Microsoft appears to have laid off 650 Xbox employees, according to an internal memo from Xbox CEO Phil Spencer. Affected primarily are corporate and support functions.
The news comes from IGN, who say they have obtained an internal memo sent by Phil Spencer himself. If true, this would mean that Microsoft will lay off a total of 2,550 people in the gaming field this year. These cuts led to the closure of several studios, including Tango Gameworks, but thankfully these studios found new life through Krafton.
There’s at least a bit of good news; according to the memo, no studios have been closed, and no games have been cancelled. Phil said the layoffs were about “organizing our business for long-term success.”
“As part of our efforts to restructure our post-acquisition team and manage the business, we have decided to eliminate approximately 650 positions within Microsoft Gaming (primarily corporate and support functions) to organize our business for long-term success,” the internal memo said.
Interestingly, Phil Spencer was referring to “Microsoft Gaming” rather than Xbox. While I may be reading too much into this, the phrasing suggests what we’ve been thinking: Now that Activision Blizzard is part of Microsoft, Xbox is no longer allowed to do its own thing under Phil’s stewardship . Since the Activision Blizzard deal closed, Microsoft’s desire to be directly involved in everything that happens with Xbox has become increasingly clear.
As usual, it’s difficult to determine exactly what’s driving the need for these cuts. This could simply be a case of lowering costs to make more money, or it could be another sign that Microsoft is moving away from console manufacturing and into its role as the world’s largest game publisher. It could also be that advances in various artificial intelligence technologies are making more and more characters redundant. It may be all of these things, it may be none of these things.
What is known is that it sucks. There are now 650 people who have to deal with the stress and worry of losing their jobs and I wish them all the best in finding new roles and hopefully thriving and prospering.
