These are crucial times for the video game industry and for Xbox's continued position at the forefront of the sector. As we have previously reported, Xbox's gaming division is undertaking a major restructuring of studios, staff, and content that affects all departments, including a freeze on agreements for Game Pass releases, the closure of studios such as Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory, and the withdrawal of funding from external projects, as announced last night regarding IO Interactive and its Project Fantasy - although it appears the latter will go ahead even without Microsoft's funding.
Be that as it may, it seems there are some titles that are safe from this 'purge' of studios and projects at Xbox, and one of them is OD, the mysterious game from Kojima Productions about which we still know next to nothing. According to IGN sources, Hideo Kojima's project is safe and Xbox Publishing will continue to support it. The company has also promised, in statements to Bloomberg, that it will not be reducing its investment in video games.
"We are not going to reduce our total investment in video games. We expect to invest roughly the same amount in content as last year. What is changing is where we invest and the type of projects we support."
Although there is still no official confirmation, Microsoft's financial year has now come to an end, and there are fears that the closure of several development studios and the redundancy of thousands of staff at the company will be confirmed in the coming days.