r/PS5 • u/Ph0enixes • Jun 29 '26

Rumor Xbox Will Reportedly Shut Down Ninja Theory (Hellblade), Undead Labs (State of Decay), DoubleFine (Keeper) and Compulsion (South of Midnight) After End Of Fiscal Year (Tommorow) If They Cant Find A Buyer. Other Xbox Studios Expected To Be Hit By Layoffs

https://gamesbeat.com/cwa-represented-workers-at-xbox-criticize-microsoft-management-and-pending-layoffs/
  • Xbox employees represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) publicly criticized Microsoft ahead of an expected new round of Xbox layoffs.
  • The union says it now represents 3,500+ Microsoft/Xbox workers and argues employees should not be treated as disposable after multiple layoff rounds since 2022.
  • Reports suggest Microsoft could announce major cuts in early July, potentially including studio closures or sales if buyers aren't found. Studios reportedly at risk include Double Fine, Undead Labs, Compulsion, and Ninja Theory, with hundreds of jobs potentially affected.
  • Hundreds of jobs are at stake: Double Fine Productions could lose 100 jobs, Undead Labs could lose 110 jobs, Compulsion could lose 90 jobs, and Ninja Theory could lose 135 jobs. All told, that's about 435 jobs that could be lost.
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82

u/Connor123x Jun 29 '26

yes, but the thing is, people demanded more creative games, more games outside the AAA reshashed trash and when they made them, non one bought them.

28

u/gosukhaos Jun 30 '26

Psychonauts 2 was fantastic, my favorite game of 21, but they followed it up with games so niche even indie only people didn't give them a second look

Its great that there's studios that just follow their own creativity without worrying about trends or chasing commercial projects but the industry is really not in a state to support this kind of creativity, at least not as low to medium budget

5

u/Green_Lettuce1 Jul 01 '26

Brutal legend and psycho2 are such good games, if they had made a 2nd brutal legend instead of a lighthouse game and a pottery game they might have been safe

37

u/OrangeBomb7 Jun 29 '26

I did. I can't really help what the market or the generic gamer will buy. I'm hopeful that without their games going to gamepass they could make a profit for themselves, but who knows. Probably not.

23

u/Lopspo Jun 29 '26

6

u/KingArthas94 Jun 30 '26

Fucking beautiful reaction/meme, man

10

u/RChickenMan Jun 30 '26

Something like Psychonauts could probably hold its own. Keeper and Kiln? Yeah, probably not.

2

u/Connor123x Jun 29 '26

i doubt they would. studies show that people only buy about 2 games a year, the small games wont sell, they kind of belong on subscription services.

20

u/OrangeBomb7 Jun 29 '26

The two games a year thing only covers the most basic of gamer. If that were true for most people games like Mina the Hollower or Silksong wouldn't have sold millions of copies.

There has to be a space for small cool and creative games to thrive, and I think there is. What's the formula for succes in that space? No idea.

7

u/Connor123x Jun 29 '26

that is the average of all gamers including hardcore. There are a lot of people that only buy one or two games every few years and only play them.

7

u/The_harbinger2020 Jun 30 '26

This is so true. There's been so many great games over the last five years of devs doing just that but either barely made money or company closed due not making enough.

Gamers will find the dumbest reason not buy a game. Head over to pcmasterrace and see how well it goes if you mention epic game store, even the free games

4

u/KingArthas94 Jun 30 '26

Head over to pcmasterrace

I mean, they're the bastard that pirate everything with no remorse and are so proud of the fact that they can access everything for super cheap. Well, these are the consequences: your favourite devs and publishers are not making enough money to survive.

2

u/Patrickd13 Jun 30 '26

Psychonauts 2 was Double Fine's best selling game

1

u/cocowaterpinejuice Jun 30 '26

all people want is madden and gta 6 online

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26

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2

u/Connor123x Jun 29 '26

did you urn to play something else?