Jason Schreier
@jasonschreier.bsky.social
Reporter at Bloomberg | co-host of Triple Click | New York Times bestselling author of Play Nice + Press Reset + Blood, Sweat, and Pixels | Email: jschreier@gmail.com | Signal: jschreier.10
EA officially goes private tonight, meaning: - EA will no longer trade on the NASDAQ for the first time in 36 years - All stockholders of EA (including many employees) will receive $210/share - EA will take on $18 billion (!) in debt, putting it on the hook to pay ~$1.8 billion/year in interest
Being a parent is pretty tough, but it's all worth it for that moment, every once in a while, when you get to take your kid to the city to see a marching band and say, "Will you defeat them? Your demons and all the non-believers, the plans that they have made?"
Tencent set out to take on Grand Theft Auto. After six years, hundreds of millions of dollars, and a whole lot of big promises, they "rebooted" (most likely canceled) "Last Sentinel" this week and laid off 80 people. This is the story behind what happened: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Inside Tencent’s Failed Attempt to Take On ‘Grand Theft Auto’
Lightspeed’s Last Sentinel burnt through six years of development and hundreds of millions of dollars
bloomberg.com
Not sure why this is news, it's called a lunch break
The newly independent Double Fine is laying off staff today, three weeks after Xbox divested the studio as part of its massive restructuring.
This is the story of a game studio that was ditched by Amazon Games... and how it set them up for a whole lot of success www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Getting Ditched by Amazon Helped Revitalize One Game Studio
Maverick Games, the maker of ‘Clutch,’ was ditched by Amazon but is doing just fine
bloomberg.com
Valve's new Steam Machine was 14 years (and one big failure) in the making. Here's the twisty story behind the Steam maker's decade-long quest to bring PCs to the living room: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Valve’s 14-Year Journey to Make the Steam Machine
The company first began laying the groundwork for this year’s hardware way back in 2012
bloomberg.com
NEW: Bethesda has announced a slew of new Fallout games, including Fallout 5 and Fallout 3 + New Vegas remasters. The company also confirmed my scoop last week that it is working with Obsidian on a Fallout game. I spoke to Todd Howard about the roadmap: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Bethesda Announces New ‘Fallout’ Roadmap Following Xbox Reset
The studio confirmed development on ‘Fallout 5’ and a new game with Obsidian Entertainment
bloomberg.com
Another excellent entry in the deductive/metroidbrainia/investigation/thinkygame genre is out today: store.steampowered.com/app/3641000/...
Save 10% on The Incident at Galley House on Steam
In 1936, something terrible happened at Galley House. Decades later, with a strange contraption that reveals echoes of the past, you must uncover the truth behind this grisly mystery.
store.steampowered.com
The cruelest part of this Xbox bloodbath? More than 1,200 job cuts are still looming, and nobody knows when they will happen or who will be impacted. This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Delayed Xbox Layoffs Leave Employees Scared And Nervous
Xbox cut 1,600 jobs this week and plans to cut another 1,600 over the next 12 months, leaving remaining staff on tenterhooks
bloomberg.com
I've been getting some emails lately from companies wanting me to do sponsorships, but for some reason they stop responding when I tell them what I charge
Launching a new website about video games today. Meet @respec.net. A sibling to @rpgsite.net, a spiritual successor to VG247, & a brother from another mother to other 100% independent UK media brands like @videogameschronicle.com and @trueachievements.com. www.respec.net/feature/87-w...
Welcome to Respec: A word from the Editors | Respec
Welcome to our new little corner of the internet. Why a new video game website, and why now? Allow us to explain...
respec.net
BREAKING: Obsidian Entertainment is making a big pivot as part of the Xbox restructuring. It has laid off a quarter of its staff, canceled a planned sequel to Avowed, and is now beginning work on a new Fallout game, according to people familiar with the plans www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Microsoft’s Xbox to Shift Obsidian Studio to New ‘Fallout’ Video Game
The game maker is also canceling a planned sequel to last year’s ‘Avowed’
bloomberg.com
New: Behind Xbox's big reset was a failed Game Pass strategy. Xbox spent nearly $80b in deals for content that it hoped would grow the subscription service. Instead, Game Pass lost subscribers. Deep dive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Behind Xbox’s Big Layoffs, a Streaming Strategy That Failed
Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox spent nearly $80 billion in the last decade on deals that would give it popular video game titles like Call of Duty and Skyrim, betting that gamers would flock to its Netflix-li...
