No Announced Xbox Games Are Getting Axed In Microsoft Layoffs, Company Says
Overview & Key Takeaways
Microsoft has begun its big reset, cutting 1,600 jobs right now and another 1,600 in the next 12 months. Despite this massive restructuring, the company claimed that these moves don't involve canceling any already announced first-party games.
In a lengthy Xbox Wire blog post on July 6, Microsoft announced that some studios (such as Ninja Theory and Undead Labs) are being sold while others (like Arkane Studios) are still awaiting their fate. Tucked within the post was a line about the projects currently in the works at Xbox Game Studios, with the company clarifying that "none of our first-party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions."
This means that games such as Clockwork Revolution (an action-RPG developed by InXile Entertainment), Gears of War: E-Day (The Coalition's upcoming post-apocalyptic shooter), Senua (the third installment in Ninja Theory's Hellblade franchise), and State of Decay 3 (Undead Labs' next zombie survival game) are all still coming as of now. However, it remains to be seen what the fate of Ninja Theory and Undead Labs' games will be after they are sold. Microsoft may not have canceled any projects now, but any such decision will ultimately rest with their new ownership.
The keywords here are "first-party" and "publicly announced." If Xbox doesn't have a hand in the game's development and it hasn't already been made public, then it's unclear what that project's future holds. It's also worth noting that the company recently pulled out of several projects it agreed to fund, including 1666: Amsterdam from the creator of Assassin’s Creed, something Sigil developer Romero Games was working on, and a fantasy RPG IO Interactive had been cooking up.
It's hard to know what this means for Arkane Studios' Marvel's Blade, though, given that it's a first-party, publicly announced Xbox game. There is a fear that Microsoft could close the studio and cancel the game, but that remains to be seen. For now, the French studio is "beginning required consultation" as part of the country's labor laws so that Microsoft can "review potential strategic options."
At any rate, any first-party Xbox game that we already know about seems to be safe. It's just a shame that the 3,200 people at Xbox--which makes up about 20% of the organization--are losing their jobs.
Microsoft has begun its big reset, cutting 1,600 jobs right now and another 1,600 in the next 12 months. Despite this massive restructuring, the company claimed that these moves don’t involve canceling any already announced first-party games.
In a lengthy Xbox Wire blog post on July 6, Microsoft announced that some studios (such as Ninja Theory and Undead Labs) are being sold while others (like Arkane Studios) are still awaiting their fate. Tucked within the post was a line about the projects currently in the works at Xbox Game Studios, with the company clarifying that “none of our first-party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.”
This means that games such as Clockwork Revolution (an action-RPG developed by InXile Entertainment), Gears of War: E-Day (The Coalition’s upcoming post-apocalyptic shooter), Senua (the third installment in Ninja Theory’s Hellblade franchise), and State of Decay 3 (Undead Labs’ next zombie survival game) are all still coming as of now. However, it remains to be seen what the fate of Ninja Theory and Undead Labs’ games will be after they are sold. Microsoft may not have canceled any projects now, but any such decision will ultimately rest with their new ownership.
The keywords here are “first-party” and “publicly announced.” If Xbox doesn’t have a hand in the game’s development and it hasn’t already been made public, then it’s unclear what that project’s future holds. It’s also worth noting that the company recently pulled out of several projects it agreed to fund, including 1666: Amsterdam from the creator of Assassin’s Creed, something Sigil developer Romero Games was working on, and a fantasy RPG IO Interactive had been cooking up.
It’s hard to know what this means for Arkane Studios’ Marvel’s Blade, though, given that it’s a first-party, publicly announced Xbox game. There is a fear that Microsoft could close the studio and cancel the game, but that remains to be seen. For now, the French studio is “beginning required consultation” as part of the country’s labor laws so that Microsoft can “review potential strategic options.”
At any rate, any first-party Xbox game that we already know about seems to be safe. It’s just a shame that the 3,200 people at Xbox–which makes up about 20% of the organization–are losing their jobs.
