The bad news keeps on coming for Xbox this week, as Bloomberg is reporting that following the four studio closures that were mentioned on Tuesday, there are apparently plans for more job cuts in the seemingly near future.
As described by the outlet, Xbox has apparently been offering "voluntary severance agreements" to various ZeniMax Media (Bethesda) staff, with other members at Team Xbox having been told that additional cuts are on the way.
"The sudden closure of several video-game studios at Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox division was the result of a widespread cost-cutting initiative that still isn’t finished."
Bloomberg's lengthy article mentions that a ZeniMax town hall was held this week to address the studio closures, with Xbox's Matt Booty reportedly claiming that Bethesda's studios had been spread too thin ("like peanut butter on bread").
Both Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were supposedly preparing to pitch new projects (including a single-player "immersive sim" game for the former and a Hi-Fi RUSH sequel for the latter), but both also required additional staff to make these happen, which seemingly played a big role in Xbox making the decision to close them at this point.
It's claimed that the head of ZeniMax Studios, Jill Braff, mentioned during the town hall that reorganising the division would allow for more focus on fewer projects, while Booty noted that the decision would free up resources elsewhere.
Interestingly, the report says that Xbox's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard has "ramped up scrutiny" from Microsoft's leaders in recent times as well, although there's no suggestion this is directly linked to this week's closures.