Ninja Theory, the studio behind Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, appears to be starting a process of letting its employees go after two deals to save the studio fell through.
As spotted by reporter Chris Kerr, multiple now-former employees posted on LinkedIn this morning that their roles were at risk of redundancy, or that they were seeking new opportunities.
“It’s incredibly sad knowing that we won’t get to finish what we were working on,” wrote gameplay programmer Katrin Mair. “So much care, talent and effort went into it, and I really wish we’d had the chance to see what it could have become.”
“Ninja Theory has been some of the best years of my life, but sadly it is time to say goodbye,” wrote performance capture technician Rachel Kimber. “I can’t express enough the amazing people I have been able to work with over the last 4 and a half years. It has been such a pleasure and I have made friends for life.”
Ninja Theory has been around in some incarnation since 2000, moving from independence to ownership to reforming as an independent studio again, before being acquired by Xbox in 2018. Though it’s worked on a number of projects, it’s best known for the Hellblade series, beginning with the critically acclaimed hit Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Its sequel, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 launched in 2024 and received simlar praise, though not quite as effusive as the original, and analyst comments suggest it may have struggled in sales (though it seems to have been reasonably popular on Xbox Game Pass).
Just four months ago at Xbox’s summer showcase, Ninja Theory announced a brand new game simply titled Senua. According to reports, this reveal was done in hopes of attracting the interest of a buyer for Ninja Theory after Xbox decided to part ways with the studio as a part of its massive restructuring process that will see a total of about 3,200 jobs lost over the course of a year. Unfortunately, last month Xbox announced that two deals to save Ninja Theory had fallen through and that the studio would be entering UK’s consultation process ahead of mass layoffs and a presumed shutdown.
Double Fine, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, and Arkane Lyon were also announced as undergoing various processes of separation from Xbox at this time. The former three studios have since all spun off to be fully independent, with Double Fine and Undead Labs also undergoing waves of layoffs as a part of that separation. Arkane is currently also in consultation.