After closing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is currently making changes to its Xbox Studios results. Technology media TheVerge recently obtained a long internal company announcement released by Xbox head Phil Spencer. Among them, Spencer said that Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty will be promoted to director of game content and studios, a position that will put him directly in charge of ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios, including Bethesda B.
Spencer wrote: "ZeniMax will continue to operate as a limited integrated entity, led by President and CEO Jamie Leder, reporting to Matt... All ZeniMax development studios and ZeniMax Central Services teams will continue to report to Jamie to maintain and optimize the current content development and production cycle. Additionally, to deepen our partnerships and accelerate mutual learning, some ZeniMax leaders will now report to Microsoft leaders with whom their work is aligned."
Although no names were mentioned, this structural reform is likely to avoid another "Hongxia Island". Arkane's multiplayer FPS is one of the worst games of 2023, with less than 30 players currently on Steam six months after release. And not long after its release, developer Arkane Austin also expressed his disapproval of the project. In fact, according to previous reports from Bloomberg, studio employees had hoped that the Microsoft acquisition would lead to the project being revived or canceled entirely. However, Microsoft's "laissez-faire" approach of allowing ZeniMax to continue to promote the development of the project led to a large loss of senior employees in the studio and the final poor quality of "Red Cloud Island".
Obviously, Microsoft’s “stocking” of ZeniMax and its studios such as Bethesda and Arkane has come to an end. "Great games are the foundation of everything we do," Spencer wrote. "We believe that expanding the game content organization (enabling Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax's development studios to work effectively together) will allow these world-class studios to do their best to grow the games our players love."
Studios directly managed by Microsoft have also suffered heavy losses before, such as "Halo: Infinite" developed by 343i, which continues to be in the doldrums. 2023 will not be smooth sailing for Microsoft: the sales of "Hongxia Island" have become an obvious "stain" on the ledger, and although "Starry Sky" has successfully become an RPG "with the taste of B Club", it still does not meet the standards in the minds of many people in terms of "magnificent space science fiction epic" - even if it is reported to have high sales.