Microsoft has announced another round of job cuts, with around 500 employees affected this time as part of its ongoing restructuring. The company had already carried out a major round of layoffs in July which affected around 4,800 employees globally. Xbox executive Matt Booty has confirmed that 268 roles are being eliminated across Xbox Game Studios in the current round of layoffs. Aside from that, a smaller number of jobs have also been affected in other Microsoft divisions, which includes the cloud and AI divisions. However, Microsoft has not only announced job cuts this time but also, alongside that, the company has also announced changes on how several Xbox studios operate, with some teams being merged or moved under larger groups.
According to an internal memo shared with Xbox employees, the company confirms that they are eliminating 268 roles as part of its Xbox reset started by their CEO Asha Sharma. The fresh job cuts affect employees from Halo Studios, other first-party studios, the management and central functions supporting Xbox Game Studios.
Microsoft says about three-quarters of the planned changes have now been completed. The company had already started cutting jobs in its gaming division earlier this year. Not only that but the latest changes will also bring several studios under bigger groups and reduce the number of separate teams and business units.
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Apart from the job cuts, the memo also outlined changes to how some of Microsoft’s gaming studios will operate. Activision will now oversee World’s Edge and Rare. It will also work on the next Halo game through a new team created specifically for the project. Meanwhile, a smaller team at Halo Studios will continue to support existing Halo games and the community.
Bethesda will take charge of Obsidian, which will continue working on projects such as Grounded and a new Fallout game being developed with Bethesda Game Studios. King will oversee Microsoft Casual Games. Playground Games and Turn 10 will also be merged into a single studio focused on the Forza and Fable franchises.
Microsoft also provided an update on its plans to move some studios outside the company. Compulsion Games and Double Fine have already returned to independent management along with their intellectual property and back catalogues.
Undead Labs has also completed a similar transition. The studio will continue work on State of Decay 3, which is planned to launch day one on Game Pass with a new publisher.
However, Microsoft said two proposed deals involving Ninja Theory did not go through. The company will now begin discussions with employees about a possible closure while continuing to look for other options. Consultation with Arkane is also continuing and is expected to run through the end of the year.