With Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan reportedly stepping down after less than two years on the job, it seems the wheels are already turning on potential layoffs. Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw claims to have heard about “at least two Xbox studios” that are currently at risk of being shuttered by the end of 2026.
“One of which would come as a shock to everyone,” he added. In a follow-up post, Straw clarified “It wasn’t Obsidian or Rare, for those who’ve asked. I’m working on trying to get more details on what employees are feeling at the moment. But the picture could become clearer in the coming weeks, depending on what decisions get finalized.”
That said, he alleged that “everything is on the table at Xbox.” Just because the above studios weren’t apparently brought up doesn’t mean they’re not at risk of layoffs.
If you go by recent reports of titles that under-performed, including Kiln, Keeper, South of Midnight and Forza Motorsport, it’s possible that Double Fine Productions, Compulsion Games and Turn 10 Studios get the axe. The latter seems unlikely given that it’s working on the PS5 port of Forza Horizon 6 and potentially providing support on Fable.
Unfortunately, Double Fine’s latest efforts haven’t really stood out much, even though Keeper received critical acclaim. South of Midnight is another title that received relatively decent reviews, but even after launching on PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2, it seemingly couldn’t translate that to strong sales.
As always, we’ll need to wait and see, especially after reports claimed layoffs will begin after the current fiscal quarter ends (so from July onwards). Stay tuned in the meantime.