I'm not even that upset about Everwild itself being cancelled, as in the videogame, because we didn't know anything about it, but it's more the shitty treatment of their employees, especially one as senior as Gregg who gave them a massive hit with Sea of Thieves, they didn't even give him a chance with Everwild, the dude was shoved onto a project that he didn't create to salvage it and by all insider reports, he was doing exactly that and had got it back on track, only for Microsoft to pull the rug from under him.

There variety was the best part of XGS and now it sounds like they're just going to become the next EA/Take-Two/Activision/Ubisoft, etc. Which is focusing only on their biggest IPs and GaaS projects.

There is absolutely zero chance current Microsoft would have acquired Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory or Double Fine and I am terrified for all 3. It might be too late for Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games but Double Fine need to get out now before it's too late because the current Microsoft WILL shut them down eventually.

Stotic has had to perform layoffs because Microsoft has cut their budget too.

Jez investigating reports of Kestrel and Perfect Dark being cancelled.

He also says Xbox hardware has largely avoided cuts.

Perfect Dark being cancelled would cause me pain.

OD is no longer being published by Microsoft according to some insiders on ResetEra.

We can't complain that something like Redfall should have been canned on the one hand, and saying that MS needs to monitor these situations more closely, and then turn around and say it's shitty treatment if a game we hadn't heard anything official about in...what...5 years...? and was likely in development for at least a couple years before then to boot gets scrapped. 

Sometimes, projects are better off cancelled, even if the people working on it obviously might not be happy about it

I think I was one of the few who said Redfall shouldn't have been cancelled Tbf, Lol. But Redfall actually had reports of a rough development, Everwild didn't ever since Gregg Mayles came onboard, I think nurturing talent and keeping people like Gregg Mayles happy is more important than saving Microsoft a few bucks, lets be honest, this was nothing but a pure greed decision and not about Everwild being in rough shape.

BREAKING: The new MMORPG project from Zenimax Online Studios, maker of Elder Scrolls Online, has been canceled as part of the Xbox layoffs, sources tell Bloomberg News. The project, code-named Blackbird, had been in development since 2018. Still more news to come this morning.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM

BREAKING: The new MMORPG project from Zenimax Online Studios, maker of Elder Scrolls Online, has been canceled as part of the Xbox layoffs, sources tell Bloomberg News. The project, code-named Blackbird, had been in development since 2018. Still more news to come this morning.

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2 July 2025 at 16:05

• Rare becomes the Sea of Thieves Studio
• Zenimax becomes The Elder Scrolls Online Studio.

What's the excuse here? MMOs take a long time to develop, there was nothing out of the ordinary about the development time on this one...

Every summer showcase I would ask where ZOS's new IP was. There's no reason it would've taken this long to at least announce it. Even by MMO standards.