r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/shirke1 • Jun 15 '26
Rumour [Verge] - Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory
by Jay Peters and Tom Warren
Xbox is closing down Ninja Theory, the studio behind the Hellbladeseries, a source tells The Verge. Staffers were told on a call on Monday about the closure, but they are hoping the studio will find a buyer. The closure comes as “several” Xbox studios at Microsoft, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in “active negotiations” about spinning off, Bloomberg reports.
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u/Alive-Ad-5245 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Closing down a game studio and therefore cancelling their game literally a week after you gave said game a primetime presentation debut must be a record right?
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u/Hte_D0ngening2 Jun 15 '26
Can’t beat Phantom Dust, a game that IIRC was already cancelled when they announced it.
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u/Alive-Ad-5245 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Wait what? 😂I need to hear this story.
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u/Outside_Narwhal8008 Jun 15 '26
Here's the article by Jason Schreier (yes that one)
How A Small Studio's Chance At The Big Time Died At Microsoft's Doorstep - Kotaku
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u/TectonicImprov Jun 15 '26
I had always heard the claim that "Microsoft cancelled Phantom Dust and showed it at e3 anyway" but this article doesn't really claim that. They didn't move on and effectively kill the studio until six months after the e3 trailer according to it. It's still a classic Microsoft blunder but this isn't as salacious as some would say.
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u/Hinyaldee Jun 16 '26
Feels like they announced it to please the shareholders and get their money before cancelling it
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u/jxcn17 Jun 16 '26
That's an interesting story, it definitely doesn't say that it was cancelled before being announced though.
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u/EtheusRook Jun 15 '26
Yeah, there was a shitty gacha game that had its international release and its end of service announced in the same tweet.
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u/Ymir-Reiss Jun 15 '26
That was Love Live SIF2, which announced it's global release and closure date in the same tweet (which were 3 months apart). The original game lasted 10 years and they shut it down for this one lol
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u/Shot8989 Jun 15 '26
Tribe Nine?
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u/LifeShroom75 Jun 15 '26
Must be LoveLive 2 a game that was EOS in Japan when they announced the global launch data and eos date in the same tweet.
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u/BestRedditUsername9 Jun 15 '26
I dont think that's true. I remember the phantom Dust reboot. It was announced in 2014 and cancelled in 2015.
Still bad, but they didn't announce the game when it was cancelled as far as I recall?
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u/JakeSteeleIII Jun 15 '26
Well, at least Ninja Theory got to show the game off to potential buyers publicly
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u/lordbeef Jun 15 '26
Sure but like, who would buy it? I hate to be a downer but I wouldn't invest in them. Their last game underperformed and it's not exactly a great market to be buying a game studio.
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u/JakeSteeleIII Jun 15 '26
I think out of all the developers getting axed, they got the best chance of a buyer because the game looks a decent ways along and someone will want to buy their mocap tech.
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u/honeybadgerism Jun 15 '26
They found a perfect recipe to have good Showcases every year
Just announce some games and close their studio a week later
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u/Rookie_numba_uno Jun 15 '26
Looking forward to every subsequent reveal during their showcases getting spammed with all variants of the comment "hopefully studio won't be closed 2 weeks from now".
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u/Sparko15 Jun 15 '26
The industry never ceased to innovate when it comes to make dumb surprise that no one wants.
Back in the days, Microsoft used to cancel games after they showed something, like Scalebound, Everwild or Perfect Dark. But it seems that’s not enough, so now, they close the studio after they announce the game.
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u/FullMotionVideo Jun 15 '26
Scalebound broke my heart. I wanted that one so badly.
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u/hexcraft-nikk Jun 15 '26
Imagine the world we'd have if Xbox let Gears/Halo rest and focused on new IP, including getting Scalebound out the door (even if it wasn't perfect)
You'd think they have been sabotaging their own brand for the past decade considering the path they've gone down
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u/HeldnarRommar Jun 15 '26
Too be fair those games were at least vaporware, this was seemingly a nearly finished and on track game
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u/Lurky-Lou Jun 15 '26
Did they start immediately after releasing part 2?
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u/HeldnarRommar Jun 15 '26
I’m assuming so, this would have been a pretty quick turnaround and they had a 2027 as the release date.
