Following Microsoft’s mass layoffs from just a couple of months ago, the company is now seemingly getting ready for another round of job cuts. According to The Information, the company is getting ready to eliminate hundreds of employees across “several” of the studios under the Xbox banner.
The publication has noted that Xbox hasn’t yet responded to any requests for comment regarding its reported layoffs. The proceedings will also result in some of the studios being joined together.
Which studios are going to be affected by the company’s new round of layoffs remains unknown, but reports have indicated that Blizzard is set to be hit, with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier noting in a recent episode of the 8-4 Play podcast that cuts at the World of Warcraft developer are “imminent”.
The company had gone through 1,600 job cuts in July, affecting studios like id Software, Bethesda, and many others in the process. However, at the time, CEO Asha Sharma had said that Xbox would be going through roughly 1,600 more job cuts before the end of the fiscal year.
“I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building Xbox,” said Sharma in a statement at the time. “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.”
The layoffs were the result of Xbox’s business not being healthy, with margins that were noted as being 3-10 times lower than “comparable platform and publishing businesses.”
“As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset Xbox.”
Along with the job cuts, Microsoft also divested itself of four of its studios – Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, Double Fine Productions, and Undead Labs.
When discussing the idea of “resetting Xbox”, Sharma also announced that the division was getting a brand-new COO – Helen Chiang – who took over the position from Dave McCarthy, who has since retired after having worked at the company for 17 years.
“She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results,” said Sharma.
Reports indicating Blizzard might be one of the companies under Xbox to be hit with a round of layoffs are quite interesting, since the studio announced some ambitious plans for many of its IPs a couple of weeks ago. During its BlizzCon 2026 opening ceremony, the studio announced that it is working on Diablo 5 – slated for a 2029 release – as well as a shooter set in the sci-fi setting of StarCraft that is set for a 2030 release.
Currently, Blizzard is gearing up to release its next major content update for World of Warcraft: Midnight, as well as its new take on World of Warcraft Classic, dubbed World of Warcraft Forever. The latter is set to go live on November 4th.
