Gamers walk past the XBOX booth during the Gamescom 2026 computer gaming fair at Koelnmesse on August 27, 2026 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo: Andreas Rentz
Microsoft is cutting about 300 Washington jobs as the company continues restructuring its gaming division.
According to <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsofts-xbox-layoffs-hit-hundreds-in-wa-again/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>The Seattle Times, roughly 450 employees are being laid off companywide, with most of the cuts affecting Xbox.
The move comes just two months after Microsoft eliminated nearly 4,800 gaming and sales jobs, including 605 in Washington.
The company said it’s working to reset its gaming business. The company is cutting 268 roles in Xbox Game Studios. The layoffs included management and operating roles and members of first-party game studios, including Halo Studios. Halo is one of Xbox’s most iconic franchises.
In total, Microsoft announced it would cut 3,200 roles within Xbox by the end of its fiscal year — equivalent to about 20% of the division.
According to GeekWire, this series of layoffs is the biggest restructuring in Xbox history. With the latest layoffs, the restructuring is roughly 75% complete.
Microsoft laid off 4,800 employees during the summer
Microsoft laid off 4,800 employees on July 6, including 600 in Washington, where the company is headquartered (Redmond).
The cuts impacted roles across sales, consulting, and the Xbox gaming division. The layoffs accounted for approximately 2.1% of its workforce.
Amy Coleman, the executive vice president and chief people officer for Microsoft, said in an internal memo to employees that the layoffs are a consequence of the “changing technology industry” and the “need to adjust react on the company
“I also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI,” the memo read “At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done.”
Microsoft employs roughly 220,000 people worldwide. The company eliminated approximately 15,000 positions just last year — 6,000 layoffs in May 2025 and another 9,000 layoffs in July 2025.
Roughly 1,600 of the 4,800 job cuts were part of the company’s Xbox division, with more Xbox layoffs to come in the next few months. According to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, this is part of the biggest restructuring in the gaming console’s history.
Microsoft’s layoffs came promptly after its fiscal year ended on June 30.
Microsoft raises Xbox prices amid summer layoffs
Microsoft raised Xbox console prices on Aug. 1, with the cheapest version climbing to $500.
This price jump comes after multiple reports cited that significant layoffs will hit the company in early July, after Microsoft’s fiscal year ends on June 30.
The Xbox Series S console now retails for $500 for devices with 512GB of storage, a $100 increase. For Series S consoles with 1 TB of storage, the price is now $550, up $100 from its previous price.
For Xbox Series X consoles, the 1 TB all-digital version costs $750 (a $150 increase), while the 1 TB disc drive costs $800 (a $150 increase). Despite these significant price jumps, Microsoft is also planning to release a brand-new console, currently dubbed Project Helix, in 2027 for the next generation of gaming. With the Series S and Series X both released in 2020, these prices are for consoles at the end of their projected life cycles.
Xbox console prices jumped less than 12 months ago, in Sept. 2025.
Apple is making similar moves, raising prices on MacBooks and iPads by up to $300.
Both companies point to a global shortage of memory and storage chips, driven in part by booming AI demand. Industry analysts say the higher costs could spread across more everyday tech products.
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