This is the third year in a row Microsoft has laid off workers in January.
Business Insider reports Microsoft is eliminating positions across the company. Two sources speaking to the outlet claimed these reductions were "small," and will affect its security, video game, and sales divisions.
It's unclear what "small" means in this context, considering Microsoft's size and the various divisions and companies under its umbrella. When it laid off 1,900 employees in January 2024, the company noted it had 22,000 staff in its video game division.
Last week, Microsoft confirmed upcoming layoffs to Business Insider targeting "underperforming" employees. Today's cuts are apparently unrelated to those terminations.
For Microsoft, this marks its third consecutive year of laying off video game workers. Around this time in 2023, it laid off 10,000 employees from its overall workforce. First-party Xbox teams like 343 Industries (now Halo Studios), The Coalition, and Bethesda Game Studios were impacted. 343 was said at the time to be hit the hardest, which prompted several ex-developers to claim Microsoft had mismanaged the studio during Halo Infinite's development.
Last year, Microsoft laid off an eye-popping number of workers after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. At the time, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said the staff cuts would ensure it and Activision leadership were "all aligned on the best opportunities for growth."
Cuts continued into 2024, with Microsoft closing Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks and laying off corporate workers and support staff. Last May, Microsoft admitted it spread itself too thin after the Activision acquisition and began offering some workers buyouts.
It was Arkane and Tango's shutdowns that drew the most criticism from the industry. At the time, the Communications Workers of America said those closures should further spur game developers to unionize. The union had previously commended Microsoft for not interfering with the forming of unions across its various subsidiaries. It later condemned the tech company for lacking "respect and compassion" by cutting so many jobs.
Business Insider's latest story did not provide a reason as to why Microsoft is cutting staff in its game division. Its sources mainly focused on the cuts to the company's security team, but had no insight for the other two divisions.
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