Microsoft has begun laying off more staff at Xbox today, beginning with King and ZeniMax.
Bloomberg reports that ten percent of King’s workforce has been let go, which translates to around 200 employees. According to Windows Central, ZeniMax is facing cuts to its marketing departments in London and Maryland, but right now, we don’t have exact figures on how many staff have been laid off. However, Jason Schreier stated on BlueSky that there’s “more to come” later today.
King was part of the historic $75 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition.
Variety, meanwhile, reported that the total number of staff impacted is “under 4% of Microsoft’s global workforce”, which is roughly 9,100 employees. Included among those numbers are employees at Rare, as VGC reports that Everwild has been cancelled after a decade of development. There are no further specifics on who else has been affected at this time.
Phil Spencer’s Statement On The Xbox Layoffs
BREAKING: Mass layoffs at Xbox have started. Candy Crush maker King told employees that it is cutting 10% of staff, or 200 jobs. Bethesda’s Europe offices were hit too. U.S. offices are expected to inform people this morning. More to come shortly www.bloomberg.com/news/article…
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier.bsky.social) 2025-07-02T12:49:18.530Z
Regarding the layoffs, Xbox head Phil Spencer had this to say in an internal memo to staff, which was viewed and shared by Variety: “To position gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end/decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility & effectiveness.
“I recognise that these changes come at a time when we have more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before. Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger. The success we’re seeing currently is based on tough decisions we’ve made previously. We must make choices now for continued success in future years, and a key part of that strategy is the discipline to prioritise the strongest opportunities. We will protect what is thriving and concentrate effort on areas with the greatest potential, while delivering on the expectations the company has for our business.”
This continues the unfortunate trend of mass layoffs that we’ve been seeing repeatedly at Microsoft since 2023, when 10,000 people, including Xbox and Bethesda employees, were laid off. That same year, shortly after the ABK deal was finalised, 1,900 developers were let go, with a further 650 following suit. Last year, in May, Microsoft even shuttered four of its studios: Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Games. And in the last two months alone, Microsoft has laid off more than 6,000 employees.
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