Xbox & Closures

Bad omen?

I’ve been writing so much about Xbox recently that I feel like I’m an Xbox journalist. This time it’s news that Xbox is cutting costs. There are multiple reports that Xbox will be closing at least three studios as part of a reset of the Xbox strategy. Compulsion Games (South of Midnight), Double Fine (Psychonauts) and Ninja Theory (Senua) are the three studios being spoken about, and there are a few possibilities as to what happens next. If the reports are true these studios could simply be shuttered, staff let go and the games (probably) disappearing. Then there’s binging in a new publisher to pick up any of the trio. Finally, the studios could buy themselves out, going independent. And there has been some reporting to that effect, with rumours telling that Compulsion and Double Fine are in talks with Xbox for just that independence, while Xbox are supposed to be shopping Ninja Theory around to possible interested parties.

As far as I can tell all three studios have been unable to pull a commercial success off in they most recent releases, so I’m dubious about how much interest there would be from outside Microsoft; and even if there were, or any of the three could manage to buy themselves, given the poor sales of their recent releases it would seem likely they would still need to do staff firings.

More so to this is how these moves, if they prove true, is how it plays into plans to bring Xbox back to it’s prior glory. It could be that these moves are necessary to convince a sceptical Microsoft to give Xbox more time, a sort of cleaning house before a larger restructuring. Maybe that talk of spinning Xbox off as a more independent entity isn’t too far off.

Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’m probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it. Something I’m doing at the moment? Taking the Multisystem 2 for a spin.