14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently announced plans to launch a major restructuring effort which will see about 18,000 layoffs at the company, but the Xbox One-focused division has explained that the changes will not have a big impact on the next-gen consoles and the titles that will be launched for it.
Now the company has also confirmed that the Xbox Entertainment Studios will be shut down in the coming months and that all its employees will be let go.
But before the closure takes place, the Halo television series that is in development at the group will be completed, as will the documentary that’s being created based on the excavation of the Atari landfill in New Mexico and a number of other smaller projects.
The National Football League for Xbox content that is being created will also be unaffected.
Gamasutra quotes a representative of Microsoft as saying that “As part of the planned reduction to our overall workforce announced today and in light of the Xbox vision to focus more on games and gamers, we plan to streamline a handful of portfolio and engineering development efforts across Xbox.”
“One such plan is that we will expect to close Xbox Entertainment Studios in the coming months. Nancy Tellem, Jordan Levin and some of the XES team will stay on and remain committed to original programming already in production,” the rep adds.
The Xbox Entertainment Studios was created in order to allow Microsoft to expand the appeal of its home consoles by offering a more diverse line-up of experiences for users.
The company sought to deliver original programming that satisfied both long-term fans and newcomers, but some fans reacted angrily to the move and asked for the Xbox One to remain focused on the launch of interesting video games.
The Halo-based television series was announced when the Xbox One was originally introduced and is produced by Steven Spielberg. More details about it are set to appear later in the year, and episodes will probably begin to launch in 2015.
Microsoft cut the price of the Xbox One to 399 dollars or Euro in early June, after deciding to drop the Kinect motion tracking system from the retail package.
Despite this change, the next-gen console has not managed to sell more than the rival PlayStation 4 from Sony in the United States in the past month, although the company says that sales have doubled when compared to May.