World’s Edge lost nearly half its staff and its next project
The studio that steers the Age of Empires brand has been hit hard. World’s Edge lost close to half of …
Age of Empires news
This section collects news about Age of Empires and the World’s Edge studio. You will find that the studio lost nearly half of its staff in Microsoft’s latest wave of layoffs, part of 268 people let go across Xbox within a plan to cut 3,200 positions this fiscal year. On Monday it was announced that World’s Edge will newly become part of Activision, and the studio’s upcoming project was cancelled as part of that reorganisation. Employees confirmed on social media that almost 50% of the studio lost their jobs: former creative director Adam Isgreen announced his departure after 16 years, former senior software engineer Andrew Martz confirmed the cancelled project and the layoffs of a large part of the team, and former lead principal software engineer Greg Snook was let go exactly on his 25th anniversary at Microsoft. It is not clear what happens next with the Age of Empires brand and the studio, which also worked with external developers such as Relic Entertainment, the team behind Age of Empires IV (released in 2021 on PC and later ported to Xbox and PlayStation). In the same week, the Viking Sagas DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition arrived with three new civilizations and 15 campaigns.