Today, Matt Booty, Head of XBOX Game Studios, released a new message that was sent to Team XBOX employees about the next wave of changes as part of the XBOX reset that was started earlier this year. There are three big things happening. First, more layoffs have been announced. Second is reorganization of XBOX Game Studios. Third is an update on XBOX Game Studios studio divestitures.
268 roles are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the XGS management and central functions layer. With this, roughly three-quarters of the previously announced restructuring has been completed.
The second major update in this wave of the XBOX reset is a reorganization of XBOX Game Studios. Activision is expanding with World’s Edge and Rare. Following the changes at Halo Studios, the development of the next Halo title will now be done by Activision. A small team at Halo Studios will continue supporting the Halo community and games in-market.
Obisidian is now a part of Bethesda. They will continue its current projects, including Grounded, and the new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios.
King is expanding to include Microsoft Casual Games. Playground and Turn 10 will merge and become one studio.
Like Compulsion and Double Fine, Undead Labs has made the shift and will become an independent developer. They will release State of Decay 3 on Game Pass with a new publisher. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Ninja Theory. Two separate agreements fell through so they are now consulting with Ninja Theory employees on a proposed closure while they continue to explore paths forward. Consultation with Arkane remains underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year.