other first-party developers. Some studios will barely see any cuts, while others will see much larger reductions. Microsoft didn’t detail which studios will be the worse affected.
One area that will be hit hard is the Xbox platform team, which covers hardware, software services, xCloud and Game Pass. Xbox hopes these cuts will simplify the business and allow it move faster.
The lay-offs will begin with around 1,600 cuts as of today, with an additional 1,600 expected by the end of Microsoft’s 2027 financial year (June 30, 2027). This number includes the divested studios.
On the studios front, Xbox will be shifting from its previous decentralized studio model to a more centralized approach focused around its big franchises. Mojang (Minecraft) and King (Candy Crush) will now report directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
Xbox has also announced the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer in Helen Chiang, who previously ran the Minecraft business. Meanwhile, corporate vice president of Xbox product services Dave McCarthy is retiring after 17 years with Xbox.
Sharma wrote that she wants Xbox to reach one billion players daily. The company currently reaches 500 million a month.
“These changes are about a bigger future for Xbox, not a smaller one,” Sharma said. “The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we’ve seen before. This year, we’ll invest as much in Xbox as we ever have, but we’ll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making Xbox where the world plays and creates.”
Source: Xbox plans 3,200 job cuts, and will drop five acclaimed studios