On January 25, local time, it was reported that Microsoft will lay off about 1,900 employees in its gaming division this week, most of whom will come to Auto Blizzard, but a small number of employees of Xbox and ZeniMax will also be affected.。At the same time, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra also announced his departure, and their upcoming survival game "Odyssey" (Odyssey) has also been cancelled development。

In total, Microsoft's gaming division employs about 22,000 people, and the layoffs are about 8 percent of its total.。Earlier, Microsoft's official website announced that it will continue to integrate related businesses in the coming weeks after completing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.。

Next week, Microsoft will report second-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings, which for the first time will include the impact of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard。

Game business executives are leaving

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Games, confirmed the job cuts in an internal memo and said the restructuring aims to reduce unnecessary "areas of overlap" and allow the division to better apply a "sustainable cost structure that supports the entire growing business," thereby optimizing the company's structure and improving operational efficiency.。Microsoft also promised that for affected employees, Microsoft will provide reasonable compensation and transfer opportunities in accordance with local labor laws.。

On the same day, news of the company's departure came from its top management.。Matt Booty, Microsoft's vice president of gaming, wrote in a separate memo that Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Chief Design Officer Allen Adham (one of Blizzard's co-founders) will also leave the company.。Confirming the news on social media, Ybarra said it was "an honor to lead the company through an incredible time" and that he would return as the company's "most loyal fan."。

In October 2023, Microsoft finally completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and King for $68.7 billion after more than 20 months of confrontation with regulators.。Among them, Activision Blizzard is the developer and publisher of large games such as Call of Duty, and its mobile game subsidiary King is the developer of Candy Crush.。

According to rough statistics, Activision, Blizzard and King each had about 8,500, 6,000 and 2,500 people who were subsequently incorporated into Microsoft, bringing the total number of people in Microsoft's entire gaming division to 2..180,000, but Activision CEO Bobby Kotick leaves without being directly replaced。

Microsoft's share price was essentially flat after the layoffs were revealed, in part because layoffs are usually made after large mergers and acquisitions, and the acquisition is Microsoft's largest-ever deal, more than double the 2016 bid for LinkedIn (LinkedIn).。

An anonymous employee revealed that Microsoft had slashed its gaming team's marketing budget before the layoff plan was implemented。The layoffs have had a very serious impact on two parts of the gaming business - one in charge of Xbox physical game distribution and sales, and the other in Activision Blizzard's customer service department.。The two units are said to be largely closed, while Microsoft has outsourced the rest of the work to overseas companies.。

Given the exposure of the Xbox Series X, a purely digital version of the console, and the fact that Xbox's recent Hi-Fi Rush and upcoming Hell's Blade 2: Saina's Epic will not be released in a physical version, it is clear that Microsoft may focus only on digital game distribution in the future;。

Odyssey development interrupted

As part of the reorganization, Blizzard's previously released survival game "Odyssey" has also stopped development, and some developers will be transferred to new projects.。

Matt Booty said: "Today's layoffs affect multiple teams within Blizzard, including the development team, shared services and corporate functions.。As part of the strategic realignment, Blizzard will terminate its ongoing development of the survival game project and transfer some of its employees to new projects in early development.。"

Before the cancellation of the project, "Odyssey" has been developed for more than 6 years, since the date of the announcement has been the attention of the majority of players, and Blizzard's new and old employees are full of praise for the work.。On the one hand, it is Blizzard's first new original IP since the launch of "Overwatch" in 2016; on the other hand, it also reflects Blizzard's attempt to get rid of "Diablo," "Warcraft," "Overwatch" and "StarCraft" and other classic series of over-reliance, the intention to open up a new direction of development。

Today, however, Blizzard is facing the dual dilemma of game hacking and developer unemployment.。"I and many members of the development team have been fired by Blizzard," wrote Matt London, former deputy narrative director of "Odyssey," and game director Craig Amai, senior concept artist Marby Kwong, designer Ates Bayrak, senior software engineer Renato Iwashima, visual effects artist Rachel Quitevis, producer Megan Embree and others were all swept away.。

At present, the company has not disclosed the reason for the cancellation of the game, nor has it disclosed which new projects the diversion team members are responsible for, but it is clear that Blizzard is facing an internal restructuring and strategic shift, and it remains to be seen where it will go in the future.。

The game industry faces an eventful

As economic pressures increase, tech investors are beginning to expect greater efficiency and clearer growth strategies。

There are reports that the tech sector is the industry with the largest layoffs in 2023 (16.80,000), and at the beginning of the same year, Microsoft announced 10,000 layoffs, or 5% of the total number of employees at the time.。

Layoffs in the industry continue in 2024, but most are unrelated to mergers or restructurings, and tech giants such as Alphabet and Amazon have recently announced layoffs。

Earlier this week, Riot Games, maker of League of Legends, announced it would cut 11% of its workforce (about 530 jobs); Amazon's video game streaming site Twitch said it would cut about 500 jobs; and popular video game chat software developer Discord will also cut 17% (170 jobs) this month.。

Industry experts believe the trend stems in large part from the post-epidemic cost-of-living crisis and the shrinking gaming industry, and expect layoffs to fall this year.。

As for the new round of layoffs, the Communications Workers Association (CWA) commented: "This clearly shows that even working in an extremely profitable industry and a successful company, without a voice, livelihoods cannot be guaranteed.。"