Xbox turmoil continues with a studio closure and executive departures

Xbox 动荡持续：工作室关闭与高管离职

Last week, Xbox boss Asha Sharma sent a memo warning of an Xbox “reset” ahead of expected layoffs, and today, Kotaku reported that Xbox plans to shut down Compulsion Games, the studio behind South of Midnight.

上周，Xbox 负责人 Asha Sharma 发送了一份备忘录，在预期裁员之前预警了 Xbox 的“重置”计划。今日，据 Kotaku 报道，Xbox 计划关闭《午夜之南》（South of Midnight）的开发商 Compulsion Games。

Since taking over in February, Sharma has made some big decisions, including cutting the price of Xbox Game Pass and making Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution Xbox console exclusives. But in their “reset” memo, Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty discussed many challenges facing the Xbox business, including that it has “over extended” with its studio system:

自二月份接手以来，Sharma 做出了一些重大决策，包括下调 Xbox Game Pass 的价格，并将《战争机器：E-Day》（Gears of War: E-Day）和《发条革命》（Clockwork Revolution）定为 Xbox 主机独占游戏。但在那份“重置”备忘录中，Sharma 与首席内容官 Matt Booty 讨论了 Xbox 业务面临的诸多挑战，其中包括其工作室系统已经“过度扩张”：

We are the fortunate stewards of industry-defining franchises that have enormous potential and player demand, but we have not adequately funded them to compete and win. At the same time, as we saw this past weekend at Showcase, a reliable pipeline of first- and third-party exclusives and new IP are critical to our success. We need to reassess the balance between these and our investment priorities for the next 5 years.

“我们有幸管理着那些具有巨大潜力和玩家需求的行业标杆级游戏系列，但我们并未提供足够的资金支持，使其能够参与竞争并取得胜利。与此同时，正如我们在上周末的发布会上所见，可靠的第一方和第三方独占游戏以及新 IP 的储备对于我们的成功至关重要。我们需要重新评估这些内容与我们未来 5 年投资重点之间的平衡。”

Last week, my colleague Tom Warren reported that Xbox’s changes could “involve a studio closure, or changes to the Xbox studio lineup.” Xbox didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

上周，我的同事 Tom Warren 曾报道称，Xbox 的变革可能“涉及工作室关闭或 Xbox 工作室阵容的调整”。Xbox 未能立即回复置评请求。

The company’s head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, and the Xbox Game Studios chief of staff, Louise O’Connor, also announced that they will be leaving, The Game Business reported. Duncan, who formerly headed up Rare, took over the role in October 2024.

据《The Game Business》报道，Xbox 游戏工作室负责人 Craig Duncan 以及 Xbox 游戏工作室幕僚长 Louise O’Connor 也宣布即将离职。此前曾执掌 Rare 工作室的 Duncan 是于 2024 年 10 月接任该职位的。

In May, Sharma reorganized the Xbox platform team, including bringing in some execs that she had formerly worked with on Microsoft’s CoreAI team.

今年五月，Sharma 对 Xbox 平台团队进行了重组，其中包括引入了一些她此前在微软 CoreAI 团队共事过的高管。