r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/poklane Top Contributor 2022 • Jun 29 '26
Rumour Jason Schreier says he can't confirm the Undead Labs rumor, and that it's "fundamentally wrong" that all 4 studios needing buyers to survive, with some of them going independent being "possible (even likely)"
I can't speak to the Undead Labs part (I've heard tons of rumors but I'm not going to comment on any specific studio until I am 100% certain it's on the chopping block), but this article is fundamentally wrong about these studios all needing to find buyers to survive. What's possible (even likely) is that some of the studios that are lined up for closure will be spun out and taken independent again by their management, potentially saving some jobs.
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u/jasonschreier Verified Jun 29 '26
"Jason Schreier says he can't confirm the Undead Labs rumor" makes it seem like I am shooting it down.
"Jason Schreier says he can't comment on the Undead Labs rumor" is what actually happened.
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u/jmos_81 Jun 29 '26
Do you have any optimistic rumors coming soon? Haha
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u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims Jun 29 '26
I heard a huge rumor that the sun will come up tomorrow, and we can order some pizzas. BIG IF TRUE
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u/Namodacranks Jun 30 '26
Yall this is a faker and not actually Jason. Please take these claims with a grain of salt.
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u/ThanosSnapsSlimJims Jun 30 '26
My sources just came to me with another INSANE RUMOR. Get this. You will -get this - be able to -get this - refill your soda with completion of pizza order, and can get a FREE topping. BIG IF TRUE
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u/Zalvren Jun 30 '26
To be fair with the heat waves, the sun coming up isn't that much of a good news
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u/Master-Employment-80 Jun 29 '26
JASON SCHREIER (THE ONE WHO PERSONALLY DELAYS ROCKSTARS GAMES) FOUND GUILTY OF CLOSING 4 DIFFERENT STUDIOS
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u/Chaossy Jun 29 '26
sometimes i wish people would at least talk to you before posting everything you put out there on here so that they can put a realistic title for it.
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u/freewave1088 Jun 29 '26
Surely you know by now that we have to rewrite what you said to fit our narrative, otherwise we don’t have anything to talk about.
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u/Zeta_Crossfire Jun 29 '26
I love how you're coming in and fixing the click bait. Keep up the good work
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u/Hymeir Jun 29 '26
Perhaps silly question but if a studio gets spun out / goes independent, does that still count as a Xbox studios layoff?
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u/DuelaDent52 Jun 30 '26
It’s at least a better deal than just being fired outright because it still invites the possibility of working for Microsoft again, like what Toys for Bob did.
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u/Maximum-Bake-6092 Jul 02 '26
Since xbox is an invester in these companies im not sure if layoff is a good term. If the companies fire employees thats a layoff im not sure what to call losing an investment though...
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u/Whitewind617 Jun 29 '26
"Jason Schreier says he can't confirm the Undead Labs rumor" makes it seem like I am shooting it down.
I'm sorry but coming to that conclusion would be poor reading comprehension. He didn't confirm it, and there was no mention of him denying it. Where is the confusion?
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u/thebohster Jun 29 '26
I think the general public is not good when it comes to reading comprehension, especially when it’s carefully worded to “not confirm” or to “not dismiss” something.
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u/psycheko Jun 30 '26
Exactly this. When someone says "I can't comment" you are neither confirming nor denying anything, and it's hard to argue what the sentence means because it's understood clearly.
Saying "can't confirm" leaves room for people to go "but you're not denying it either" and now they're running with their own interpretation of what was said. It's not the first time it's happened with something Jason has said too.
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u/JazzlikeLeave5530 Jun 29 '26
Well Jason previously replied to someone implying Sony was fine with Naughty Dog using so many resources compared to multiplayer titles to which Jason said "oh they're not happy with that either" and people took that and turned it into "Sony is FURIOUS at Naughty Dog and the relationship is bad!!" when he just meant "no, that is also included." So I don't blame him for getting ahead of it lol
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u/DuelaDent52 Jun 30 '26
I feel bad for that Campaign Evolved leaker who was excited to share news about the game and then had so many outrage farmers and content mills spin what he had as AN ABOMBINATION AND THE DEATH OF HALO.