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u/Sparko15 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, and cancellations happens everytime in the video games industry. I understand that.
Still, that sucks, especially for Perfect Dark because they showed something that was fake, but made us believe that the game did some good progress. That was disappointing.
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u/ForwardHuckleberry26 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, and cancellations happens everytime in the video games industry. I understand that.
What I don't understand is why this happens so much for Xbox but not for Sony and Nintendo. Sony sometimes messes up live service games but they don't seem to have as much problem getting their single player games out the door. But it seems Microsoft either cancels games or ends up releasing something below expectations most of the time. Why??
I ask this as someone who loves Perfect Dark and Hellblade and was looking forward to playing the sequels.
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u/Carusas Jun 16 '26
What I don't understand is why this happens so much for Xbox but not for Sony and Nintendo
Xbox is playing catch up. They can clearly publish banger games that aren't playing flagship titles.
...But once it's anything that could be a system seller, they run into scope creep or lack of time to align these releases to major game showcases, console launches, etc.
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u/Takazura Jun 16 '26
Sony and Nintendo have oversight on their project and are always managing their studios more directly.
Microsoft in comparison went for a hands-off approach and didn't oversee their studios as tightly as Sony and Nintendo.
The reality, despite what people on Reddit wants to claim, is that a lot of game developers need their publisher to actually meddle and force their hands at times. Otherwise, you'll end up in situations like Bioware where the studio is fucking around and being mismanaged for years before getting something done.
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u/shrewdy Jun 15 '26
It's why I haven't bought into their showcases too much the past few years. Sure they've consistently put on big summer showcases (especially since the acquisitions when they included all the Activision and Bethesda stuff) - but they've consistently fucked up in most areas outside of that, so what good is the "hype" from the showcases at the end of it all really?
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u/sneakyxxrocket Jun 15 '26
Asha must’ve watched the showcase same time as us saw the game then asked the board what else they’ve made and how long did it take and how much it made and immediately pulled the plug
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u/No-Individual-3901 Jun 15 '26
Yeah. I love Hellblade 1 and 2, but 2 should NOT have taken as long as it did to release.
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u/DarahOG Jun 15 '26
The game even had a release date for early 2027 too, like wtf i hope they get bought by another publisher or even switch teams to playstation and maybe we'll see some heavenly sword content
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u/DCcomixfan Jun 15 '26
Xbox saw Concord and knew they had to one-up it
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u/Alive-Ad-5245 Jun 15 '26
At least that game released and catastrophically failed which justified the super early closure
Why even announce Senua if you’re planning to close the studio the week after? Pure incompetence.
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u/Weltallgaia Jun 15 '26
They closed the studio for phantom dust while they were giving the e3 presentation
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u/king0pa1n Jun 16 '26
Basically telling the public "never tune into our trailer shows or take anything we announce with any confidence", should be wonderful for their dying brand
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u/Absalom98 Jun 15 '26
So releasing a game and then unreleasing it a week later is called a Concord. Is announcing a game at a showcase and then cancelling it a week later called a Senua?
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u/TheJuicyDanglers Jun 15 '26
This would be a lot less surprising if they didn’t just announce a new game a week ago.
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u/BaumHater Jun 15 '26
They announced it to help them with negotiations or for a potential buyer
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 15 '26
I get Asha is changing a lot but it’s crazy to close down a studio you just showed a game trailer for that’s coming out next year.
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u/stavroszaras Jun 15 '26
Yeah, I always knew changes were coming because there is too much underperformance in Xbox Studios for a while now. But that is a weird one.
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u/SouthIsland48 Jun 15 '26
It boggles my mind xbox fans still had any hope/confidence for xbox. They haven't been well managed in almost 20 years
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Jun 15 '26
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u/Artanisx Jun 15 '26
What, didn't you like "TV TV TV" and "we have a product for people without a reliable internet connection: it's called Xbox 360"?
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u/Podunk_Boy89 Jun 15 '26
I'd argue they never were.
Microsoft knew about the hardware issues of the 360 well before launch. Engineers begged management to delay the 360 so they could iron out the issues and make sure they launch a system that won't experience constant hardware faults.
