Summary
- Microsoft has reportedly laid off more employees across its gaming, security, and sales divisions.
- It's unclear how many employees have been impacted.
- These new layoffs are also unconnected to a previous round of cuts announced earlier in January.
Microsoft has reportedly initiated another round of layoffs affecting its gaming, security, and sales divisions. The video game industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, with numerous companies, including Microsoft, implementing substantial layoffs throughout 2024. These cuts have affected both major studios and smaller indie developers, with recent examples including IllFonic, the developer behind Predator: Hunting Grounds, and People Can Fly, known for Outriders. Additionally, Rocksteady announced layoffs following the mixed reception of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Microsoft has been particularly active in reducing its workforce since the beginning of 2024. In January, the company announced the layoff of 1,900 employees within its Xbox gaming division, impacting staff at subsidiaries such as Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax. By September, another 650 employees were let go, primarily from corporate and support roles at Activision Blizzard.
A recent report from Business Insider, cited by GamesIndustry.biz, suggests that Microsoft may have conducted another round of layoffs. Although a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed these cuts would affect a small number of staff, the exact number of impacted employees remains undisclosed. Importantly, these layoffs are separate from an earlier round announced in January, which targeted underperforming workers not necessarily connected to Xbox.
Microsoft Could Be Laying Off More Xbox Employees
Microsoft's series of layoffs is particularly notable given the company's recent acquisitions of major publishers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, as well as its achievement of a $3 trillion market value shortly after the January 2024 layoffs. These initial cuts drew criticism from the FTC, which attempted to leverage the layoffs at Activision Blizzard to challenge Microsoft's merger with the publisher of Call of Duty.
Previous Microsoft layoffs have also affected Xbox's physical retail teams, most of Blizzard's customer service team, and in-house developers such as Sledgehammer Games and Toys for Bob. Blizzard's survival game, codenamed Project Odyssey, was canceled amid these layoffs. The impact of the latest reported layoffs on the Xbox gaming division remains uncertain, as the number of affected employees has not been confirmed.
