Following Xbox's recent announcement of its intention to close Hellblade developer Ninja Theory, employees have begun posting farewell messages on LinkedIn, signaling the start of layoffs at the studio. The departures highlight the personal impact of the decision, which came after two deals to save the company reportedly fell through.
Gameplay programmer Katrin Mair, who moved to the UK to work at Ninja Theory, described the studio as more than just a job after four years. "What I’ll remember most is how much people cared. About the work, about the details, and about each other," Mair stated. "It’s incredibly sad knowing that we won’t get to finish what we were working on. So much care, talent and effort went into it, and I really wish we’d had the chance to see what it could have become."
Technical director Loong-Wei Ding is also among those affected, using his departure post to call for other studios to hire his former colleagues. Alessio Mellina, an expert technical sound designer with 12 years at the studio, expressed his risk of redundancy. Mellina was responsible for the dynamic audio systems on recent projects, including the binaural audio that featured in Hellblade.
Performance capture expert Xoe Suvari also confirmed his departure, reflecting on the extensive work involved in building a top-tier performance capture stage at Ninja Theory. "I saw my team grow at work and as people, and together we built a performance capture stage that was truly top of its class," Suvari said.
The widespread nature of these posts suggests significant layoffs across the studio. This follows Xbox's recent shake-up of its studios, which included a shift of Age of Empires developer World's Edge and Sea of Thieves developer Rare under the Activision umbrella. It was also announced that the next mainline Halo game will be developed by Activision. Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty indicated that these changes represent three-quarters of planned restructures, suggesting further job losses may occur.
This situation comes after the recent reveal of Senua, the third game in the Hellblade series, during an Xbox Games Showcase event. It has been speculated that the trailer was intended to boost interest in potential buyers for Ninja Theory, particularly as Microsoft reportedly had no plans to publish the title.