bloomberg.com
TODAY: Is Microsoft rethinking Xbox? Join video-game industry reporter @jasonschreier.bsky.social for an interactive Live Q&A conversation with Edward Ludlow at 1 p.m. EDT. Bring your questions and join here: bloom.bg/3SBFQAB
FWIW I think it's a little strange that "Arkane's Blade is late and over budget" is becoming a lingering news story when the total number of big video games that were *not* late and over budget could be counted on one hand
I want to re-emphasize one part of this Xbox story: Half of the 3,200 cuts are happening today and half are happening in the next 12 months. In other words, even people who survived today's layoffs will have to spend the coming year wondering if they're going to be next.
Studios in the Bethesda organization like id Software (Doom) and ZeniMax Online Studios (Elder Scrolls Online) are not shutting down but are cutting a significant number of staff this morning, per sources.
Even now there's misinformation floating around, so let me make this clear: Xbox is cutting 3,200 jobs, or 20% of the organization. 1,600 jobs will be eliminated today, and then another 1,600 (including the studio divestments) in the next 12 months. Full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Microsoft’s Xbox to Cut 3,200 Jobs, Divest Five Studios in Major Overhaul
Compulsion and Double Fine studios will become independent; Undead Labs and Ninja Theory will be sold. Xbox will also look to sell or spin out Arkane Studios.
bloomberg.com
BREAKING: Xbox will cut 3,200 jobs as part of a major reorganization, and divest from five studios: - Compulsion and Double Fine will go indie - Ninja Theory and Undead Labs will be sold - Arkane to enter consultation process Here's the full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Microsoft’s Xbox to Cut 3,200 Jobs, Divest Five Studios in Major Overhaul
Compulsion and Double Fine studios will become independent; Undead Labs and Ninja Theory will be sold. Xbox will also look to sell or spin out Arkane Studios.
bloomberg.com
Watching simultaneous fireworks and lightning bolts is a surreal experience, like we’re going to war with the sky and it’s fighting back
I spoke to the director and top designer of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. They were remarkably candid, telling me that the experience made them dislike making games. But now they're teaming up on an indie project to get their passion back. New column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
Top ‘Suicide Squad’ Developers Say the Flop Made Them Not Want to Make Games Anymore
The director and top designer of Rocksteady’s failed game open up about their experiences
bloomberg.com
Despite a report this morning, I can confirm that Obsidian is *not* in negotiations to avoid shutting down. Plenty of details are still up in the air surrounding the layoffs (picture will be clear on Monday) but Xbox is keeping Obsidian, according to people familiar with the situation.
BREAKING: The legal battle over hit game Subnautica 2 has come to an end. Krafton has reached a settlement with the executives it fired (via ChatGPT's advice). Krafton has agreed to pay the studio significant bonuses while CEO Ted Gill has departed (again). Story: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Krafton Agrees to Pay ‘Subnautica 2’ Bonuses as Developer’s CEO Resigns
After being fired over a $250 million payout dispute and then reinstated, Unknown Worlds Entertainment boss Ted Gill is leaving again
bloomberg.com
A lot of people (accurately) point out that premium video games are cheaper today than they were 30 years ago thanks to inflation, but discussed less often is how much bigger the margins are for game companies now that sales are 80-90% (soon to be 100%) digital. No more retail or packaging costs!
"We're ending physical disc production, but don't worry — we're ALSO shutting down our digital stores!" blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/a...
An update on PlayStation Store for PS3 and PS Vita
Changes start this year in select markets, followed by global changes in 2027.
blog.playstation.com
NEW: Xbox confirms to Bloomberg News that it has pulled out of IO Interactive's 'Project Fantasy' video game. “We expect to invest about the same in content as we did last year. What's changing is where we're investing and the kinds of projects we're backing.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Xbox Pulls Out of ‘Project Fantasy’ Video Game From IO Interactive
The ‘007: First Light’ makers had teamed up with Xbox for the new video game
bloomberg.com
