This past week, Microsoft laid off 9,000 staffers, with many hundreds from within the firm’s Xbox gaming division.
As part of the cuts, which Windows Central understands to be designed to help Microsoft fund an $80 billion AI infrastructure investment, Xbox culled various upcoming game projects.
The Initiative was shut down, leading to the cancellation of Perfect Dark. Everwild at Rare was cancelled, with many senior veteran designers losing their jobs. ZeniMax Online Studios’ new MMORPG was culled too, despite Xbox CEO Phil Spencer reportedly loving the game.
Many second party projects were cancelled too. These are games developed by external teams, but funded by and published for Xbox. We learned that Romero Games’ upcoming shooter was funded by Xbox, and its cancellation has basically ended the entire studio. The fates of other games have been up in the air, as many of them were revealed, and have subsequently been utterly absent for many years in some cases. But I can confirm that at least one of these projects still lives, for now.
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Teased almost two years ago, Death Stranding and Metal Gear Solid legend Hideo Kojima revealed OD, a horror title that remains utterly shrouded in mystery.
I’ve seen some speculation online that this game may have also been hit by the cutbacks, but according to our sources, that isn’t the case. At least for now.
As evidenced by Microsoft’s touting of games like Everwild, which Microsoft went on the record to suggest was coming along nicely and would “get the time it needs,” CEO Satya Nadella’s Microsoft is willing to sacrifice projects with high potential on the altar of artificial intelligence. Or well, whatever other new tech fad takes Microsoft’s fancy.
I’m still investigating the fate of other Xbox projects, including Contraband, which has been AWOL for many years at this point. Contraband is (assumedly) in development at Avalanche, formerly codenamed Typhoon. The game is supposed to be some sort of heist ’em up game, with an emphasis on Avalanche’s signature vehicular combat systems. Contraband, however, has had its trailer pulled from Xbox’s YouTube, which doesn’t bode well — it has been suggested to me that this may have been due to a music license expiring, though, so we’ll see.
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As the fallout from the layoffs continues to settle, I’m sure we’ll hear other news about cancelled projects and reduced commitments. The absolute carnage Microsoft cut across its gaming team this past week is going to be felt for a long time. The accounts I’ve heard from those who were utterly blind-sided by the callousness of these layoffs have been nothing short of heartbreaking.