{"id":84521,"date":"2026-06-15T17:19:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/?p=84521"},"modified":"2026-06-15T18:37:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:37:05","slug":"double-fine-ninja-theory-and-more-reportedly-trying-to-spin-off-from-xbox-game-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/?p=84521","title":{"rendered":"Double Fine, Ninja Theory, And More Reportedly Trying To Spin Off From Xbox Game Studios"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier today, word broke that Microsoft <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/xbox-closing-we-happy-few-south-of-midnight-developer-compulsion-games-report\/\" id=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/xbox-closing-we-happy-few-south-of-midnight-developer-compulsion-games-report\/\">is reportedly planning to close Compulsion Games<\/a>&#8211;the studio behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/games\/south-of-midnight\/\" id=\"510329\">South of Midnight<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/games\/we-happy-few\/\" id=\"304803\">We Happy Few<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/games\/contrast\/\" id=\"470246\">Contrast<\/a>&#8211;as part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/xbox-reportedly-planning-big-layoffs-for-next-month\/\" id=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/xbox-reportedly-planning-big-layoffs-for-next-month\/\">a larger round of layoffs and studio closures<\/a>. Now, there&#8217;s word that a handful of Xbox Studios&#8217; smaller developers are taking some steps to avoid that fate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-06-15\/studios-in-microsoft-s-xbox-division-brace-for-closures\" id=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-06-15\/studios-in-microsoft-s-xbox-division-brace-for-closures\">Bloomberg<\/a> is reporting that Compulsion, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and &#8220;several other studios&#8221; have started negotiations with Microsoft to spin off their companies from Xbox Studios and avert full studio closures. Potentially, this would give the studios a chance to buy out Microsoft&#8217;s stake in their companies or allow them to find financial backers who could become the new owners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, that may not be enough to save every developer at the affected studios. Bloomberg notes that &#8220;many employees will likely lose their jobs as a result&#8221; of going independent. Consequently, employees at some of the studios have reportedly been cleared to begin looking for other work. It appears this process may be further along at Ninja Theory, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/games\/950204\/xbox-ninja-theory-shutdown-hellblade-senua\" id=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/games\/950204\/xbox-ninja-theory-shutdown-hellblade-senua\">The Verge<\/a> reporting Microsoft has already opted to close the studio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scope of the potential layoffs isn&#8217;t clear, and there have even been reports that Microsoft is considering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier today, word broke that Microsoft is reportedly planning to close Compulsion Games&#8211;the studio behind South of Midnight, We Happy Few, and Contrast&#8211;as part of a larger round of layoffs and studio closures. Now, there&#8217;s word that a handful of Xbox Studios&#8217; smaller developers are taking some steps to avoid that fate. Bloomberg is reporting&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":84523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-external"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84521"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84524,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84521\/revisions\/84524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}