Microsoft Layoffs Continue: More Employees Affected

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 unconnected to a previous round of cuts announced earlier in January.

Microsoft has reportedly implemented further layoffs across its gaming, security, and sales divisions. The past few years have been challenging for video game industry employees, with numerous companies, including Microsoft, announcing significant layoffs in 2024. These layoffs have affected both large studios and smaller indie developers, with recent examples including IllFonic, the developer behind Predator: Hunting Grounds, and People Can Fly, known for Outriders. Earlier this month, Rocksteady also announced layoffs following the mixed reception to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Microsoft, one of the largest companies affected by recent layoffs, has been cutting back on its Xbox workforce since the beginning of 2024. In January, Microsoft announced the layoff of 1,900 employees from its Xbox gaming division, including staff at subsidiaries like Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax. In September, another 650 employees were let go from corporate and support roles at Activision Blizzard.

According to a new report from Business Insider (via GamesIndustry.biz), Microsoft may have initiated another round of layoffs. A spokesperson indicated that these cuts would impact a small number of staff members, though the exact number of affected employees remains unspecified. Importantly, these recent layoffs are separate from an earlier round of cuts announced in January, which targeted underperforming employees not necessarily connected to Xbox.

Microsoft Could Be Laying Off More Xbox Employees

Microsoft's ongoing layoffs are particularly significant 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 massive January 2024 layoffs. These initial cuts led to criticism from the FTC, which attempted to use the layoffs at Activision Blizzard as a basis to challenge or reverse Microsoft's high-profile merger with the publisher of Call of Duty.

Previous Microsoft layoffs have also impacted Xbox’s physical retail teams, most of Blizzard’s customer service team, and in-house developers such as Sledgehammer Games and Toys for Bob. Additionally, Blizzard’s unnamed survival game, codenamed Project Odyssey, was canceled following these layoffs. The number of employees affected by the latest reported layoffs at Microsoft remains undisclosed, leaving uncertainty about the potential impact on the Xbox gaming division.