Yesterday’s Xbox cuts saw organisational restructuring that moved Age of Empires studio World’s Edge under Activision’s control. The initial announcement did not specify whether the Age of Empire studio would lose any staff as part of this transition, but new information has emerged suggesting many members of the team have been let go.
According to former creative director Adam Isgreen, World’s Edge lost nearly half of its staff in the Xbox restructuring and Activision transition. Isgreen revealed this in a post on the Resetera forums (via VGChartz). Under the (verified) username Tempus Chaoti, he wrote: “What a morning. FYI World’s Edge was not spared completely – just under half the studio was let go – myself included. Been fun, y’all!”
In a follow-up post on LinkedIn, Isgreen, who spent over 16 years at Microsoft in various positions, listed a number of projects he was part of, including Windows Phone, Xbox Live Arcade, and the games Ori, Minecraft, Trials HD, State of Decay, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, World of Tanks and “many, many more”.
Isgreen also apparently helped publish games such as Recore, Killer Instinct, Fable, Crackdown, and of course the Age of Empires franchises “and all the great games and expansions we released throughout the years”.
“I didn’t think I’d be working on RTS games again years after their first ‘heyday’, but am I ever proud of what our studio team and partners were able to do with the series and juice the genre’s return,” Isgreen wrote. “I think the fans would agree (mostly!) that we delivered the goods for all of ’em.”
“I am of course disappointed that this is the way the time with World’s Edge and Age [of Empires] ends for myself and many of my talented teammates that were also impacted,” Isgreen added. “We had some great plans for what’s next – and I hope the team that remains can rise to the occasion down the line.”
Yesterday’s Xbox cuts resulted in the impending closure of Ninja Theory, the Halo franchise moving to Activision and Halo Studios all-but closing because of it, Playground and Turn10 merging, Obsidian moving under Bethesda’s control, and Rare moving under Activision’s control as well.
Many questions remain about the full impact of these transitions and whether – not to put too blunt a point on it – it will work. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the layoffs.
