Update: Microsoft has announced that Quantum Break has not been affected by the closure, Polygon reports. In a statement, the company commented:
"[Quantum Break] ill be released next year and the game and show both remain on track. The news of Xbox Entertainment Studios has not impacted our progress and we're excited to share more details of Quantum Break at gamescom in August."
Original Story: Steven Spielberg's Halo TV and Ridley Scott's Halo: Nightfall have not been affected by the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed to IGN.
Earlier today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that 18,000 employees, mostly at Nokia, would be laid off in the biggest round of redundancies in the tech giant's history. Spencer commented:
"I hope you have had a chance to read today’s mails from Satya [Nadella, CEO of Microsoft]. I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts on what this means for our team and some of the changes we are making as a result.
"As part of the planned reduction to our overall workforce announced today and in light of our organization’s mission, we plan to streamline a handful of portfolio and engineering development efforts across Xbox. One such plan is that, in the coming months, we expect to close Xbox Entertainment Studios."
Despite the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios, Spencer says Microsoft remains committed to bringing entertainment apps to Xbox One, he stated:
"Our app partnerships with world-class content providers bringing entertainment, sports, and TV content to Xbox customers around the world are not impacted by this organizational change in any way and remain an important component of our Xbox strategy."
Halo Nightfall will be included with copies of Halo: The Master Chief Collection which launches on November 11th. Filming on the digital feature began in Northern Ireland last month. Halo TV does not currently have a release window.
While Halo may not be impacted by the move, GameInformer reports that Microsoft has refused to comment on the status of Quantum Break's live segments.
Microsoft has declined to comment on whether Quantum Break’s live action segments are/were connected to Xbox Entertainment Studios.
— Game Informer (@gameinformer) July 17, 2014
Entertainment and television played a key part in the original concept of the Xbox One and the closure of Xbox Entertainment Studios could be seen as the final 180 made the company in utterly destroying that initial vision.