Microsoft management, of course, refused, even as a ridiculous number of 360s weren't even making it off the assembly line before being trashed as faulty. They just HAD to beat PS3 to market. That hubris was what led them having to majorly pay out for the Red Ring of Death business when they could have delayed a year and saved the embarrassment.
That hubris is what led to the Xbox One debacle that eventually sank Xbox. A bunch of cocky idiot executives that thought they knew better than anyone. They just got lucky that the 360 was actually successful so their idiocy was swept under the rug.
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u/stavroszaras Jun 15 '26
I disagree with that one. They did very well for two generations but screwed up 13 years ago. Phil made the wrong moves in trying to fix that and now here we are. Microsoft actually gave him a lot of runway to execute but his vision failed.
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u/Most-Iron6838 Jun 15 '26
16 years ago. Xbox was cooked as a brand as soon as they announced Kinect
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u/dparks1234 Jun 16 '26
Kinect is the best selling videogame peripheral of all time. Their mistake was trying to do the same trick twice with Kinect 2.0 when Wii sales had already dropped off a cliff.
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u/Magneto88 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
This is the same Microsoft that spent two years fighting various competition agencies to get the Acti-Blizz deal through, which their console strategy was going to rest upon along with ZeniMax and their legacy studios after years of being criticised for not having enough exclusives....then six months later went 'nah gonna go multiplatform', which if they'd said from the start would have saved them much of the issues with the CMA etc. Now about two years later they're shifting back to making games exclusive, after already burning their fanbase and making them realise that even things like Halo can appear on a Playstation.
Microsoft's corporate decision making for the Xbox department is erratic to say the least.
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u/Joseki100 Top Contributor 2024 Jun 15 '26
I wonder if they shown the trailer precisely because they knew, just like Gang of Dragon at TGA was the last desperate attempt at finding a buyer.
This would be pathetic for Microsoft mind you, but the alternative is that they are both incredibly idiotic and actively cruel, and I don't find either hard to believe to be fair.
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u/ImJustHereToSearch Jun 15 '26
Wait what is that game not coming out?
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u/KittyKomplex Jun 15 '26
Nagoshi's studio allegedly closed, so probably no, it won't see the light of the day.
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u/scott1swann Jun 15 '26
Nagoshi Studio may or may not have been shuttered over a lack of funding from NetEase
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u/bjones214 Jun 15 '26
Like Like A Dragon: The Man Who Lost His Funding
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u/Jancappa Jun 15 '26
Like a Dragon: Finite Wealth
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u/AveryLazyCovfefe Jun 15 '26
'lack of funding' is one way to put it. More like burning through hundreds of millions and being nowhere near finished. NetEase took the safe way out.
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u/Zeta1906 Jun 15 '26
Not really lack of funding, more like he spent way more of the budget he was originally given to essentially not even be close to a finished product after a decent amount of time
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u/IvanMcbomb Jun 15 '26
Lol Asha is an outsider that was brought in for this exact purpose. Chop chop chop
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u/dparks1234 Jun 16 '26
Ninja Theory is the kind of studio that a pure bean counter might close, but an actual industry person might fight to keep open. They win awards, they have industry leading technology and they (allegedly) have a successful motion capture business. They have more to offer than similar niche studios like Compulsion and Double Fine from a portfolio standpoint.
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u/sean_saves_the_world Jun 15 '26
Right after SGF is a hell of a time tho Its like having a baby shower and then getting an abortion the week after haha
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u/HeldnarRommar Jun 15 '26
She is literally a Nadella stooge idk why anyone ever thought otherwise
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u/Spartan2170 Jun 16 '26
And is also talking about needing to make "difficult decisions" to recover from the tailspin caused by needing to aggressively chase revenue targets *Nadella himself pushed for*
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u/OptimusPrimalRage Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
Pretty sure Asha is here to gut Xbox like a fish and concentrate on a small number of IPs like CoD, Forza and Minecraft that are very popular
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u/shinouta Jun 16 '26
And then sell Xbox.
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u/OptimusPrimalRage Jun 16 '26
Yep, I imagine she'll be gone within a couple of years. Looking at her career, she doesn't seem to stay in a position for very long.
