Developers at Ninja Theory, the Cambridge studio behind Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, began posting on LinkedIn today that their jobs have ended or are at risk of redundancy. The posts were first spotted by journalist Chris Kerr, and VGC verified departures or at-risk notices from staff including technical director Loong-Wei Ding, principal sound designer Daniele Galante, gameplay programmer Katrin Mair, senior technical artist Matt Le-Fevre and character artist Pietro Berto. Microsoft has not announced a closure or cancelled Senua, the action-adventure the studio revealed in June for a 2027 release, but the posts are the first public sign that the closure consultation Xbox announced last month is now affecting staff.
“It’s incredibly sad knowing that we won’t get to finish what we were working on,” Mair wrote in a post quoted by VGC and Kotaku. “So much care, talent and effort went into it, and I really wish we’d had the chance to see what it could have become.” Performance capture technician Rachel Kimber, quoted by Kotaku, wrote that the studio had given her “some of the best years of my life, but sadly it is time to say goodbye,” after four and a half years there.
What Xbox has said, and how it changed
The official position has shifted twice since summer, and the two Xbox Wire memos are worth reading side by side. On July 6, in Resetting Xbox, CEO Asha Sharma said Ninja Theory and Undead Labs “have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3,” and added that none of Xbox’s publicly announced first-party games were being cancelled as part of those reductions. Eleven weeks later, in the September 22 memo Continuing Our Reset, Matt Booty wrote that “two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through” and that Xbox would “begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward.” Today’s posts suggest that consultation has reached individual roles, though Booty’s wording still leaves room for a sale or another outcome.
Senua’s own storefronts have not changed. When we checked this afternoon, the official Senua site still listed the game for 2027 on PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series X|S and supported gaming handhelds, and Xbox.com still described it as coming in 2027 with Game Pass. In June, studio head Dom Matthews told Xbox Wire that the whole studio of about 85 people was working on Senua, and that he had stopped work on the previously announced horror project Project Mara to make that possible.
| Date | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 8, 2017 | Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice launches on PS4 and PC, before Microsoft owned the studio | Ninja Theory |
| June 2018 | Microsoft announces it is acquiring Ninja Theory at E3 | Microsoft |
| May 21, 2024 | Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II launches on Xbox Series X|S and PC | Xbox |
| Aug 12, 2025 | Hellblade II Enhanced arrives on PS5 | Xbox Wire |
| Jun 7, 2026 | Senua revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase for 2027 on PS5, Xbox, Steam and handhelds | Ninja Theory, Xbox Wire |
| Jun 2026 | Game File reports, citing an anonymous source, that Microsoft already planned to split with the studio and hoped the reveal would attract buyers | Game File via Game Developer |
| Jul 6, 2026 | Xbox says Ninja Theory has entered terms to join new ownership with funding for Senua | Xbox Wire |
| Sep 22, 2026 | Two agreements fall through; consultation on a proposed closure begins | Xbox Wire |
| Oct 5, 2026 | Staff post that their roles have ended or are at risk | VGC, Kotaku, LinkedIn |
| Oct 6, 2026 | All-Xbox town hall that Booty scheduled in September | Xbox Wire |
How the other studios Xbox let go have landed
Ninja Theory is now the outlier among the studios named in July. Compulsion Games and Double Fine returned to their own management in August with their IP, back catalogs and runway funding, and Undead Labs completed its move to new ownership on similar terms, according to Booty’s September memo, which said State of Decay 3 will still launch day one on Game Pass with a new publisher. Kotaku notes that Double Fine and Undead Labs both made layoffs as part of their separations, so even the successful exits have not been painless. Arkane’s French studio is the only other case still undecided.
| Studio | Plan in July 6 memo | Status as of October 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Compulsion Games | Return to management as an independent studio with its IP | Completed in August |
| Double Fine | Return to management as an independent studio with its IP | Completed in August, with layoffs reported by Kotaku |
| Undead Labs | Join new ownership with funding for State of Decay 3 | Completed; new publisher, State of Decay 3 still day one on Game Pass; layoffs reported by Kotaku |
| Ninja Theory | Join new ownership with funding for Senua | Two deals fell through; closure consultation; staff departures |
| Arkane (France) | Works Council consultation on strategic options | Consultation expected to run through end of year |
What it means for players
Nobody has money riding on Senua yet. The game was only open for wishlists, and the Xbox store page offers no pre-order, so there is nothing to cancel or refund. Its loss would matter to PlayStation owners as well as Xbox players, because Senua was planned as the first Hellblade game to launch on PS5 on day one, following a series that started on PS4 in 2017 and reached PS5 only with last year’s Hellblade II Enhanced. Nothing in Microsoft’s statements points to any change for the two released Hellblade games, which owners can keep playing as before.
The next checkpoints are close. Booty’s memo set an all-Xbox town hall for October 6, and Xbox has said nothing yet about what “other paths forward” for Ninja Theory might look like. As we noted when we mapped Xbox’s September studio reorganization, Ninja Theory was the one divestiture without a soft landing, and today’s posts make a rescue less likely without ruling one out. Until Microsoft or Ninja Theory says otherwise, Senua should be treated as at risk rather than cancelled, and we will update this story if either company comments.
Sources: VGC; Kotaku; Pure Xbox; Push Square; Chris Kerr (via VGC and Kotaku); Xbox Wire (“Resetting Xbox,” July 6, and “Continuing Our Reset,” September 22); Xbox Wire Senua interview (June 7); Senua official site; Game File (via Game Developer).