Microsoft's Xbox division is going through another round of layoffs. According to a company-wide email sent by the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, the role eliminations are to ensure a "sustainable future growth" for the games division. However, games and studios are unaffected this time.
"For the past year, our goal has been to minimize disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work," says Phil Spencer in the internal email acquired by The Verge. "As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming — mostly corporate and supporting functions — to organize our business for long term success."
The acquisition Spencer mentions is the almost $70 billion deal to bring Activision Blizzard and all its studios under the Xbox wing last year. In January of this year, a massive round of layoffs at Activision-Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox Studios saw 1,900 employees lose their positions. This also resulted in the shutdown of Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios from Bethesda.
However, in the latest internal email, Spencer directly says that "no games, devices or experiences" are being canceled this time, and no Xbox game development studios are being closed.
"With these changes, our corporate and supporting teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth, and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs," adds Spencer. "Separately, as part of running the business, there are some impacts to other teams as they adapt to shifting priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games."
The employees being let go are receiving exit packages that include "severance, extended healthcare, and outplacement services to help with their transition."
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