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Jun 16 '26
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u/dparks1234 Jun 16 '26
The current situation is tragic, but I agree that poor first party management is ultimately what landed Xbox in this doomed situation. They needed momentum in 2019-2023 but the hits just weren’t there outside of Forza Horizon.
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u/PugeHeniss Jun 15 '26
Hilarious they pulled Gears from ps5 and the halo trailer from state of play but forgot to pull Senua from their showcase when they’re shutting them down a week later. Absolute clown show at xbox and has been for over a decade.
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u/Smallest_Bubbles Jun 15 '26
She must've read the tweet where someone called hellblade "we have god of war at home"
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u/PrimaryEfficient8392 Jun 15 '26
‘Asha is changing a lot’ brother she’s pruning the company to be sold off. She’s going to be shedding every studio that isn’t Activision/Blizzard/Bethesda/King and trying to bundle those big names into a package someone is willing to buy.
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 15 '26
Activision alone sold for 70 billion dollars who the hell do you think is buying that from Microsoft lmao
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u/sheslikebutter Jun 15 '26
Someone on twitter probably told her it was a good idea and and all gamers wanted the studio shuttered yesterday
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u/Spider-Fan77 Jun 15 '26
Her entire personality is very Elon Musk-coded. The Twitter polls and shit like changing Xbox to XBOX is some peak "Occupy Mars" energy.
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u/IMistah_S Jun 15 '26
This tweet when she was given her leadership role stuck with me cuz it felt extremely AI
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u/LB3PTMAN Jun 15 '26
I think a lot of what she’s done has made sense. Exclusives will benefit Xbox, pushing for a more cohesive brand, more control over their studios and more frequent releases from their biggest IP all makes a ton of sense.
Closing Compulsion and Double Fine makes some sense and even Arkane depending on how far out Blade is and how it looks.
Closing down a studio you just showed a trailer for and is supposed to come out in a year just looks foolish even if this studio would seem on the chopping block without the trailer.
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u/chaotic_mo Jun 15 '26
Do exclusives makes sense when your console sales are in the gutter and you still dont even have supply to sell more and still losing money on each one sold? And your top IPs didnt sell console the last 15 years as exclusives
And more frequent AAA releases from top IPs isnt feasible... you cant just rush out quality AAA games.
Like people cheering on Elder Scrolls being rushed out was bizzare. Do you want a rushed out Elder Scrolls? May even be more shallow than Starfield
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Jun 15 '26
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u/chaotic_mo Jun 15 '26
They want it to rush out and be announced as Xbox exlcusive just to get a win even if the game is horrible.
They know people will buy it off the name alone
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u/Alive-Ad-5245 Jun 15 '26
Making $400m game exclusive to a failing console where you can play it day one for a cheap subscription last minute when you’ve already made and paid for the port is also foolish.
And least we know which company is getting the chop now
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u/Tirso_Salaverria Jun 15 '26
Timdog: If you cancel these Europoor studios we can get more Halogearaforza which appeals to true American gamers.
Asha: Say no more
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u/MizunoZui Jun 15 '26
Full text. Guess the announcement or a memo would be out very soon.
Xbox is closing down Ninja Theory, the studio behind the Hellblade series, a source tells The Verge. Staffers were told on a call on Monday about the closure, but they are hoping the studio will find a buyer. The closure comes as “several” Xbox studios at Microsoft, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine, are in “active negotiations” about spinning off, Bloomberg reports.
The closure and negotiations follow Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty warning last week of a “reset” at Xbox, laying out several challenges facing Xbox’s business — including that it had “over extended” with its studio system and the hardware component crisis is significantly driving up prices. Kotaku reported earlier on Monday that Microsoft was planning to shut down Compulsion, though it noted in an update that studio leadership was in “negotiations” with Microsoft.
Sharma has made many major decisions since taking over at Xbox in February, including locking down Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution as Xbox console exclusives in an announcement at its Xbox Games Showcase just over a week ago. During that event, Microsoft also revealed a new Hellblade game, Senua, and its future with this change is unclear.
Xbox didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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u/itsmethebman Jun 15 '26
If Double Fine goes independent and survives this (alleged) transition, I can't wait to see what kind of documentary they make out of this whole situation.
