{"id":61778,"date":"2026-06-18T20:48:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61778"},"modified":"2026-06-18T20:48:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T12:48:58","slug":"ahead-of-xbox-studio-bloodbath-report-lays-out-why-the-company-is-struggling-so-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=61778","title":{"rendered":"Ahead of Xbox Studio &#8216;Bloodbath&#8217;, Report Lays Out Why the Company is Struggling So Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">A new report suggests Xbox layoffs will likely result in a &#8220;bloodbath&#8221; of job losses and studio closures, leaving developers &#8220;punished&#8221; simply for following Microsoft&#8217;s orders.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Word of Xbox staff redundancies and development studio shutdowns is now rife, following an ominous warning from newly-installed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma that the console maker&#8217;s slim profit margin was no longer sustainable. While it has been reported that Xbox studios such as South of Midnight maker Compulsion Games, Kiln and Keeper developer Double Fine, and Hellblade helmer Ninja Theory are just some of the teams now facing shutdown, the exact details remain unclear and unfinalized. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Microsoft is believed to be timing the layoffs with the end of its financial year on June 30, with talks ongoing among studio bosses over which companies could be sold off, spun out and kept open independently \u2014 even if this still results in numerous job losses. IGN has asked Microsoft for comment but has yet to receive a response.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">The 100 Best Xbox Games of All Time<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"What is an Xbox? Microsoft has spent 25 years trying to answer the question, but for fans, the answer is easy: \u201cXbox\u201d evokes one-eared headsets wired into the memory card slots of massive controllers with breakaway cords. A dashboard with gleaming skeuomorphic blades and avatars adorned in earned accessories. That sound that plays when a hard-earned Achievement finally pops. \u201cXbox\u201d means heavy-duty hardware. Tactile sensations. Friends connecting for the first time. And that\u2019s before we even get to the games.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#10;&#10;It may be that the very idea of an Xbox game is coming to an end. Microsoft has undeniably shifted its tactics, with a new focus on multi-platform releases, handheld Xboxes that are actually miniature Windows computers, and the potential that future Xbox consoles may simply be gaming PCs. So now seems as good a time as any to look back at the entire history of Microsoft\u2019s console journey and rank the best Xbox games, with help from our friends at Outside Xbox, the multimillion-subscriber channel that serves up weekly videos about video games and video game-adjacent things&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&#10;&#10;When we say \u201cthe best Xbox games,\u201d we mean the ones that most evoke that weighty sense of \u201cXboxness.\u201d Some are first-party, most are exclusives, and all of them are indelibly tied to the legacy of and fondness for a platform that\u2019s left a massive mark on gaming. These are the 100 Best Xbox Games of All Time. We'll be updating this list daily with 25 games at 7am PST\/10am ET\/3pm GMT from Tuesday, 20th January to Friday, 23rd January, until number one is revealed.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg?cors=1) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Now, in a new YouTube report from Bloomberg&#8217;s Jason Schreier, the veteran reporter claimed that &#8220;the word bloodbath has been thrown around among people I talk to who know about what&#8217;s going to happen. It&#8217;s going to be bad.&#8221; Schreier&#8217;s report also delves into the background of why these layoffs are happening now, and suggests that Xbox teams have struggled to adapt as Microsoft&#8217;s attitudes to gaming and demands of its development teams have shifted over the years.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Long-term, Xbox never really recovered from the Xbox One era, Schreier argued. The Xbox Series X\/S has failed to gain back ground in the console war against PlayStation, while the growth of Xbox Game Pass has plateaued. The past decade has seen Microsoft go on a spending spree to gain Game Pass content, buying the very studios that the company now seeks to shut down or divest. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">Most notable was the $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, devised by former Xbox boss Phil Spencer during the tail end of the Covid-era gaming boom, but already looking less attractive by the time its lengthy buyout process closed due to the enormous costs involved and a changed economic and strategic landscape.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-slideshow\"><button type=\"button\" style=\"display:none\" class=\"jsx-2228525885\"\/><span data-cy=\"slideshow-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-preview\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 slideshow-preview\">\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-1085005187\" data-cy=\"slideshow-preview-title\">Every Video Game Franchise Xbox Owns After Acquiring Activision Blizzard<\/h3>\n<div data-cy=\"slideshow-images-container\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 images-container\"><button type=\"button\" data-cy=\"hero-image\" aria-label=\"Open Slideshow\" class=\"jsx-1711207865 hero-image\"><img alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"progressive-image jsx-2896921488 image aspect-ratio aspect-ratio-16-9 jsx-2605834259 jsx-2338608387 hover-opacity\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-cy=\"progressive-image\"\/><span class=\"button-text jsx-729543028 button button--primary jsx-3381835873 jsx-4266531355 row-pagination-button next contained centered round large\" data-cy=\"paginate next\" title=\"Open Slideshow\"><span class=\"ign-icon right-chevron jsx-2750866048 jsx-2919720488\" role=\"presentation\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-cy=\"right-chevron\" style=\"mask:url(https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/RightChevron.272be43c.svg?cors=1) no-repeat center center \/ contain;background:currentColor\"\/><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/output><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">The past two years have seen the last of the Covid growth era evaporate, Roblox blow up as a major drain on player attention and spending, and AI became a major new focus for tech companies such as Microsoft. These issues all likely contributed to the need for Xbox to meet tougher financial targets from executives, resulting in pressure to cut costs.