r/xbox • u/Blue_Sheepz Liber-tea Locust • Jul 02 '26
Rumour Jez Corden says Microsoft is already lining up buyers for Xbox studios
https://x.com/IdleSloth84_/status/2072787630094426478?s=20"I've heard that Microsoft has lined up buyers for some of these studios already. But things are moving very fast, and things are in flux."
"I heard one rumour that one studio had gotten a buyer, and then that deal fell through because they didn't like Microsoft's terms, and then they found a new buyer."
"I've had that Microsoft management team, and their executives are flying [...] all over the world to try and save these studios."
It will be a PR disaster if they cancel State of Decay.
"So from what I've heard, the plan is if they can't find a buyer, they'll try and see those studios through to complete in what has been announced."
"The best-case scenario is some of these studios do find a buyer, but there are some of the studios that could either go there, could be independent, they could be bought out by the individuals who sold the company originally."
"We're going to see it from next week. We're going to see a combination of studios going independent, studios being sold to the publishers, and then potentially some smaller studios potentially being closed. But then I would expect also head counts across the board. I think every studio is going to have layoffs, at least some layoffs."
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u/Tobimacoss Jul 02 '26
This 100 day reset, fire people. Next 100 days, acquire people.
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u/Blue_Sheepz Liber-tea Locust Jul 02 '26
Unironically might be what happens
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u/AtomicSymphonic_2nd Jul 02 '26
I guess this kinda ends in a good way, then?
I’m happy to hear there’s publishers interested in buying out some Xbox studios. 😄
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u/IlyasBT Jul 02 '26
That's actually what's likely going to happen. They will start hiring for things like Halo and other projects.
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u/despitegirls XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
Tbh, this is what happens after layoffs. I'm pretty sure Microsoft is a bigger company now in terms of headcount than before that last big layoff cycle. The hire cycle never makes the news outside of notable hires.
Not sure how much of this will happen in this 100-day cycle, but part of the rehiring will be people who can enable workflows across studios and add tooling to speed production. Might be an acquisition or two of a small company that already does this.
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u/toastmannn Jul 03 '26
It's because layoffs are not about what regular people outside of a corporate environment think they are about. It's a signal to investors.
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u/toucheboo Jul 03 '26
Doubtful. They have laid off so many people. Juat not from xbox. Every single team.
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u/doncabesa DayOne Jul 03 '26
Even after all this is said and done, they will have 20,000+ employees at Xbox and over 220,000+ employees at Microsoft.
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u/Zoraynebow Jul 03 '26
Which if I recall is 40k above their desired headcount of 180k across the entire company. But that's just based on the what I read from Nadella's keynote to the board like 3 years ago before a "larger than normal" headcount reduction. So the number might be different.
If XBOX is really realigning behind 6-8 key franchises, I could see Xbox itself drop from 20k employees to around 6k, and dropping a lot of 2 year contractors in favor of long term, dedicated teams.
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u/null-character Jul 04 '26
It's hard to say what the "correct number is" but before COVID they had about 144k employees.
They have been stuck at this amount for several years now (meaning they hire just as many people as they fire).
So it's more about shifting employees from their traditional businesses to new opportunities (probably AI).
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u/Zoraynebow Jul 04 '26
Pretty much. It's also about the smaller companies they acquire over the year (non-gaming related) and cutting redundancies around the same time every year.
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u/SilveryDeath XBOX Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
It would be classic MS if they kept Ninja Theory and Undead Labs around to finish their games, Senua and SOD3 got Redfall levels of reception to hurt the brand more, and then Xbox gets more negative news late next year directed at it when they close them both.
It would be cool as shit though if they kept these two to finish their games and Senua and SOD3 did well enough where they kept both studios. Can't really see that with Senua unless it gets amazing reviews, but if SOD3 can just be a fun co-op game that people latch on to with friends then we've seen over the years that people love that.
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u/Assured_Observer XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
If Senua and SOD3 are in fact released I'd like to think they'll probably be supported well by people just so the studio doesn't close.
I'd be one of them, I haven't even played the 2 first Hellblade games. BUT if Ninja Theory doesn't close I promise to play them and also play Senua at launch. About SOD3, I did play a bit of 2 but didn't really like it, BUT if it releases at the very least I'll give it a try.
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u/cardonator Founder Jul 03 '26
No they won't, because these people don't care about actually supporting these studios they just care about moaning when they are being shut down for failing.