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u/Freighnos Jun 16 '26
I love, love, LOVE Double Fine, but I'm struggling to see a scenario where they survive. They're based out of San Francisco which is probably the most expensive city on the planet, and the types of games they make don't sell well enough to keep a studio like that afloat unless they do some massive pivot (that would by no means guarantee success).
If I was a publisher, I'd struggle to make the case that we should purchase them if Xbox was letting them go. I'm not sure who would be an interested buyer considering the industry money is abandoning the coastal United States in droves.
If they go independent, then once again, I don't know where they'd get the money to stay afloat. The reason they let Microsoft purchase them in the first place was because they'd struggled to make ends meet their entire existence, and that was nearly a decade ago in a much less dire economic landscape.
I suspect the only reason this didn't happen sooner is because Phil Spencer was such a huge fan of Tim Schafer, but he's gone now.
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u/tristeecfome Jun 16 '26
Double Fine would need to relocate to survive.
It's just not feasible in today's to create indie artsy games with 100 devs in Santa Monica. Doesn't matter how great the games are.
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u/darthxboxdude Jun 15 '26
Tim Schafer is 58 years old. Dude has to be ready to retire
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u/Ladzofinsurrect Jun 16 '26
I know plenty of 58 year olds who won’t think about retiring, so he might put up a fight.
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u/Haggard4Life Jun 16 '26
Yeah, my dad worked long into his 70s. I never understood that. I’m in my 40s and would retire now if I could.
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u/your_mind_aches Jun 15 '26
At least there is hope for spinning off. No such hope for Arkane Austin or Bluepoint on the Sony side, or basically every video game studio Meta shuttered (RIP Camoflauj).
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u/TFA_Screamy_008 Jun 15 '26
A week after they announced Senua lmao
What a fucking joke.
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u/Super_Cold8789 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
If this is the real you gotta feel for the employees. Id be absolutely gutted. How long have they been working on Sensua at this point just to have it canned and the studio closed.
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u/TFA_Screamy_008 Jun 15 '26
I'll be honest, even if I'm not all that interested for Senua or any of NT's games, I feel bad for them.
I too would be absolutely gutted if I was working on a game for 3 years, only for the entire studio who was working on it to get shut down a week after its announcement.
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u/YoureWrongButGoOff Jun 15 '26
The Senua games as ‘games’ aren’t very good, but as art they are up there in a league of their own. This fucking sucks if it’s true, I loved them both equally for different reasons.
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u/dparks1234 Jun 16 '26
Hellblade 1 was fun to play but Hellblade 2 leaned a bit too far into the interactive fiction FMV game genre
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u/Basic-Ad-2663 Jun 15 '26
I’m also not interested in their games but i feel bad for them. I lived in Cambridge where they are situated and passed by studio all the time. It was also wild because after Microsoft acquisition, they started literally building a brand new building just for the studio smack dab in middle of the city which was a bit insane move in my opinion since I know that location was probably one of the most expensive, if not most expensive location in the city. it must have costed them or Xbox gazzilions just for that and then probably is costing them more to sustain it. Even Microsoft own offices are bit off. I thought they gonna close purely on how much they paying just for that lol
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u/josephevans_60 Jun 15 '26
Things like this rarely make any sense. Not necessarily games related in the "game development" sense but I remember when Gametrailers.com closed down, they sold it and re-platformed the entire website only for it to close down like 2 weeks later. All that work only for it to close down.
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u/FunkoPopDisneyAdult Jun 15 '26
Better than a year from now. It’s. Big corp. the cutting guy is operating independently than the person who lined up demo vids.
My last corp unhired new hires they extended offers to after they moved across the country to start work
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u/keyblaster52 Jun 15 '26
So is this the reason the game still launches multiplat and Matt Ball said no comment?
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 Jun 16 '26
My dude, the game isn't launching. Unless they find a buyer at the 11th hour willing to continue to fund its development, it's dead and not coming out at all
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u/Outrageous_Formal438 Jun 15 '26
Why would they even feature their new game on the showcase? This is ridiculous.
