Is Xbox One finally Xbox Done?? Games are delayed more than a whole year. Many of those stated to be releasing this year do not have release dates or even gameplay videos. Most former exclusives heading to PC. Executives talk about releasing upgradeable consoles and essentially turning it into a service. First party studios closing and big-name exclusive game cancelled. Phantom Dust cancelled. Lionhead Studios producer calling them "destroyer of first party."

What is next? Seas of Thieves cancelled? Recore cancelled? We still havent seen Crackdown 3 running on an Xbox One even though it is supposedly releasing this summer. Nobody has seen the single player campiagn that will supposedly released later. It looks like the end for Xbox once they release or cancel all the games currently in development.

Yes, that is a lot of studios that disappeared.

@Elwenil

Microsoft owns the IP's for Lost Oddessy, Jade Empire, PGR, Conker and Crimson Skies and spent 400 million on an NFL deal.

Who made the deal between Xbox One and the NFL? Phil Spencer.

Seems Microsoft is trimming some fat today. Although I read in the comments from the tweet that this may be re-branding of some of those studios, perhaps merging a few together but other than Lionhead with Fable Legends I'm not going to make much of studios like "Good Science" closing when there's really not a body of work we've played or known games were looking forward to. -Anyone know of any past or present game from any of these 8 studios???...any names of cancelled games from them??? Either way I hope all the good folks get offers to stay employed elsewhere.

-Edit, ahhh just read most of these studios are Kinect related, makes more sense now.

Overload you do know that Microsoft is a huge company that makes a pc/tablet line called Surface Pro, that deal involves a full NFL ad campaign with Surface Pros used during pregame analysis, halftime, etc and by coaches during every NFL game...or are you suggesting a mega billion dollar corporation should ONLY pour all their resources into gaming?, lol

To me this is just Microsoft doing a little belt tightening. I remember Sony had to shut down some studios after the Ps3 faltered out of the gate. They had to trim the fat big time. Microsoft is probably doing the same thing. Makes no sense to invest heavy in first party studios if no confidence that the sales will make the venture worthwhile. Makes sense to shut some down to refocus resources where they could matter.
Just speculating though

It's common knowledge the in order to diversify your software lineup you need to diminish your talent pool. How else or they going to show gamers they care?

Nasty "oversight" there snookie. *smh*

@4sh0w If they continue to trimming the fat like this, they end up trimming the Xbox one to.
You know, going to PC and all of that...
For their next console they are already trimming the console cycle for the hardware, for the one year cycle like the smartphone...

@NameGameFame,

Check my comments, pal. I don't even own an Xbox. Never have, never will. But the facts remain that with a lot of the less than stellar games coming out these days at full price with all sorts of promises, if publishers shut down under-performing studios, I have no issues with it other than the impact on the employees, which is a sad but necessary fact of life. I was not happy when Sony shut down Zipper, but considering MAG's issues and SOCOM 4 being a complete bomb, yeah, it was time for them to go. Not all games can be hits and even if fans and devs love an IP, it takes more than love to make money and that is what the publishers are in the business for.

I can think of quite a few games which many would consider sub-par that I quite enjoy.

@Griever "Games are delayed more than a whole year."

That means nothing games get delayed all the time.

"Most former exclusives heading to PC."

That MS PLANNED all along not bad news.

"Phantom Dust cancelled."

Of all ppl I know all about Phantom Dust and its not cancelled. Though realistically I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

"We still havent seen Crackdown 3 running on an Xbox One even though it is supposedly releasing this summer."

The beta's coming this summer and will probably release late summer We have to wait till E3 for details.

Those other games Im sure are safe MS would have to be out of their minds to get rid of the rest of their line up, I mean obviously.

Had to correct you on some points.

Next up

Halo on playstation

More gamers get to play and ms gets more money right. .......

I say this because from what I hear on here, exclusives don't matter and it's selfish not to want other people to play the same game.

Its funny how fast xbox fans sh!t on these devs.

I can remember most of them put these studios on their list to compete with Sony first party list and were touting them.

Now its just MS trimming the fat lol!

Hate this news and gets me very worried about future games on X1.

But there's no way N4G gonna try and tell me about Phantom Dust. Yall gonna believe Griever a guy who knows little about Phantom Dust when PD is my most favored game of all time so clearly I keep up with it. No the game is not cancelled trust me I know better. If theres anyone to believe on that its me or anyone else who actually follows the game closely.

Everything I said was fair, rational and level headed so its not me I checked my facts. But all the fanboys are getting a kick out of the news. Upvote the fanboy comments no matter how dumb they are, Of course you guys will do just that. Since that's the case no point in arguing since Im a get smothered down anyway I'm right you guys are wrong and there's nothing nobody can say or do about it ( :

@Why Well PC isn't the same as PS4 when it comes to overall appeal or popularity. Halo going to PS4 will change the gamingscape forever if it went to PC it would be a big deal but not the same as if it were on PS4 not nearly the same actually. Everything you said only applies to PC WIN10 specifically MS own software not another competing console so that doesnt make sense.

