Massive Xbox Layoffs and Studio Shutdowns Planned at End of Fiscal Year on June 30; Company Ending Contracts and Cutting Vendors
Two weeks ago, word surfaced that Microsoft was negotiating with various first-party studios to either buy themselves back, or find a potential buyer to avoid closures.
Today, it was reported that massive Xbox layoffs are planned when the fiscal year ends tomorrow, June 30.
At the very least, “hundreds” of jobs are expected to be slashed across various studios, and it’s affecting different parts Xbox, including PR.
“Biggest Single Cut Series for Xbox” Expected This Week
GamesBeat has mentioned that they’ve heard Microsoft is preparing to take action in early July after the close of the financial quarter on June 30.
It’s said that some of the studio jobs will be saved if a buyer is found for any one of the four studios: Double Fine Productions (Kiln, Keeper), Undead Labs (State of Decay), Compulsion (South of Midnight), and Ninja Theory (Hellblade/Senua).
At the very least, hundreds of jobs are expected to be shelved at the four studios with Double Fine potentially losing 100 jobs if it’s shut down, Undead Labs could lose 110 jobs, Compulsion Games could lose 90 jobs, and Ninja Theory could lose 135 jobs.
Other divisions such as Blizzard, Bethesda and other first-party studios are also expected to be with “percentage layoffs,” with one source familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak stating that this “is likely “the biggest single cut series for Xbox.”
Backing up this claim by GamesBeat is Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, who revealed on Bluesky that, “The massive Xbox layoffs won’t happen until after the fiscal year ends, but the company is already ending contracts and cutting vendors. So Assembly, Xbox’s main PR agency, is laying people off today.”
This seems to be part of Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s “reset” of Xbox after taking over the post from Phil Spencer earlier this year. Aside from layoffs, Sharma has also initiated the return of console exclusives, with more planned once the Xbox business is in a healthier state.
Sharma’s boss, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, has echoed Sharma’s sentiment and even went as far as to say that there’s more monetization of Xbox games happening on YouTube than at the company.
If these reported massive layoffs do hit, which seems to be an inevitability now, it further adds to the bad press Xbox has received lately, with the latest one being the increase in the price of Xbox consoles set to take effect on August 1.
We’ll know more about this tomorrow and within the week, and once more reports surface, we’ll let our readers know.
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