XBox Lays Off Everybody Else

I hope that, in the future, I see less game studios willing to marry themselves to giant corporations. The consequences have become (one would think) too big and obvious to ignore. Any perceived financial stability is massively offset by the conversion of the studio into a plaything that the corporation can just use or throw away at a whim.

It wasn’t that long ago XBox went on a studio buying spree, bringing up to 15 separate game businesses under its umbrella in an effort to acquire more exclusives. The strategy reached its peak with the absorption of Activision, a purchase so large it had to be reviewed by several governments first. The thought was that the industry would remain the way it was forever, or at least never change within the next decade….anyway, when it became clear that life is, in fact, change, Microsoft did a 180 and started cutting loose and/or killing as many of their new partners as they could.

Last July they went on a firing frenzy that was PR poison, the kind of bad news that can be only offset by your competitors acting horrible the following week (good thing their competition is Playstation, huh?) Today it was followed up with another set of layoffs and closures, “chief” among them Halo Studios. The former 343 Industries will lay off over 250 employees and the handful that are left will serve as advisors to Activision, who have been now handed the Halo license. Reaction among Halo fans is…mixed, because no one’s been happy with 343 of late, but they don’t trust Activision will be much better either. Bungie, the studio that invented Halo, is now owned by Sony.

That’s not the only thing Activision will be getting. World’s Edge, makers of the Age of Empires series, will be rolled under the Activision umbrella and — the most depressing part if you’ve been gaming for a while — so will Rare. The Rare of the 90s hasn’t existed since, well, the 90s; the team is entirely different and they only focus on one game, but still, this is the coffin’s final nail that makes the death real. Or rather, the final headshot that kills the zombie.

Obsidian, who is currently working on Grounded and a new Fallout project, will be absorbed into Bethesda, and as for Ninja Theory, one of the five studios threatened with extinction if they couldn’t go independent or find another buyer..it’s not looking good. Two acquisition deals to save the studio fell through, and they’re running out of options. The fate of Arkane Studios also remains up in the air, and you can’t tell me no one else would want those guys.

Also, we’ve been told there’s at least one more round of downsizing in the future before XBox shrinks to the size it desires to be. Look forward to that in a couple of months. Personally we don’t see what’s left.