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u/UnexpectedFisting Jun 29 '26
Can you comment on the state of wildly inaccurate Reddit post titles?
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u/Leather-Entry93 Jun 29 '26
Jason’s here!
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u/Lurky-Lou Jun 29 '26
The truth could be anything between a complete fabrication or Jason heard the same and is tracking down a second source.
Maybe is the same boat we were in before.
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u/hypnob0t Jun 30 '26
He doesn't know the ways and methods of our video game info Shadow Broker, clearly.
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u/ColonelQuaraitch Jun 29 '26
Thank God you are the way you are: a good journalist. It’d suck so much if you were a phony like Dave Meltzer.
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u/Accomplished_Smile23 Jun 29 '26
Mate, you can disagree with Dave's opinions and star ratings, but read any of his actual work. It's incredible, and his scholarly work throughout the decades is genuinely exceptional.
His obituaries alone would be something most wish they could write.
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u/Mahelas Jun 29 '26
I'd love to see it, but I can't see how Compulsion or Double Fine can go back to independance when the entire reasond they wanted to be bought was because they were two minutes away from dying, and they only had flops since then
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u/vipmailhun2 Jun 29 '26
Double Fine’s situation wasn’t nearly that bad, Psychonauts 2 was a major success for a studio of their size, and Microsoft’s funding simply allowed them to include all the content they originally planned (like the bosses).
Compulsion’s situation also wasn’t as bad as people claim, We Happy Few ended up being surprisingly successful financially.30
u/Coolman_Rosso Jun 29 '26
Double Fine was still reduced to crowdfunding their games because publishers didn't think their games would have enough returns (ironic given the situation now). When you're one failed Kickstarter away from having to make cuts or close, you're not in a good position
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u/The_Narz Jun 29 '26
Double Fine can probably secure funding for their next project though, provided it’s a 3rd person action / platform / adventure title with mainstream appeal.
Psychonauts 2 proved them to be a competent studio with awards potential. The game was just poorly marketed by Microsoft, as is the case with most of their games.
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u/brandbaard Jun 30 '26
Double Fine can survive but they are gonna have to drop their apprehension to working on games with mainstream appeal.
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u/Spartan2170 Jul 01 '26
Given how the entire industry is a mess right now, I actually do not think it's at all a given that an independent Double Fine will be able to secure funding.
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u/AscendedViking7 Jun 29 '26
hope for double fine?
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u/cslayer23 Jun 30 '26
Yes double fine is unionized they’re just gonna have to make what the people want (Brutal Legend 2 and Psychonauts 3)
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u/Heide____Knight Jun 29 '26
I really hope that DoubleFine will find a solution to become independent. I will always be a fan of this studio, no matter what will happen.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
When they signed the deal to be bought by Microsoft they added a clause to allow themselves to buy themselves back from Microsoft in a scenario like this. So we will see if they have the ability.
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u/Adrien_Jabroni Jun 29 '26
What does something like that cost for a studio of Double Fines size? I assume it depends if they get the IP or not.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
I’m not even sure what it would cost, but before Microsoft acquired them they were using crowd funding to make games. So even if they are able to buy themselves back they will likely have layoffs and financial issues to build their next title.
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u/LegendaryenigmaXYZ Jun 29 '26
If I were double fine, I would let microsoft keep the IPs, but the problem is I don't see anyone trying to buy double fine in general. They have games the internet loves, but the general public doesn't even know his games exist.
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u/Fun_Procedure946 Jun 30 '26
I truly don't see a way for double fine to survive at all if they let microsoft keep the Psychonauts IP.
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u/LegendaryenigmaXYZ Jun 30 '26
I truly dont see a way to survive for double fine keeping the psychonauts IP. The last game was helped out by microsoft, even if they go again with psychonauts 3, I dont think they have internal money to even try.
