Microsoft reportedly planned parting with Ninja Theory before Senua reveal

Game File claims Microsoft was already planning to either split from Ninja Theory or sunset it when the studio’s new game, Senua, was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase at the start of the month. Subsequent coverage has suggested the Hellblade studio is set to shut down.

Attention has also turned to wider Xbox cost-cutting, with reports of further layoffs and studio closures. Psychonauts studio Double Fine and South of Midnight’s Compulsion Games have been named as at risk, and The Verge has said Ninja Theory is shutting down despite revealing Senua only weeks earlier.

Game File suggests the Senua reveal might have been intended to attract investor interest, though it is not clear whether any Ninja Theory leads were involved in that plan. At the showcase the studio announced it had scrapped experimental horror Project Mara to focus on Senua, an action-adventure slated to launch next year.

microsoft, ninja theory, senua, xbox showcase, hellblade, game file, the verge, layoffs, double fine, project mara