Source: Microsoft / Xbox / Activision Blizzard
New year, more layoffs in the video game industry, unfortunately.
Can we hit the reset button?
The video game industry continues to be hit with layoffs, despite companies seeing huge amounts of profits and games selling like hotcakes.
Microsoft is the latest company to ax its workforce, laying off 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard and Xbox. The lip reports that most of the layoffs will affect roles at Activision Blizzard, and those cuts will also affect some employees at Xbox and ZeniMax.
The 1,900 layoffs will represent 8 percent of Microsoft's gaming division's 22,000 employees.
The site obtained an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirming the horrific news.
Per The lip:
It's been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward into 2024, Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard's leadership is committed to aligning on a strategy and execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support our entire growing business. Together, we set priorities, identified areas of overlap and ensured we were all aligned with the best opportunities for growth.
As part of this process, we've made the painful decision to reduce the size of our games workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of our 22,000-strong team. The Gaming leadership team and I are committed to navigating this process as carefully as possible.
The people directly affected by these cuts have been instrumental in the success of the Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox teams and should be proud of everything they've accomplished here. We are grateful for all the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those affected during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment law. Those whose roles will be affected will be notified and we ask that you treat your departing colleagues with respect and compassion consistent with our values.
Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy to bring more games to more players around the world. While this is a difficult time for our team, I'm as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories, and worlds that bring players together.
Phil
Blizzard president Mike Ybarra also jumps in
Among the 1,900 will also be Blizzard president Mike Ybarra, who did his best impression of the SpongeBob meme “might imma head out.”
“As many of you know, Mike previously spent more than 20 years at Microsoft. Now that he's seen the acquisition as president of Blizzard, he's decided to leave the company,” Microsoft's president of game content and studios, Matt Booty, said in an internal memo.
Also leaving is Allen Adham, Blizzard's head of design.
Booty adds, “As one of Blizzard's co-founders, Allen has had a broad impact on all of Blizzard's games. His influence will be felt for years to come, both directly and indirectly, as Allen plans to continue mentoring young designers across the industry.”
The lip it also reported that a game Blizzard has been working on for over six years has also been canceled. by Bloomberg Jason Schreier says the name of the game was Odyssey.
Schreier notes that Activision Blizzard employees are reaching out to him about their fate and waiting to see if they are among the 1,900.
Social Media Reactions to Layoffs
Unsurprisingly, news of the layoffs isn't going down well on X, formerly Twitter, with backlash pouring in from insiders in the gaming industry.
Kind of funny Andy Cortez summed up perfectly in a post on X how these layoffs can affect the future of the video game industry.
“You're a student at game developer school. You read that Microsoft is laying off 1,900 people after buying Activision Blizzard. You just read about more Embracer layoffs since yesterday. Nearly 6,000 workers in the games industry are out of work so far this year. It's still January,” Cortez said.
The alarming trend, which saw an estimated 10,500 gaming industry workers in 2023, is currently on pace to meet or break that number. Video game timeline References Over 5,000 workers will lose their jobs in 2024.
Dime.
You can see more reactions to the Microsoft layoffs in the gallery below.