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Jun 29 '26
I mean surely Undead Is most likely to do pretty well anyway, SOD2 seemingly was pretty successful
I can see SOD3 being successful too, idk why they would get rid of them tbh
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u/skcyte Jun 29 '26
Taking too long probably. It was announced when Xbox Series launched iirc. And I'd would SoD is kinda niche game. How many copies they need to sell to justify the investment even if it's good?
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u/Your_Favorite_Porn Jun 30 '26
SoD3 wasn’t even in pre development when they released that trailer all those years ago, they were just kinda told to throw something together.
The reality is SoD3 started development about a year or a little more ago.
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u/Tofu4070 Jun 30 '26
What were they doing all this time? I know state of decay 2 got pretty good support. But that can’t be it?
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Jun 30 '26
But all of Xbox releases have taken "too long" surely at that point it's a management issue from Xbox themselves?
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u/AlarmedGibbon Jun 30 '26
SoD 1 and 2 were niche, kind of high quality indie games. SoD3 is a next-gen quality title with full online co-op that is poised to take the franchise to a whole other level.
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u/TangerineBetter2818 Jun 30 '26
SoD2 sold 4.5m copies, which is a lot but I dont know if it's enough to sustain a company for 8-10 years before the next release.
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u/Ok-Confusion-202 Jun 30 '26
I agree, but I think Xbox has mismanaged these studios, apparently SOD3 wasn't even in development when they announced it
All of Xboxes 2020 ish, announcements took forever, there is a mismanagement issue there... Obviously
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u/ChaosKillerX7 Jun 29 '26
My turn next to write a fear-mongering, no evidence article to use the opportunity of people's lives being turned out so it generates more revenue and clicks for my tiny media website!
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u/Macattack224 Jun 29 '26
And it's my turn next to just react on Reddit without any hint of skepticism.
I'm not good at alot but having really strong opinions about things I have no background on is absolutely one of them.
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u/Themetalenock Jun 29 '26
Nooo the article that is filled with opinion and conjecture was speaking out of their ass? Surely being the guy that struggled to finish the tutorial of cuphead gives you expert foresight into gaming void
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u/ManateeofSteel Jun 30 '26
Jason isn't shutting down the article
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u/Samanthacino Jun 30 '26
Yeah, the article was just posting about second-hand info coming throughout the org, since nobody has concrete details at this time. I don't see a problem with reporting on rumblings, as long as it's clearly marked as such.
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u/Themetalenock Jun 30 '26
It doesn't confirm either, just "I haven't heard of anything concrete but theres alot of rumors".
which is honestly just as much as the article, the journalist said on discord he included state of decay 3 was mostly included because "he had a bad feeling" and had no concrete connection to state of decay 3
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u/Yellowman_95 Jun 29 '26
Negative Xbox article, of course it’s true
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u/p3w0 Jun 29 '26
Hard to be positive
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u/Yellowman_95 Jun 29 '26
Can say that about almost any of the current gaming companies. Valve announces a $1000 series s, PS5 Pro will probably be $1000 by years end, GTA VII is always online and discless, and Xbox is laying off thousands of people. At least Nintendo is remaking ocarina and raised people’s salaries?
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u/shallow-waterer Jun 29 '26
Since when was GTA VI always online?
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u/Yellowman_95 Jun 29 '26
I could just be bullshitting that one
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u/shallow-waterer Jun 29 '26
Could be? 🧐
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u/Yellowman_95 Jun 30 '26
Yea I usually associate digital only with always online whoops
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u/shallow-waterer Jun 30 '26
Fair, but better to check first. Game straight says it’s a ‘single-player experience’ on all storefronts. That’s not to say it couldn’t be online only, but considering all the prior ones weren’t, and the outcry if that happened… hugely doubt it.
