Again in July 2026, after modifications in management at Microsoft’s XBOX division nearer to the beginning of the yr and a leaked “reset” memo again in June, a substantial variety of layoffs had been introduced. A whopping 3,200 individuals had been launched straight, 1,600 instantly, and the opposite half of that quantity on the finish of June. Moreover, and of extra apparent be aware to those that wanted names they acknowledged being affected, 4 studios that Microsoft had purchased out within the 2018/2019 timeframe had been said to ultimately be both offered, spun off, or, probably, result in the excellent news introduced earlier this month.
Two of these studios, Ninja Concept, of Heavenly Sword and Hellblade fame, and Undead Labs, of the State of Decay sequence, are at present famous as offered off to at present unknown patrons. Compulsion Video games, the Montreal primarily based South of Midnight and We Blissful Few devs at the moment are unbiased builders, as is the lead of right this moment’s story, Tim Schafer and his crew at Double High-quality Studios. Double High-quality has — a lot to my continued astonished realization of the presently unended passage of time — been round for over 26 years now, and in that point launched a substantial variety of area of interest however super titles; the unique Psychonauts again in 2005, in addition to its partially crowdfunded by Fig sequel Psychonauts 2 in 2021; Brutal Legend, the steel RTS that includes the voice of Jack Black, amongst many others; the Costume Quest sequence, remasters of Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, and Day of The Tentacle, and The Cave. That final I principally deliver up as a result of I’m pretty sure I’m considered one of possibly 20 individuals, exterior of individuals that truly labored on it, that remembers it and acquired it on launch day for the PS3.
Upon checking public gross sales knowledge The Cave has apparently offered round 175K copies on Steam since 2013. I can not discover gross sales knowledge on the PS3, although. However me having to double-check my very own hyperbolic apart… apart, Double High-quality’s independence is usually excellent news, except for the unlucky launch of 25% of it’s workforce submit announcement of its return to stated independence.
Schafer has publicly said that any buy of video games in its catalog now go on to the studio, and introduced the return of a earlier occasion final seen in 2017, the Amnesia Fortnight, which backers of will get to determine which of Double High-quality concepts transfer to prototypes, and ultimately one getting its personal recreation. The winner of the talked about 2017 Amnesia Fortnight, Kiln, a physics-based fight occasion brawler targeted round pottery, launched in April of this yr for the PS5, Steam, and Xbox Sequence X/S.
