Microsoft has announced they’re laying off thousands of employees from their global workforce, affecting as much as 4% of their total workforce.
The Xbox-maker made the announcement to lay off thousands of employees, roughly 9,000 in total, according to a new report from The Seattle Times.
The new layoffs will affect their Microsoft Gaming division, which runs their Xbox brand, though it remains to be seen how many staff are let go from each division.
“To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness,” Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer said in an internal memo obtained by The Verge. “Out of respect for those impacted today, the specifics of today’s notifications and any organizational shifts will be shared by your team leaders in the coming days.”
Spencer added, “I recognize 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 prioritize 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 focused approach means we can deliver exceptional games and experiences for players for generations to come.”
While Microsoft has been making numerous cuts to their workforce by claiming its to secure their future success and growth, the firings are immediately followed by mass filings for foreign visas, mostly H-1B applicants, who can be employed for a fraction of the cost of American workers.
Prior to this round of layoffs and previous rounds of layoffs, Microsoft applied for over ten thousand Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) in the latest quarter alone.
LCA’s are the formal application process to later hire foreign workers as H-1B applicants. Furthermore, it’s worth noting Microsoft is now the third-biggest filer of foreign labor applicants behind Amazon and Nvidia.
The new round of layoffs come after months and months of layoffs at the company, with thousands cut after their big Activision Blizzard acquisition and entire studios getting shut down, including Tango Gameworks. Microsoft Gaming previously had cuts, too.
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