What Is Xbox Game Studios At This Point?

The organizational structure of Xbox has long been complex and unwieldy, and that hasn't changed after the latest wave of changes and layoffs as part of Xbox's "reset." But Microsoft's latest reshuffling of its studios and workforce does prompt the question of what the "Xbox Game Studios" brand even is now, with apparently only four studios left under that banner. The Xbox division (formerly named Microsoft Gaming) consists of Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media, and Activision Blizzard, but after some rearranging, Xbox Game Studios appears to only consist of the following companies: The Coalition (Gears of War) inXile Entertainment (Wasteland, Clockwork Revolution) Mojang Studios (Minecraft) Playground Games (Forza Horizon, Fable) Graphics like this official Xbox Game Studios image from 2019 have aged poorly. Former studios under the Xbox Game Studios brand include Rare and World's Edge, the developer of Age of Empires, but both now fall under Activision Blizzard. And while it's unclear if Halo Studios as an organization is now formally an Activision Blizzard entity, it's official that Activision is indeed making the next Halo game. Meanwhile, Xbox studio Obs…