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The Verge: "Source suggest Xbox could close a Studio on June 30 after the layoffs"

Draugoth

Gold Member
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The company has been preparing for the layoffs internally for weeks, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hinting about "making hard choices" last month. Sources suggest the cuts could even involve a studio closure, or changes to the Xbox studio lineup. In a recent Giant Bomb episode, rumors of 1,000 layoffs for Microsoft's Xbox division were mentioned. Bloomberg also reported today that the cuts would be "major."

Source
 
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Double Fine has around 100 employees. Arkane Studios Lyon 150 people (in 2020). That's "just" a quarter of the total number of 1000 layoffs MS supposedly has in mind....

This is gonna be a bloodbath.
 
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Aren't they a boutique studio? Not there to sell million copies, just to diversify their library, like what Sony used to do with Japan Studio
Double Fine Productions is an award-winning game development studio founded in 2000 by games industry veteran Tim Schafer. Located in San Francisco's South of Market district, Double Fine is committed to making high-quality games with an emphasis on originality, story, characters, and fun.
One of the most expensive places in the US.
 
Rare are a big disappointment imo although I think they may be ok if it's a sequel to Sea of Thieves given it's performed alright after a shitty start.
 
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Somehow ninja theory will keep going, when it's probably DoubleFine or compulsion as mentioned by others.

Honestly State of Decay 3s development seems like its been a bit of a shitshow also, just because we saw a trailer doesn't mean it's not dead.

my bet would be one of the bajillion activision studios they bought, some CoD support team like Raven or one those.
 
Aren't they a boutique studio? Not there to sell million copies, just to diversify their library, like what Sony used to do with Japan Studio

Double Fine was not to diversity the Xbox Library, but the Game Pass library. But it's undoubtedly much cheaper for MS to get the sort of quirky games Double Fine make from third parties. Then they can pick and choose the exact games they want for their subscription service and put them on GP for a much lower price than what a game from DF would cost them.
 
"Look... if we our business is healthy, we close only one studio. If our business is not healthy, we close two studios. I am learning on the job by doing"

- Asha probably.
 
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Aren't they a boutique studio? Not there to sell million copies, just to diversify their library, like what Sony used to do with Japan Studio

I dunno. They've been around forever. People make weird quirky games that blow up on Steam all the time. Double Fine makes weird quirky games that nobody at all cares about. Even their kickstarter game that raised 3 million with Frodo I haven't seen anyone talk about in years and years.

 
If they make marketing cuts they can always just ask the likes of Ryan McCaffrey and Jez Corden to do that for them, I mean let's face it, they are more or less advertisers as it is than anything remotely close to journalists .
 
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Psychonauts 2 was a huge disappointment, especially considering how long we waited for it. Considering that was their last "big game", I don't see how they've stayed open since then.
 
Double Fine rushing up a quick trailer to announce <anticipated gigahit>

In fact, with this rumour, maybe we'll see all their studios suddenly show what theyre working on 😂
 
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343 Industries / Halo Studios.
It's long overdue for a cleansing.

Like a lot of people mention, pass the mantle to ID Software.
 
These people are paying the price for M$ choosing to cater to 257 fanboys on X by not releasing E-Day on PS5. The 4-5 million copies it would sell would save so many jobs. Cunts.
 
My picks would have been:

Obsidian (after two AAA flops in 2025)
Ninja Theory (after Hellblade 2 flopped)

I heard Obsidian is working on a new Avowed so probably not them, and Ninja Theory is safe for now after the showcase reveal, though I think they're running out of rope.

Double Fine seems like the only logical choice but watch it be Machine Game. I fully expected a Wolfenstein 3 reveal at the showcase. Maybe that's being saved for QuakeCon.
 
Man, even though all this flapping nonsense they're doing is very entertaining for us 1000 people losing their jobs sucks.

I love this hobby, some of their studios have made games a personally didnt like, thought were shit or had bad starts, but they've also put out games in the past I love to this day.

I've had my fair share of irritatingly stupid bosses but its usually been at a mid level and even if the overall direction from on high was flawed they still had people at the top of my pay grade making smart decisions.

Xbox just seems like they have no fucking clue how to make great games anymore.
 
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