Xbox Hit by Layoffs on Anniversary of Activision Blizzard Announcement

[Herbert Playz]

Source

IGN is reporting that 343, The Coalition, and Bethesda were all impacted by the recent layoffs at Microsoft. This is quite disappointing.

The last two years it seems like Microsoft was gearing up to really increase production when it comes to game development. But since these new layoffs seem to be affecting not just the purely tech side of the company but the game development side as well, it makes you wonder if they are going to meet their content release goals.

I think this is part of the reason that some gamers have a concern with these big corporations swooping in to buy up game studios. How much will the business decisions made on the corporate side affect the game dev studios that really focus on the art.

Making cuts at Bethesda before they've even gotten Starfield out of the door seems a bit strange but honestly making cuts to any game studio is odd given that they are currently trying to purchase actvision blizzard. It makes you wonder if they aren't planning some major cut if they are acquired.

PlayStation has built a big brand by delivering high quality first party exclusives. In the future I think the "winner" in the "console war" is going to be the one that can reliably deliver high quality content. This is not the time to start dropping any development talent and allowing your competitors the opportunity to swoop them up.