As Xbox swings the axe, Gears of War: E-Day developers fear they'll be laid off straight after launch - and right before they'd be due their bonuses

Back in July, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced a total of 3,200 job cuts across Microsoft's gaming arm, with roughly half of those cuts being made alongside that announcement. The impact was vast. Various developers at Xbox studios, including Activision, Bethesda, Id Software, Blizzard, Mojang, and King suffered layoffs. Double Fine and Compulsion were thrust into independence, while Dishonored 2 's Arkane Lyon, State of Decay 3 's Undead Labs, and Hellblade 's Ninja Theory entered terms for new ownership.