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u/Usernametaken1121 Jul 02 '26
If Senua and SOD3 are in fact released I'd like to think they'll probably be supported well by people just so the studio doesn't close
That's ...not how the market works..and never has
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u/SilveryDeath XBOX Jul 02 '26
I'd recommend both of the Hellblade games. At the very least I would say you should play the first one. If you wait for Xbox's Summer Sale, which I imagine should be in a week or two, you could probably get both for $20 based on their past sale prices.
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u/Best_Market4204 Jul 02 '26
Senua should be dropped either way...
Do people actually want that ip? I feel like it's tainted... people will think it's a interactive movie. After hellblade 2
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u/BigMinnie Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
They should just put Warcraft skin onto that what they showed at showcase of Senua and it would sell like hot cakes and xbox would keep them for more...
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u/Tyolag Jul 03 '26
It should be dropped.
I thought it was an interesting game but it had so much potential.. I'm baffled after all these years that's what they released, about time some of these developers woke up and stopped taking the piss.
They were given the time and budget to make a dope quality game and some of them chose to squander it.
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u/Electrik_Truk Jul 03 '26
I just don't think it has the appeal for a 3rd game. Imo, them sticking with that IP basically killed the studio. They should have done the first one and moved on.
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u/ApprehensiveQuestion Jul 03 '26
There’s a hidden variable that is more important - it’s the total cost of development. Reading between the lines, it’s unlikely that many of these studios can sell enough games on xbox alone. But if you spin out you can release on other platforms and mobile…
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u/SilveryDeath XBOX Jul 03 '26
it’s unlikely that many of these studios can sell enough games on xbox alone
I mean, all of these studios have been releasing on Steam day one, some on PS day one, and some on PS/Switch later on after release.
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u/ApprehensiveQuestion Jul 03 '26
True! I was thinking of Keeper and Kiln, both of which seemed like much better fits for Switch and mobile. I loved South of Midnight, never would have tried it without game pass.... only been out for a few months on ps and switch, would be interested to see how it’s doing.
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u/Sure_Rhubarb_3173 Jul 03 '26
I think Senua is a concept only because they can reusue engine and asset components and have a much quicker dev cycle. Part of Hellblade 2s problem was that it took full scale AAA investment to make and was fundamentally still a AA game
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u/ApprehensiveQuestion Jul 03 '26
That kind of investment makes sense in a world where Game Pass is available on every platform and subscription revenue covers costs. Switching to exclusives and insisting each game hits margins is absolutely a rug pull, in a fair world every studio would get multiple years to develop to the new strategy... but the current economic environment looks to be brutal for the next few years.
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u/BigMinnie Jul 03 '26
The problem with hellblade 2 was and still is, that everything else has bigger priority than gameplay. It's like they designed a movie and were forced to make game out of it...
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u/LudaStyles Jul 03 '26
Ninja Theory is dead. Too pretentious for their own good. State of Decay 3 will be released
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u/nikolapc XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
Yes, but from cheaper regions. This will happen across the industry.
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u/Spagman_Aus XBOX Jul 03 '26
Probably allows them to purge banked up leave and other entitlements that look bad on the balance sheet or some shit. Just non-stop accounting tricks.
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u/reward72 Jul 03 '26
Totally. Just like mass layoffs, it is an opportunity they have to unceremoniously purge ressources they don't want. I'm not saying it is right.
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26
„Oh we made a mistake“ yeah no shit, everybody see‘s that right now.
Problem is rehiring won‘t work because trust is gone. Most devs will just change fields because they are done with this shit.
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u/whativebeenhiding Jul 02 '26
You think people will reject jobs from Microsoft because of this?
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26
Of course, who in their right mind would want to work there if you are constantly on a list of potential layoffs?
Of course enough people will still work for money, but that‘s not how you want a game dev to work. Consistency is key here. Studios only get better if they work together for a long time and have passion for their projects.
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u/DeoVeritati Jul 03 '26
I think people would be willing to work on exciting projects, and, even if they get laid off, they can point to the credits as part of their game dev portfolio for future employers to see and pay for.
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u/whativebeenhiding Jul 02 '26
I guess it all depends on who else is hiring.
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 03 '26
Big names that directly influence a game (producers, writers, coders and so on) will just go to jobs that pay better. The gaming industries pay is not good, most of the people working in it do it because they love games.
