Tellem and Levin depart Xbox Entertainment Studios

Update

Microsoft has responded to a request for comment with the following statement:

“Yes, we can confirm that Xbox Entertainment Studios has closed as part of the companywide restructuring announced by Microsoft last July.”

“Xbox Entertainment Studios has officially closed. Nancy and Jordan were key members and visionaries for the XES team, and we thank them for their leadership and many contributions.”

Original story

Nancy Tellem and Jordan Levin, who together headed up the Xbox Entertainment Studios division of Microsoft, have been let go as part of the company's latest round of cuts.

The news was reported by Variety and GamesIndustry.biz has also contacted Microsoft for their official statement.

The departures aren't a huge surprise, Microsoft confirmed in July that Xbox Entertainment Studios was to close.

"As part of the planned reduction to our overall workforce announced today and in light of our organization's mission, we plan to streamline a handful of portfolio and engineering development efforts across Xbox. One such plan is that, in the coming months, we expect to close Xbox Entertainment Studios," said Phil Spencer in a memo to the Xbox team when the studio's fate was made public.

"I am pleased that Nancy [Tellem], Jordan [Levin] and members of the XES team remain committed to new, original programming already in production."

Tellem joined the studio as president in September 2012 from CBS. According to the Variety report both she and Levin had expected to remain on the project, overseeing the fate of the programming mentioned above, until the end of the year.