Xbox Layoff Plans Reportedly Include Closing Arkane, Canceling Blade
Microsoft is weighing studio sales and a Blade cancellation as Xbox prepares a new round of layoffs after cutting 9,000 jobs in 2025.
- Starting July 6, Microsoft is considering shutting down Arkane Studios and canceling the Blade game as part of sweeping Xbox layoffs, according to reporting from Tom Warren at The Verge.
- CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty warned in a recent memo that the Xbox division is "over-extended," stating, "We have found ourselves over-extended.... Going forward, this cannot continue."
- Microsoft is reportedly preparing to close or sell five studios next week, including Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs, following mass layoffs across the gaming industry in 2024 and 2025.
- Xbox union members represented by CWA have expressed frustration with leadership ahead of the firings, urging transparency; the closure would specifically impact Arkane Lyon, developer of the Dishonored series and Deathloop.
- Broader cost-saving efforts have already affected third-party vendors and developers like IOI, which recently ended a partnership with "an external partner" and canceled Project Fantasy, as Microsoft explores selling studios.
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Xbox’s ‘reset’: all the news about Microsoft’s looming layoffs and studio closures
Xbox is making some big changes — again. On June 10th, a few months after Asha Sharma took over as CEO, she and newly-promoted chief content officer Matt Booty sent a memo to staff warning of an “Xbox reset.” The business, they said, is facing significant challenges, including a 3 percent “accountability margin,” massively higher component prices for consoles due to the memory and storage shortage, and an “over extended” studio system. That same…
Xbox might shut down Arkane Studios and its Blade game as part of upcoming layoffs
Rumors about Microsoft’s imminent mass layoff seem to get worse every day. As per The Verge, Microsoft is reportedly considering shutting down Arkane Studios, best known for the acclaimed Dishonored series, Deathloop, and Prey (2017). Xbox would also be canceling Arkane’s upcoming game based on the Marvel character Blade. Microsoft is reportedly set to announce widespread layoffs at its Xbox studios next week.
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