It will never end. Despite slightly upward results, Microsoft announces a new wave of substantial layoffs, directly impacting Xbox.
The massacre continues at Microsoft. Jason Jason Schreier had warned: a wave of massive layoffs was planned during the day of July 2, 2025. This did not miss, and more than 9,000 employees, or 4% of his payroll, were thanked through all the divisions of the Redmond firm. That of Microsoft Gaming, and by extension Xboxwas heavily impacted.
New layoffs at Xbox
If no specific figure has yet been given, Bloomberg claims that King, a branch dedicated to emblematic mobile games like Candy Crush, is forced to separate from 10% of its workforce, or around 200 employees. According to information from Windows Central, layoffs also took place in the Zenimax Media division (including Bethesda), the marketing teams being directly concerned. Overall, it is the Xbox Studios in their entirety that could be affected by this new wave of layoffs, especially on the side of America.
In a letter sent to employees, Phil Spencer invokes a strategic decision to allow the “sustainability” of the gaming branch and gain agility. Some hierarchical levels will be deleted, when certain activities will end or will be considerably reduced. No other information has been provided for the time being. This umpteenth wave of dismissal comes at a time when Xbox ” To more players, games and hours of games than ever before. Our platform, hardware and our game roadmap have never been so strong. This success is based on difficult decisions that we have taken before “Explains Xbox’s boss in his letter. For the past two years now, Microsoft has thanked more than 20,000 people.
An expected exclusivity canceled
According to VGC sources, the Rare Studio (Sea of Thieves) has also been impacted. The number of posts affected is currently unknown, but these layoffs have led to the outright cancellation ofEverwild. By counting the conceptual phase, the game had been in development for almost a decade. A long -awaited title, but which struggled to find the right direction and which had recently undergone a reboot according to the sources of VGC. Since its announcement in 2019, the exclusivity Xbox had been particularly discreet, but Phil Spencer had wanted to reassure the many players who expected him enormously: ” progress has been mades. Unfortunately we will never see this promising title, however.
Sources : TheVerge, Bloomberg, WindowsCentral, VGC
