Microsoft’s Massive Layoffs Affect Xbox With Studio Closures and Game Cancellations
Xbox has been hit with yet another wave of layoffs, as Microsoft announced today that it would be cutting 9,000 jobs across its entire company, impacting several industries in which it operates.
This includes their Xbox Gaming division, which has seen many of its studios impacted by the layoffs, to the extent that multiple games have been cancelled, along with a studio closure.
Perfect Dark Goes Back Into the Shadows After Microsoft Shuts Its Studio Down
Today is a sad day for the gaming industry, as more layoffs have been confirmed. Specifically with Microsoft, as they confirmed today that they were laying off over 9,000 employees, with it also impacting their gaming division.
While the exact total of employees who were laid off at Xbox is still being tallied, we do know that the scope of the layoffs is pretty devastating, as it has resulted in the cancellation of multiple projects, including Perfect Dark, which also came with the news that The Initiative was closing its doors after nearly seven years since it was founded.
A summary of today’s events can be found below, listing every known studio affected by layoffs and every cancelled game.
- Up to 9000 employees were let go from Microsoft as a whole (not just their gaming division)
- The Initiative closed, and Perfect Dark was cancelled
- Rare layoffs with Everwild cancelled
- Blizzard layoffs.
- 50% (more than 70 employees) at Turn 10 were laid off.
- Call of Duty studios Raven and Sledgehammer impacted by layoffs.
- 50% of the Xbox User Research team has been laid off.
- New Zenimax online IP cancelled with layoffs at both King and Zenimax.
Despite reporting a substantial $25.8 billion profit last quarter, this is Microsoft’s fourth major layoff event in 18 months, raising questions about their long-term strategy and the stability of game development under their umbrella. The cancellation of highly anticipated titles like Perfect Dark and Everwild, alongside an unannounced Zenimax online IP, and the outright closure of The Initiative studio after seven years without a shipped game, paints a somewhat worrisome picture, as it calls into question the future of Xbox and the welfare of its development studios will look like.
I wish I could say the worst is over, but something tells me there’s plenty more layoffs to come in the few months left of this year, not just from Xbox, but from others in the gaming industry as well.
While layoffs have made a ton of jobs redundant at the company, Microsoft is also raising prices of its gaming products, with the Xbox division’s first $80 game announced last month.
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