By now, you’ve heard more than enough about the layoffs at Xbox, which studios have seemingly been hit the worst, and so on. But even those who survived the initial devastation don’t have much cause to celebrate, especially with even more layoffs planned for the rest of fiscal year 2027.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier recently wrote about the same, stating, “Knowing that a second wave of job cuts could come at any time has led to panic and anxiety among the thousands of people who work for the company.” This includes the likes of Blizzard, which has reportedly seen “minimal” layoffs compared to the rest of Xbox, but is far from relaxed.
The lack of information on the exact timing of the next wave is yet another source of stress for remaining developers. “The staff who remain are being asked to do more with less — and if they don’t, they fear it could be used as a reason to be fired in the next round,” said Schreier.
It’s also worth noting other cuts outside of Xbox, like the vendor budget being slashed by 50 percent and resulting in layoffs at agencies that work for the company. Much like IO Interactive closing its Istanbul studio and self-publishing Project Fantasy, it’s another example of the ramifications from such sweeping changes.
Besides Arkane Studios undergoing consultations in accordance with French law, Sweden-based studio MachineGames is reportedly fine. However, publishing branches and other studios under Xbox have apparently made cuts. The lack of information on which ones, both officially and otherwise, sticks out, especially in the wake of conflicting reports about id Software.
Time will tell if CEO Asha Sharma’s big reset works for Xbox, especially when it comes to next-gen hardware like Project Helix. It probably won’t become the “number one gaming and entertainment company” anytime soon, but it may just survive long enough for whatever comes next.