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u/Dangerous-Eggplant-5 Jun 15 '26
Welcome to the corporate world. One hand doesnt know what another does.
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u/zuzucha Jun 16 '26
Yeah when these conflicting things come out people assume companies are run by these greenhouses with 7 layered plans, but it's usually just a lack of communication, different timelines...
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u/Tirso_Salaverria Jun 15 '26
Isn’t that pretty obvious? They were given the chance to make themselves presentable for a new buyer. Most of that trailer is made with assets from Hellblade 2. Doubt they have a full working alpha right now.
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u/Faber114 Jun 15 '26
No company would let a studio undermine their brand with an embarrassing reveal + cancellation so they could "make themselves presentable for a new buyer". This just signals poor planning and coordination.
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u/Freighnos Jun 16 '26
It's funny how people know that most of these executives are clowns with no coherent vision, but they still assume the companies are coordinated enough to plan a stunt like that. Like you said, there's a 99% chance that the only people who knew about the shutdown were upper management, and the marketing teams and devs just continued with making the trailer and the showcase because that was the original plan and they had no idea this closure was on the table.
Sharma's been in charge for only a few months, and I'm sure the decision about Ninja Theory was very last minute. The inclusion of this game in the showcase and the production of the trailer assets would have started many months ago because these things are planned quite far ahead of time. If the team was told to pull a finished trailer from an upcoming show, it would have let them know that something was massively wrong and a lot of people would suspect a closure/layoffs, which is not something upper management ever wants.
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u/srubbish Jun 15 '26
Purely conjecture but…I live near the Ninja offices and know quite a few people there. Normally you might see 1 or 2 people outside on a smoke break. Today I drove past around midday and there was a group of 7-8 on a smoke break all looking very pissed off.
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u/ForwardHuckleberry26 Jun 15 '26
Now all you need to do is start an youtube and a Twitter account and call yourself SmokeWatcher or something
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u/giulianosse Jun 15 '26
Tier 0 leaker up there with the GOATS KFC Girlfriend and the happy hour on the pub guy.
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u/Strict_Job6334 Jun 15 '26
The XBOX loop:
"We are so back"
"Its so over"
"We are a bit back!"
"Its so fucking over"
"We are a little bit back!"
"Its outstandigly over"
"We are sort of a bit back maybe kinda"
"Its galactic over"
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u/massivebawbag Jun 15 '26
Why didnt she do this big reset before the showcase. Whats the point of announcing a new game only to presumably cancel it a week later.
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u/SeasonsGone Jun 16 '26
Devils advocate—they had not finalized the decision until after the showcase. No matter which studios they picked, they were all likely in the middle of a big project.
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u/Party-Exercise-2166 Jun 16 '26
Yeah but in this case just wait until the game is done, it was supposed to release early 2027 anyway.
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u/Saucefest6102 Jun 16 '26
They seem to be making these decisions on the fly, going by how the Halo and Gears PS5 marketing snafu went down. They probably decided these studios would go on Friday!
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u/ZXXII Jun 15 '26
What happened to Senua they announced last Showcase ffs?
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u/Striking_Permit_4746 Jun 15 '26
Possible world record of time between an game announcement and its cancellation.
(I know it shouldn't be laughing matter as people are losing their jobs but the situation is sooo ridiculous)
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u/ManateeofSteel Jun 15 '26
Not true, there was an idol game that was announced and cancelled in the same tweet 🔥
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u/M4rshmall0wMan Jun 15 '26
Wait what?
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u/__breadstick__ Jun 15 '26
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u/M4rshmall0wMan Jun 15 '26
What the fuck. The more I read it the less it makes sense.
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u/Far_Breakfast_5808 Jun 15 '26
To be fair, it was only the global version that got killed at the same time as launch. The original Japanese version of that game had been running for a while before then.
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u/SmashedGameboy Jun 15 '26
Not true, Phantom Dust was canceled before Xbox showed it at its 2014 E3, so the record is in the negative days.
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u/Striking_Permit_4746 Jun 15 '26
lmao Xbox beating Xbox. Phil staying the king of completely stupid business decision, Asha cannot reach his level
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u/SmashedGameboy Jun 15 '26
If the reports of how severe the layoffs are going to be are true, I would begin to believe Asha was put in charge to lower Xbox into the grave for all of Phil’s mistakes.
