According to an internal email from Xbox head Phil Spencer, 650 employees at Xbox are to be laid off. The layoffs are primarily expected to impact Activision Blizzard and are to be carried out by the end of the year.
Update from September 29, 2024: According to a report from the Los Angeles Times (via latimes.com), the upcoming layoffs are primarily affecting three departments at Activision Blizzard:
- By the end of the year, 110 employees from the Santa Monica location are expected to lose their jobs.
- Another 140 affected individuals are from the Irvine location, with layoffs expected to take place in December.
- In November, 143 employees from the Play Vista location will also lose their positions.
Where does the information come from? The website Gamefile.news reports that they have an internal email from Xbox head Phil Spencer. This email mentions the intention to lay off 650 employees in Xbox’s gaming division.
Who is affected by the cuts? According to a confidential internal source, the majority of the cuts will affect employees at Activision Blizzard, particularly in support and administration.
Activision Blizzard is the gaming company behind Call of Duty, WoW, and Overwatch, which Microsoft had fully acquired just a few months ago after discussions on the purchase that lasted over 2 years.
Which specific positions will be affected is not yet known. According to Gamefile.news, the internal email states:
Last year, our goal was to minimize disruptions while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work. As part of our adjustment to team structure after the acquisition and managing our business, we made the decision to cut approximately 650 positions at Microsoft Gaming – most of which are corporate and support functions – to organize our company for long-term success.
However, it is important to note that Microsoft has neither confirmed nor denied the layoffs thus far. Therefore, the news is still a rumor at this moment, although it seems plausible and comes from reliable sources.
Will games be canceled or development halted? No, according to Spencer’s internal email, no games are to be canceled or studios closed. However, there may be “some impacts” that could also affect the games:
Regardless, there are some impacts on other teams within regular business operations that need to adapt to changing priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games. No games, devices, or experiences will be canceled, and no studios will be closed as part of these adjustments.
Microsoft is unlikely to go as far as it did in May 2024: In May 2024, Xbox closed a total of 4 studios, including the studio behind the popular rhythm-action game “Hi-Fi Rush.”
Not the first layoffs in the gaming sector at Microsoft this year
This is not the first layoff in Microsoft’s gaming sector: as early as January 2024, Microsoft announced plans to cut 1,900 gaming positions. Again, this mostly affected employees who worked for Activision Blizzard, Xbox, and ZeniMax. At the time of the layoffs, Microsoft still had about 22,000 employees in the gaming division. Of the remaining approximately 20,000, another 600 supposedly have to go now.
More on Activision Blizzard: You can read more about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard in the following article directly on MeinMMO. Microsoft announced the purchase in 2022 and, after much dispute, including with Sony, finally completed it: Microsoft announces: They want to buy Activision Blizzard
