Xbox preparing to close Ninja Theory, Double Fine and Compulsion Games
Game File: Microsoft already planned to shut down or split with Ninja Theory when Senua was announced. "The thinking was that the promise of a newly announced game would help draw investor interest in the studio" www.gamefile.news/p/xbox-studi...
trailers should only be shared with the public if you're trying to draw interest in people buying the game, not investors buying the company. but what do i know
Darkly amusing to think they considered the short term benefit to the sale, but not the long term impact for their Xbox brand.
I feel dirty just reading that🤢
For me, this is as callous as that Sony bigwig who went to a Sony London party, knowing he was going to close that studio in six days. SL, however, did not know this until the news dropped.
What the fuck is happening over there lol...
So now the studio and game are gone. But hey the 50th fucking remake of halo is coming soon!!
Microsoft: we think this studio is a turd so we’re dumping it. But you guys should totally buy it though
This is incredibly scummy, and I feel awful for the team at Ninja Theory who worked hard on their new game.
That's so messed up. I was legitimately hyped for it thinking Xbox was coming around. Smh
No, but I read online that Microsoft is saved now........
Bought up all these studios just to either close or sell them off. A week ago yall were eating out of that CEO ladies hand talking about “Xbox” is back.
They closed Tango Gameworks after pulling out the amazing Hi-fi Rush. So... No surprises here.
Why would I trust Xbox now*? Art means nothing. Success means nothing. Supporting games and studios I like means nothing. They see no future for their own console. They have nothing to offer they aren't prepared to destroy. *I mean [gestures at everything], ~especially~ now
"Sorry guys, we have to sack all of your favourite artists so we can pivot to a new business model of helping Openai take a flamethrower to $34 billion every year" www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-op...
They are truly a terrible steward - there's part of me which'll never not be worried for those studios they've gotten. I'd hate to see even more studios legacies lost thanks to the suits and their lack of vision there :(
just a few months ago, Xbox chief content officer Matt Booty was pointing to Double Fine and Compulsion Games as examples of studios it's committed to, "where little sparks can grow into something big."
the full interview is worth reading again in light of the studio closures www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/...
This is my thinking - If Xbox are serious about rivaling Playstation they're going to need new big IPs. Gears and Halo are exhausted.
Matt Booty should go. He’s was responsible for all those studios as they developed games that are seen as failures.
Honestly matt booty should be the one taking the fall here. He was in charge and he pointed to tango works as a success story and then they were nearly shuttered. Now history repeats He complained about being spread too thin. It just feels like excuses from poor management time and time again
This cover, which has been months in the making, is extremely bittersweet for me. On one hand, Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the most influential games of my life and the devs at Halo Studios seems to be doing great work. But on the other hand, man, is it hard to get excited about Xbox these days.
The timing of this issue launch could not be worse, but I'm proud of the story I wrote, which includes a look back at the creation of the original Halo: Combat Evolved alongside those who made it, as well as a look at the work that the developers at Halo Studios is doing today.
Thanks for acknowledging this. I’m not supporting any Microsoft products right now but I appreciate your work.
I try to think of it a/b the games versus company. Xbox's showcase gave me a lot of games to be excited about. We knew a lot of cuts were coming but I'm still very excited about the pillar franchises. To be clear, I'm not happy about the loss of jobs, but I do think a directional reset was needed.
Even as a huge Halo fan I'm having a hard time being excited about Xbox or Campaign Evolved in general. This will be the fifth release of this same story. I know they wanted to test the new engine, that feels like a perfect remake for ODST. I have no doubt the cover story will be amazing though!
Unfortunate timing for sure, but that is one sick cover art! Could see that as a poster!
Its actually stunning how bad Microsoft is doing right now: Win11 is so bad Linux adoption is on the rise including entire country governments switching CoPilot is far and away the least used and most hated ai Xbox as a brand is dead They're shuttering studios left and right Theyre dying fast
I'm not sure they have a profitable or positive division. Even Office365 isn't the sure thing it once was anymore, Gmail Suite exists and there are other options if you know where to look. I think the only good thing about CoPilot is it doesn't generate CP a la Grok, low bar
I found it staggering how they had to meekly admit they lost millions of subscribers with the Game Pass cost increase, then had to roll it back. Like how is fucking possible to be this out of touch with your userbase as a corporation that collects data on everyone. Astounding, truly.
To be "fair" government adoption of Linux is more about reducing strategic reliance on a US company, it's why Apple isn't benefiting from it, despite being the biggest corporate competitor.
Microsoft reportedly negotiating closures of multiple Xbox studios, including Psychonauts' Double Fine, South of Midnight's Compulsion and Hellblade's Ninja Theory www.eurogamer.net/compulsion-d...
Great job, #XBOX! 1. Buy studios for billions. 2. Watch studios make successful and significant games. 3. Lose money anyway because of your shitty business model. 4. Close studios and fire thousands of people. What a business triumph!
If I hated games and gaming I would be running Xbox exactly like this.
But of course, the Activision Blizzard King buyout was fine and wasn't going to ruin the games industry at all. 😐 Never forget.
Close down studios that make awesome games while wasting literal billions of $ on AI.
Got my ass jumped for saying that not even Sony is this bad, but I'mma say it again: Not even Sony is this bad.
Fucking hell... NT literally just announced a new game. Xbox made "only" 100 or 200 million dollars in net profit. What a clownfest of a management.
I'm just saying, the 2000's Writers' Strike happened over circumstances similar to these.
Nine days. Ninja Theory was on stage at the Xbox showcase nine days ago announcing a new game. Their studio is now closed. I never played their games. But I feel for the developers behind them. The people who pour themselves into weird, beautiful, fresh ideas that the metrics just can't hold.
They are attempting to negotiate to at least go independent. There is like.. zero reason.. for Microsoft not to honour this after pulling the rug out from under them like this. In an ideal world.. they would all get severance pay and get to go Independent, keeping IP's they built. If only.
This is why I left tech. It's only getting worse and I hope we can have nice things again soon :(
Holy shit, seriously? They shut down Ninja Theory and Double Fine? Double Fine hurts the most for me. I was still dreaming of a new Psychonauts... Man Microsoft is shit.
Does it really cost that much not to be a fucking pig who buys studios just to squeeze them dry and shut them down afterward? At this point, it feels like the only good thing left in this industry is indie games. Until some suit shows up, anyway.
last i heard Double Fine was negotiating to buy themselves back from Microsoft 🤞
They shut down double fine?!?!