But ppl will swear that I'm "wrong" somehow though watch lol.

im just having a sly dig Angelic. I know the differences but despite that, MS would gain more money if they put all their exclusives on playstation. Many seem to think games going to pc won't affect the x1 so why couldn't the same apply to them being on ps too

@rdgneoz3
**"" They got rid of 8 studios and never told anyone until the last moment pretty much... Twitter mentioned people being in a meeting being told what was happening as the article went up...
Hell, a Lionhead community manager just 5 hours before the announcement was talking about how they were going over feedback and trying to make the best game possible.
https://twitter.com/VG_Dave... **

Wow, that sucks

I don't understand how some xbox fans are saying Microsoft is trimming some fat or getting rid of "bad" studios or whatever excuse they will come up with.

8 studios closed and ppl losing their jobs...that's sucks
no matter how much you spin this and not a good sign at all.

You know what I find really weird, 90% of the people in this thread are Sony guys just looking to have a dig at Microsoft. It's so lame. As an Xbox gamer, yes I'm slightly disappointed in Fable legends but that's it. Theses other studios were mostly making Kinect games which I'm sure none of us Xbox guys are gonna lose sleep over. It's sad theses developers won't have jobs, but I wish them all the best, they may even end up in a better studio. I have never seen so much over reaction in my life.

@ people calling this trimming

Sony was in financial trouble with years of losses and potentially its survival at stake so they had to resort to extreme measures. What kind of trouble is MS in that they have close so many studios, cancel games and think about adopting smartphone model for Xbox? Xbox fanboys always boasted the infinitely deep pockets and massive profits of MS compared to Sony. We clearly know they are not in financial trouble so the only other explanation is they are getting out of the home console industry or at least the traditional home console industry.

@AngelicIceDiamond

Look at the gif posted by Cupid Viper. That is what is going on with Xbox fans right now. They are just refusing to acknowledge what is unfolding before their eyes.

Sure, there are game cancellations here and gamers lose out. But the biggest loss here is to the employees.

This is crazy, it's like Xbox is imploding before our very eyes.

I just hope those employees manage to come out of this alright in the end and move on to bigger, better things. I'm sure they will.

@Why o why I don't think MS are really in it to sell games OR hardware, which might initially sound odd but makes sense when you think about it.

Their ultimate goal in publishing is to sit back and make money off of the work of others. They primarily make games to build up a closed ecosystem (The Xbox platform, the Windows store). Once they have that, they get to syphon money from everyone else that wants to publish games there.

You only need to look at what they did with the 360 to confirm that part of their strategy.

That might make them sound nefarious, but it's really a core concept of the console gaming industry, and consumer software industry in general (see Apple).

Personally I'd love to see all exclusive games spread across consumer-friendly open platforms, but it's catch 22. Platform holders wouldn't be injecting the cash to make these AAA games at all if they weren't trying to build up these closed ecosystems.

@AngelicIceDiamond

I'll agree with you that games getting delayed aren't that big of a deal since It's kind of like the norm for games to get delayed nowadays. As a matter of fact I can't remember a single recent AAA game that didn't get delayed.

However I have to disagree with you here,
""Most former exclusives heading to PC."

That MS PLANNED all along not bad news."

First of all MS focusing on pc from the start is pr and it's quite recent pr as a matter of fact. Let me give you a real example here, have you heard of the kickstarter unsung story? The devs (lead by the producer of final fantasy tactics, I believe?) promised a game in the veins of fft. However approximately a year later they send of an update informing backer that pvp will start in june 2016. They never talked about a multiplayer in this game and when questioned they said that multiplayer was the plan all along. From the very beginning. Sounds familiar?

Secondly MS losing exclusives isn't a good thing...no wait let me rephrase that, xbox1 losing exclusives isn't a good thing. It's a win-win scenario for MS as people might purchase their games on xbox1 or pc however the lack of exclusives devalues a console. Why should I go for a xbox1 when I can use that money towards a gaming laptop (or desktop for people who doesn't play games on laptops)? If all or most exclusives end up on pc then people might as well pick up a ps4 and a pc (or a wii u if they don't like sony exclusives and only care for the multiplatform games). Exclusives define a console. I might pick up a xbox1 because I love the simplicity of console gaming but do I represent the entire gaming community?

EDIT: I changed "will" with "might". I have to wait and hear about MS plans for xbox before making a purchase.

