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[Draugoth]

Xbox is closing down Hellblade creator Ninja Theory

The future of Senua, which Xbox just announced, is unclear.

www.theverge.com

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.

 

[Artistic]

Damn lol.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Didn't they just show a new game

 

[The_hunter]

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

 

[Plague Doctor]

They just announced a game lol

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Asha 'The Red Wedding' Sharma

 

[kevboard]

just when they decided to make video games again... welp...

 

[Thief1987]

It's just mesmerising how idiotic this looks after they just announced new game a week(!) ago
Seems like copilot truly took reins at microslop

 

[HeWhoWalks]

 

[Bitstream]

I know xbox has a reputation for announcing games and then cancelling them, but this might be a new record for doing so..

 

[HRK69]

There it is

 

[StoopKidz]

 

[Sabejita]

 

[Mownoc]

Announced new game a week ago in their big showcase. Kills them. Why even show it? Lmao.

 

[LectureMaster]

Microsoft closing Ninja Theory after 8 year struggles:

Meanwhile Ninja Theory founder who gaslighted MS to buy his studio:

 

[Aldric]

Cool industry you have here, very nice.

 

[John Bilbo]

First announce game then close studio

 

[LordCBH]

Dawg what the fuck are we doing? Why would you announce their next title two weeks ago and then turn around and close the studio?

 

[StueyDuck]

That would of been my call (and ive said as much many times)

There is no doubt they were an expensive studio, extremely high production over extremely high development times, based in Cambridge.

Reminder that hellblade 1 wasnt even an Xbox / Ms game. So that means in all of their time as a MS studio they made roller pigs or whatever that gross ass game was called that flopped before it even released and Hellblade 2 that was like 5 hours long and barely a game with an overly inflated budget for cinematic and shouty face zoomies but nothing else

They were no doubt a leech compared to other studios

EDIT: they were bought in 2018 a year after HB1 release, so that's 8 years with basically one game that was 5 hours long, since that live service game was so laughable it doesn't really count.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[uncreativename]

Dawg what the fuck are we doing? Why would you announce their next title two weeks ago and then turn around and close the studio?

It must really be chaos over there.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Ninja Theory's only good game was Enslaved.

 

[Saber]

Making walking films that aren't real games ain't exactly the way to make money, chief. So long, graphical whores.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I guess gamers did not like a sound wave woman

 

[Fake]

The end is near.

 

[LordCBH]

It must really be chaos over there.

just Jesus Christ

 

[StoopKidz]

New XBOX strategy is to use its showcases as a Hunger Games trial. The worst showing has its studio killed.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Yeah, brutal. Really wanted to play that Senua game. I also enjoyed Hell blade 2. Sucks but what to do. No one was interested in their games.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

lol they spent the better part of a decade making a game that was like 5 hours long and barely had any gameplay, and unsurprisingly sold like shit. What did they expect?

 

[Nicktendo86]

I just don't understand the logic behind announcing a new game in your showcase only to close down the studio, literally, a week later. This is like a whole new level of clownery, I've never seen anything like it.

 

[Bernardougf]

Everything is fine.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I recently bought Enslaved:Odyssey to the West on Steam. (After I sold all my 360 games that was one I wanted to keep)
I don't see Heavenly Sword on Steam.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Announced new game a week ago in their big showcase. Kills them. Why even show it? Lmao.

If you are f'ing up comms wise you might as well excel at f'ing up right?

 

[R6Rider]

Wait, wtf.

They just had them announce a new game at SGF....

 

[digoutyoursoul]

 

[KungFucius]

Didn't they just show a new game

This is fucking insane. How the fuck do you close a studio the week after revealing the game like that. It is a fuck you to the studio and the fans. What a fucking Joke MS is.

 

[Crimsonhead]

Uhfffff.....

 

[Topher]

Acquisitions are great!

 

[Panajev2001a]

I recently bought Enslaved:Odyssey to the West on Steam. (After I sold all my 360 games that was one I wanted to keep)
I don't see Heavenly Sword on Steam.

PS3 exclusive, Sony published and helped in its development.

 

[dem]

lol..
What about the game they just showed?

MS is crazy. Talk about whiplash.

 

[M1987]

Why the fuck did they announce Senua last week just to shut them down?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Acquisitions are great!

I mean, nothing was really lost with this one.

 

[R6Rider]

#weresoback

 

[Fake]

Let all those closes be a open eye to game journalists giving high score to games for different reasons other than a game being a good game.

The game is supouse to be good for us gamers, not for you game journalism. No matter the score, no matter the awards you get. The end results will always be the same.

 

[RespawnX]

Didn't they just show a new game

Pretty stupid. But "stupid" seems to be the Xbox leadership's motto.

Given all the mistakes Xbox Studios has made, diversifying through numerous small, creative studios was certainly not one of them. They should have just managed the studios properly instead of letting the place decay like a startup. Once again, employees are paying the price for the incompetence of managers.

The Xbox 360 era ended with Forza, Halo, Gears, and nothing else. They expanded with great effort only to now return to the course that drove the brand toward irrelevance at the end of the Xbox 360 era. You could say they're stupid. It's just disappointing and a shame for the studios and the jobs, all because managers now believe "monetization" and "optimization" are the brand's saviors.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Why the fuck did they announce Senua last week just to shut them down?

It just could've been a case of showing somehting in order to not getting shut down.

(we have somehting in the works)

 

[Steve Holt]

 

[BlackTron]

Dawg what the fuck are we doing? Why would you announce their next title two weeks ago and then turn around and close the studio?

Call me crazy, but I think they may potentially not be competently managed.

But I'm not sure yet, I'll be fully convinced if this keeps up for another 5 console launches.

 

[Witchilich]

But pumping money in to Halo Studios for a Halo MMO, after cancelling the Zenimax Online Studios sci fi shooter MMO and laying off the whole team. They really don't know what they are doing.