--R

Being sued right now, please help me find a lawyer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,000
Microsoft is cutting 1,900 staff from its video game workforce, sources have told IGN.

In a message to staff viewed by IGN, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft will provide "full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws." IGN has asked Microsoft for comment.

The layoffs come following the $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty owner Activision Blizzard.

Here's Spencer's memo in full:

"It's been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we've set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we're all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.

"As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they've accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values.

"Looking ahead, we'll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, I'm as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together.
"Phil."

www.ign.com

Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Staff From Its Video Game Workforce - IGN

Microsoft is cutting 1,900 staff from its video game workforce, sources have told IGN.
 

Super

Studied the Buster Sword
Member
Jan 29, 2022
7,172
Jesus christ people who said this would happen are serving crow.
 

Bláthanna

Member
Feb 15, 2023
727
Ireland
But Microsoft were the good guys saving the industry with this buyout? What happened? Is massive consolidation bad or something?
 

Shake Appeal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,893
The slow-rolling tech industry collusion to lay off workers despite rising revenues sure is something. Pretty sure there are quicker ways to trim labor costs.
 

Linus815

Member
Oct 29, 2017
20,077
hopefully i wont have hear much more about how microsoft buying studios is good for job security
 

vestan

#REFANTAZIO SWEEP
Member
Dec 28, 2017
24,797
  • Riot
  • Google
  • Unity
  • Twitch
  • Discord
  • Embracer
  • Microsoft
January isn't even over yet. Going to be a really rough year man.
 

Gavalanche

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 21, 2021
18,266
What the hell!!!! This year is fucked.

There is no excuse for Microsoft, the richest company in the word, to lay off anyone. Especially almost 2k people. Like, what is this shit?? They aren't struggling, the gaming division seems to be doing well?

Come on.
 

ozumas

Born to be Wise and Corrupted by Vengeance
Member
Dec 15, 2020
2,356
This is getting worse in 2024, Jesus Christ this is so bad
 

Syinn

Member
Jun 14, 2021
513
Awful but not surprising with all other recent layoffs. Bound to happen eventually.
 

Odinsmana

Member
Mar 13, 2019
2,368
That is such an insane number of people. Is that more people than Embracer has laid off combined? All at once.
 

Patitoloco

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
23,714
Ooooff that's an enormous number.

It makes sense to prevent redundancies with Bethesda and Activision, but it's still almost 2000 people out of their jobs.

Good luck, affected folks
 

Syne

It's Pronounced "Aerith"
Member
Feb 5, 2023
6,001
UK
Jesus this is fucking awful, it'll be tough with the state of the industry right now but hopefully everyone affected will be able to land on their feet

I'm sure people will still be foaming at the mouth for their next acquisition as well 🙄
 

logash

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,842
Yeah obvious this was coming. When you aquire a company there is bound to be overlap and I bet they waited until after ABK deal went through to do the same with some Zenimax and Xbox employees.
 

cw_sasuke

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,566
User Banned (3 Days): Using Layoffs as Smokescreen for Platform Warring; History of Platform Warring
When billions of profit aren't enough.

Well gamers don't care as long as their their GamePass games for cheap.

It's a bummer and likely gonna get worse once AI has been implemented in a big way.

Edit.
A week after the Developer Direct is a bit unfortunate as well.
 

Daramir

Member
Jan 20, 2022
1,462
Germany
Damn wtf. So many lay offs already this year and its not even February. I hope those impacted get all the help they need.
 

Jeffram

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,952
Wow, close enough to 10%. sorry to those impacted. I personally know a few people that work there. Hopefully they are ok.
 

Gobias-Ind

Member
Nov 22, 2017
4,038
"We gotta put a little space between our Developer Direct and the upcoming mass layoff. A week should be fine."
 

AngelOFDeath

Member
Nov 13, 2017
2,390
Is this just the beginning some have been saying? Not just for Microsoft, but for the industry as a whole.

If the most valued company in the world can do it, anyone can. Good luck to everyone.

Edit: Incorrectly indicated the beginning. I didn't really write that properly. I was trying to say, I had seen a few people indicate that 2024 would be worse than 2023 in terms of mass layoffs, and my above questioning was, is this the beginning of that (2024 worse than 2023 for layoffs). But even so, that isn't true given the previous layoffs at so many other places.
 
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