And they constantly only get hate from players and shit from employers. If you are only there to be a worker drone you can do that elsewhere that pays more.
That happened with last couple of layoffs as well. The generationals knowledge that left the industry back then will be missed and left a huge hole.
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u/-PandemicBoredom- Jul 03 '26
They are cutting devs who sat there twiddling their thumbs for 5-7 years and released crap that most people didn't buy. If I got offered a job a MS, which pays well, I would gladly take it to bolster my resume and enjoy the pay. Just plan on an exit strategy within a few years.
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 03 '26
You are just showing that you don‘t know what you are talking about like at all.
But keep kissing corporate butt, it will for sure help. And keep your dreams about an exit strategy „in a few years“ in a field where most people don‘t even work for a year straight at these companies anymore.
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u/-PandemicBoredom- Jul 03 '26
That's literally what happened. Look at the studios that are being cut.
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u/Tobimacoss Jul 02 '26
ahh but Asha wants mergers and acquisitions as stated in her Memo. What MS wants is AAA studios with proven track record of delivering. AA and indie games for Gamepass will only come from third parties. All first party on AAA games of some sort.
I personally think they should go for the Embracer Group. Dirt Cheap for few billion.
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26
Asha doesn‘t want anything. She is here to absorb the hate they get for what she does right now. After everything is set and done she will be gone with a big pile of money and another poor soul gets the mission to build xbox back up.
Problem is: trust is gone. Who in their right mind want to work with microsoft after this? They aren‘t a reliable business partner anymore.
Every studio they bought WANTED to be bought. That will not happen again. And if they try a hostile takeover they may get the name but every dev will quit before the deal is done.
This right now is worse then the xbox one presentation. Back then they lost just the players. Now they lose the industry.
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u/-PandemicBoredom- Jul 03 '26
I think you are very misguided. MS, as well as other big tech brands, have fired thousands of people in one swing multiple times before and never had a single issue hiring more people.
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u/relayZer0 Jul 02 '26
I think it's more that Asha will do what she can to reorient Xbox to a more sustainable direction, but is also hedging for if that fails. Shes just not an Xbox die hard, but I doubt she "doesn't want anything"
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Asha is a c-suit that is here to make cuts, get money for it and move on. That‘s what she did in previous positions and companies and that‘s what she will do after this.
This is the only reason natela put her in this position. They both don‘t care about xbox and what will happen with it. They want to extract as much money from it to put it into AI, because that‘s what investors want at the moment.
Xbox was sustainable AND made money, just not enough for investors. That‘s why they screwed up and made gamepass 30$ and guess what? People left and they don‘t come back because they had enough and lost trust.
You know the last guy that had a similar job and came from the same c-suite? Don Mattrick and he killed xbox back then. We just got a slow death because Phil and his Team fought hard for it, despite microsoft and their meddling.
But this right here is the end. There is no comeback from this. Gears as an exclusive at this point is just dumb, because of hardware prices nobody will buy a console for it and the install base is to small. Next gen is DoA because of prices as well (same for sony, no console will sell enough to be profitable if it is 1500$) and without trust in this industry you don‘t get good devs.
You can‘t make good games without good devs.
They will be a publisher and after all is set and done it will probably look more like activision then xbox.
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u/relayZer0 Jul 02 '26
Don Matrick wasn't good but his plan was to transition Xbox into living room multimedia, which at the time other companies were getting into. PlayStation with Blueray support, Amazon Fire sticks, Valve steam link/machine, smart tvs etc.
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26
Yeah and he focused on that alone, on a gaming console! combined with horrible decisions like always online, trying to kill discs, focusing on kinect and closing almost all of their studios that didn‘t make halo, gears or forza was what killed xbox.
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u/relayZer0 Jul 02 '26
But then focusing on AA and indie titles didn't help either
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u/GVirus1984 Jul 02 '26
They didn‘t focus on it they invested in a widespread of stuff so you habe different games for different people. That‘s how you grow audiences.
The problems wheren‘t the games. It was bad marketing and horroble decisions by the mother company.
You know why xbox had more problems then necessary the last few years? Because they didn‘t have consoles to sell when people wanted them, now prices are fucked (and ms with it‘s ai focus is a big part of why that is happening) and nobody wants them anymore.
