- 2024 continues to bring new reports of layoffs each day.
- Xbox has become the latest company to lay off 1,900 employees.
- Most of the layoffs have been made at Activision Blizzard, but the cut also affects other Xbox studios.
Last year, the gaming industry witnessed developers like Ubisoft, Insomniac Games, and more laying off many of their workers. Over 2700 layoffs have also been confirmed two weeks into 2024.
This trend is expected to continue throughout the year. Much to everyone’s disappointment, Xbox is the latest to follow suit, confirming layoffs impacting around 1,900 employees, including those from the newly acquired Activision Blizzard division.
Why it matters: This could be a worrying sign for Xbox, validating concerns about the losses of the gaming division at Microsoft.
As reported by The Verge, Microsoft is cutting off around 8% of the gaming division’s employees. Though most layoffs will impact Activision Blizzard, this cut will extend to Xbox and ZeniMax Media employees.
Microsoft Gaming currently employs around 22,000 people. Therefore, this is a major hit to the business. An official statement from Phil Spencer has also been released on the matter, confirming the layoffs.
He addressed that this decision, while painful, was necessary to achieve Microsoft’s goals after the Activision Blizzard merger. Following the layoffs, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra is also departing from the studio. Phil Spencer states:
“we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles.”
Phil Spencer has thanked all of the employees for their contributions to these studios. He intends to support them in this hard time, playing his role to ensure that the layoffs do not leave a lasting impact on the individuals.
Ultimately, this is a sad announcement.
The Activision Blizzard merger was a triumphant moment for Xbox and Microsoft. Many hoped 2024 would mark the first major announcement after this merger, but nobody thought the announcement would be this devastating.
Still, we wish Xbox and the laid-off employees the best of luck. The gaming division has been struggling against competitors for a while, so we hope it can recover in 2024 to avoid similar situations in the future.
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