"According to sources speaking with ZDNet's resident Microsoft blogger, Mary-Jo Foley, "the bulk of [Microsoft's] immediate 1,400-person cuts" are going to fall on the Entertainment & Devices Group. Which includes the Xbox team"

http://kotaku.com/5137601/bulk-of-microsofts-1400-job-cuts-to-strike-entertainment-division

guess we will find out in couple of days

man that sucks.
does anyone know how many in total are employed in that division?
It can't be all that many, and it sounds like the division will be seriously low on staff now...

I blame Bush Hopefully Obama can turn things around.

Yeah, Bush for sure jacked up MS to point where they only posted 4.17b$ profit instead of 4.7b$. Stupid. Anyway, I read that most of layoffs were from the Zune and MSN TV teams. Xbox team was to be unaffected.

I wonder if this will manifest in a single studio being cut, or in general job cutting across the whole division.

Microsoft Games Studios (according to wiki)

* ACES Game Studio: Flight Simulator series, Combat Flight Simulator series and the upcoming Train Simulator 2
* Lionhead: Black & White series, The Movies, Fable series
* Rare: Perfect Dark series, Kameo, Conker series, Banjo series, Viva Piñata
* Turn 10: Forza Motorsport series
* Wingnut Interactive: A new studio set up in conjunction with Peter Jackson (they will be producing alongside with Bungie Studios a new game based in the Halo universe)
* Xbox Live Productions: A new first-party studio set up to develop Xbox Live Arcade games and digital video content.

I think Rare and Xbox live Productions are both safe, and presumably Lionhead and Turn 10 are too.

Aces or Wingnut could close

I doubt that Aces or Wingnut will close. The flight simulator series sells quite well and its something which could be translated into console software at a later date and Wingnut is based in New Zealand and its developing their flagship series so that one is even less likely.

In reality with the Xbox 360 division doing well I don't think they will feel the need to do more than a cursary trimming at most. The E/D division has a lot of different research and development projects, if anything I can see them being cut back if they aren't seeing any profitable returns.

i think it will be mostly zune division

Apparently some cuts have come to The Aces Studio.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21981

January 22, 2009

Report: Microsoft Makes Big Cuts At Flight Sim Studio

Report: Microsoft Makes Big Cuts At Flight Sim Studio Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft's ongoing job cuts.

Development sources have told Gamasutra that a large portion of the dev house's staff has been let go - with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.

The Microsoft-owned Flight Simulator is possibly the game industry's longest-running continuous franchise.

The first Microsoft-branded version was released in 1982, and ongoing development stretches back over more than a quarter-century and twelve main versions.

The most recent version, Flight Simulator X, was released in 2006 and said to have been a success, with an expansion in 2007. A Microsoft representative had confirmed at that time that further editions of the game were in development.

Corroborating the reports, Twitter messages from collaborators of the Flight Simulator workers are claiming that the layoffs occurred earlier today, following Microsoft's announcement that it would immediately cut around 1,400 jobs.

The Flight Sim series is well-known not just for its official releases, but for its unusually dedicated fan base, which has produced copious amounts of user mods and resources for players.

Also in development at ACES Studio was Microsoft Train Simulator 2, the followup to Kuju's original 2001 game. The sequel was previously speculated to be releasing this year. Furthermore, ACES Studio was responsible for Microsoft ESP, a wide-ranging "visual simulation platform" based on Flight Simulator X technology.

The future of the three software lines in or out of house is unclear, particularly given how extensive the ACES Studio layoffs are said to be, but Gamasutra has contacted Microsoft for comment on the report.

so is that studio closed?damn MS is really not interested in having any 1st party game devs.

Not closed but "heavily affected". It seems that MS isn't interested in PC gaming that much with the closure of Ensemble and scaling back Aces.