Microsoft Begins Laying Off Thousands Of Employees, Cancelling Several In-Development Projects
Another round of major layoffs has hit the videogame industry.
According to Variety, Microsoft as a whole expected to layoff 4% of its workforce across all its divisions, amounting to roughly 9000 employees. A Bloomberg report by Jason Schreier, further confirms that Microsoft’s gaming division is among those affected, although it is currently unclear exactly how many will be let go by the end.
At the time of this writing, the following layoffs and cancelled projects have been reported:
- Activision subsidiary and Candy Crush developer King, will cut 10 percent of its staff, or about 200 jobs
- ZeniMax Online Studios MMORPG code-named ‘Blackbird’ cancelled, President Matt Firor steps down
- Rare new IP Everwild cancelled after 10 years of development hell
- Santa Monica-based studio The Initiative shut down, planned Perfect Dark reboot cancelled
Regarding the layoffs, XBox Head Phil Spencer said the move was to “increase agility and effectiveness”, and have a more “focused approach” on “the strongest opportunitie”. His full comments in an internal note can be found here via Windows Central.
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