Microsoft Layoffs Continue as 650 Personnel Sacked from Xbox Division
The gaming industry is certainly in a peculiar spot at the moment – following the questionable pricing of the PlayStation 5 Pro, Microsoft’s Xbox division has gone through with another round of layoffs, which affect 650 people, with the cuts mostly to “corporate and supporting functions” as announced by Xbox boss Phil Spencer.
The layoffs were originally announced via an internal memo from Spencer, and falls in line with the division’s continued restructuring after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard several months back. Part of Phil Spencer’s memo reads:
For the past year, our goal has been to minimize disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work. As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming — mostly corporate and supporting functions — to organize our business for long term success.
I know that this is difficult news to hear. We are deeply grateful for the contributions of our colleagues who are learning they are impacted. In the US, we’re supporting them with exit packages that include severance, extended healthcare, and outplacement services to help with their transition; outside the US packages will differ according to location.
Earlier this year, Microsoft cut around 1,900 jobs which included key positions, such as Blizzard Entertainment President Mike Ybarra and Blizzard’s Chief Design Officer and Co-founder Allen Adham.
Source: Polygon