The departments dedicated to bringing games to physical retail may be another victim of the Microsoft series of layoffs that hit Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and Bethesda this week.
According to Windows Central editor Jez Corden on Twitter (via VGC), the 1,900 layoffs that hit the largest developers and publishers in the industry also affected several departments, ranging from customer service to development. Smash Jump discussed the layoffs plaguing the industry and their causes in our 2023 retrospective. Unfortunately, news looks grim in 2024 and potentially 2025, too, as pandemic excess hiring will scale back. Kotaku estimates that January 2024 has so far seen over 6,000 industry layoffs, with no signs of stopping.
The Xbox digital-oriented strategy is also mentioned by Corden. In 2024, this may take shape with the release of a refreshed digital-only Xbox console. The 2023 leaked Xbox Series X refresh termed “Brooklin” is rumored to be releasing later this year. Nonetheless, this potential refresh may not include any performance improvements based on the leaked U.S. Federal Communications Commission documents.
The Xbox digital retail strategy is in full swing. The recent Xbox Developer Direct announced some heavy-hitting upcoming titles, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Avowed, and Ara. Yet Xbox didn’t shy away to announce Hellblade 2 as a digital-only exclusive or the fact that all the Developer Direct games are coming to Game Pass day one.
While Corden also states that “reducing retail teams doesn’t confirm Microsoft is quitting physical retail for Xbox games yet…” the Xbox trajectory for digital retail is nonetheless clear. Indeed, this is a wider industry shift that we are seeing, although not without some pushback from gamers.
The community condemned the recent contention that gamers should be “comfortable with not owning [their] game,” as revealed to GamesIndustry.biz by Philippe Tremblay, director of subscriptions at Ubisoft. Yet, this community outcry is likely to be short-lived as digital retailing and subscription services are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Other big publishers, like Ubisoft and EA, are already capitalizing on that. It’s likely we will see more layoffs on the horizon due to this digital retailing revolution.
More Smash Jump: James reviews The Cub for PS5, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS online services are coming to an end in 2024, and Destroy All Humans developer has also been hit by layoffs.
