Game News

Xbox's 'reset': 3,200 jobs over a year, four studios let go and Arkane's future in doubt

Microsoft announced on 6 July that it would cut about 3,200 jobs in its Xbox division, with roughly 1,600 roles eliminated that day and about 1,600 more over the coming year, according to Engadget. The Associated Press put Microsoft's total cuts that day at 4,800 jobs, many of them at Xbox, in what it called a reset of the gaming division. Seattle public radio station KUOW reported more than 3,000 Xbox staff affected.

Four studios are leaving Microsoft. Double Fine and Compulsion Games are becoming independent again, while Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have been sold to unnamed buyers that will keep funding Senua and State of Decay 3, Engadget said. Arkane Studios, as a French studio, entered a consultation period that could end with investors, a buyout or closure. Engadget added that Microsoft, which owned 24 studios at its 2023 peak, now has 15.

“Our business today is not healthy.” — Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, via Engadget

Sharma also wrote that “it is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio,” Engadget reported. The same day, Xbox COO Dave McCarthy retired after 17 years and was replaced by Helen Chiang.

How each outlet framed it

• AP — the company-wide figure of 4,800 jobs and the word “reset”.
• Engadget — a studio-by-studio account, from buybacks to sales, and later cuts at id Software and Obsidian.
• KUOW — the local angle for Microsoft's home region and what the cuts signal for the industry.

Where the numbers differ: the 3,200 figure covers Xbox across fiscal 2027; the 4,800 is Microsoft's total announced that day, and KUOW did not say how many of those were at Xbox.