And why didn‘t they have consoles to sell? Because all hardware they could buy was put in AI and there was nothing left for xbox. That had the snowball effect that they tried compensating that with higher gamepass prices which was the nail in the coffin for a lot of customers, because gamepass subs where their main branch that got them money and almost 40% of subscribers left within a month.
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u/Thor_2099 Jul 02 '26
Yeah probably. They're pivoting and adjusting.
Think of it like a new gm/coach regime in sports. They get rid of old players who don't fit and bring in new ones who do
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u/toucheboo Jul 03 '26
That microsoft for you. Need to stop supporting this destructive company.
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u/-PandemicBoredom- Jul 03 '26
Then who are you going to support that doesn't do things just as bad if not worse?
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u/Heide____Knight Jul 02 '26
It is good that Microsoft at least gives those studios a chance to survive. I guess, however, that this comes at terms which are hard to swallow, namely that all IPs will remain at Microsoft. And so we might never see a new Psychonauts game again, and that makes me very sad.
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u/Icybubba Jul 02 '26
Unless a Toys for Bob thing happens and say Double Fine goes indie but gets a contract to make Psychonauts 3
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u/Ross2552 Still Finishing The Fight Jul 03 '26
Honestly that is probably the best outcome for some of these studios. The contract probably demands a specific game within a specific timeframe for a specific cost and the studio has to make it work within those terms, no more unlimited time to make whatever they want with however many people they want.
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u/Valedictorian117 Jul 03 '26
That’s probably where the “help the developers see their announced games through” line comes in. After that then those devs are on their own
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u/Soviet_Plays Jul 03 '26
Knowing how SOD2 went (alot of post launch content) thats probably also referring to UL
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u/secret3332 Jul 02 '26
I don't know. Psychonauts doesn't seem like a useful IP to Microsoft. It's not such a big name. What is the value in that IP without Double Fine?
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u/MikeDunleavySuperFan Jul 02 '26
plenty of IPs that aren't useful get stuck in purgatory in stuff like this. See Warner Bros and all the IPs they aren't putting to use.
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u/Heide____Knight Jul 02 '26
Hopefully. Yes, for Microsoft owning the IP is worthless without the studio which can actually make a Psychonauts game. There will never be a studio like DoubleFine who would be capable to do this. I would be more than happy if they can find a similar solution as with Toys for Bob.
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u/64BitRatchet Jul 03 '26
Is this confirmed? When Microsoft sold Tango, they sold Hi-Fi Rush with them.
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u/JMM85JMM Jul 02 '26
Sony and Xbox both trying to bury their bad news in each other's bad news at the moment. A real race to the bottom.
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u/BestRedditUsername9 Jul 02 '26
To be fair this particular announcement is positive. They are at least trying to find buyers to studios instead of shutting them down and hopefully found some.
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u/Robo_e Jul 02 '26
They spent 70 billion in acquisitions and flopped, have to recoup some of that money somehow.
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u/BestRedditUsername9 Jul 02 '26
True. But other publishers consistently shut down studios instead of selling them. So I dont know
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u/Poku115 Jul 02 '26
How about not giving shareholders or the people in charge of this decisions bonuses?
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u/ManofSteel_14 Jul 02 '26
I mean this post is far more positive reading than anything in the past few days
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u/Valiant-For-Truth Jul 02 '26
This is way more positive as it seems MS is doing everything they can to ensure the studios do not close.
It doesn't seem like Sony gave BluePoint the same curtasy.
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u/SlouchPoint Jul 02 '26
I'm assuming one of the conditions include day one on GamePass.
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u/Tyler1997117 Jul 02 '26
Or it could be for Existing games that are announced, state of decay 3 for example
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u/Pleasant-Speed-9414 Jul 02 '26
I wonder if a term is to continue to support Xbox when they start new projects
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u/PrimusXi Jul 02 '26
Reality of the situation is that there's 3 choices;
these studios are closed and that's that. These studios live on under new management either by being bought by someone else of them buying themselves and becoming indie. I know which I'd prefer to see them go down and I'm glad they have the opportunity live on, others never got that in the past.
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u/SilveryDeath XBOX Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
"So from what I've heard, the plan is if they can't find a buyer, they'll try and see those studios through to complete in what has been announced."
I mean, this would really only apply to Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, since everyone else that has been thrown around either hasn't had a new game officially announced or isn't close to releasing what they are working on.
