Xbox Game Studios Shrinks to Just Three Teams After Reset
After Xbox's latest layoffs and reshuffle, the Xbox Game Studios label now covers only The Coalition, inXile, and Playground Games. Mojang and others report elsewhere.
Did you know that the "Xbox Game Studios" brand is now down to just three development teams? That's right—after Xbox's latest "reset" and wave of layoffs, the publisher label that once housed a dozen studios is now a shell of its former self.
The three remaining studios under Xbox Game Studios are The Coalition (Gears of War), inXile Entertainment (Wasteland, Clockwork Revolution), and Playground Games (Forza Horizon, Fable). That's it. Everyone else has been shuffled around or spun off.
So where did they all go? Mojang, the Minecraft studio, now reports directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Rare and World's Edge (Age of Empires) have moved under Activision Blizzard. Obsidian Entertainment jumped to Bethesda, and Turn 10 merged with Playground Games. Meanwhile, Halo Studios' next game is being made by Activision, though it's unclear if the studio itself is formally an Activision Blizzard entity.
ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent, now houses Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Obsidian, MachineGames, and ZeniMax Online Studios. Activision Blizzard, aside from King (which also reports to Sharma) and a few Call of Duty support teams, includes Beenox, Blizzard Entertainment, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Rare, Treyarch, and World's Edge.
Technically, all these teams are still Xbox studios, and Xbox will keep publishing games from partners like Kojima Productions (OD, Physint). But the "Xbox Game Studios" label itself feels like it's fading away. Since mid-2025, the Xbox website hasn't had any dedicated pages or references to Xbox Game Studios. Compare that to PlayStation Studios, which proudly lists 17 teams on its own page.
At its peak, Xbox Game Studios had at least a dozen teams. Now it's just a handful, and all three remaining studios have games due within the next year: Gears of War: E-Day, Clockwork Revolution, and Fable. Under Sharma's leadership, Xbox says it wants to strengthen its brand with exclusive content as a core focus. But with its internal publisher shrinking, what even makes an Xbox game an "Xbox game" anymore?
Chances are that distinction will stay hazy until Xbox finishes its brutal reset. What do you think—will Xbox Game Studios survive as a brand, or is it only a matter of time before it disappears completely?
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