A further 268 layoffs have been confirmed at XBOX and its various first-party studios in an open
letter sent to XBOX employees globally this week. This is the latest in an ongoing restructuring effort at XBOX that seeks to simplify management hierarchies across the brand and streamline communication chains between studios and publishers.
Activision Takes Over Halo
Perhaps the most notable shift to come as a result of these layoffs is the announcement that Activision will be taking over development of the next Halo. While still involved, previous developer Halo Studios is believed to have borne the brunt the layoffs. The project will be developed by a “new, purpose-built team” separate from the development of Call of Duty titles.
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What remains of Halo Studios will be tasked with supporting the Halo community and games currently
available, such as Halo Infinite and the recently released Halo: Campaign Evolved.
In addition to its newfound purview over Halo, Activision will be taking on management responsibilities for Age of Empires developer World’s Edge and Sea of Thieves developer Rare.
Similarly, The Outer Worlds and Grounded developer Obsidian will now report directly to Bethesda Softworks. The two have a long history together and, as was previously announced by XBOX, Obsidian has recently begun development on a new Fallout title in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios.
Rounding out this restructuring update is the news that Candy Crush developer King will now oversee Microsoft Casual Games, while the two studios separately responsible for the Forza and Forza Horizon series, Turn 10 Studios and Playground Games, respectively, will be consolidated into one studio.
Around 800 Layoffs Still To Come
To finish this letter, XBOX COO and Executive Vice President Matt Booty reflected on their recent attempted divestment from four studios: Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory.
While these studios were able to finalise the terms for their departure from XBOX, two rumoured sale attempts of Senua developer Ninja Theory have fallen through, and XBOX “will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward.”.
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Arkane Studios, developers of the Dishonored franchise and the upcoming Marvel’s Blade, are in ongoing consultation, which is expected to continue until the end of the year.
It’s believed that prolonged consultations with Ninja Theory and Arkane are a result of French and UK labour laws, which necessitate mandatory consultation periods and prevent abrupt closures or mass layoffs.
XBOX claims that it is now roughly three-quarters of the way toward its goal of reducing 3,200 roles from the larger XBOX family, which leaves around 800 layoffs still to come.
Considering how many studios have already been affected, it’s unclear who will be the target of the next round of layoffs or when they will come.