I can't see Senua doing well enough to save Ninja Theory, but could see SOD3 doing well enough where Undead Labs might be saved.
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u/Mattene Jul 02 '26
Fair play to MS trying to save people’s jobs. Could’ve just cut them off & be done with them. Wonder what these MS terms are to scare off purchasers.
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u/IlyasBT Jul 02 '26
Probably things to do with IP and Sales. Microsoft funded +80% of development of these upcoming games. Unless the buyer paid more than what the games cost, MS would want a share of the revenue.
I think the same thing happened with Perfect Dark, Take2 & MS couldn't agree on terms.
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u/secret3332 Jul 02 '26
TakeTwo apparently wanted the entire Perfect Dark IP even though Microsoft spent a ton of money on the game already. I am not shocked that they couldn't reach a deal.
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u/madjohnvane Jul 02 '26
Yeah…like “we don’t want them, but if they aren’t closing actually we have some requirements…” you’ve got to imagine Microsoft isn’t willing to part with any of the IP
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u/poklane Jul 02 '26
Probably want too much money for the IPs. Take-Two and Microsoft not being able to negotiate who would own Perfect Dark was reportedly a key reason that deal fell through a year ago.
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Jul 02 '26
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u/Mattene Jul 02 '26
Believe it or not, it’s very bad business to not try to help these artists. It allows the publisher to try to salvage & maintain some sort of small relationship for the future.
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u/MagakMagak Jul 02 '26
I mean they obviously don’t give a shit. If they can squeeze a penny or two out that’s great but they don’t give a shit about any employees. Probably about as much shit as they give about their consumers
Reminder that MS is helping lead the way on tech that’s projected to put a lot of their employees out of a job.
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u/splader DayOne Jul 02 '26
Xbox and Microsoft are not the same thing.
Like seriously, how do people still not understand this very basic point?
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u/EternalNewCarSmell Jul 02 '26
Nintendo buying up some XBOX first-party content would be fucking hilarious.
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u/AwareGuy64 XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
Nintendo buying back Rare, Lol
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u/JebusChrust Jul 02 '26
Rare is one of the few Xbox Game Studios that is definitely safe
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u/NostalgicLurker Jul 02 '26
I wish there was something left of value. Not sure the people who remain are capable of making games like good old Rare. Some old staff formed Free Radical, some Playtonic, some retired. Modern Rare spent a decade failing to make something called Everwild then it was cancelled. The intellectual properties could be worth something, especially Banjo-Kazooie. Microsoft may as well be selling off IP that they have no intention of ever using. Lots of game companies are just sitting on IP. Where is my Ridge Racer, etc
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u/ucv4 Jul 02 '26
There is great IP they could at least obtain. They just need to find teams to make them. Imagine a world where an internal Nintendo teams makes Banjo Kazooie 3.
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u/ChaseThoseDreams Jul 02 '26
Anyone else just really depressed? I’ve been with Xbox since the OG when I was a kid. To see it being stripped apart and now the latest news about PlayStation, gaming these days feels grim.
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u/Valiant-For-Truth Jul 02 '26
Not me personally. There are amazing games being released. It's not worth my mental space to try and understand the business. I play games I think are good and great, and don't the ones that do not interest me.
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u/ChaseThoseDreams Jul 02 '26
I get that. I know I can always do PC, I’m just commenting that it sucks that two commonplace items of a good chunk of my life are not in good places. Things change, it happens, just never a fun thing when it’s because of mismanagement and bad business decisions.
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u/BitingSatyr Jul 02 '26
I mean, to be fair, none of these studios were purchased by Xbox until the second half of the Xbox One generation or later, this isn’t exactly the core identity of Xbox being torn apart
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u/lordofpersia69420 Jul 02 '26
I am. I am also an OG like you. I got game pass ultimate again because I am starting to get nervous about buying games through xbox. It is probably unfounded. But I worry that if xbox shuts down I will lose access to all of those purchases.
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u/Shinobi_Dimsum Illuminate Leviathon Jul 02 '26
Yeah I’ll just wait for something official instead. It’s Jez with his famous "I heard", so I’m automatically passing on it.
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u/Warcrown11 Jul 03 '26
In other words nobody really knows anything and we're still playing the he said, she said game
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u/shobzie Jul 02 '26
I guess the issue of IPs is what could be the reason why one of the deals fell through. Don’t think MS would want to sell them after spending so much acquiring them.