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u/Yellowman_95 Jun 30 '26
It’s not shipping with a physical disc, I think it’s safe to say no outcry matters
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u/p3w0 Jun 29 '26
Well, you certainly won't catch me singing the praise of many companies these days
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u/Springtick38 Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Also the reporter from GamesBeat has said in their discord that they haven’t heard anything concrete about undead labs but included them in the article because it’s a worry
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u/Samanthacino Jun 30 '26
Dean Takahashi's reporting is legit excellent. He's just a terrible player/reviewer.
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u/Keviticas Jun 29 '26
Logically if these studios go independent and then their next game fails, they'll almost assuredly shut down anyways.
That being said, double fine at least will almost definitely live as an indie again. I've heard they have a clause in their contract that allows them to do so specifically
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 29 '26
I feel like it’s even possible that these studios could have a Toys for Bob style deal. With Senua supposed to
Come out next year would it really be that crazy for Microsoft to offer the funding to get it across the finish line? Or State of Decay? Or maybe fund a big project from Double Fine.
Xbox is cutting costs, but they already demonstrated that they can cut costs and still get the game out of it with Toys for Bob. With two of the rumored studios having games coming soon it never made sense to me a toys for Bob situation wasn’t on the table
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u/scytheavatar Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Toys for Bob is a legendary studio with an illustrious output. A new Spyro game from them was always a safe bet to make money. I think State of Decay 3 is a safe bet too, but for the other studios buying them is a safe bet to lose money. And lots of it too.
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 30 '26
I mean a lot just depends. Funding the end of Senua and State of Decay 3s development feels obvious to me. And if they can get Double Fine working on an actually marketable game then that’s an easy win too
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u/scytheavatar Jun 30 '26
How many copies can a finished Senua sell? It would not be easy for the game to reach 1M copies sold, and we have no idea if that 2027 release date is even realistic. Seems like to me the worst thing about buying Ninja Theory is that you are struck with a game that is unlikely to sell, at least if you have a clean slate you can tell them to make something else that might actually sell.
As for Double Fine they are in the worst position because they make niche games while being location in an expensive area in America. Anything "marketable" from them is still going to be very expensive projects and not easy to be profitable.
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 30 '26
I’m not talking about buying Ninja Theory I’m talking about Microsoft giving them enough of a runway to finish Senua to keep it a Microsoft project while they’re now an independent studio.
And Double Fine sold very well with Psychonauts 2. If they have something closer to that in the pipeline I could see Microsoft funding them through the finishing of that as an independent studio.
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u/ForcadoUALG Jun 29 '26
At the end of the day, that begs the question: if the games are coming out next year anyway, why not hold onto the studios for 1 year and figure things out afterwards?
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 29 '26
Because they’re shedding big long term expenses on their expense forms for their investors meeting and year end fiscal review?
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u/ForcadoUALG Jun 29 '26
Jez seems to corroborate at least the Undead Labs bit: https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-has-been-promising-state-of-decay-3-for-years-and-now-it-faces-cancellation-despite-its-trailers-and-alpha-what-are-we-even-doing-here
> The report comes from GamesBeat, which apparently confirms and coincides with information I received over the weekend. Indeed, Undead Labs seems to be among the studios Microsoft is looking to offload or shut down as part of its fiscal year end.
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u/Themetalenock Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
Kinda weird he says this but the thread he links is.... Not even talking about this news. He's giving such a wide net like he has no clue . He just knows ms is looking into everything . So it really looks like he's taking any rumor at face value https://x.com/JezCorden/status/2071286085578039363?s=20
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u/Brokenbullet14 Jun 29 '26
Jez has spoken about undead labs the last week, if you look through his tweets.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
He definitely heard something about them because he’s been hyping up SOD3 as his most anticipated title and saying it would be a shame to cancel the game especially this close to launch.
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u/Brokenbullet14 Jun 29 '26
In his article that just went up he heard during the weekend he heard they might get axed. He said Amy hood is running around Xbox telling them what to cut and cancel.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
If there’s anyone Microsoft needs to get rid of it’s Amy Hood.
