What most 'significant restructure' in Xbox history means for future of gamers
Xbox has just undergone what it deems to be the 'most significant restructure' in its history, with thousands of jobs lost and several studios departing the brand, and that much change can understandably impact gamers in the future.
While four studios have been completely let go by Xbox – with Ninja Theory and Undead Labs being sold and Double Fine and Compulsion Games going independent – layoffs have also been spread across many existing and retained development teams.
Studios like ZeniMax Online have been hit hard while actively working on the Elder Scrolls Online, and legendary developers with decades of experience at id Software have been let go, reducing the team down to a 'support studio size' according to one former dev.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has insisted that while the changes indicate short-term pain, they pave the way for "a bigger future for Xbox not a smaller one."
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She asserted that "the next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before," but you can't blame some gamers for remaining skeptical for the time being.
The way Xbox was operating was, in the eyes of Sharma, 'not healthy' – especially in the midst of an AI-spurned hardware components crisis – and there is an aim for development teams to become more centralized and operate directly under the leadership as opposed to remaining more independent.
As reported by Newsweek, the most likely and noticeable consequence of these changes for gamers themselves is an increased reliance on pre-established AAA franchises that are already popular with big audiences, with less space given for titles that could be deemed niche.
Studios like those released as part of Sharma's 'reset' were previously meant to enrich the Game Pass line-up with a greater number of smaller titles for people to play, but it appears as if these weren't a big enough draw to drive subscriptions up and therefore are now not worth the money for Xbox.
Industry analyst Piers Harding-Rolls outlined to Newsweek that Xbox is set to exhibit "a significant focus on specific franchises, including Minecraft, across which there will be more investment to compete more actively with Roblox and Fortnite, and its biggest mobile property Candy Crush."
This could make Game Pass more affordable as a result, but the secondary impact of that would leave the subscription service with fewer games to choose from which many would see as a net negative depending on the types of titles they reach for.