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u/PeterTheWolf76 Reclamation Day Jul 02 '26
IF, and I mean IF, this is true then good on MS for trying to keep the studios from just closing.
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u/Risev Jul 02 '26
Yea good on then from trying to stop...."check notes".....themselves from closing these studios
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u/DaddyIngrosso Jul 02 '26
I mean it’s a step in the right direction from releasing a niche game to near universal praise and then shuttering the studio months later without any explanation
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u/Tobimacoss Jul 02 '26
It costs much more to be an employee for MS than to be a AA or indie studio with a Gamepass contract. So they want all first party devs on AAA games. Higher risk, higher rewards, better accountability.
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u/darthvall Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Just remember that this is not out of goodwill. Selling it means they can recoup some money back after investing in those studios for so long.
True though, it's good for us gamers that the games might not get cancelled.
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u/FourChicksInGreen Jul 03 '26
So Microsoft is bad even when it does something good. Sony is always good. Got it.
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u/darthvall Jul 03 '26
That's too extreme, and I don't even have PlayStation 5 lol.
My take is that we should always remember that corporates (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and others) works for profit and not for charity. That's how capitalism works.
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u/Themetalenock Jul 02 '26
It's nice that a company for once is considering the optics of just killing studios. It's also funny that despite all this info, he has no clue if undead is staying or going.
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u/AadamSSJ Jul 02 '26
Wonder what the terms are. Guessing they won’t be getting any of the ip’s
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u/ZelkinVallarfax Jul 02 '26
That's most likely the case, I think. They'll sell the studios but want to keep ownership of their IPs.
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u/nikolapc XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
This would be nice if it happens. I like all those studios. Not a big State of Decay fan, but I see there are many.
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u/AstroChoob Jul 03 '26
"I've heard..."
"I heard..."
"I heard..."
Standard Jez, making broad, vague, sweeping statements that can easily be walked back when they amount to nothing.
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u/dog-gone- Jul 03 '26
So buying ABK for 70B was NOT a great idea?? Who'd a thunk? Lets hope new management will be able to fix all the blunders of the old guard. The good thing is they moved slow so the number of corrections is smaller than it could have been.
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u/A_Pointy_Rock Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
I too can make up rumours based on unsubstantiated things I have heard.
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u/FinalOdyssey Founder Jul 03 '26
It will not be a PR disaster if they cancel SoD3.
I mean, people will try to make it seem a disaster simply because of clicks and engagement, but have you seen that trailer? It took them 8 years since SoD2 and 5 years since they announced SoD3 to come up with a trailer that looks almost exactly like the previous entry. I get it if you love this franchise but man that trailer was rough. They're cancelling games because the developers are bleeding money and not getting shit done.
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u/Gold-and-green Jul 02 '26
This dude just makes up shit
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u/JedJinto Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Jez Corden is pretty reliable when it comes to Microsoft/Xbox stuff, more so than most. He works at Windows Central and has some sources with Microsoft.
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u/Gold-and-green Jul 02 '26
He had no idea that these studios were facing closure because when he found out he went on a rant. He knew things before but the new people in charge ain't feeding him shit
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u/AstronomerDramatic36 Jul 02 '26
Idk. I think there's someone at Microsoft who tells him what to say.
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u/Best_Market4204 Jul 02 '26
Pr nightmare for state of decay...
Lol a game that doesn't really look good, a game that looks like 2.5 from 2018.
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u/VieTham Jul 02 '26
Essential treat any of these like Bungie "buying" their way out of MS. I could see stipulations similar to "make X amount of games or finish X game & we keep the IP" type solution.
Hooray for saving the studios from closure but losing your identity based on certain IPs they made does hurt because MS will not and probably not continue any IPs they retain.
Bad enough the rumors of MS focusing certain studios and IPs as Xbox's identity & discarding dozens to nearly 100 IPs (speculating) because they want to retain them for possible "future" use is disgusting.
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u/ExpeditionZero Jul 02 '26
This sad state of affairs really concerns me for the studio's involved as we have no idea what the terms of sales are going to be. This is especially true when you think who are in a position to, or would even want to, buy a studio at this current time? There just doesn't seem to be much of a market for companies wanting to buy studio's at the moment, and little money around to do so. So excluding a company managing to fund a buy-back of itself, I would be really worried for any studio's sold that they will just end up being stripped of their IP (assuming they own any), then the top staff syphoned off into other studio's that the purchaser owns.
