The downsizing of Microsoft's gaming division continues. More layoffs are coming to Xbox after the closure of Tango Gameworks (creators of Hi-Fi Rush), Arkane Austin (Redfall), Roundhouse Games (helped with The Elder Scrolls Online) and Alpha Dog Studios (Mighty DOOM).
At the beginning of this week and at this hour, Microsoft Gaming has an unspecified number of employees receive noticessays journalist Tom Warren from The Verge server.
Warren was responding to the announcement of Jessabird (as she calls herself on X) on the X social network that her position at Xbox had been canceled. According to Warren, Jesse should have learned about the firing during her vacation.
We don't currently know how many people are affected by the new wave of layoffs at Xbox. As part of the previous big wave, there were approx 1900 people, including from Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda and Activision Blizzard. We were later informed by unofficial sources that it does not end there.
“Closing any team is hard on the individual and the team,” Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft Gaming, said after the previous layoff, noting that he didn't comment on the matter earlier for a good reason: his focus was on those teams and their employees.
“Obviously it's a decision that's very painful for them and I want to make sure through the severance and other things that we're doing the right thing for the individuals in the team. It's not about my PR, it's not about Xbox PR. It's about those teams,” he added.