Ninja Theory Staff Face Redundancy as Xbox Layoffs Hit the Hellblade Studio

Ninja Theory, the Cambridge studio behind Hellblade, has started laying off staff, with developers announcing publicly that they are facing redundancy.

The news follows a consultation process between the studio and Xbox, which began after a second wave of cuts across Microsoft's gaming division last week. Based on what staff are now saying, that process has ended in job losses rather than a reprieve.

Several developers have shared that they are at risk or have been told their roles are being removed. The studio and Xbox have not published a full breakdown of how many people are affected, so the scale of the cuts at Ninja Theory remains unclear for now.

For a team of Ninja Theory's size, even a modest reduction can be significant. The studio has always been one of the smaller operations in the Xbox first-party lineup, known for tightly focused, story-driven games with a strong emphasis on performance capture and audio design. Losing experienced staff puts pressure on whatever the team is working on next.

The redundancies are part of a broader pattern. Xbox has been trimming headcount across multiple studios and teams, and this latest round has been described as a second wave, adding to earlier cuts. Studios that were previously spared are now seeing the impact, and the consultation period, which is a legal requirement in the UK when redundancies are proposed, has now played out at Ninja Theory.

Ninja Theory has had a turbulent few years. Microsoft acquired the developer in 2018, and the team went on to release Senua's Saga: Hellblade II in 2024, a critically admired but commercially modest title that later arrived on PlayStation 5. Questions about the studio's future direction have followed it ever since.

Affected developers are, as is common in these situations, turning to social media to share their availability and to thank colleagues and fans. The wider industry community has responded with offers of support and job leads.

We will update this story if Xbox or Ninja Theory provides an official statement or confirms the number of roles lost.