There are a lot of rumors about studio closures around Microsoft and Xbox at the moment. They’ve mostly fluctuated between Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Compulsion, but this week State of Decay developer Undead Labs was added to the list of “companies that Xbox bought to make Game Pass, but ended up going out of business because they did a poor job of moving the queue.” And now more reports have emerged, with what’s left of Arkane potentially being put on the chopping block alongside Blade’s cancellation.
This comes from The edgewhose sources relay some details. For one, Blade was apparently originally planned for this year, but the internal date was pushed back to next year. The game also apparently went over budget. Microsoft is also looking to sell Arkane, which is the general opinion regarding all the studios they are trying to offload, but The Verge notes that discussions around such acquisitions could take months in some cases.
Now the big date to watch is July 6. According to sources who spoke with The Verge, that’s when layoffs at Xbox are expected to begin and will affect most areas of Xbox. That number could reach as high as 1,000 losses, but as The Verge notes, if all five studios currently under discussion are ultimately shut down, that’s an additional 500 roles, even outside of Xbox itself.
Blade isn’t the only game affected by Microsoft’s brutal and apathetic cost-cutting measures. IO Interactive has not yet been properly revealed. Project Fantasy lost what they call their external partner, who Bloomberg reported is actually Xbox. Hideo Kojima’s mysterious horror game OD, on the other hand, seems to be doing well according to IGNeven as Microsoft desperately tries to find ways to save money.
As always, solidarity with all developers affected by these changes.