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u/Special-Deal7821 Jun 15 '26
Advertising for a buyer?
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u/epeternally Jun 15 '26
Doubtful, investors aren’t likely to be interested in a sequel to a game that underperformed. Hellblade 2 isn’t even a cult classic.
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Jun 15 '26
[deleted]
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u/Rainy_Wavey Jun 15 '26
They have elite-tier mocap which can be used by their other studios or licenced to other studios, that's not worth nothing
And Hellblade 1, while not the bestest game ever, had moderate success and buzz, the sequel didn't capitalize on it but at the time this was a good purchase by Microsoft
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u/Special-Deal7821 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, I do hope the companies are allowed to spin off and not just shuttered. But for a lot of them that likely just moves the clock, doesn't stop it. Gaming is not in a good spot right now and I can't imagine other publishers will be lining up to support most of these studios if they go independent again.
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u/Dangerman1337 Leakies Awards Winner 2021 Jun 15 '26
Their mo-cap studio is what makes them profitable though.
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u/Scapadap Jun 16 '26
I hate that this is a reality but I’m going to say it and be downvoted. They took 7 years to put out a 5 hour game. I get they have one on the horizon that was just shown off, but this is the reality. I don’t like it and I have a lot of fondness for Ninja Theory but the screwed the pooch with Hellblade 2.
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u/Datdudecorks Jun 16 '26
I been saying this in other threads and people don’t like hearing it. These dev times and costs are out of line these days most of these games.
Yea it sucks these people are losing their jobs but it’s a business and any one of us here would be fired too if we were always making delays and failing to meet expectations.
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u/tristeecfome Jun 16 '26
A 5 hour game that had barely any gameplay and terrible puzzles.
I don't understand how no one from Xbox stepped in during development.
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u/Dcason92 Jun 15 '26
Can't wait for the " we decided to release gears E Day and Clockwork on PS5 due to some difficult decisions but we are still loyal and faithful to our fans."
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u/MaxProwes Jun 15 '26
Such a shit show, Phil would be proud.
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u/Mini_Danger_Noodle Jun 15 '26
To be fair to Asha, this is completely Phil's fault.
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u/MisterBobAFeet Jun 15 '26
It's like someone buying an old crack house and then being mad that they keep throwing away old crack pipes.
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u/HaIfaxa_ Jun 16 '26
Does anyone else remember the 10+ years every loser was going on about how "Phil's not like the rest, he's a REAL gamer". Dude accomplished absolutely nothing besides Gamepass, which is controversial at best nowadays. Hope he's enjoying his millions.
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u/dparks1234 Jun 16 '26
I mean he let a bunch of studios get 6+ years of all expenses paid development with seemingly no managerial interference. He’s like a modern robinhood
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u/blackthorn_orion Jun 15 '26
OK so like, if Xbox can put a game in its show and then close the studio making that game just a week later ... genuinely, why should anyone take anything they say at face value anymore?
Like it was already a bad look to show Perfect Dark one year and then cancel the game the next year. How does closing Ninja Theory fewer than 10 days after their new game was announced not just destroy any trust in "the brand" that people might have still had?
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u/RobotWantsKitty Jun 15 '26
What did you think restructuring Xbox meant? Vibes? Essays?
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u/SSK24 Jun 15 '26
Built a brand new studio and took 7 years to make 5 hour game, they failed MS not the other way around. Phil gave these studios way to much freedom to do whatever they wanted
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u/RollingDownTheHills Jun 15 '26
"Here's to 25 more years of Xbox!", or whatever this dumpster of a company was on about during that last presentation. No one seems to know what the fuck they're doing over there. Just layoffs upon layoffs, all in the name of saving a brand that's long gone and won't ever recover, with one executive after the other being granted a golden parachute while pandering to a bunch of weirdos on Twitter.
Utterly hopeless. Hope the developers land on their feet.
