Microsoft lays off 1,900 in gaming

[the-pi-guy]

IGN reporting

Here's Spencer's memo in full:

"It's been a little over three months since the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams joined Microsoft. As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we've set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we're all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.
"As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they've accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues. We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values.
"Looking ahead, we'll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment 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."

[the-pi-guy]

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra is departing Microsoft. Allen Adham, Blizzard’s chief design officer, is also leaving the company. Blizzard's previously announced survival game has also been canceled. Details below ???? https://t.co/Yh9aRtbn2P

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) January 25, 2024

[nnodley]

Not sure if this is a good thing or not.  Leaning to not.  But industry has been hit hard with layoffs.  Riot just laid off 500 or so people too

[the-pi-guy]

this was yesterdayhttps://t.co/gdt335QFQb pic.twitter.com/pBAAYdjt4y

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) January 25, 2024

[the-pi-guy]

That’s 5,900 video game industry layoffs in 2024 so far, nearly 60% of 2023s total, and we’re not even at the end of January.

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 25, 2024

Other Blizzard news:
- Allen Adham, chief design officer and the company's founder, is leaving the company
- Odyssey, the survival game that has been in development for 6+ years, is canceled

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 25, 2024

I want to thank everyone who is impacted today for their meaningful contributions to their teams, to Blizzard, and to players’ lives. It’s an incredibly hard day and my energy and support will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection…

— Mike Ybarra ???? (@Qwik) January 25, 2024

[the-pi-guy]

These Xbox layoffs are such a mess that staff across Activision Blizzard are texting *me* to try to find out if they might be impacted. Nearly 2,000 job cuts and people now just have to wait around to see if they're part of the bloodbath

— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 25, 2024

[nnodley]

good lord.  Not surprising MS is fudgy things up already.  Guess I shouldn't have worded my last post about it being a good thing.  Meant more of is this just a tightening up ship or just MS being MS.  But it's obviously MS fudgy up.

this is exaclty why i'm scared of for real entering the gaming industry.  It's too unknown whether you will have stability in work or not and anything can happen at any moment without warning.  

[kitler53]

not entirely surprising.   they aquired a ton of studios and publishers.   there is certain to be a ton of overlap in areas like marketing and social that would be viewed as redundant.   i imagine much of this will be focused in those areas not development.    ...but also companies from time to time just do layoff so they can fire low performing people without firing them and having the legal consequences of firing people.    i'm sure some development is also getting fired but just enough to "clean house" if you catch my drift.     + everyone else is doing it so MS can get away with it without too much fuss.   no different really than when sony did it late last year.

anyways, sucks for those affected but i'm not at all surprised.

[the-pi-guy]

The wild thing is this would have been over half of Xbox, before the Zenimax acquisition.

[kitler53]

The wild thing is this would have been over half of Xbox, before the Zenimax acquisition.

trololol,.. now that's a great perspective.

[Legend]

What was odyssey?

Layoffs make sense but cancelling a game deep into develepment is less common.

[the-pi-guy]

What was odyssey?

Layoffs make sense but cancelling a game deep into develepment is less common.

Blizzard's next big project.

[Legend]

Blizzard's next big project.

That's no bueno.

[the-pi-guy]

Microsoft has also shut down departments dedicated to bringing Xbox games to physical retail ... which if you've seen the digital-only Xbox console leaks ... well, you can get an idea of where Microsoft is going here.

— Jez (@JezCorden) January 25, 2024

[kitler53]

even if physical doesn't sell that well i still think they should be trying to keep a presence in retail as long as possible.   xbox will be even more forgotten if playstation/nintendo are the only kiosks at the store.