In light of the recent mass layoffs across Microsoft – including around 1,600 job cuts at Xbox alone – the company has since started facing more backlash due to its decision to hire more employees through H-1B visas. Taking to social media, the company’s communications lead, Frank Shaw, has said that the visa applications have little to do with Xbox itself and that there is “lots of bad information out there.”
In his attempt to offer more clarification on matters, Shaw has said that the layoffs at Xbox were for the sake of restructuring the division “because it is not healthy”. He noted that there have been no plans to replace employees with foreign workers. The H-1B visas, on the other hand, are stated to not be specific to Xbox. Rather, they “represent a small percentage of Microsoft’s overall workforce.” The fact that the majority of laid-off roles weren’t American also plays into this.
As for Xbox’s contributions to the American workforce, Shaw said that the company is the “largest employer of American workers” in the gaming industry and that it is generally the largest gaming company in the country. To dissuade any further misunderstandings, he has also made note of the fact that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma “is an American born, raised, and educated CEO from Wisconsin.”
Microsoft’s applications for more H-1B visa employees have been facing quite a bit of scrutiny from some, with even the US government announcing last year that it would attempt to overhaul the system, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Xbox’s layoffs have been quite sweeping, with Sharma announcing that there are around 1,600 more job cuts for the rest of the fiscal year, bringing the total up to 3,200. She also confirmed that the company is letting go of four of its studios – Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Double Fine Productions.
“I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building Xbox,” she said in an internal email that was then published publicly. “Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved Xbox. Today’s decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.”
Recent reports have indicated that, with the sheer number of jobs that have been affected, along with plans for more layoffs, morale among developers working under the Xbox umbrella has started dipping. According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, “Knowing that a second wave of job cuts could come at any time has led to panic and anxiety among the thousands of people who work at the company.”
“The staff who remain are being asked to do more with less — and if they don’t, they fear it could be used as a reason to be fired in the next round,” he continued.
Among the studios to have been hit by these layoffs is id Software, which lost many of its programmers and engineers. Despite this, however, reports have indicated that Xbox still plans to use the studio’s proprietary id Tech game engine for future projects.