@AngelicIceDiamond

You're right about games getting delayed all the time.
You're right about the fact that PD isn't cancelled (It's in a dormant stage for now).
You're right about the fact that we need to wait and see carckdown 3 before we judge it.
However you're wrong about MS's plan for xbox and that fact that losing exclusives is a good thing.

"I'm right you guys are wrong and there's nothing nobody can say or do about it ( :" - a bit childish attitude here :)
I can only point out whether you're right or not and to point out you're wrongs as well. What more did you expect?

@Welkin
"I can remember most of them put these studios on their list to compete with Sony first party list and were touting them. "

Really?

"including Kinect Joy Ride developer BigPark, along with Function Studios, Good Science, LXP and SOTA."

These devs appeared on which lists?

@Septic Yes even those studios were on some lists. I remember people putting lists with every single MS studio when trying to compare their first party vs Sony first party

Can't belive people still are ignoring this.
Something clearly is happening and it's not looking good for the future of xbox as a console.
Like it or not this is how bowing out of the competition looks.
Cancelling putting big exclusives on pc, fable cancelling, now this.
Wake up.

@abzdiine

not many people were happy about fable legends most people made it quite clear they wanted fable 4. gutted for all the people at lionhead though the game looked beautiful

Other than lionhead/Fable, please tell me the name of one game that any one of these studios has released, or is working on

So let me get this straight ... If Sony trims down some studios it's no biggie, but if Microsoft trims down some studios (mostly Kinect studios) it's the end of Microsoft, they're doooooomed... Just not seeing the logic here hey.

@mark_parch

"@abzdiine

not many people were happy about fable legends most people made it quite clear they wanted fable 4. "

Yeah precisely but people like to pretend don't they? Disingenuous and uninformed people aside, it is hardly felt as a big loss...unless of course you desperately want to make a point about it. Mind you, I've seen the same people believe its some sort of downplaying when they themselves thought Fable Legends looked poor. And these same people liked knack and the order and think there was a media conspiracy against them lol.

Its not a good thing having a studio shut down of course...but it was shut for a reason and if the quality isnt up tp scratch you don't want a rushed, u unfinished and poor game on your hands. We have seen a few examples of those this gen

@Overload- MS doesn't own the Jade Empire IP, Bioware does. MS was simply publishing their game like they published Mass Effect.

EA bought the IP of Mass Effect from Bioware, not MS as Bioware owned the IP to Mass Effect, Mass Effect etc, MS never owned an IP from Bioware.

In the business world, this is what you do when you plan on selling the company. Cut the fat, and make it look as lean as possible to buyers. Watch this space, the XBOX brand will be sold by MS very soon. It's over.

@Septic:
Everytime fanboys like christolus and others bring up x1 list of exclusives Fable Legends is among these.
Fable Legends not being a big deal all of a sudden is hypocritical.
And here we go with Knack again.. i like it.....because i PLAYED it.

I think we should just wait and see what all of these recent changes mean for XB1 before jumping to conclusions.

For all we know, MS could be ditching the studios that aren't profitable in favor of spending the money on new IP that people have been asking for. Hell, some of these studios were Kinect devs, so why keep them around anyways? What we do know is MS already has unannounced IP in development, but does anyone here know how many, or who's developing them? Will MS use the available resources from these closures to buy Remedy or other studios to broaden their portfolio of 1st party devs?

We can all speculate, but too many people around here are blowing things out of proportion based around assumptions IMO.

@TheCOmmentator

While certainly possible that MS is making new studios, or something akin to WWS like Sony has, it seems that just closing down so many studios, regardless of their stature, and not stating such a plan going forward is rather dumb from a PR point of view.

All the negativity they have right now could be lessened if they just said those people were being reassigned, or they were restructuring their corporate model. Or maybe not....Most of Sony announcement about studio closures was accompanied by such statements and most people ignored that little tidbit.

I think the biggest problem facing XBox/MS right now, at least from a public relations point of view, is they seem to have no clear plan of how they are moving forward. MS as a whole seems to have a clear plan with all the one platform/Windows stuff, but the Xbox brand just seems to be in this kind of obfuscated limbo of PR jargon and feel good hyperbole from it's executives. Those kinds of things tend to compound over time, and I think the last couple weeks just was the tipping point where people really start to see that something more is happening with the Xbox brand than what meets the eye.

That being said, just because these studios focused on Kinect games, doesn't mean they didn't have the skill to make more expansive games. It takes a lot of money to close a studio(wierd premise I know), and it takes a lot more to open a new one, not to mention how time consuming it is to open a new studio/studios. If MS plans to open new studios, then it'll be about a year before they begin production on games, whereas these other studios could have been restructured into AAA class developers with nothing more than hiring some more staff and setting up the internal infrastructure

I understand your point about the financial burdens associated with closing and opening studios, Rain. It is entirely possible, however, that there are 3rd party studios like Remedy that MS would rather buy than continue to spend money on studios that aren't made up of people MS believes can put out the quality necessary to be successful. Sometimes it's better to cut losses and start over.

