Blizzard Leisure’s survival recreation, which was codenamed Odyssey, has been canceled following a lot of layoffs at Microsoft. Whereas the Xbox and Zenimax groups have been impacted by the layoffs, nearly all of the 1,900 roles misplaced fall inside the Activision Blizzard groups.
Odyssey spent six years in growth
Odyssey was to be a survival journey recreation set in a brand-new universe. The sport was revealed by means of a job itemizing in 2022 however had been in growth for over six years. Because of points with the sport’s Synapse engine, the sport was nonetheless a number of years away from completion and was focusing on a 2026 launch date.
Finally, Blizzard determined that Odyssey wasn’t price pursuing and Blizzard spokesman Andrew Reynolds advised Bloomberg that the sport was canceled “as a part of a give attention to tasks that maintain essentially the most promise for future progress.” Blizzard will “transfer among the folks on the workforce to considered one of a number of thrilling new tasks Blizzard has within the early phases of growth.”
Nearly all of the folks engaged on Odyssey have been made redundant immediately. Windows Central’s Jez Corden additionally reported the layoffs additionally embrace the overwhelming majority of Activision’s inner buyer assist groups, which is able to now be outsourced to exterior firms. In the meantime, Microsoft’s departments devoted to bringing Xbox video games to bodily retail have reportedly been shut down too, fuelling rumors of the digital-only Xbox console that’s supposedly in growth.
Microsoft beforehand had a workforce of twenty-two,000 workers between its many studios. In accordance with a memo from Phil Spencer, seen by IGN, the layoffs have been made throughout Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and the Xbox groups and characterize roughly 8% of the workforce. On account of the choice, Blizzard Leisure President Mike Ybarra introduced that he was additionally leaving the company, as is Blizzard’s chief design officer and co-founder Allen Adham.