Microsoft has announced that it has cut 4,800 jobs – that’s about 2.1% of its workforce – with Xbox bearing the bulk of its latest layoffs.
Microsoft Executive Vice President Amy Coleman told employees in a memo that the tech giant needs to focus on areas it can deliver for customers amid a “rapidly changing industry.”
The widespread layoffs will result in the immediate elimination of more than 1,600 roles at Xbox.
Asha Sharma, who recently took over as chief executive of Xbox, said in a note to employees that this is “the beginning of the most significant restructuring in the history of Xbox”.
In a note shared on Twitter, Sharma said another 1,600 jobs will be lost in the coming year., external.
He said four Xbox game development studios – Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory and Undead Lab – would also be separated as part of the change.
“These changes are about the big future of Xbox, not the small future,” Sharma said.
“History is replete with companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We won’t be one of them.”
Meanwhile, Coleman pointed to the changing needs of customers when announcing Microsoft’s company-wide cuts.
He said, “Companies don’t have to choose whether their industry changes; they only have to choose whether they change with it.”
He said that although the company would not replace lost roles with AI, “what is true is that AI is changing the way work is done”.