Maybe GDC or E3 will shed some light on what MS intends, but I agree that there's a lot of negativity that could have been reduced with the insertion of news about new studios or IP. Let's face it though, MS has never been known to be very tactful when it comes to releasing information, lol.

@Rookie

Damage control. A lot of people had good things to say about Fable Legends and with it going into open beta THIS SPRING, there's no reason not to give it a little more time, especially since it was going to be PC/X1 cross play.

Press Play was working on a title people were excited about, Team Spark had a lot of talented people.

You also don't know the definition of indie titles. MS doesn't make indie titles BY definition. Smaller games do not equal indie titles and you should know that right now.

There's also no indication of the resources for those studios being redirected so you are simply making an assumption. You say there's going to be an explosion of core games for X1/PC but legends was supposed to be part of that. Even assuming you're right, then MS needs to have better messaging about it, not letting people continue to wonder if they are losing faith in the Xbox brand.

@Gority

You said Damage Control. BUT real Xbox fans don't even care about those games. Can you specifically tell me when was Project Spark officially released? I thought it was still in beta, like everyone else. I THINK you got it all wrong as the damage control are you guys that are hating on Xbox as 7/8 of those studios were Kinect and indies. And for Lionhead Studios that hasn't made a good game since Fable 2, another Fable could be easily made by another studios just like Halo Wars 2 is currently being coded by RTS masters, Creative assembly after The original Halo Wars creators were dissolved.

I can't believe the day I came to witnessed when people are saddened over indies and Motion control studios being dissoved. LoL, Concerned trolling at its best.

@gority

"There's also no indication of the resources for those studios being redirected so you are simply making an assumption. "

There is also no indication to the contrary so not only are YOU making an assumption you're trying to call someone else out for doing the same.

Move along.

So these studios are irrelevant because at a time they were kind of forced to make Kinect game...
I'm wondering whom forced them to do kinect games.
It's going to be fun when MS demands studios to do software for their gimmickly augmented reality thingy...

What is a real Xbox fan?

'real xbox fans'

wtf was that, is Xbox supposed to be a cult or something? you get anything from defending them bro? real gamers should criticized questionable moves from any companies no matter what.

'I can't believe the day I came to witnessed when people are saddened over indies and Motion control studios being dissoved'

PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR JOBS, a normal thinking people would be concerned, or at least someone with conscience. You really think these people involved with kinect without MS telling them to, bro?

I swear, MS fanboys say the darndest things.

@rookie, outside of Halo, Gears and Forza which other studios have actually been relevant?

0.

Do you really only want 3 devs making the same 3 games every 1-2 years?

^So, Rookie, 'real xbox fans' don't care about these Kinect games, you say? Yeh, screw the family market, I guess?!

How times have changed...I could have sworn it was the most amazing thing in the world, according to fanboys.

Can you clarify, was it when MS finally realised it was actually pretty crap for playing games that it became cool to be indifferent about it?

Tut tut, what would Milo* say to you now? :(

*if that game had actually been real and had the AI it slyly portrayed. lol

Rookie, these arent Kinect Studios... these are talented people who were mandated to make Kinect games and then thrown away. This isn't like they were companies who dropped the ball. They got screwed. Why not use their talents to create something AAA? Why just dump them off?

@Rookie

Dude I can't even take you seriously when you call MS published titles indies. Look up the definition of indie please.

Project Spark came out two years ago in retail. You, a "real" xbox fan didn't realize because you weren't an Xbox fan back then. You were a PS4 fanboy, and suddenly switched from being a terrible PS4 fanboy, to an Xbox fanboy. Either way, it's just bad.

@ThePope

Actually no, I said MS messaging has been bad most of this generation so they need to be clear about it. So yeah, I called him out for making an assumption, and now I'm calling you out for putting words in my mouth.

@badz149 & Kudostoyou

By your logic, NBA 2k and NBA Jam or the same game, just because the both have NBA in the title. One is a NBA/basketball simulator and the other is an arcade style, unrealistic basketball game.

Forza Motorsport and Forza Horizon are two completely different games by two completely different devs. One is a racing simulator and the other is an arcade style open world racer. Have you guys even played the games????

You guys are ridiculous...lol

@MELMAN26

I was not implying that Forza MS & Horizon are the same game but kudostoya did say Forza, not what type of game they are and that's the truth so far this gen!

just like how most people here tend to see only CoD and still say things like "it's the same game since CoD4" when that can't be further from the truth, I bet most people are looking at Forza the same way, which is, "Forza is released annually"!