Xbox is laying off 3,200 people and dumping 4 studios
Compulsion, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs are out, and the future doesn't sound very good for Arkane either.
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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Sign Up By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over, have read our Privacy Policy and agree to the Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply. (Image credit: Getty Images - David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The axe has fallen on Xbox, which announced another major round of layoffs that will see approximately 3,200 people put out of work, with 1,600 losing their jobs today and another 1,600 to follow over the course of the company's fiscal year.
Four studios—Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs—will also "leave Xbox to new management," as CEO Asha Sharma put it.None of those studios will close as a result of today's cuts, which is the only upside to the whole thing: Compulsion and Double Fine will go independent again, "with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games," Sharma said, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are being sold to unnamed new owners.The situation may be grimmer for Arkane, where "management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options."
Further details aren't provided but in France, where Arkane is based, and other EU nations, employee consultations are a mandatory part of the layoff process. There's no mention of the Blade game Arkane is currently working on.Latest Videos FromWatch full video here: Xbox is also "making reductions across other units," including Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and Xbox Game Studios, although Sharma said no ongoing projects will be cancelled.
Minecraft studio Mojang and the mobile studio King will also now report directly to Sharma.Sharma declared that "our business today is not healthy" as a prelude to the cuts, a statement made almost exactly one year after her predecessor, Phil Spencer, declared that "our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger" as he imposed mass layoffs of his own in 2025. Sharma also repudiated Spencer's all-in bet on Game Pass and multi-platform releases, saying that while they "created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected."
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware dealsKeep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors TOPICS Andy ChalkUS News LeadAndy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters.
He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of t
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