According to Game File, Microsoft is laying off approximately 650 employees from its gaming teams. Phil Spencer shared this with staff members in a company-wide email today, September 12. The head of gaming also stressed that “no games, devices, or experiences” will be canceled as a result of the job cuts.
“As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming—mostly corporate and supporting functions—to organize our business for long-term success,” Spencer wrote in the email, which was shared on IGN.
“With these changes, our corporate and supporting teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth, and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs.
Separately, as part of running the business, there are some impacts to other teams as they adapt to shifting priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games. No games, devices or experiences are being canceled and no studios are being closed as part of these adjustments today.”
Today, Xbox announced that it would be bringing back classic friend requests, not seen on the console since the Xbox 360.
“Throughout our team’s history, we have had great moments, and we have had challenging ones. Today is one of the challenging days. I know that going through more changes like this is hard, but even in the most trying times, this team has been able to come together and show one another care and kindness as we work to continue delivering for our players,” Spencer concluded.