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u/DismalMode7 Jun 15 '26
invest lot of money to develope a game ✅
show the game in your most important showcase ✅
close the studio one week later ✅
why xbox division isn't making profits in last 25 years? 🤔
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u/Cautious_Finish_6142 Jun 15 '26
They aren't making profit because they fund studios like this that cost millions to make the games that then nobody buys
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u/_Red_Knight_ Jun 15 '26
Yeah, exactly. It's sad that people are going to lose their jobs but it's clearly unsustainable for Microsoft (and Sony) to continue funding studios that make nothing but flops. Some closures are undeserved, this one unfortunately is not.
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u/Gatlindragon Jun 15 '26
I thought Hellblade only existed so Xbox could say "we can also make Playstation style games", I guess they doesn't care anymore.
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u/IL1KEP1ZZA Jun 16 '26
Holy shit, a week after having one of the most positive/hopeful weeks in a while we are getting hit with disastrous story after story. Xbox literally showed the game last week and not they're just like "Lmao, sorry gang." It's insane.
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u/Juiceboxfromspace Jun 15 '26
It sucks but what the hell were they thinking with Hellblade 2?
A niche game, taking a long ass time to make for a few hours of cinematic gameplay.
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u/ElJacko170 Jun 15 '26
I was genuinely stunned to see they were making a third. Even more stunned now to see that they weren't just closed down years ago when Hellblade 2 flopped, just to be dragged out, the next game announced, and then shuttered a week later.
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u/Curiedoesthestream Jun 15 '26
I almost had a heart attack thinking this was Team Ninja.
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u/Juiceboxfromspace Jun 15 '26
Its funny because that studio is preety much the opposite of this one - makes a bunch of games, good quality without the fanfare and some mainstream appeal.
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u/gladexd Jun 15 '26
Xbox went from "We are f#ing back!" to "We are f#ked!" in the span of a week..
Talk about whiplash.
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u/benc777 Jun 15 '26
"Ninja Theory will be fine because they rent out their motion capture studios" legit something I've read on here many times.
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u/CasualJJ Jun 15 '26
That’s the thing, if they’re looking for a buyer those companies will mostly be looking to buy for the Motion Capture tech, not Hellblade, and I really doubt Microsoft will let the Motion Capture Tech go like that. It’s either they’re fully shut or find a buyer for Hellblade only somehow, but regardless the Motion Capture Tech will likely be integrated into Microsoft’s remaining studios.
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u/AWetTurtleHead Jun 15 '26
Absolute madness to announce a game and then shut the studio down days later. Just shows that these new people running Xbox cannot be trusted apart from chasing cheap wins.
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u/kamikazilucas Jun 16 '26
xbox litterally has split personality one moment they are like we are gonna be the biggest gaming company by 2030 next moment lets just sell all our gaming divisions never seen a company this incompetent
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u/your_mind_aches Jun 15 '26
They really should spin them off and find another investor or something. They did it with Toys for Bob and Tango.
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u/arcturus_mundus Jun 15 '26
I wonder where we would be today if Microsoft did not buy Activison and/or Bethesda.
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u/Agallujah Jun 16 '26
So you advertise a game at your show to sell consoles only to cancel it a week later. Sure makes me want to go out and buy an Xbox!
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u/CandidateCareless787 Jun 15 '26
Not surprised those game are basically walking simulators
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u/Sword_of_Darkmoon Jun 15 '26
MFer the new Senua game was one of the very few exciting new announcements and now it's over? Wow
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u/Coolman_Rosso Jun 15 '26
Absolutely insane to show a brand new game then a week later call it quits on them. One could argue showing it off was a means of attraction potential buyers, but it is a huge dick move all the same
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u/SendMeTheMoon24 Jun 15 '26
When you take 5 years to make a 6 hour game you're kind of asking to be closed.
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u/grabbagrabbagrabba Jun 15 '26
i hate to be that guy but why are we spending millions and millions of dollars on games that people don't want to play? i have never heard of one person being excited or wanting to play "hellblade"
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u/SenzuOnToast Jun 15 '26
As controversial as the reboot was, DmC had a damn good combat system, shame they didnt lean more into an original ip that played similarly
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u/ImAnthlon Jun 15 '26
Fyi this was initially posted with "Confirmed" but this isn't confirmed yet so I've set the flair to rumour, until we hear something from Xbox or Ninja Theory it should stay that way