Okay, so the IO Interactive news, it’s a lot to unpack. You know, just when you think things are settling down, another shoe drops. IO Interactive confirmed the Istanbul studio is closing. Just closed.

This is directly tied to Xbox pulling funding for Project Fantasy. The studio opened in 2023, right, it was supposed to be a hub for AAA development in Türkiye. Now it’s gone. Project Fantasy, that’s an online fantasy RPG.

IO Interactive announced it in 2023. Xbox Game Studios was the external financial partner, funding it, publishing it. That partnership ended. IO Interactive has regained full ownership of Project Fantasy, and they say they will continue to develop and fund it independently.

They are committed to the game. This is a big deal for IOI, especially after 007 First Light. That game, it just came out, May 27, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It was a hit.

A real hit. It sold 3 million units in just two weeks of release. That’s their fastest-selling game ever, pulled in over $150 million in revenue. Critics liked it too, 89 on OpenCritic, 88 on Metacritic.

So, you have this massive success, and then this. It’s not just IO Interactive getting hit. This is part of a larger pattern. Microsoft, Xbox, they are cutting jobs. Big cuts.

Microsoft is eliminating 4,800 jobs, that’s 2.1% of their global workforce. The Xbox division alone is seeing 1,600 immediate job cuts, with more to come this year. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, she said the business is not healthy. Margins are 3 to 10 times lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.

She also talked about a “hardware crisis” with console component costs soaring. And it’s not just jobs. Xbox is spinning off or selling four studios. Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, they are becoming independent.

Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, they are being sold to new owners. It’s a major restructuring, the most significant in Xbox history, according to Sharma. This is happening after years of massive studio acquisitions, you know, and now there’s this push for cost-cutting. Microsoft stock, MSFT, it’s a mixed bag right now.

There’s AI optimism, sure, and hopes for more cost-cutting, but these layoffs, especially in gaming, they are a concern. The Xbox division’s performance, it’s under scrutiny. Legal scrutiny too, always something there. I mean, I bought MSFT myself, January 31, 2023, at $240.95.

I’m holding it until it hits $450, or if Xbox just can’t get its act together, two straight quarters of negative growth in the gaming division, then I’m out. IO Interactive says these are hard, but necessary decisions. They need to find a new balance for the long-term future, focus on main internal core titles instead of external projects and mobile game derivatives. They want to remain one of the few fully independent AAA developers and publishers.

But what does this mean for future Bond games? 007 First Light was a success, but Amazon MGM Studios has the Bond rights, and IO Interactive isn’t explicitly committing to a sequel right now. It’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of moving parts. How many more studios are going to close before things stabilize? It’s a tough market.