Xbox | Zenimax Development Studios | Activision | Blizzard | King

[kitler53]

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2mkgbhbhqvappkkorf2bzyrp/post/3lseaakusns2s?ref_src=embed


Major layoffs planned at Xbox.

pure speculation on my part, i've not so much as read a rumor on the topic but..

...what i'm going to pay specific attention to is who gets cut.   while i won't be surprised if a studio like ninja theory gets closed due to hellblade II bombing i think it is the hardware side of the house that is most likely to be gutted.    

we know MS is marketing anything capable of playing a MS published game as an "xbox".   we've heard the rumor that MS's dedicated handheld console was deprioritized to focus on software emulation of xbox games on PC.   We've seen MS promote projects like the "ROG Xbox Ally" an d"ROG Xbox Ally X" or the "Meta Quest Xbox".   We've seen their video talking about xbox supporting multiple store fronts.

this feels like an exit from hardware and that makes the hardware team almost in it's entirety obsolete.  they just need a small 3rd party relationships team to seek out hardware partnerships and market them.

[the-pi-guy]

I don't think that is it, they are still pushing forward on hardware plans. I would expect hardware layoffs if their current plans failed.  

There was another article that suggested they were changing their distributions in Europe: 


[The Verge] Microsoft is restructuring Xbox distribution across central Europe, resulting in some Xbox operations ceasing in some regions

[the-pi-guy]

Feels like Era has turned around on Gamepass.  

https://www.resetera.com/threads/vgc-playstation-maintains-that-it-still-won%E2%80%99t-release-first-party-games-on-ps-plus-on-day-one.1227891/

GamePass is a failed strategy and shouldn't be replicated.

[kitler53]

so this chart looks close enough to talk to.   pretend that the x axis is number of games purchased in a year and the y axis is the percentage of customers that buy that many games a year:



from a customer perspective game pass makes financial sense around 3 games purchased a year.   

so for a vast majority of people gamepass doesn't make a lot of sense because they never bought and dont' want that many games.  they'll just buy their 1-2 games a year that they want.   hence why gamepass is getting the billion+ subscribers they once suggested they could reached never happened. 

but for those few gamers that buy 3+ games a year most of them used to buy a lot more than just 3 games.   gamepass is a huge cost savings if previously you were buying 12 games at release.  as a gamer that a great reason to be really excited about the service.  as a business that's a ton of money lost not milking the whales for money.  

[the-pi-guy]

There's a rumor that the layoffs are huge. I'm skeptical of the source - the claimed number of current employees doesn't line up with a number I'm familiar with. 


I feel kind of skeptical that someone would know more definitively about the layoffs than about the number of employees. Which maybe that's silly of me. 




I'm not sure what the Xbox unit is considered here. 

The Xbox Studios group is more like a few thousand, and if you are looking at the whole Xbox + Activision + Zenimax, I think it's like 20k. 

[Legend]

Yeah it's really stupid. The hardcore gamers save a bunch of money while the casual spend more.

The hard core guys are the ones that are happy spending $500 a year so why the fudge would you build a model that stops that.

If gamepass was 6 month old games, then that could be great. Hardcore still spends tons of money and cheaper gamers would still be happy subscribing and getting a bulk deal.

[kitler53]

Yeah it's really stupid. The hardcore gamers save a bunch of money while the casual spend more.

The hard core guys are the ones that are happy spending $500 a year so why the fudge would you build a model that stops that.

If gamepass was 6 month old games, then that could be great. Hardcore still spends tons of money and cheaper gamers would still be happy subscribing and getting a bulk deal.

i feel like 1-2 year is maybe more appropriate.  

i dunno, i kind of like how ps+ extra is not all that focused on 1st party stuff.   the super amazing awesome 1st party games i kind of just want to own.  where ps+ has been great is for the stuff i think maybe could be good but i just don't know.    i'm playing prince of persia lost crown right now.  i was interested but sceptical.   now i'm really enjoying it.   

i really don't mind the wait and i really don't mind the 3rd party focus.   but it gives the service an identity that matches customer personas.   the whales buy games day-1.   ps+ is for cheapskate gamers like me that won't buy games day-1 and wait 1-2 years for games to go on deep discount.  

