Earlier this week, it was reported that Microsoft was planning to close, or spin out, Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Ninja Theory, and potential other studios as part of a round of layoffs and studio closures. Now, a report suggests that Microsoft knew it planned to close Ninja Theory before the studio announced its new Hellblade game, Senua, during the Xbox Games Showcase just ten days ago.
According to Stephen Totilo’s Game File, Microsoft “had already planned to sunset or split” with Ninja Theory by the time Senua’s trailer debuted, thinking that a newly announced game would “draw investor interest.”
Totilo notes that it’s unclear whether anyone in Ninja Theory’s leadership team was involved with, or even aware of, that plan.
The report follows a bumper interview that Xbox Wire published about Senua, in which it said, “The original Hellblade famously ended with the line, ‘There are more stories to tell.’ Senua feels like Ninja Theory has expanded that to a philosophy of, ‘There are new kinds of games to make.'”
Ninja Theory studio head Dom Matthews also noted that the gap between Hellblade 2 and Senua being small is deliberate. “It’s not about rushing something out the door–we would never do that–but we want to ship games.”
It began with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s “reset” memo, which noted that Xbox has spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments, but that the annual revenue has declined almost half a billion in the same time. “Going forward, this cannot continue,” Sharma said. That was followed immediately by Xbox Game Studios boss Craig Duncan stepping down.
While Ninja Theory, Double Fine, and Compulsion are all reportedly in talks with Microsoft over potential buyouts, the studios will need investment to go independent if those negotiations are successful.
Alongside those imminent threats, it remains to be seen whether Ninja Theory would even be permitted to take its Hellblade franchise with it wherever it goes. When Microsoft closed Lionhead, there was investment interest, but those talks didn’t amount to anything since Microsoft was unwilling to let the Fable name go.
It remains unclear what the future holds for the studios facing closure. There’s a sliver of hope in the fact that Microsoft appears to be hoping for investors to buy the studios rather than shuttering them entirely, but only time will tell if that approach is successful.
