Microsoft laid off around four percent of its workforce — over 9,000 employees — last week, with the company’s gaming division especially hit hard. The Xbox parent slashed jobs at multiple first-party studios and cancelled several projects, including the Perfect Dark reboot. More details about the latest round of cuts at Xbox have emerged, detailing the impact on Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios and Ireland-based Romero Games. The Forza Motorsport team is reportedly laid off, while Romero Games is completely closed, former staffers at the studios have claimed.
Forza Motorsport Team ‘No More’
Turn 10 Studios, which has helmed the Forza Motorsport series, was reportedly affected by the latest round of cuts, alongside several other studios last week. Following the layoffs, Fred Russell, a former Turn 10 staffer, claimed the studio had lost the entire Forza Motorsport team.
“Turn 10 Studios has shuttered the Forza Motorsport space and the team is no more,” Russell said in a Facebook post on Friday. “A very sad day for one of the best car racing video games. I loved my time there.”
Replying in the comments section of the post, Russell said that the Forza Horizon series, the arcade racing counterpart to Forza Motorsport that’s helmed by British developer Playground Games, would continue. “Horizon is going to continue… for now,” Russell said.
Russell said that Turn 10 was open to support development on the Forza Horizon series and only the Forza Motorsport side had been shuttered. His post suggests that Microsoft will not produce more Forza Motorsport titles, bringing the future of the iconic racing sim franchise into question. “The legacy will stay, even if there is no future for the game,” Russell said.
Romero Games Closed
In addition to Turn 10 Studios, Ireland-based Romero Games, founded by industry legends John and Brenda Romero, is reportedly closed following the layoffs. Romero Games confirmed last week that it had lost funding for its projects and was evaluating its next steps.
An unnamed Romero Games employee told The Journal that everyone at the studio — over 100 staff members — had lost their jobs.
“We had meetings with the publisher the day before this happened, there was no mention of it,” The Journal quoted the staffer as saying in a report published Friday.
“We’re trying to find other ways of funding the project,” the employee said. “But for now, it’s completely closed, and the studio is closed,” they added.
Romero Games was working on a first-person shooter and several other unannounced projects, with Microsoft reportedly serving as a publisher. Following the latest round of layoffs, the company reportedly pulled funding for Romero Games’ projects.
Xbox did not confirm the full breadth of impact on its studios and projects last week, but said it would “end or decrease work” in certain areas of its business. In an email to Xbox staff last week, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty confirmed the Perfect Dark reboot and Rare’s Everwild were cancelled, along with other unannounced projects. He also confirmed that Perfect Dark developer The Initiative would be closed.
Bloomberg, however, reported that the layoffs had impacted several Xbox-owned studios, including Candy Crush developer King, Call of Duty makers Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games, Halo developer Halo Studios, and Turn 10 Studios.
Turn 10 has helmed the Forza Motorsport series since it began in 2005 on the original Xbox. The studio released Forza Motorsport, the eighth game in series, in 2023.