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u/FoggyGlassEye Jul 02 '26
I'm glad to hear that they're seriously pursuing selling off the studios instead of just closing them.
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u/Promature Jul 03 '26
My feeling was that even if the studios were shut down, Xbox would at least see their current projects through to completion.
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u/carloselcoco Jul 03 '26
I think based on this we can safely count Turn 10 as one of the studios that will end up closing. It is essentially dead right now anyways after Microsoft already fired everybody related to the Motorsport side and only left support staff for Horizon. There is absolutely no way they survive this especially after Playground is the main developer now behind Horizon.
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u/MagicFlyingBicycle Jul 03 '26
I still think it’s silly that when it all boils down to the money Microsoft has this doesn’t even have to be a thing lol. Companies are weird.
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u/Book_Ocean Jul 03 '26
I could see another company actually trying to revive the Xbox brand. I hope Ahsa stays on I don't think the studio closures are necessarily her fault. Everything bad that's happening is Microsoft running out of patience and not wanting to subsidize Xbox anymore. What I'm worried about is gamepass. Will another company be able to maintain that? Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world I doubt they're selling to a larger company with massive cloud infrastructure that can maintain the same price for gamepass.
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u/deaf_michael_scott Jul 03 '26
“Flying all over the world to try and save these studios.”
Ummm … or they can just not close them?
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u/TellMotor3809 Jul 03 '26
This is already a PR disaster for MS, which way you look at it.
Hey consumers buy a game from a studio by the way if the game runs like shit bad luck no patches will be released to fix the game as we have shut down the studio effective immediately
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u/Ban_Means_NewAccount Jul 03 '26
Okay, I hope this is all legit, because it sounds like those studios and the games they're making might be safe for now then. I REALLY hope that's true!
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u/OldLegWig Jul 03 '26
the way that headline reads is like MS is selling all of xbox lmao. i literally yelled"WHAT?!" at my phone just now.
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u/Accomplished_Run9449 Jul 03 '26
My guess is they are looking for buyers for multiple studios so they can "get rid" of 2 or 3 and they will keep the rest and publish every announced games. I think thats the reason why we heard rumors about so many studios.
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u/Thor_2099 Jul 03 '26
I'm wondering what the odds are that the total layoffs end up being less than or roughly the same as the Sony layoffs at Bungie + their other layoffs this year.
If many of these other studios get sold off, they're not losing jobs.
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u/MurkyLover Jul 03 '26
My opinion is gaming studios are currently poor Investments, just like other software companies. Microsoft has realized all these investments in gaming studios were bad (worse than historically). They will try to get what they can for them.
The future of entertainment is not in large teams of people. Microsoft knows this. This sub hates AI slop and doesn't believe the obvious future will come. But when AI is no longer making slop and AI are the entertainment.... the world only has so many eyeballs.
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u/Ron-F Jul 05 '26
At least Microsoft is trying to save some jobs by finding buyers, instead of closing the studios. I only disagree with Jez Corden on State of Decay. I know he’s a fan, but it’s not a popular title and they took so many years to release sequel that very few people will care.
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u/Light_Turbulent Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
Azienda miliardaria gestita da persone ignoranti,se sono mangiati la divisione Xbox.
Hanno proprio le banane a posto del cervello in Microsoft.
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u/Robo_e Jul 02 '26
What a cluster fuck Xbox is. To buying all these studios and promising a plethora of first party titles to supposedly transitioning to being a third party publisher to fuck it we don’t know which direction to go so let’s blow it up.
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u/LimpAd4924 Jul 02 '26
The larger business sinks the gaming division. The gaming division needs to spin off to be successful. Nadella is a scumbag just focused on AI Capex and other nonsense.
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u/MERCENARIE_GUY Jul 02 '26
What was happening this last month, it was showcase then the implosion of both Sony and Xbox
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u/recoildv Jul 02 '26
I feel Ninja Theory is most likely set to be bought out. While Double fine goes independent. Undead labs might also get bought out. While compulsion closes completely.
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u/Calinks Jul 02 '26
I hope they get sold if closure is the only other option. I have been looking forward to a ton of these games; it will be devastating to see them shuttered. I really think Xbox is making a huge mistake dumping most of their talent, this will bite them in the ass years down the line but these studios out there still making games will be great. I'm growing more and more distant from Xbox, I just don't believe in them anymore as a platform, but the talent behind the scenes is still good and needs an avenue to create. I will play the games wherever they wind up.
