Xbox’s previously announced reset is continuing, and the latest round of changes is bringing another wave of job cuts and major reorganizations across its first-party studios.
In a message sent to Xbox employees, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty confirmed that 268 roles are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the Xbox Game Studios management and central functions layer. According to Booty, the changes made since July, including the previously announced studio divestitures, mean the company is now roughly three-quarters of the way through the restructuring it announced earlier this year.
The restructuring is also changing how several of Xbox’s studios operate. Activision will expand its responsibilities to include World’s Edge and Rare, while also taking on development of the next Halo game. That project will be handled by a new team created specifically for the title and will operate separately from the teams working on Call of Duty and other ongoing development. Halo Studios will retain a smaller team focused on supporting the existing Halo games and community.
Bethesda is also expanding its remit, with Obsidian now falling under its umbrella. Obsidian will continue working on its current projects, including Grounded, alongside the new Fallout project being developed in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. King, meanwhile, will take responsibility for Microsoft Casual Games, bringing the company’s two major casual game operations together.
Another significant change involves Playground Games and Turn 10, which will now operate together as a single studio focused on the Forza and Fable franchises. Xbox says the two teams have worked as creative and franchise partners for more than a decade, with the restructuring formally bringing their work under one team.
Xbox also provided an update on several studios that have been subject to divestiture discussions. Compulsion Games and Double Fine have returned to management with their intellectual property, back catalogs and funding, while Undead Labs has made a similar transition. Undead Labs will continue development of State of Decay 3, which Xbox says will launch day one on Game Pass under a new publisher.
The situation is considerably less certain for Ninja Theory. Xbox says two separate agreements involving the studio fell through, and it will now begin consulting employees about a proposed closure while continuing to explore other options. Consultation involving Arkane is also still underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year.
Booty says the focus now is on supporting the employees affected by the changes, with Xbox planning to bring the company together for an October 6 town hall. The event is expected to provide an opportunity to discuss the progress of the restructuring while looking ahead to what Xbox describes as one of the strongest game lineups in its history.
For Xbox, however, the latest announcement makes it clear that the company’s previously announced reset is still very much underway, with the effects reaching some of its most recognizable franchises and studios.