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Rundown Of The Latest Microsoft Layoffs – Affected Studios and Games
A detailed look at Microsoft’s latest layoffs, including the Xbox studios and games affected across its gaming division.
It’s been a tough week for Microsoft employees. Even as the tech giant continues to post record-breaking profits and sees enormous traction on the consumer side, things have taken a painful turn internally. Rumors of mass layoffs have been swirling for weeks, and on July 2, Microsoft finally made it official. Thousands of jobs across various departments including Xbox are being cut.
Microsoft Massive Layoffs Affects Studios And Planned Games
On July 2, Microsoft announced mass layoffs impacting multiple areas of its business including its gaming division. Overall, the company is laying off 4% of its global workforce, which translates to about 9,000 jobs. While the exact number of roles affected within Xbox isn’t public, given the scale of its operations, the number is assumed to be substantial.
What’s especially troubling is that this marks the fourth major round of layoffs within Xbox in the last 18 months. This fact has baffled the whole community being that Xbox has seen massive success recently, especially in terms of hardware sales and Game Pass growth. On Reddit, one user claimed that their brother, a Microsoft gaming employee, was promised a raise set to begin in August, only to be laid off days later.
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In a memo to employees, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer acknowledged the layoffs, stating that the cuts were necessary for the “enduring success” of Xbox. He emphasized that this stems from “tough decisions” made before. As anyone could image, that line didn’t sit well with many in the community.
Amidst the fallout, some questioned whether Spencer himself might be stepping down. However, Microsoft has officially denied any such claims, asserting that Phil Spencer is not retiring anytime soon.
Here’s a look at the most notable studios, games, and teams caught in the crossfire of Microsoft’s July 2 layoffs:
- Raven Software – This Call of Duty co-development studio, best known for its work on Warzone and co-developing Black Ops 6 and 7, was reportedly affected. The extent of layoffs remains unknown.
- Turn 10 Studios – Makers of Forza Motorsport, the studio has allegedly been hit hard with reports suggesting up to 50% of the studio’s workforce may have been let go.
- Rare – Its long-in-development game Everwild, announced in 2019, has been canceled. One of the studio’s veterans, Gregg Mayles, left after 35 years of service.
- ZeniMax Online – A new unannounced MMORPG codenamed Blackbird has also been canceled. The project had been quietly in the works since 2018. Additionally, veteran exec Matt Firor is reportedly leaving the company.
- The Initiative – One of Microsoft’s newer studios is being shut down. And with it goes its much-anticipated Perfect Dark reboot.
- High Moon Studios – Known for its support on Call of Duty: Warzone, is also facing cuts.
- Sledgehammer Games – Another Call of Duty support studio has been affected by the layoffs as well, according to Insider Gaming.
- Blizzard – Mobile title Warcraft Rumble will no longer receive new content. While basic maintenance like bug fixes will continue, the dedicated development team is being disbanded. As many as 100 Blizzard employees are believed to be affected.
- Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries) – The legendary team behind Halo is also facing cuts. The studio is still developing new Halo titles, but some projects and roles have reportedly been impacted.
- Romero Games – Led by iconic developers John and Brenda Romero, Romero Games recently revealed that its unnamed publisher had pulled funding from its new FPS and other unannounced projects. While not directly named, all signs point to Microsoft as the publisher. A developer at Romero confirmed via social media that their job loss was tied to the Xbox layoffs.
- King – The mobile games giant under the Microsoft umbrella has also been affected. Roughly 200 employees were let go at the Candy Crush developer.
As can be seen, the Call Of Duty ecosystem has been massively hit. Due to this, it was reported that MW2 and MW3 are now separated from Call of Duty HQ. So if you’re on these titles, you can redownload to access them directly moving forward.
Despite the dramatic nature of the layoffs, Microsoft’s stock only dropped 0.5% following the announcement and nearly recovered fully by market close. It’s a sign that, while the human impact is massive, investor confidence in the company’s long-term vision remains intact.
At least one entity of this equation has bounced back, as expected.
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Sending some gaming news your way from a surfing paradise island. Loves creating content, and researching informative facts and useless trivia. A novice in the gaming industry but a veteran in communications and publication.
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