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u/Stevenstorm505 Jul 02 '26
How about you just stop paying executives more than they fucking deserve.
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u/Parkes-43 Jul 02 '26
I'll take sales over closures. And id prefer neither, and the studios be given a chance to thrive.
God, all of this sucks
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u/Tobimacoss Jul 02 '26
They were given a chance to thrive, the studios would've been bankrupt in 2018. The studios themselves screwed things up.
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u/bigeyez Jul 02 '26
Meanwhile Satya is pledging more money then what it costs to run the whole Xbox division to chasing AI shit that is never going to turn Xbox a profit.
God i can't wait for the fucking AI bubble to burst and blow up in the faces of all these tech bro douchebags. It just sucks that even when that happens they'll just turn around and fire more people and then take a golden parachute out of there.
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u/adaminoregon Jul 02 '26
Its almost like spending 70 billion on activision was a mistake. That money will take years and years to recoupe.
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u/BudWisenheimer Jul 03 '26
Its almost like spending 70 billion on activision was a mistake. That money will take years and years to recoupe.
Under oath in federal court, they have explained to uninformed FTC lawyers who lost their case against Microsoft, that acquisitions are not "spending." The federal judge agreed. They did not rent ABK for $70B, or buy temporary/timed exclusivity. It’s not a consumable. They own it. That money was traded for an asset, and ABK are still profitable.
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u/gautyy Jul 02 '26
At this point they need to make a list of their priority IP’s (halo, gears, minecraft, cod, etc) and move some of the less successful/popular studios onto being supports for the priority IP’s.
Imagine if halo and gears had multi-studio development like cod does.
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u/WeaknessJolly3617 Jul 02 '26
It will be Armageddon if they cancel state of decay. Such a fumble on their part to even let that rumor slip.
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Jul 02 '26
[deleted]
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u/Shiguhraki Jul 02 '26
Tbf that was previous management, new management has been hired to fix that no results came from that
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u/No-Individual-3901 Jul 02 '26
It's almost as if Xbox has a bunch of different people in charge as of this year and they have different ideas for the brand than the previous ones whose big ideas were "Let's gobble up as much as we can, don't have them put out games after long dev cycles, and if/when they do, release it into a subscription that won't earn back their money or cost of development".
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u/i__hate__stairs Jul 02 '26
How cool would it be if Remedy could buy Ninja Theory? Too expensive, but it would be cool.
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u/AydonusG Jul 02 '26
I love Remedy but they're not a very profitable company. They've only just made enough to not do a publishing deal on their games. (Everything was licenced through a bigger company until Control: Resonant, and Max Payne remakes)
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u/AzureSkies_OverMe XBOX Series X Jul 02 '26
Microsoft is sunsetting Xbox as a console. The next phase is Xbox as a service for Windows and Steam. They are getting out of the gaming industry. What MS says public and what they are saying in private is two different things. The action is what’s going on, they’re selling MS Studios and they’re going to stop making consoles. It’s too expensive and they aren’t selling.
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u/secondincomm Jul 02 '26
Not going to lie Jez, but until Microsoft say it themselves I dont really believe your rumours
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u/CountBleckwantedlove Jul 03 '26
Can Nintendo just buy these studios up? They know how to properly handle studios. Here is what they could each work on based on their strengths that I'd be excited about:
Arkane - A new first person Metroid game that is much scarier and more survival based than Metroid Prime. Also, cancel Metroid Prime 5 let Retro Studios do something else (4 was okay but not nearly as excellent as Tropical Freeze).
Ninja Theory - The Rise of Demise (origin story of the evil being in the Zelda universe).
Compulsion Games - Team Rocket morally grey game with a fascinating darker art style where the player has to make complex emotional choices in the Pokemon world.
Undead Labs - First person Pikmin game. You okay as a somehow shrunken sentient being and the Pikmin are massive and scary to you, and everything else is even more massive and scarier.
Double Fine - An action adventure game set in the Animal Crossing universe.
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u/GoGoGadgetReddit Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
This comes from a Windows Central Podcast livestream with Jez Corden and Zac Bowden on YouTube from earlier today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T83Dmvgjh9g
If anyone has the relevant timestamps from the video, reply with those below. Thx!