Xbox gears up for yet another round of layoffs

This would be the fourth round of cuts at Microsoft’s gaming platform.

By Matt Schimkowitz | June 24, 2025 | 2:00pm

Photo by Emanuele Cremaschi (Getty Images)

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Xbox gears up for yet another round of layoffs

The only thing Microsoft likes more than forcing AI features on Outlook customers is laying people off. Per Bloomberg, the tech giant is gearing up for its fourth round of firings at its Xbox division, with managers reportedly expecting “substantial cuts” to its various teams; however, it’s unclear which will be hit. The news comes about a month after Microsoft announced a 3% reduction in workforce, amounting to 7,000 workers who would lose their jobs. It also arrives less than a year after Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Candy Crush and Call Of Duty makers, Activision Blizzard, in October.

Microsoft is both the world’s largest publisher of game content and is also in “full retreat” from the hardware business, according to Kotaku, leading to massive restructurings throughout its gaming division. In the lead up to its big acquisition, Microsoft wrecked 2,000 lives in January 2024, shuttered several gaming studios in May, and cut 650 more jobs in September. During that time, they’ve also begun licensing popular Xbox games, like Gears Of War, to PS5 and, you guessed it, raising prices. In 2023, CEO Satya Nadella announced 10,000 layoffs, the second largest in company history. Microsoft’s dream of Agentic AI better work because, if not, the company won’t have anyone left to make its products.