Microsoft Layoffs: Company to Cut Around 9,000 Jobs

As previously reported by anonymous sources last week, Microsoft has begun another round of layoffs this Wednesday (02), affecting around 3% of its global workforce, with 9,000 job cuts announced. This is the fourth round of layoffs at Xbox in the last 18 months, and these layoffs come against the backdrop of Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October 2023. The Stockholm-based King division of Microsoft, famous for Candy Crush, is laying off 10% of its staff, representing roughly 200 jobs. This means that 200 people will start July unemployed within the division. Other European companies under the Xbox division, such as Zenimax, have also been affected, but the exact number of people laid off from them is still unknown. The same goes for the US-based Xbox studios: we know they’ll be impacted by the layoffs, but we don’t know the precise number of people affected. Up to this day, the Xbox division had a total of 20,000 employees.

As reporter Jason Schreier states on Bluesky, the Zenimax firings led to the cancellation of the company’s new MMORPG, internally known as “Blackbird.” The game was not officially announced to the public but had been in development since 2018. Another game, Everwild, from Rare, which was officially announced in November 2019, was also canceled as a result of these layoffs. In an email to employees, Phil Spencer (CEO of the entire gaming division within the company) stated that the future of the Xbox division within Microsoft has never been more secure, but that cuts are necessary to ensure the company’s future success. Meanwhile, around 11% of game developers lost their jobs in 2024, as the gaming industry continues to experience a period of mass layoffs worldwide. However, this period in Brazil is marked by the approval of the Video Game Law, pioneering legislation that positively impacts the entire electronic game production chain in the country. Both these stories are covered by Pedro Zambarda, editor-in-chief of PlayersForLife, in the book “Video Game Crash: From the Video Game Law to Mass Layoffs,” and you can already secure your copy on Amazon. Check out our crowdfunding campaign, our YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram channels for PlayersForLife Games. Microsoft’s profits have been on a steady upward trajectory, with the company reporting over $25 billion in net income in its last quarterly report.