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Xbox is preparing to shut down or sell at least three of its studios \u2014 Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games \u2014 according to reports from The Verge and Bloomberg on Monday.\u00a0 Xbox is preparing to shut down or sell at least three of its studios \u2014 Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games \u2014 according to reports from The Verge and Bloomberg on Monday.\u00a0 Ninja Theory employees were informed on Monday that the studio would be closing, according to The Verge, but the team is attempting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[676],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daiilynews.cu.ma\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNinja Theory employees were informed on Monday that the studio would be closing, according to The Verge, but the team is attempting to find a buyer that can keep them operational. Ninja Theory is the studio behind the Hellblade series and it was featured in the recent Xbox Summer Game Fest showcase, revealing a new entry\u00a0due in 2027.
\nDouble Fine is the legendary studio behind the Psychonauts games, Br\u00fctal Legend, Broken Age, Keeper and all manner of LucasArts adventures, founded by\u00a0Tim Schafer and friends in 2000. Double Fine\u00a0leaders are in active negotiations to buy themselves back from Xbox rather than be closed altogether, Bloomberg said.\u00a0
\nCompulsion Games is in a similar position, according to the report. Compulsion is the Montreal studio behind the uber-stylish games\u00a0Contrast, We Happy Few\u00a0and South of Midnight, the latter of which came out in April 2025.
\nBloomberg reported that several other studios under the Xbox Game Studios banner are also negotiating for their futures and are at risk of being shut down. As it officially stands, the Xbox Game Studios umbrella covers dozens of studios, including Arkane, Bethesda, Halo Studios, id Software, Obsidian, Playground Games, ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard King. We have contacted Xbox for clarification on the reported closures and buyout talks.
\nMicrosoft’s modern game-studio acquiring spree kicked off in 2018 with the purchase of\u00a0Undead Labs, Playground Games, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games, plus the formation of The Initiative. This momentum continued building at a concerning pace in 2020 and 2021, when Xbox acquired eight more studios under ZeniMax Media, including Arkane, Bethesda and id. Everything came to a head in 2022 with the announcement that Xbox planned to purchase Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, the largest acquisition in video game history. That deal finally went through at the end of 2023, after a lengthy battle with regulators.
\nSince the acquisitions, Microsoft has enacted multiple massive rounds of layoffs\u00a0affecting thousands of employees in its gaming division, and also shuttered well-known studios, including The Initiative. Unfortunately, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, Compulsion and the other at-risk Xbox studios are in good company.
\nLongtime Xbox division head Phil Spencer stepped down this year and was replaced by new CEO Asha Sharma, alongside other executive-level changes. Also on Monday, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan left the company; he first took the role in October 2024. Employees across Xbox are bracing for more layoffs in 2026 after an ominous public memo from Sharma dropped in mid-June, just as the glow of Summer Game Fest fully faded.
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