Around 650 people are reportedly being laid off from Microsoft’s gaming team, according to an email allegedly sent to staff by Xbox head Phil Spencer.
As reported by Game File, Spencer calls today “one of the challenging days” in his email, in which he says that the decision to cut staff was made as part of the company “aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business,” and to “organize our business for long term success.”
The email reportedly states that the roles affected are “mostly corporate and supporting functions,” and Game File adds that, according to a source familiar with the situation, this will mostly affect Activision Blizzard staff. In addition, it’s reported that no business unit leaders at Xbox or any of its affiliated gaming-related teams will be affected.
Spencer allegedly goes on to say that no game studios are being closed as part of these latest layoffs, and no “games, devices or experiences are being canceled,” even if “there are some impacts to other teams as they adapt to shifting priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games.”
It’s already been a challenging year for Microsoft Gaming employees. Back in January, it was announced that around 1,900 people from across the Activision Blizzard, Zenimax, and Xbox teams were being laid off. Later, it was announced that studios Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks were being closed, too (although the latter was later revived by Krafton).
In today’s email, Spencer reportedly says the company is “deeply grateful for the contributions of our colleagues,” noting that affected staff will be supported with “exit packages” that include “severance, extended healthcare, and outplacement services” in the US, and adds: “I know that going through more changes like this is hard, but even in the most trying times, this team has been able to come together and show one another care and kindness as we work to continue delivering for our players.”
I get it’s a business and they need to do business things. And I’m not sure if it’s the new Microsoft head or Phil’s been around long enough to see himself become the villain, but man is Xbox making some questionable decisions.
I dread what would happen if steam ever starts going to the dark side.
The good news here is that Valve is privately owned. Investors are typically what drives enshittification. Granted, pure selfish profit motive can do similar, but fortunately Steam is massively profitable and sustainable as-is, whereas enshittification is based on suffering unsustainable losses up front to capture users.
The bigger issue is the effective monopoly they have, and that’s currently something that’s starting to rumble a little.