[kitler53]

There's a rumor that the layoffs are huge. I'm skeptical of the source - the claimed number of current employees doesn't line up with a number I'm familiar with.


I feel kind of skeptical that someone would know more definitively about the layoffs than about the number of employees. Which maybe that's silly of me.


I'm not sure what the Xbox unit is considered here.

The Xbox Studios group is more like a few thousand, and if you are looking at the whole Xbox + Activision + Zenimax, I think it's like 20k.

i'm sure it's that last one.

my company just layed off 10% so 1k doesn't sound "unreasonable" to me.   if MS closed ninja theory that would be 120 right there if google is accurate.  double fine another 200.  

as sucks as it is i just don't see MS caring about a game even being profitable if the RoI is only 10%.   they "need" their 200% RoI to please the stonk market so studios not making blockbuster games are a drag from their perspective.


...have i mentioned the whole world f'ing sucks these days.   

[the-pi-guy]

Turn 10 expected to have layoffs. 

[the-pi-guy]

Can't confirm any specific details (& imagine few would be able to) but there's certainly a lot of negative chatter coming out of the UK Xbox studios today.  For the sake of employees, I hope details are confirmed swiftly, but I expect this will drag well into next week. https://t.co/mBFbM1vRSk

— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) June 26, 2025

UK Xbox devs:  Ninja Theory, Rare, and Playground

[kitler53]

ninja theory i would not be surprised in the least if the whole studio was canned.

rare i could see being diminished to a sea of thieves studio and have everwild get canceled if this is in development hell.

i'd expect playground to come out okay.   horizon has done well.  fable has received good impressions based on the teaser trailers.


....mostly think ninja theory is in trouble.

[Legend]

“I think Xbox hardware is dead”

- Laura Fryer, one of Xbox’s original founding team members

“I don’t love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away”

See video: https://t.co/bVa7uTkQrB pic.twitter.com/H6xxF3dUq0

— Hunter 🎮 (@NextGenPlayer) June 29, 2025

Yeah it sucks how xbox's death has been hidden. No big outcry since most fans don't really understand what's been happening.

[BananaKing]

Phil Spencer killed Xbox. 

Worst strategy for a company I've seen since Nokia trashed their dominants in the phone market. 

[kitler53]

Phil Spencer killed Xbox.

Worst strategy for a company I've seen since Nokia trashed their dominants in the phone market.

devils advocate.

what was the better plan that would have lead to success?

[BananaKing]

devils advocate.

what was the better plan that would have lead to success?

Lead to success? They were in a tough place, with a big part of that as to his failure to actually develop a first party portfolio. People seen to forger he was in charge of first party leading into the Xbox one generation. 

Develop a competent first party
Develop a competent xbox online store on PC
Cross buy between Xbox and PC platform on their stores
Expand the Xbox market place to stream on Live TVs and Mobile 

With the shift to digital, alongside Xbox subs and the growth of microtransactions having a console that sold 40-60 million could still be profitable, and quiet profitable at that. You don't need to "win the console war". Xbox could have profitable with a fraction of the investment they made 

And that's business wise. 

Marketing wise 
Don't announce games way to early
Don't make empty promises that never happened (every E3 was hyped to death)
A better understanding of the consumers and market demand. 


Xbox brand position deteriorated heavily under Phil. Yes it took a huge hit with the Xbox one reveal, but now Xbox is lame, and that has been ingrained in customer minds. He simply didn't know how to set a proper brand. 

Exclusives sell consoles, specially good ones. Keep building on their first party, their unique offerings, and slowly build your console base up. And profit off of the 30% cut on Xbox and on PC. 

But they failed to compete, with Sony, with Steam and with Nintendo. 

So they spent 100 billion on investment, only to realize.. hey we can't make our money back if we make the games exclusive. So we go third party. So all their games go third party. And then the hardware dies. It's insane that roughly 100 billion in investment kills of a product of yours. And don't tell me it's worth it. Because publishers are struggling left and right, and Sony, Steam and Nintendo are making bank. Being a platform holder is where the money is at, and has the less risk. But it's there is a huge barriers to entry and a lot of investment needed. Which makes it even crazier to think again of the 100 billion dollar investment leading to the death if their console business