Summary

• Microsoft has reportedly conducted further layoffs affecting its gaming, security, and sales divisions.
• The exact number of employees impacted remains undisclosed.
• These layoffs are separate from earlier January cuts.

Microsoft has reportedly implemented another round of layoffs across its gaming, security, and sales divisions. The gaming industry has faced significant challenges in recent years, with numerous companies, including Microsoft, announcing substantial job cuts in 2024. This has affected both large studios and smaller independent developers, with recent examples including IllFonic (Predator: Hunting Grounds) and People Can Fly (Outriders). Rocksteady also recently announced layoffs following the mixed reception of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Microsoft itself has been reducing its Xbox workforce since the beginning of 2024. In January 2024, the company announced 1,900 layoffs within its Xbox gaming division, impacting acquired subsidiaries like Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax. A further 650 corporate and support employees at Activision Blizzard were let go in September.

A new report from Business Insider (via GamesIndustry.biz) suggests another round of Microsoft layoffs has occurred. While a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the cuts, the exact number of employees affected remains unspecified. These latest reductions are distinct from earlier this month's layoffs, which reportedly targeted underperforming employees outside the Xbox division.

Microsoft's Layoff Wave and its Implications

Microsoft's ongoing layoffs are particularly noteworthy given its recent acquisitions of major publishers like Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, and its achievement of a $3 trillion market valuation shortly after the significant January 2024 layoffs. The initial wave of cuts drew FTC scrutiny, with the regulator initially attempting to use the Activision Blizzard layoffs as grounds to oppose or reverse Microsoft's merger with the Call of Duty publisher.

Previous Microsoft layoffs impacted Xbox's physical retail teams, most of Blizzard's customer service team, and internal development studios such as Sledgehammer Games and Toys for Bob. Blizzard's unannounced survival game, codenamed Project Odyssey, was also canceled. The scale of the latest layoffs remains unconfirmed, and their impact on the Xbox gaming division is yet to be seen.