MICROSOFT has announced mass layoffs throughout its gaming divisions including developers on Halo, and upcoming game Starfield.
Yesterday (January 18), the company announced that around 10k people would lose their jobs amidst restructuring.
Starfield is one of Xbox’s biggest releases of the year.
Among those affected are industry veterans who have worked at Xbox for more than a decade.
According to a report by Bloomberg, developers from popular studios such as Bethesda and 343 Industries have been affected by the news.
Despite these layoffs, Microsoft still hopes to invest in “emerging industries” such as AI development.
In an email to staff, 343 Industries studio head Pierre Hintze, wrote that the company had “made the difficult decision to restructure elements of our team, which means some roles are being eliminated.”
He continued that the studio would continue to support Halo Infinite’s multiplayer, which has been heavily criticised.
Former senior multiplayer designer for Halo Infinite, Patrick Wren, took to social media to explain why he believes these layoffs were announced.
He says: “The layoffs at 343 shouldn’t have happened and Halo Infinite should be in a better state.
“The reason for both of those things is incompetent leadership up top during Halo Infinite development causing massive stress on those working hard to make Halo the best it can be.
“The people I worked every day with were passionate about Halo and wanted to make something great for the fans. They helped push for a better Halo and got laid off for it.
“Devs still there are working hard on that dream. Be kind to them during this awful time.”
The reason for the layoffs is the current economic downturn, which has financially hit a number of companies.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently sent out an email to staff telling them “the ball is in your court” to recover the company’s losses.
Despite this Microsoft is still going forward with its plan to purchase publisher Activision Blizzard for $69billion (£56billion).
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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