Ninja Theory Has Started Laying Off Staff as Xbox Moves Forward With the Hellblade Studio’s Closure

Ninja Theory, the Cambridge-based studio behind the Hellblade series, has reportedly started losing staff. Multiple outlets reported on October 5 that layoffs and departures are now underway at the studio, roughly two weeks after Xbox first announced that Ninja Theory faced closure.

From Consultation to Actual Departures

Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty first revealed on September 22 that two separate agreements to sell or spin off Ninja Theory had collapsed, and that the studio would enter a formal consultation process on a proposed closure, as part of a wider round of 268 layoffs across Halo Studios and other first-party teams. Reports now indicate that consultation period has moved into actual job losses, with several Ninja Theory employees, some with over a decade at the studio, confirming their departures on LinkedIn this week. No studio-wide headcount for this round has been confirmed.

Senua, Ninja Theory’s next game, was unveiled just months before the studio’s closure was first proposed.

What Happens to Senua Now?

The game’s fate remains genuinely unclear. Some reports frame Senua as effectively finished along with the studio, while others claim Xbox still wants to keep the franchise alive by handing it to another team, similar to how it moved the next mainline Halo game to Activision. Notably, Microsoft filed a new trademark for the Senua name back on September 15, before the closure was even announced, which some have read as a sign the publisher wants to retain the IP regardless of what happens to Ninja Theory itself, though that connection hasn’t been officially confirmed. One departing gameplay programmer, Katrin Mair, captured the mood among staff in a LinkedIn post this week, writing, “It’s incredibly sad knowing that we won’t get to finish what we were working on.”

Part of a Bigger Wave

Ninja Theory’s closure continues to play out alongside a broader wave of studio downsizing across the industry this year, from Xbox’s own ongoing restructuring to this week’s layoffs at Supermassive Games. Unlike Compulsion Games, Double Fine, and Undead Labs, which all spun off as independent studios earlier this year, Ninja Theory wasn’t able to secure a deal to keep its doors open.

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Picture Source: Xbox Game Studios, Ninja Theory