Major Tech brands have been making major cutbacks recently to deal with the diminishing economy and the effects of over-hiring during the pandemic. This, unfortunately, often impacts thousands of workers at a time. According to a new memo discovered by The Verge, Microsoft is planning on laying off 1900 jobs across several gaming divisions. Activision Blizzard will face the most significant cutbacks.
This should come as no surprise, as many tech companies have been laying off a ton of people. Recently, Google laid off over a thousand employees, and this prompted a ton of backlash from the tech industry. Google even said that more job cuts are yet to come, so many workers are worried.
Microsoft is laying off 1900 jobs from several gaming divisions
This is a move that is definitely going to prompt some major backlash for Microsoft, given which division is taking the biggest hit. Many of the employees being laid off are from Activision Blizzard. Throughout 2022 and 2023, there was a ton of drama surrounding Microsoft’s nearly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The case went on for over a year, and the deal was completed around three months ago. So, just months after buying the company, Microsoft starts shedding jobs.
We’re not sure how much of the nearly 2000 layoffs occurred at Activision Blizzard. All we know is that this division was hit the hardest. Other divisions include Xbox and ZeniMax. As per usual, the folks being laid off will get the appropriate severance packages, which is good. In the report, there was no word of employees being offered different positions within the company.
There is also a leadership shake-up
Mike Ybarra, the president of Blizzard, has decided to step down from his role. Ybarra spent more than 20 years at Microsoft; he was a sign the president of Blizzard throughout the acquisition. “Now that he has seen the acquisition through as Blizzard’s president, he has decided to leave the company”, said Microsoft’s game content and studios president, Matt Booty.
Along with Ybarra, Blizzard’s Chief design officer, Alan Adham, is also leaving. So, Microsoft is in the process of finding replacement roles.
With the layoffs comes more bad news, as the announced survival game that Blizzard was working on has been canceled. It was just another casualty in this current batch of rolling layoffs. At this point, it’s tough to imagine that layoffs will end anytime soon. Back in 2023, the tech industry experienced more than a quarter million layoffs. Hopefully, this year will not see higher numbers. We’ll just have to wait and see.