Fallout 76 players appear to protest Xbox's studio closures by directing nukes at Phil Spencer's MMO camp

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The Microsoft Gaming CEO hasn't yet made a statement about the closures

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and his Fallout 76 camp appear to be victims of a targeted, in-game nuclear bomb.

Fallout 76's radioactive wasteland is full of mutated beasts, but the biggest threat players can face comes from nuclear bombs, cheekily fired by other players, that can destroy your entire camp if you're logged into the game. Launching nukes at others requires you to go through the pretty arduous steps of gathering silo code pieces and then shooting through said silos in an MMO raid-like fashion. 

But that's seemingly what at least one Fallout 76 player endured to nuke the Xbox executive's camp, according to an off-screen image that Sam_Snydes tweeted. The image below shows a nuclear blast surrounding P3's camp, which is Phil Spencer's Xbox gamertag, right next to the Whitesprings. 

Many have speculated that the targeted nuke was dropped in response to news that Microsoft shut down four of its game development studios - rather than someone wanting to make shiny loot spawn in an area that Spencer happened to set up camp in. 

Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within studio Tango Gameworks, Prey and Redfall makers Arkane Austin, and mobile-focused outfit Alpha Dog were all closed in what the company called a "reprioritization of titles and resources." Roundhouse Studios had not yet released a game but were folded into ZeniMax Online anyway.

Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty discussed the closures in a company email and a town hall meeting, where he confusingly remarked that the publisher needed "smaller games that give us prestige." Phil Spencer has been silent following the news, presumably planning for the summer's Xbox Games Showcase and playing Fallout 76.

Riding the success of the Fallout TV show, Fallout 76 recently teased a “newly expanded map” in its next update.

Kaan Serin
Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.