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Xbox’s Restructuring Is A ‘Reverse Acquisition In Slow Motion,’ Analysts Say

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Xbox’s Restructuring Is A ‘Reverse Acquisition In Slow Motion,’ Analysts Say

Yesterday, Xbox announced the next stage in its ongoing major restructuring, consolidating several studios and laying off another 268 as it works its way toward a planned total of around 3200 job cuts in the space of a year. Halo has been handed off to Activision as Halo Studios shrinks to support size, Rare and Age of Empires developer World’s Edge are also under the Activision banner now, Obsidian is moving under Bethesda, Turn 10 and Playground are merging, and Ninja Theory is entering consultation.

Joost van Dreunen, NYU Stern professor and author of SuperJoost Playlist, is calling it “a reverse acquisition in slow motion.”

“The publishers Xbox spent a fortune acquiring are now absorbing the studios Xbox built,” he wrote yesterday.

I reached out to my usual cadre of analysts in the wake of this news to ask them what they make of this massive shake-up, and received back a series of emails full of deep concern, but little surprise.

Both head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics Rhys Elliot and Omdia senior analyst James McWhirter brought up what they saw as Xbox’s identity crisis, with Elliott noting that Xbox has swapped roles to become a publisher first and a platform second, and McWhirter seeing it more as Xbox feeling pulled in both directions.

“It still wants to be a console platform holder, yet its expanded remit as a multiplatform publisher has weakened its ability to compete with Sony and Nintendo on the same level,” McWhirter said.


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