Game Developers React To Xbox Closing Down Multiple Studios

Earlier today, it was revealed that Xbox is shutting down four of its studios. The studios included Redfall developer Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. Since the announcement, various developers across the industry have voiced their opinions on the matter.

Dinga Bakaba, the director of Akrane Lyon, shared their thoughts in a series of posts on X/Twitter. Bakaba called Microsoft’s recent decision “absolutely terrible” and continued by saying, “To any executive reading this, friendly reminder that video games are an entertainment/cultural industry, and your business as a corporation is to take care of your artists/entertainers and help them create value for you.”

In the same thread, Bakaba pleaded with executives to not “throw us into gold fever gambits, don’t use us as strawmen for miscalculations/blind spots, don’t make our work environments Darwinist jungles.” As the post continued, Bakaba called the closure of these studios a “fuc*king gut stab.” They continued by saying, “Lyon is safe, but please be tactful and discerning about all this, and respect affected folks’ voice and leave it room to be heard, it’s their story to tell, their feelings to express.”

Bakaba wasn’t the only Xbox employee sounding off, either. Alistair Hatch, the Regional Director for Northern, Eastern, and Southern Europe at Bethesda, took to X/Twitter to say that recent layoffs left them feeling “Angry. Frustrated. Shocked. Furious. Speechless. Dumbfounded. Perplexed.”

Meanwhile, Adam Boyes, the co-CEO of Iron Galaxy Studios, simply shared a screenshot of a GeekWire article from April revealing that Microsoft saw a 17% increase in revenue and declared $21.9 billion in profit in the most recent financial earnings report.

Thomas Mahler, the CEO and game director of Moon Studios, the team behind the Ori series and the upcoming No Rest for the Wicked, went on to explain on X/Twitter that the recent layoffs are the reason why they didn’t “allow Moon Studios to get acquired by a big publisher.” Mahler continued, “I’ve lived through the 90s and saw what happened when smaller studios got acquired by EA. Never again.”

It’s also worth mentioning that this isn’t Microsoft’s first round of layoffs this year. Earlier in January, Mircosoft announced that it was cutting 1,900 jobs.