Microsoft Gaming lays off 1,900 staff as Blizzard president Mike Ybarra resigns

Microsoft

Microsoft has announced they’re laying off 1,900 employees throughout Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, a few months after acquiring the company.

The latest round of industry layoffs will affect 8 percent of Microsoft Gaming’s roughly 22,000 total employees. Most of the staff affected are at Activision Blizzard, though some Xbox and ZeniMax staff are affected as well.


“We have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in an internal memo (via The Verge). “The Gaming Leadership Team and I are committed to navigating this process as thoughtfully as possible. The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished here.”

Alongside the layoffs, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has decided to resign after decades at Microsoft. Blizzard plans to name a new president next week, though chief design officer Allen Adham is also resigning.

Lastly, Blizzard’s unannounced survival game has been canceled alongside the layoffs as Microsoft Gaming Content and Studios president Matt Booty said they’ll be “shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”

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