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Microsoft To Eliminate Xbox Entertainment Studios

As you may know, Microsoft announced that it is cutting 18,000 jobs over the next year, starting with 13,000 over the next six months. One casualty of the company’s restructuring is Xbox Enterta...
Microsoft To Eliminate Xbox Entertainment Studios
Written by Chris Crum
  • As you may know, Microsoft announced that it is cutting 18,000 jobs over the next year, starting with 13,000 over the next six months.

    One casualty of the company’s restructuring is Xbox Entertainment Studios, a segment founded in 2012 to help the company get exclusive streaming video content. It just didn’t work out that well.

    Re/code reports that the division is shutting down. Dawn Chmielewski writes:

    Sources paint a picture of a disorganized studio that struggled to close deals and lacked a fully fleshed-out business model. This inability to execute has turned off potential studio partners, they say, complicating the process of securing premium content.

    The report was also updated with confirmation from Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft Studios, who said, “Xbox will continue to support and deliver interactive sports content like ‘NFL on Xbox,’ and we will continue to enhance our entertainment offering on console by innovating the TV experience through the monthly console updates. Additionally, our app partnerships with world-class content providers bringing entertainment, sports and TV content to Xbox customers around the world are not impacted by this organizational change.”

    According to the report, Xbox Entertainment Studios, which employs roughly 200 workers, will wind down gradually, and in-production projects will continue.

    Also part of the job cuts will be 12,500 former Nokia employees. Mary Jo Foley at ZDnet says the company’s Operating System Group is also one of the units that will be affected “immediately and directly” by the cuts. She says she’s hearing that “a good chunk” of Windows testers will be let go as well as some from the sales, marketing, and legal departments.

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