Perhaps the most shocking part of Microsoft’s incoming rash of suspected layoffs and studio closures is Ninja Theory—a studio which had announced a Senua game at the Xbox showcase barely a week prior. At the time it seemed either a misalignment of strategy, the result of someone high-up not crossing their Ts or dotting their Is.
Turns out, that might’ve actually been the plan. According to an anonymous source speaking with journalist Stephen Totilo’s Game File, Microsoft had already planned to part ways with Ninja Theory before the trailer dropped.
“By the time that game was revealed, Microsoft had already planned to sunset or split with the studio. The thinking was that the promise of a newly announced game would help draw investor interest in the studio … (it’s unclear if anyone atop Ninja Theory was involved in this plan).”
If we really stretch ourselves thin and apply the most charitable lens we can, this could be construed as Microsoft giving Ninja Theory one last hail mary before deciding to axe it. But it’s hard not to take the more cynical lens, especially given Microsoft’s recent track record, that this is simply a company that cannot commit to a single goddamn thing.
I don’t know about you, but I personally think that you should try to release games that you announce—or at the very least, you shouldn’t shutter or eject the studio that’s announced them less than two weeks later. And you definitely shouldn’t as Totilo floats in possibility, avoid telling said studio this was your plan in advance.
The waste continues to shock me in its short-sightedness, and the tip-top of Xbox and Microsoft don’t give me much faith, either. Totilo mentions he’d spoken to Xbox head Asha Sharma two months ago, where she’d praised South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games for getting a Peabody Award—guess who’s also on the chopping block?
Or maybe we should look to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who thinks the issue is that these games aren’t monetised enough. The written word doesn’t have a suitable enough onomatopoeia for the noise I just made. Either way, I’m personally out of patience—Microsoft is either flying by the seat of its pants, astonishingly cutthroat, or both.
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