Three Xbox studios – Double Fine, Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory – are currently in danger of closure, with employees able to look for new jobs as executives negotiate to try to salvage what they can. according to a Bloomberg report.
Earlier today we reported that Xbox was preparing to shut down South of midnight developer Compulsion Gameswith studio management in active negotiations to determine the studio’s fate. Bloomberg has since reported that both Psychonauts manufacturer Double Fine and Infernal Blade Developer Ninja Theory is in similar situations, although the latter has just revealed a new game coming out next year. One potential outcome is that studios could become independent, although this would likely result in heavy job losses.
This all comes just days after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty. posted an open email to the company in which the two highlighted the company’s many difficulties, including that it had “overextended itself” in studio acquisitions, and claiming that the company had tried too hard to juggle too many different platform strategies and had “not adequately funded” its studios to compete. According to the email, Xbox spent $20 billion on studio investments in five years, not including its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King, while its annual revenue declined by nearly half a billion.
Next to this email, Bloomberg reported that a major wave of layoffs was on the horizon after Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30. Earlier today, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan has resigned from his position.
Xbox has not returned My cityrequest for comments on the situation.
