Earlier this week, word got out that Microsoft was going to lay off even more of its workers in its gaming division. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer sent out a memo revealing that 650 people in that part of the company would lose their jobs.
Spencer's memo stated that the team members that were affected were "mostly corporate and supporting functions." However, gaming journalist Stephen Totilo posted word on his Game File newsletter that these new layoffs would indeed affect some members of two of Microsoft's mobile teams.
He claims that some team members working on Call of Duty Warzone Mobile were laid off. The game, which launched in March for iOS and Android, had 50 million preregistrations. However, Totilo reports the game has not been as popular as expected since the launch. While it will continue, the development team has reportedly been scaled down.
The other mobile team that had members laid off this week is Warcraft Rumble. The mobile game, based on Blizzard's fantasy game franchise, first launched worldwide in November 2023. The tower defense-based game will now reportedly move from its "launch" status to "live-ops."
This is just the latest job cuts that the Microsoft Gaming division has held since it completed the Activision Blizzard merger in October 2023. In January, Microsoft cut 1,900 jobs from the division. As part of those layoffs, Blizzard canceled its unnamed survival game that was several years into development.
In April, Microsoft closed Microsoft three of Bethesda Softworks' studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios. Another Bethesda studio, Roundhouse Games was merged into the ZeniMax Online Studios team. There was some good news for some of those laid off. In August Krafton announced it would hire a number of Tango Gameworks members, along with the rights to the team's Hi-Fi Rush game.
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