{"id":89936,"date":"2026-09-22T10:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T14:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/?p=89936"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:36:29","slug":"microsoft-signals-intention-to-close-down-ninja-theory-after-deals-to-save-the-hellblade-developer-fall-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/?p=89936","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Signals Intention to Close Down Ninja Theory After Deals to Save the Hellblade Developer Fall Through"},"content":{"rendered":"<section data-transform=\"mobile-ad-break\">\n<p>Microsoft has signalled its intention to close down Hellblade developer Ninja Theory after two deals to save the Xbox studio fell through.<\/p>\n<p>In-line with UK employment law, a consultation with the staff at the Cambridge-based studio has begun. While Microsoft has said it is now working to close the studio, it remains open to an agreement to rescue the company.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unfortunately, two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through,&#8221; Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty said in a blog post issued today. &#8220;We will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In June, at an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/xbox-games-showcase-2026-live-updates-every-game-announcement\">Xbox Games Showcase<\/a> event, Microsoft announced Senua, the third game in the Hellblade series. At the time, there was little concern about the game\u2019s release. Indeed, there was little concern, publicly at least, about Ninja Theory itself.<\/p>\n<section data-transform=\"ignvideo\" data-slug=\"senua-official-reveal-trailer-xbox-games-showcase-2026\" data-loop=\"\">\n<p>But that all changed when optimism sparked by the positive showcase was shattered by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma\u2019s \u201creset\u201d memo, which suggested mass layoffs and studio closures were to come. Confirmation came in July, when Ninja Theory was among the studios on the Xbox chopping block.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the reports, fans expressed confusion at how Microsoft could announce Senua from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft has signalled its intention to close down Hellblade developer Ninja Theory after two deals to save the Xbox studio fell through. In-line with UK employment law, a consultation with the staff at the Cambridge-based studio has begun. While Microsoft has said it is now working to close the studio, it remains open to an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":89938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89936","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\/89936"}],"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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89940,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89936\/revisions\/89940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgvote.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}