The news that Microsoft's Xbox division shuttered three studios and folded a fourth into ZeniMax Online is still ringing throughout the entire games industry at a time when layoffs and studio closures are almost a weekly certainty.
To try and make sense of the shocking announcement, we reached out to our good friends at MIDiA Research. Games Industry Analyst Rhys Elliott kindly answered a few questions, pointing out that the new Xbox vision centered on big IPs required 'breaking a few eggs to make an omelet'.
He also reckons an impressive Xbox Games Showcase in June could mostly eclipse fans' anger. Related Story Xbox Will Reportedly Cut More Jobs, Arkane and Tango Were Pitching New Projects Pre-ClosureDespite the overall Xbox business going up, Microsoft is still axing even respected developers who have made award-winning games.
Why do you think that is the case? Should Xbox fans be worried about reduced investment in gaming? While it’s true that gaming revenue was up +51% and Xbox content/services revenue was up +62% in calendar Q1, these gains mostly came from Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition.
The inorganic acquisition growth actually offset a -5 % drop in gaming revenue, as well as flat Xbox content/services growth for Xbox.