Microsoft will lay off 8% of the workers at its gaming unit
© Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images
Microsoft is cutting around 1,900 employees in its gaming unit Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, CNBC reported on Thursday, citing an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer.
The layoffs, which will eliminate around 8% of Microsoft Gaming’s 22,000 staff, are part of a larger “execution plan” that will reduce “areas of overlap,” shortly after the US software giant closed on its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard, its largest ever acquisition, the head of the company’s gaming division said.
“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,” Spencer wrote in a note.
Microsoft closed its deal for Activision Blizzard, the publisher and developer of several best-selling gaming franchises, in October 2023. The deal boosted the company’s weight in the video-gaming market with popular titles including Call of Duty and Diablo. Experts say the acquisition will help Microsoft compete with industry leader Sony.
Microsoft has recently overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company with its market cap surpassing $3 trillion on Thursday.
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In tech not even being part of the most profitable company will save you. We could use some legislation to limit needless layoffs.
The only question I have is how much of it is what you would expect from capitalists trying to squeeze the proletariat and how much is due to AI advancements reducing available jobs…
Definitely a bit of both. From what I am seeing on social media posts, a lot of those let go from ABK are developres working on the new survival game (that also got canned), artists, and customer service. They plan to bring in an outsourced contractor for customer service, and I would not be surprised at all if they plan to replace a bunch of the artists with AI.
Oh shit…
No matter how “valued” an industry makes you feel while training you when they have a worker deficit, they’ll discard you like shit once you’re replaceable or no longer useful.
Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon. They don’t build shit. They buy, consolidate and then lay off. It’s always like this.
The people who were cheerleading this merger as some giant win for video games and a net good thing will hopefully see why those of us who predicated that it would result in exactly this said so.
Oh who am I kidding, they will find another way to suck corporate boot. I already see people rationalizing this as “cutting the fat”. I hope that all those affected can find gainful employment, ideally in a [slightly less] exploitative industry.
