This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.
The big news this week was Microsoft taking an axe to the ZeniMax studio system, shutting down Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, Redfall studio Arkane Austin, and Mighty Doom maker Alpha Dog Studios. Roundhouse Studios will also cease to exist, with Microsoft saying the team will join ZeniMax Online Studios.
People often associate layoffs with a struggling company that must get rid of people because it doesn’t have the money to pay them anymore. That is absolutely not the case here. This is at least the fourth round of layoffs at Microsoft in the past year-and-a-half, a span which has been the most profitable stretch in the company’s history.
