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Microsoft lay off 650 people from its gaming team

Semir Omerovic

Published: 11:24, 12 September 2024

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Microsoft have laid off additional 650 people from their gaming division

Key Points from the Article

Microsoft is set to lay off 650 people from its gaming division, including publishers like Activision, Bethesda, and the Xbox team.
The layoffs are mostly corporate and support functions, with no game projects being cancelled.
Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, stated that the layoffs are part of their restructuring post-Activision-Blizzard acquisition and are necessary for long-term success.

Microsoft have laid off additional 650 people from their gaming division

Microsoft have laid off approximately 650 people from Activision Blizzard and their Xbox gaming team, it's been confirmed by Phil Spencer in an internal memo obtained by Game File.

More massive layoffs are imminent in the video game industry. As reported by Game File, Microsoft are set to lay off 650 people from its gaming division which includes publishers like Activision, Bethesda and the Xbox team.

The layoffs were announced by Phil Spencer via an internal memo, which states that the jobs are mostly corporate and support functions. No game projects have been cancelled this time around, which is a small bit of good news in this new devastating announcement.

Spencer said that the layoffs are once again the result of their restructuring post-Activision-Blizzard acquisition, stating that Microsoft needs to organise their business for long term success. Below, you can read the full email from Spencer as shared by Game File.

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Semir OmerovicMAY 7

Subject: Changes to Microsoft Gaming

For the past year, our goal has been to minimize disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work. As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming—mostly corporate and supporting functions—to organize our business for long term success.

I know that this is difficult news to hear. We are deeply grateful for the contributions of our colleagues who are learning they are impacted. In the US, we’re supporting them with exit packages that include severance, extended healthcare, and outplacement services to help with their transition; outside the US packages will differ according to location.

With these changes, our corporate and supporting teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth, and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs. Separately, as part of running the business, there are some impacts to other teams as they adapt to shifting priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games. No games, devices or experiences are being cancelled and no studios are being closed as part of these adjustments today.

Throughout our team’s history, we have had great moments, and we have had challenging ones. Today is one of the challenging days. I know that going through more changes like this is hard, but even in the most trying times, this team has been able to come together and show one another care and kindness as we work to continue delivering for our players. We appreciate your support as we navigate these changes and we thank you for your compassion and respect for each other.

Phil

Activision

Microsoft have laid off over 1000 people since acquiring Activision Blizzard

At the time of writing, the official announcement has not been published by Microsoft but we expect it to come in a couple of hours, potentially 3PM UK time, which is usually when Microsoft announce big news.