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;That&#8217;s when we see things start to get really bad,&#8221; Schreier said. &#8220;We see four mass layoffs in two years, the closure of studios under the Xbox umbrella like Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks, which wound up going to Krafton which saved that studio, and the cancellation of projects like Everwild, Perfect Dark, and Project Blackbird.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">This period was marked by political in-fighting at Xbox as different divisions and executives struggled to gain priority. This also resulted in it becoming far more difficult to get new gaming projects greenlit, and Xbox&#8217;s multiplatform push to boost profits that saw more games launch for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.<\/p>\n<p><output class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" data-cy=\"article-video\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;The last couple of years at Xbox have been quite messy, people start openly questioning Game Pass and saying it&#8217;s cannibalizing sales,&#8221; Schreier continued, referencing the hundreds of millions of dollars reportedly lost by putting Call of Duty in the subscription. &#8220;What might be good for the Game Pass folks may not be so good for the studios and revenue brought in for individual games.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">All of which brings us to 2026 \u2014 when Spencer departed, and Sharma was brought in to &#8220;reset&#8221; the business in his place. <\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">While Kiln and South of Midnight may not have been big money-spinners, development studios such as Double Fine and Compulsion were simply doing what they had been told five years ago, Schreier said, when they were acquired and their projects were greenlit. Namely, that they were to make games to help fill out the Xbox Game Pass catalog and slowly keep growing its subscriber base, and that this would be enough.<\/p>\n<p><span data-cy=\"tierlist-view-trigger\"><\/p>\n<section class=\"box-wrapper jsx-2673806401\" id=\"xbox-games-series-tier-list\" data-cy=\"xbox-games-series-tier-list\">\n<div class=\"card jsx-1339469126 jsx-1355461925 box jsx-2627838217\"><span class=\"stack jsx-3547261442 jsx-2986308351\"><span class=\"stack jsx-2959124702 jsx-4269505506 TierListHeader_header__xyy5a\"><span class=\"stack jsx-3647836811 jsx-4269505506 TierListHeader_title__UxzQx\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ign-icon icon-tier-list jsx-2750866048 jsx-1879929830\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"false\" data-cy=\"icon-tier-list\" alt=\"Tier List\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/kraken.ignimgs.com\/_next\/static\/media\/TierList.c19f1c86.svg?cors=0\"\/><\/p>\n<h3 data-cy=\"title3\" class=\"title3 jsx-12333944 jsx-2321054750 TierListHeader_full__J6p2u\">Xbox Games Series Tier List<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"title5 jsx-62124236 jsx-957202555 TierListHeader_compact__7JWp1 balanced\">Xbox Games Series Tier List<\/h3>\n<p><\/span><\/span><span class=\"stack jsx-3547261442\"\/><\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;A lot of these studios made plenty of their own mistakes, but in a lot of ways they&#8217;re being punished today for following orders,&#8221; Schreier added. &#8220;For listening to what they were told a few years ago. And that is just a shame, and what is going to happen is pretty brutal. The word bloodbath has been thrown around among people I talk to who know about what&#8217;s going to be happen. It&#8217;s going to be bad.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">&#8220;And one of the reasons Xbox studios have struggled to make great games over the past decade is this uncertainty,&#8221; he concluded. &#8220;It&#8217;s really hard to make great art when working under the fear of layoffs and turbulence and cancellations and shutdowns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\">This week, it was alleged that Microsoft announced Ninja Theory&#8217;s new game, Senua, knowing that it planned to shut the studio down because it believed the promise of a newly announced game would help draw investor interest in the developer. There is now concern that Senua may never come out.<\/p>\n<p data-cy=\"paragraph\" class=\"paragraph jsx-2269604527\"><em>Tom Phillips is IGN&#8217;s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky <\/em>@tomphillipseg.bsky.social<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/amid-concern-over-xbox-studio-bloodbath-new-report-says-developers-are-being-punished-today-for-following-orders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new report suggests Xbox layoffs will likely result in a &#8220;bloodbath&#8221; of job losses and studio closures, leaving developers &#8220;punished&#8221; simply for following Microsoft&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[800,4525,24975,2725,9386,554,9858,2770,162],"class_list":["post-61778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-ahead","tag-bad","tag-bloodbath","tag-company","tag-lays","tag-report","tag-struggling","tag-studio","tag-xbox","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/61779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}