Microsoft is set to announce a wave of layoffs for its Xbox studios and employees next week. Sources familiar with Microsoft\u2019s plans tell The Verge that the layoffs will lead to studio closures or spinoffs, potential mergers of studios, and canceled games.<\/p>\n
I understand Microsoft is currently weighing closing at least five studios, including the developers behind Marvel\u2019s Blade. Sources tell me Microsoft wants to cancel Blade as part of a wave of cost cuts and job losses that are planned for the company\u2019s Xbox gaming division.<\/p>\n
Developed by France-based Arkane Studios, best-known for the Dishonored series, Blade was originally supposed to debut later this year according to sources familiar with the game\u2019s development. I\u2019m told the internal ship date for the game slipped to late 2027, and it\u2019s also running over budget.<\/p>\n
While Microsoft is weighing canceling Blade, it\u2019s also exploring options to sell Arkane Studios. Bloomberg reported<\/a> earlier this month that Microsoft is trying to spin off Compulsion Games, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory, too. GamesBeat reported<\/a> this week that Microsoft is actively looking for a buyer for Undead Labs, the developers behind State of Decay. If buyers are found for these studios, then they\u2019ll avoid being closed, but sources stress these talks could take months in some cases.<\/p>\n Compulsion Games, the developers behind South of Midnight, is already convinced that closure is imminent and has started telling employees to look for jobs elsewhere. Ninja Theory employees were informed<\/a> earlier this month that Microsoft wants to close the UK-based studio or spin it off.<\/p>\n Beyond the potential studio closures, Microsoft is preparing for a wave of layoffs at Xbox that will drastically reshape its gaming division. These layoffs are due to start on July 6th, according to sources, and will hit most parts of Xbox. Rumors have suggested there could be at least 1,000 job losses, and if Microsoft goes ahead with five studio closures, then that\u2019s at least 500 employees impacted before the wider cuts.<\/p>\n The upcoming layoffs are part of a \u201creset\u201d for the Xbox division<\/a> under new CEO Asha Sharma, who hinted about \u201cmaking hard choices\u201d last month<\/a>. Sharma has repeatedly warned that the Xbox business isn\u2019t healthy, but also claimed that<\/a> her \u201cmandate is not 30 percent accountability margins… it\u2019s to be the number one gaming and entertainment company, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microsoft is set to announce a wave of layoffs for its Xbox studios and employees next week. Sources…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,282,874,63,1660,64,61,6734],"class_list":["post-771638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-exclusive","tag-gaming","tag-microsoft","tag-report","tag-tech","tag-technology","tag-xbox"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}