Many Games Cancelled Amid Huge Xbox Staff Cuts
With the announcement of so many studio cuts and closures as part of Xbox’s 2025 financial strategy, a massive number of staff have been laid off. This includes a reported 100 people at Blizzard, 50% of Turn10 (developers of the Forza series) and the complete closure of studio ‘The Initiative’, who were working on the promising Perfect Dark reboot set to launch in the coming years. All in all, thousands of developers have been let go in what is one of the biggest layoffs in gaming history.
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Even huge moneymakers like Halo Studio and Sledgehammer (responsible for several Call of Duty games) have been impacted by these layoffs. In total, Microsoft announced that 9000 jobs would be impacted by cuts- many of which coming as part of Xbox Studios. This not only means that thousands of talent will be out of a job but also means that many games have been delayed or cancelled altogether.
With so much of Turn10 being let go, the future of the next Forza game is up in the air. On top of this, Romero Studios has been completely closed. This studio were apparently working on a new FPS with talent behind Doom and Wolfenstein on the team. Unfortunately, this project will now likely never see the light of day. A new MMORPG from Zenimax (developers of the Elder Scrolls Online) has also been shelved after being in development for over 3 years.
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What is one of the most soul crushing announcements is that Rare’s new game titled ‘Everwild’ has been completely cancelled as part of budget cuts. This was in development for almost 7 years and had a beautiful initial reveal trailer with inventive creature designs. It seems that Rare, who were once responsible for greats like Banjo Kazooie and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, have been consigned to simply a Sea of Thieves studio. Keep an eye on social channels for more news on more unfortunate studio closures, layoffs and game cancellations as more news on this comes out.
