https://www.vgchartz.com/article/468219/ninja-theory-double-fine-and-compulsion-games-reportedly-in-talks-to-spin-off-from-xbox-as-they-face-closure/

According to Bloomberg, these studios are negotiating going independent as they face being shuttered by Microsoft.

The report adds that "These are not the only three Xbox studios at risk of closure."

Pity. Hellblade was good. The sequel probably killed them.

Xbox are a complete mess at the moment. I think even more shocks are still on the way.

Ninja Theory I thought were safe after announcing Senua at the Xbox showcase only two weeks ago.

I'm shocked if they are gonna drop entire teams. Not sure what this means for Gamepass, but I can only imagine it's a negative with less games coming out from MS itself.

Reverse course on acquisitions now. Soon they will reverse course on reversing course on exclusives. Then reverse course entering the console market at all.

The sheer scale of Xbox's mismanagement over the last several years could make a hell of a documentary. Buy up and consolidate half the industry, go all in on an unsustainable subscription model, release flop after flop, close down most of the studios you acquired and lay off thousands of people.

It's like watching a car crash in slow motion; it's horrible but you just can't look away.

Really hope they get to go independent and keep their IPs.

So here comes the first real test for Asha Sharma, where she stands. So far her leadership was mostly communication, and at least here she made a good impression. But actions speak louder than words, now is the time to show leadership skills. We will see how she faces this difficulties.

For the studios: if they don't have a future inside of Microsoft, then I hope MS let's them spin out to be independent again. That is better than closure. These studios were all independent before and there able to stand on their own and earn trust and excitement of the community. Their recent failures therefore are probably a function of failed leadership in Xbox. So let them be independent again.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but a company this size will probably have tons of dead weight going around. Typically overburdened with middle management. Typically a company where 20% of staff is doing 80% of the work. The famous boat with 1 sailor and 7 captains. They used to fire the sailor, but what they need is fire some captains.

Typical new CEO stuff is shaking things up to try to shake them out.

Just look at other companies (not just gaming) that aren't doing great and a new CEO steps in. If the company used to be de-centralized, the new CEO is going to centralize. If it used to be centralized, the new CEO is going to de-centralize. The point is to shake it up to re-arrange teams with the purpose of getting rid of the people that got to comfortable in the job. The types that spend all day in meetings and reading e-mail, but generally do not contribute to anything.

I say let them leave. They'll be better off away from Xbox.