The Xbox team has officially announced the upcoming changes to the gaming division. There were earlier rumors that a new wave of layoffs may begin, and now this news has been confirmed. The announcement also announced that some studios will merge and others will close.
Highlights of the new phase of the reboot announced by Xbox:
- abbreviation. Xbox will lay off an additional 268 employees across Halo Studios, other internal studios, and leadership and central functions at Xbox Game Studios. Taking into account the steps taken since July, including the transfer of some studios, the restructuring is approximately 75% complete. Let us remind you that previously they planned to lay off a total of 3,200 employees.
- Activision Blizzard. The publisher is expanding its responsibilities and taking control of World’s Edge and Rare. In addition, Activision Blizzard will also develop the next installment of Halo – for which a new team is being created, separate from the current Halo developers and Call of Duty team.
- The edge of the world. As part of a team reorganization within Xbox, the studio will be run by Activision. Specific changes to Project World’s Edge have not yet been specified.
- Rare. Controlled by Activision. Xbox didn’t specify whether this would result in changes to the studio’s current projects.
- Halo Studios. The next Halo game will be developed by Activision and a new dedicated team. It will be separate from the current Halo Studios team, which will continue to support existing games and the Halo community.
- Bethesda and Obsidian. The company is expanding its scope of responsibility and taking control of Obsidian. Under the new structure, Obsidian will continue to work on current projects as well as the new Fallout projects announced earlier this year.
- king. The company controls Microsoft Casual Games. As a result, Microsoft’s two divisions specializing in casual games and ongoing services operations are merging under one roof.
- Playground Games и Turn 10. The company merged into one studio. The new structure will focus on the Forza and Fable series.
- Undead Raab. The studio is becoming independent as it becomes the new publisher of State of Decay 3, which is confirmed to launch on the same day as Game Pass.
- Ninja theory. Two agreements to transfer Ninja Theory to other owners failed. Xbox is starting to negotiate with employees about the possibility of closing the studio while continuing to explore other options for its future fate.
- Akane Lyon. Consultations on Arkane’s future are ongoing. According to Xbox, this process should last until the end of 2026.
The Xbox team stated in the announcement that it intends to continue to reorganize and focus on future game lines. On October 6, the company will hold an Xbox employee meeting, where it plans to discuss the results of the changes and future plans.