A recent video from Windows Central paints a rather sad picture for the future of many of Xbox’s studios in the wake of a rumored wave of cost-cutting measures to improve the brand’s profitability that came recently.
Zac Brown, Senior Editor at Windows Central, and Jez Corden spoke frankly about what the future could hold for a lot of great studios currently operating under the Xbox umbrella. “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.”
That’s rather sad news to hear; the uncertainty of it all is a tragic part of the situation. And it seems like that wave of layoffs might be closer than we think. “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 being closed. But then I would expect also headcounts across the board. I think every studio is going to have layoffs, at least some layoffs.”
There is a bit of light on this otherwise dim horizon, though. It seems that any affected studios could get the chance to complete their announced games if things work out well enough. Let’s hope that everyone displaced from roles they’ve probably loved finds their feet in an industry that’s had a rough few years, with more challenges to come in the near future.
The news comes at an already tricky time when the gaming world debates on PlayStation announcing its stopping disc production in 2028, while rumors about Xbox cancelling marketing initiatives on physical copies of upcoming titles continue to make the rounds.
