Blizzard Entertainment President Johanna Faries
Blizzard, Asha shared updates regarding a planned reset across XBOX, with many colleagues across the division being impacted. While you can expect to hear more details regarding the day's events and what they mean for Blizzard in further communications, for now I simply want to acknowledge that today is a difficult day that impacts many people in a range of ways. Please take care of yourself and others in this moment as best as possible. In light of today's news I want to thank everyone across Blizzard for moving with focus and creativity behind our strategic priorities, supporting our myriad communities and each other throughout. We continue to build upon that very strong foundation. Thank you for your continued collaboration in these highly dynamic times.
So far, it appears that ZeniMax Media (Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Starfield), Obsidian Entertainment (The Outer Worlds, Avowed), and Id Software (Doom) have been impacted most by these reductions, with Kotaku reporting around 25% of Obsidian and up to half of the Elder Scrolls Online development team affected.
An update from the ESO team.
Part of the cuts also come from four divested studios, with Compulsion Games (South of Midnight) and Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts) transitioning to independent studios, while Ninja Theory (Hellblade) and Undead Labs (State of Decay) are being sold to new owners. Though the deals include funding current projects including State of Decay 3, the studio's new owner is purportedly not obligated to release them on Game Pass.
Teased since 2020, State of Decay 3 now has a 2027 release date, which will mark Undead Lab's first release in eight years as an Xbox Games Studio.
Corroborating Windows Central, Diablo Immortal Narrative Designer Benjamin Wagner shared via Bluesky that no union employees were impacted at Blizzard... though this is far from a confirmation that none will be over the coming year, as another 1,600 cuts across Xbox are planned by 2027.
