Microsoft have announced that they will be laying off 1,900 people in their gaming division, following its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard just over three months ago.
Activision Blizzard has offices in both Dublin and Cork, but it is yet unclear if and how they will be affected.
Microsoft Job Losses Could Have Huge Affect In Dublin & Cork
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in an internal memo that it was a 'painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team'.
However, the reasoning he gave was very much just shallow 'business-speak':
'As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business.'
The news continues a sad current trend in the gaming industry. Riot Games, the developers of League of Legends, recently announced that they will be cutting 11% of their global workforce, while there have been a large number of job losses at gaming engine maker Unity and the streaming site Twitch.
Estimates place the total number of job losses in the industry at 10,000, but the real number is thought to be higher.
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former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says he plans to "travel the world," after departing Microsoft on the same day 1,900 job cuts - that greatly impacted the Blizzard division that Ybarra oversaw - were announced pic.twitter.com/Yhd48VRQZd
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) January 26, 2024
You can read the rest of the memo below:
'As part of this process, we have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team. The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible.
'The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here. We are grateful for all of the creativity, passion and dedication they have brought to our games, our players and our colleagues.
'We will provide our full support to those who are impacted during the transition, including severance benefits informed by local employment laws. Those whose roles will be impacted will be notified, and we ask that you please treat your departing colleagues with the respect and compassion that is consistent with our values.
'Looking ahead, we’ll continue to invest in areas that will grow our business and support our strategy of bringing more games to more players around the world. Although this is a difficult moment for our team, I’m as confident as ever in your ability to create and nurture the games, stories and worlds that bring players together.'
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