This week in the gaming industry turned out to be very telling: on the one hand - the long wait for GTA VI is entering the practical phase, on the other - the largest market player is consistently destroying the studios it bought itself.

GTA VI opens pre-orders, Xbox closes studios - what's happening to the gaming industry?

This week in the gaming industry turned out to be very telling: on the one hand - the long wait for GTA VI is entering the practical phase, on the other - the largest market player is consistently destroying the studios it bought.

Xbox and studios: what went wrong

Leaks from journalists from The Verge and Bloomberg confirm: Ninja Theory - the creators of the cult Hellblade - will probably be closed. The paradox is that just a few days ago at Xbox Games Showcase 2026, their new game Senua was presented. According to analysts, it was not a presentation for fans, but an exhibition for potential buyers of the studio.

Before closing a few weeks earlier, Ninja Theory canceled the horror project Project Mara - an experiment announced in 2020 in which all the events were to take place in one, extremely photorealistic apartment. After several development diaries - five years of silence, and now official closure under the pretext of "focusing on Hellblade". However, the context is different.

Why was Senua shown if the studio was to be closed? Most likely, Ninja Theory negotiated these terms with Xbox itself - to attract the attention of a potential buyer or investor. A presentation at a large event is the best advertising for selling an asset. Changing the name from "Hellblade 3" to simply "Senua" may also be part of this strategy - to cut off all legal and narrative ties to previous Xbox-related installments.

Double Fine and Compulsion Games were not so lucky - they did not appear anywhere. Double Fine recently released Keeper (a wandering lighthouse) and Kiln (a cooperative pottery game). Compulsion Games created We Happy Few, and recently South of Midnight - stylistically great, but gameplay-wise unsatisfying. Both studios do not fit the new Xbox course.

Studies at risk

Zenimax Media (Bethesda, id Software, Arkane, MachineGames) is experiencing another wave of layoffs - according to 3D Realms co-founder Georg Broussard, bigger than anyone could have expected. And this is at a time when Xbox management publicly declares its focus on The Elder Scrolls VI.

Non-Xbox studios are also having problems: a series of layoffs at Warren Spector's studio after the failed Thick As Thieves, DON'T NOD on the verge of bankruptcy after the lukewarm reception of Aphelion, and downsizing at Quantic Dream, BioWare and Bungie.

Counterpoint: indie wins

While corporations are losing billions and closing studios, a Japanese independent developer with the game Meccha Chameleon has achieved 5 million copies sold on Steam in 9 days. A simple cooperative hiding and hiding game using paints. No AAA budget - just an idea.

As game designer Sandy Petersen (DOOM, Quake, Age of Empires) noted: if studios must die, so be it. Talented people will find a way to create new projects in smaller, creative studios anyway. The story of the director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - a former Ubisoft employee who left and created something of his own - is the best evidence.

Large corporations are having problems now not because games are no longer popular. But because they started thinking about financial models more than about the product. There is no formula for a perfect game - but one rule is constant: the game must be engaging and give positive emotions.

GTA VI: pre-order starts on June 25

Rockstar broke the silence with a new trailer, but instead of gameplay - only a cover announcement and pre-order start date: June 25 on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Price still not announced.

At that time, the community engaged in analysis: the teeth of the alligator on the cover were counted (it turned out that there were 10-20 fewer of them than in a real individual), the helicopter in the upper left corner was examined (present on every cover of GTA from the third part) and an attempt was made to storm the Rockstar office in Germany - with predictable results.

On June 25, there will most likely be a full-fledged third trailer, an announcement of the price and an announcement of various editions of the game - including a collector's edition, which intermediaries will immediately offer with a margin of ×10.

The premiere is scheduled for November 19, 2026. Changing the date is unlikely - although the Cyberpunk 2077 scenario remains formally possible.

Application

Large corporations are in crisis not because games are no longer popular - but because they started thinking about financial models before they started thinking about the product.

The indie market is alive and well. One developer with a good idea beats a studio with a budget in the hundreds of millions. GTA VI - the product of one focused team with a clear goal - is already a cultural phenomenon before its premiere.

Size does not equal results. This does not only apply to the gaming industry.

- Wilimits Studio · [email protected]