Industry news is definitely gloomy and the situation is not about to improve. Microsoft in turn announces a wave of layoffs and the cancellation of a game.
The video game industry is experiencing a real slaughter. Since last year, layoff announcements have been piling up, almost all of which are alarmingly violent. Riot Games revealed just the day before yesterday the elimination of some 530 jobs, or 10% of its workforce. The gluttonous Embracer, who had an overflowing appetite for takeovers, is now spitting thousands into the wild. Black Forest Games, which is working on the famous TMNT Last Ronin, is the latest to pay the price for this nauseating policy, with 50% of employees having been affected. It is now Microsoft’s turn to make cuts among all Xbox Studios, even its latest: Activision-Blizzard.
1,900 jobs cut at Xbox
After months of battle, Microsoft proudly announced the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard in October 2023. A historic acquisition worth almost 70 billion dollars, which will ultimately result in numerous layoffs a few months later. The Redmond firm has announced internally the elimination of 1,900 jobs across its various studios, or around 8% of the workforce in its gaming division. The most impacted remain Activision Blizzard, but employees of Xbox and ZeniMax will also bear the brunt of these budget cuts. In a memo sent to employees and obtained by The Verge, Phil Spencer cites a strategy focused on sustainable costs in order to “support all of their activities”. Impacted employees will receive compensation according to local laws, but internally no one yet knows who will be impacted or not.
Going forward, we will continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. While this is a difficult time for our team, I have more confidence than ever in your ability to create and maintain the games, stories, and worlds that bring players together.
– Phil Spencer in a memo sent to Xbox Studios employees
Blizzard game canceled
In an email seen by Bloomberg, Rob Kostich, head of publishing at Activision, specifies that these cuts were necessary to “ reset and refocus our resources going forward “. Blizzard for its part should also be strongly impacted by these layoffs. Mike Ybarra, president for more than 20 years, has made the decision to leave the company, as has Allen Adham, one of the company’s founders. In an internal memo, Matt Booty of Xbox Studios indicates that a new president will be elected next week. Jason Schreier reports that survival game Odyssey, in development for over 6 years, was outright canceled in the process. It would have been Blizzard’s first new license since Overwatch, it will ultimately never see the light of day.