Ninja Theory Staff Confirm Redundancies After Xbox Proposes Closure

Ninja Theory employees have publicly confirmed redundancies and departures at the Cambridge studio, in posts that accumulated over the days leading up to and including October 5, 2026, after Xbox announced on September 22, 2026 that two separate agreements for the studio had fallen through and that it would begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure.

Employees Confirm Redundancies

Technical sound designer Alessio Mellina wrote on October 5, 2026: “After almost 12 years at Ninja Theory, my role here is now at risk of redundancy.” Mellina said he joined the studio in January 2015 and that, as its only technical sound designer, he has owned most of the dynamic audio systems on its recent projects, with a strong focus on UE Blueprint scripting and Wwise integration. He said he is now looking for new opportunities.

Technical director Loong-Wei Ding wrote in his own post that the studio is now facing closure and that its teams are being made redundant. He said developers across programming, spanning engine, gameplay, tools and R&D, as well as design, environment art, character art, animation, tech art, visual effects, audio, cinematic, production and the mocap stage, are looking for work, and he appealed to anyone hiring or building a team to reach out. Ding wrote that the studio had won awards including BAFTAs and The Game Awards.

Sound designer Daniele Galante said in his post that his position is at risk after almost nine years at the studio. He recounted creating the sounds of the Hidden Folk for the Hellblade series under audio director David García Díaz, describing how those sounds inspired the visual effects team to add moving, fractal-like shapes, which in turn inspired further audio work. He named his audio teammates: Pablo Cañas Llorente, Matteo Tummino, Jordan Payne, Alessio Mellina and Camilla Coccia.

Sound designer Matteo Tummino wrote that he is leaving Ninja Theory after more than five years to explore new opportunities. He described sound design work spanning foley, combat, cinematics, player abilities and controller haptics, as well as composing music for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2.

Performance capture specialist Xoe Suvari wrote that his time at the studio has ended. He described hundreds of shoot days with the performance capture team and the building of a capture stage he characterized as top of its class, and he recommended former colleagues to any studio in a position to hire them.

Character artist Pietro Berto said in a post that, given the recent developments at Ninja Theory, he is looking for a new position after helping ship Hellblade II. He described his work across gaming, cinematics and film, specializing in character and creature art.

Xbox’s Proposed Closure and Wider Reset

In a message sent to Team Xbox employees globally on September 22, 2026 and published on Xbox Wire, Matt Booty addressed the studio’s future directly. “Unfortunately, two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through,” the message stated. “We will now begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure while continuing to explore other paths forward.”

The same message announced the elimination of 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and the XGS management and central functions layer. Booty wrote that the actions completed since July, inclusive of the studio divestitures, brought Xbox roughly three-quarters of the way through its previously announced restructuring.

Under the reorganization set out in the message, Activision will expand its remit to World’s Edge and Rare and will develop the next Halo title, led by a new, purpose-built team that is separate from ongoing development and plans for Call of Duty, while a small team at Halo Studios continues supporting the Halo community and games in-market. Bethesda will expand its remit to include Obsidian, which will continue its current projects, including Grounded, as well as a new Fallout project made in collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios. King will expand its remit to include Microsoft Casual Games, and Playground and Turn 10 will come together as one studio focused on the Forza and Fable franchises after more than a decade as creative and franchise partners.

On the divestitures, the message said that in August, Compulsion and Double Fine returned to management with their IP, back catalogs and runway funding, and that Undead Labs has now transitioned on similar terms and, with a new publisher, will release State of Decay 3 day one on Game Pass. It added that consultation with Arkane remains underway and is expected to continue through the end of the year.

Studio Background and Senua

Ninja Theory, which describes itself as a BAFTA award-winning Xbox Game Studio based in Cambridge, UK, gave Senua its world premiere during Xbox Games Showcase 2026, with Xbox Wire publishing an announcement interview on June 7, 2026. The action-adventure, set in the Hellblade universe, is scheduled for 2027 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, cloud and Game Pass, playable across console and PC at no additional cost with Xbox Play Anywhere, and will also be available on Steam and PlayStation 5.

Studio head Dom Matthews said in that interview that the project brought the studio’s roughly 85 creatives together on a single game for the first time in over 12 years, since the development of DmC: Devil May Cry. He said he had taken the decision to stop work on Project Mara, a previously announced horror title, so that the whole team could focus on Senua. Matthews described the game as taking place after the events of Hellblade I and Hellblade II, set in Senua’s vision of purgatory.

Matthews said the studio shipped Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II in May 2024 and that the first Hellblade was made by a team of about 25 people.

Booty wrote that he would spend time with the studios over the week following the message, and the message scheduled an all-Xbox town hall for October 6, 2026.