Xbox is undergoing major changes, scheduled to be fully available this Monday from what we’ve heard.
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has been pointing out for weeks that Xbox studios need a “reset.” While Microsoft’s gaming empire has struggled in the new economy, Xbox is looking at a variety of cuts, liquidations and possible team mergers to reduce costs. Studios such as Undead Labs, Double Fine, Compulsion and others have reportedly been in negotiations. with Xbox about what its future will look like, and for some, that future could be bleak in the short term.
The edge reported that one of those studios in negotiation was Arkane Studios, Currently working on Marvel’s Blade. Arkane is known for Dishonored and Death Loop, but has struggled to find his place, possibly under Microsoft. Blade There was an opportunity to change that, but reports from The Verge suggested that Microsoft was considering shutting down the studio.
This latest update suggests that Microsoft may have found an alternative route.
seen by Timur222 in X early this morning, IIt appears that MachineGames studio co-founder and head Jerk Gustafsson has taken over the leadership of Arkane Studios. Arkane president Leonard Bendel has resigned. The leadership change occurred a few days ago, on June 30, according to a report legal notice on the French business information site Pappers.fr.
In fact, at least from my point of view, I’ve heard there are no plans to end development on Blade.although there is clearly a major potential restructuring underway here.
Arkane is based in France and MachineGames is based in Sweden. Microsoft is investing in MachineGames after the success of Indiana Jones, but also based on the popularity of the lobostein franchise. Indeed, Microsoft is developing a TV show based on Wolfenstein with the producers of Fallout TV for Amazon, which largely fits into Asha Sharma’s transmedia vision for Xbox. Wolfenstein 3 is in production for that purpose, according to our sources, with the goal of the TV show and game complementing each other in Fallout TV style.
It remains to be seen what this leadership change means for Arkane overall. Xbox expected to join Microsoft overall with extensive cuts starting Monday of next week. All studios and teams will likely be affected in some way, as will Windows, Azure, etc. teams. in general.
Could this change in leadership indicate that Arkane will merge with MachineGames to forge a larger overall studio? Is Jerk Gustafsson being promoted with the intention of the studios remaining separate? It’s hard to say for sure right now. Given the holiday weekend in the United States, I doubt we’ll be able to get any feedback from Microsoft anytime soon.
In any case, I choose to take this as a positive sign for Blade and Arkane. despite rumors about its potential closure.
Join us at Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your ideas and discuss our latest news, reviews and more.