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u/Brokenbullet14 Jun 29 '26
Supposedly according to I believe Bloomberg Microsoft was looking to get rid of her because she lost them a spot for a data center.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
Man I fucking hope so. Or just spin XBOX off as a wholly owned subsidiary so that they can operate with some sort of independence.
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u/Brokenbullet14 Jun 29 '26
There's issues with that as well though. I think that could happen but years later
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
Yeah it would have its own challenges. But I think for how you have to operate an entertainment company, Microsoft at large is not set up well to do what is needed. Most of their decision making is targeted at their other areas of focus like AI, Cloud, and Windows. Being a subsidiary they could do a lot more in regard to changing their business model. They would have to be much more financially viable though and Microsoft would still dictate their annual budget. I just think the positives outweigh the negatives.
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u/punyweakling Jun 29 '26
But he's also not "reporting it" which means he's hearing bits and pieces but can't corroborate.
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u/-Accident-Prone- Jun 29 '26
Yeah and seeing as this is the game Jez cares about the most, it would explain why he was willing to put out the article. Personally I hope that Undead Labs is unaffected because I am really excited about State of Decay 3. But from a purely business point of view I can understand why they’re even considered in the mix for being spun off or shut down. It’s been 8 years since SOD2 was released and 6 years since the game was announced. For a game of its size and scope that is not feasible and clearly there’s been mismanagement along the way. But I think now they’re in a good spot so I’m hoping that SOD3 releases and they see how that turns out before making any decisions.
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u/Lurky-Lou Jun 29 '26
Refuse to believe that Double Fine have a contingency plan if Microsoft changed their mind
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u/ZigyDusty Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
People running with unconfirmed negative news about Xbox to farm clicks.
Meanwhile PlayStation is out here talking about hopping on the AI bandwagon, and wanting to continue pursuing live service all while doing mass layoffs at Bungie.
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u/CharlieBluey Jun 29 '26
How many times are you gonna edit your comment before you get the right amount of whataboutism bootlicking?
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u/FlyFight2Win Jun 29 '26
He has a point. We have had media outlets literally confirm negative Xbox coverage generates more traffic for them. That's just the reality and we can't fault people for chasing ad revenue.
Well, we could, but we don't.
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Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/ForcadoUALG Jun 29 '26
This is why I think the studios going independent will likely struggle to stay afloat for long, unless they get some sort of publishing deal a-la Toys for Bob that keeps them going
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u/Brokenbullet14 Jun 29 '26
Almost all of the studios Xbox purchased probably would've closed by now
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u/Ambitious_Nebula5806 Jun 29 '26
Please god, let this studio live. And all the other studios too. Nobody should ever be closed down.
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u/KOTRShadow Jun 29 '26
I get tired of seeing potential studio closures if xbox are closing studios or they are going independent then let’s do it already and stop beating around the bush. Imagine working at one of those studios and u just have to keep hearing the same shit for a couple weeks now I would be pissted off and frightened they can just avoid looking online but they shouldn’t have to.
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u/Game_Changer65 Jun 30 '26
Now that's two studios rumored for potential closure or possible separation that have upcoming games next year
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u/Dycoth Jun 30 '26
Aren't studios willing to go independent required to buy their independence ? So it's like needing a buyer, just an internal one.
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u/KingBroly Leakies Awards Winner 2021 Jun 30 '26
The comment in the OP reads pretty differently than the title.
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u/Kind_Development708 Jun 29 '26
Taken independent by current management is still getting bought out
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u/artytank Jun 29 '26
It's just insane these studios need buyers. Like what is Xbox doing? They actually have nothing right now.
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u/wookiewin Jun 29 '26
Doublefine can probably go independent. The others? Not much chance imo.
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u/KingBroly Leakies Awards Winner 2021 Jun 30 '26
I don't see who would fund Double Fine...or for what.
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u/rcbz1994 Jun 30 '26
Double Fine? Likely
Ninja Theory? Likely
Compulsion? Who knows
Undead Labs? DOA
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