Microsoft To Lay Off 1,900 Employees At Activision, Xbox
James FarrellForbes Staff
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Jan 25, 2024,10:49am EST
TOPLINE
Months after Microsoft finalized its acquisition of video game company Activision Blizzard, the company is laying off 1,900 employees across its video game workforce, including Xbox, according to an internal memo first reported on by the Verge and since confirmed by other outlets—just the latest in a string of tech layoffs that have been announced this month.
FILE - The Microsoft logo is shown at the Mobile World Congress 2023 in Barcelona, Spain, on March ... [+]
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KEY FACTS
The layoffs will be mostly from within Activision Blizzard, but also Microsoft’s other gaming divisions Xbox and ZeniMax, the Verge reported.The cuts amount to around 8% of Microsoft’s total gaming workforce of 22,000, according to the memo from Microsoft’s gaming CEO Phil Spencer.
Spencer reportedly wrote in the memo that the layoffs were part of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s efforts to align on a strategy “with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business.”
PROMOTED
Adding to Microsoft’s gaming shakeup, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra also announced that he was leaving the company Thursday.
Forbes has contacted Microsoft for comment.
Microsoft finalized its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the publisher of popular video games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, after scrutiny from regulators in both the U.S. and the U.K. The cuts come amid a string of other cuts in the gaming and tech industries. Last week, Riot Games, the company behind the video game League of Legends, announced more than 500 layoffs. Video game company Unity Software also cut 1,800 jobs earlier this month. In 2024 so far, tech companies like Wayfair, Google, Amazon, Twitch and Discord have all already announced layoffs.
