Xbox layoffs draw shock and anger as 3,200 jobs cut
Roughly 3,200 Xbox employees will lose their jobs and four studios are being moved out of Microsoft, prompting shock, sorrow and anger across the games industry.
Xbox’s latest mass layoff will see about 3,200 people lose their jobs — 1,600 immediately and 1,600 over the next fiscal year — and four studios shifted out of Microsoft: Compulsion and Double Fine as independents, and Ninja Theory and Undead Labs under new ownership. Many observers framed the cuts as evidence of flailing leadership at Microsoft and a bleak moment for the industry. Reactions online ranged from a small contingent celebrating the decisions to widespread shock, sorrow, anger and regret. Griffin DeClaire, laid off from Bethesda Game Studios, said the move surprised him after he’d been told he was getting a raise: “I really don’t know what my next steps are,” he wrote on LinkedIn. Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio, who left in 2017 and now runs WolfEye Studios, responded to Sharma’s announcement with dark humor. Obsidian, not mentioned in the announcement, later confirmed on Bluesky that it “lost many excellent developers and wonderful people” in the layoffs.
