Microsoft is laying off 1,900 workers in its gaming division just three months after it acquired gaming giant Activision Blizzard in a $69bn (£54.3bn) deal.
As first reported by tech website The Verge, Microsoft is cutting roughly 8% of its gaming workforce, primarily roles at Activision Blizzard, but also some Xbox and ZeniMax employees.
In an internal memo, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the teams needed to have a “sustainable cost structure”.
“Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth,” the memo said.
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“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.”
The staff affected by job losses will receive redundancy packages “informed by local employment laws”.
Blizzard’s president, Mike Ybarra, and chief design officer Allen Adham have resigned from the company.
Other major game developers including Riot Games, Google and Unity have recently announced job cuts.
There has been a wave of redundancies in the wider tech space. This week eBay announced 1,000 job losses, and earlier in January Amazon said it would cut roles in subsidiaries including Prime Video and Twitch.
In January 2023 Microsoft announced it was cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide.
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