Including people at Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox
Given that Microsoft havespent considerable time and effortbecoming the biggest cock-of-the-walk possible, it does, I suppose, make sense that their layoffs are correspondingly massive. In an internal memo obtained byThe Verge, Phil Spencer is very sad to reveal to the staff that, in order to grow, the combined powers of Microsoft’s 22k-strong Gaming Division have to be denuded to the tune of 1,900 human beings. That amounts to about 8% of the division.
Oh, Icarus. “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,” says Phil. “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.” Presumably, because this is a move to “strengthen growth”, all these people can apply for their old jobs in a few years, once sufficient growth has been achieved.
The move, which Phil describes as “a painful decision”, comes a few years after Microsoftbought ZeniMax(a nesting doll that included Bethesda, what madeStarfieldandThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim) but only about three months after Microsoft managed to acquire Activision Blizzard for a nearly-memetastic amount of $68.7 billion. It sort of makes sense. Shrinking headcount is often one of the first things a business does when it has eaten a smaller, weaker one. Plus, Microsoft have form on this. At almost the same time last year they announced a jaw-dropping10,000 layoffsover the whole company.
