Bonum Certa Men Certa

Contrary to What Microsoft Claims, Teams Were Cut Yesterday, XBox Sales Have Collapsed, Layoffs Announced at 3AM (in the Morning)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Sep 14, 2024

Phil Spencer

From "Microsoft cuts major team that develops popular product":

However, during an earnings call on July 30, which discussed the earnings report, Microsoft revealed that its Xbox hardware revenue decreased by about 42% during the quarter and that it expects continued year-over-year declines.

Notice the time of these layoffs (on a weekend almost):

Last night Microsoft announced a third round of layoffs in its gaming division. News coming in from the Microsoft office revealed that it is laying off over 650 employees from its Xbox business. The company revealed that this was a part of continued restructuring following its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Previously, it had even laid off 1,900 employees from Activision Blizzard and Xbox. On top of that four studios were also shut that were acquired during the $7.5 billion Bethesda acquisition in May.

Regarding the time: "Phil Spencer, who is the Chief at Xbox, had informed the team about the layoffs via an internal memo at 3 AM PT. As per the memo, the job cuts would mainly impact corporate and supporting functions such as HR and marketing, rather than game development or studio operations."

Innovative new euphemism: layoffs were "growth" according to him (months ago) and now they are "to minimise disruption":

Phil Spencer Says “Our goal has been to minimise disruption” in 650 Xbox Staff Layoff Mail

There is actually a lot of media coverage about this, unlike prior waves of layoffs at Microsoft.

We previously mentioned this in: Once Again, Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Just Like Every Month This Year) | This is How Bad Things Have Become at Microsoft

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