Microsoft’s Xbox layoffs are looming, and there’s one sign of change today. Reports have surfaced that Arkane Studios president Leonard Bendel has been replaced by Jerk Gustafsson, who was formerly of Machine Games.
The date on the leadership change notice was June 30, but news is starting to leak out today. On Monday, Microsoft is expected to announce layoffs and the closure or sale of up to five of its game studios.
The Verge reported that one of those studios up for negotiations was Arkane Studios, which is a France-based game studio currently working on Marvel’s Blade. On June 30, a legal notice was posted on French enterprise information site Pappers.fr, Windows Central said.
Arkane is known for Dishonored and Death Loop, but The Verge said it has struggled to find its footing under Microsoft.
MachineGames is an Uppsala, Sweden-based studio started in 2009. Acquired by Bethesda back in 2010, MachineGames is still part of Bethesda and is now a part of Microsoft’s Xbox properties. I interviewed Gustafsson, then-studio director of MachineGames, about how the studio developed over time last year as part of a chat about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Windows Central suggested this change in leadership might mean a different path than shutting down Arkane.
Speaking of the origins of MachineGames, Gustafsson told me last year, “We have a pretty long history. A big part of our history also goes back to the Starbreeze days, because we were also, of course, part of the beginning of Starbreeze, back in 1998. We worked for Starbreeze for 11 years as well. The reason we decided to start MachineGames was to try to get back to a little bit more creative control. It was tiresome, at Starbreeze, being a third-party developer, constantly chasing publishers.”