Microsoft has been laying off employees since completing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard a few months ago to strengthen its position in the video game market, competing with leader Sony. Activision Blizzard is behind some famous titles such as Call of Duty and Diablo.
Microsoft is laying off 1,900 employees across its Activision Blizzard and Xbox divisions. |
The US tech giant said the latest cuts affect 8% of its Microsoft Gaming division and are mostly from Activision Blizzard's development team. Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Design Director Allen Adham are also leaving the company, while a previously announced survival game has also been canceled.
The layoffs are part of a larger “execution plan” to reduce overlap within the company, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer explained, adding that Microsoft will provide full support to all affected employees.
Previously, a series of giants in the technology industry such as Alphabet, Amazon, eBay also laid off thousands of employees in recent weeks to cut costs as well as increase profits. According to information from the layoff tracking website Layoffs.fyi, in January, more than 21,000 employees at 76 technology companies lost their jobs.
The tech industry is set to cut 168,032 jobs in 2023, the most of any industry, according to a report by recruiting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas earlier this month. Of those, more than 10,000 will come from Microsoft.
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