It’s impossible to talk about a new Xbox game without also talking about the state of Xbox. Microsoft’s gaming division is in freefall: Recent headlines are dominated by extensive layoffs, decimated studios, and confusing strategies, most of which stem from years of bad decisions and expensive acquisitions. But it wasn’t always that way. Through its […]
Microsoft is expanding its Xbox backward compatibility efforts today by bringing original Xbox games to PC. An early preview release will see four classic Xbox games available on PC today, as part of a bigger effort to bring more Xbox console games to PC in the future. The first four games are Blinx: The Time […]
This week should have been a celebration for Doom developer id Software. The studio just launched Revelations, a meaty expansion for Doom: The Dark Ages that adds a powerful new weapon and more demonic levels to blast through. Even though I hadn’t picked up The Dark Ages for more than a year, it only took […]
As part of Microsoft’s big Xbox “reset,” which includes layoffs affecting 3,200 staffers, jettisoning studios, and shifting investments to focus on “higher priority projects,” Obsidian Entertainment is changing its plans. The studio, behind games like Grounded and The Outer Worlds, is starting work on a new Fallout title and has canceled “multiple projects,” including a […]
This week, Microsoft took a huge ax to its Xbox business. The company announced that it would be laying off 1,600 workers now, 1,600 more over the next fiscal year, and that it would be shedding four studios. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hasn’t been shy about why she’s making such dramatic cuts, saying in a […]
As part of the mass layoffs hitting Xbox, Doom developer id Software has laid off around 50 percent of its staff, according to Game Developer. One source claimed to the publication that the cuts equate to more than 90 redundancies. Another source said that id’s QA department was significantly impacted. The report was published the […]
It’s another bad week for the video game industry. Microsoft outlined a series of layoffs on Monday that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described as “the most significant restructure in Xbox history.” But buried in Sharma’s memo was a curiously optimistic statement: “I want Xbox to be one of the few companies that entertains more than […]
Microsoft is spinning off four of its Xbox game studios – Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs – as part of the restructuring announced today. However, two that are going independent, Double Fine and Compulsion, will get to keep their franchises and games catalog, according to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. “Compulsion […]
Microsoft cut around 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday — the latest in a series of layoffs that’s stoking fears of AI replacing jobs. The layoffs will hit Xbox and commercial sales the hardest.
Microsoft is laying off 4,800 employees today, and more than 30 percent of the job losses are in the company’s Xbox division. The significant gaming cuts will affect nearly every part of Xbox and also involve four game studios being spun off to be run independently from Microsoft. Today’s layoffs, which are being described as […]