Major layoffs are going on at Microsoft, where around 10,000 people have lost their jobs. This comprises a little less than 5% of the company's total workforce, with layoffs affecting multiple Xbox studios and Bethesda. While the specifics of which divisions suffered the most aren't confirmed, according to a report from Bloomberg, Halo developer 343 Industries was "hit hard". Currently, 343 has been working on content updates for Halo Infinite, and insider reports are claiming that going forward, they won't be in charge of the Halo franchise anymore, while another affected studio, The Coalition, had unannounced projects in the works. Severance packages will be offered to the outgoing employees, which will cost Microsoft about $1.2 billion. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claims that this decision was "difficult, but necessary", and that right now is "showtime" for Microsoft, and that the company and brand need to raise the bar in order to outdo the competition.

Source

 

[FAST6191]

Do people still think we are not in a recession?

Re buying companies only to fire people. Head hunting people to do tech jobs is hard (recruiters maybe wanting notable percentages of annual salary, universities hardly putting out top tier talent that does not need massive further training, competition in the field as well as computers kind of do everything or make everything better if you know what you are doing) so it can be cheaper, quicker or easier to buy a company that already did that, fire the cruft (human resources, marketing, wastrels that sit on Twitter all day, low line support, janitors, lunch lady...) and keep what you want, along with any tech you also want.

 

[Xanthe]

If they have to find ANOTHER company to make the halo games, is it even Halo anymore?

I didn't think I would have to kiss my childhood series goodbye so soon.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

great! now they fire more people than sell games...

 

[subcon959]

around 10,000 people have lost their jobs.​

They could've saved the same amount of money by firing 25 VPs.

 

[eyeliner]

Hehehe... People in here are delusional in thinking that the ones getting axed are truly the ones that are paramount to the projects.
Most are people that knew what was coming, projects that ended or simply weren't profitable.
Companies like Microsoft aren't run by idiots that fire people randomly.
Its hard to be on the chopping block, but Microsoft is one hell of an entry on the resume.

 

[Xzi]

Wow, so it turns out Microsoft bit off more than they could chew or properly manage with all the acquisitions, and they still want to add ActiBlizzard? Gonna be just as despised as EA if they keep it up. I'll certainly never forgive them if they ruin Obsidian.

 

[HellGhast]

If they have to find ANOTHER company to make the halo games, is it even Halo anymore?

I didn't think I would have to kiss my childhood series goodbye so soon.

Good question...that means the last "real" Halo was Halo Reach made by Bungie before they left Xbot, 343 ain't nothing but an interloper

 

[eriol33]

these news made me anxious because I work at a tech company, although the business is smaller and mostly focused in Europe.

 

[Dax_Fame]

I wish they fired 100% of 343. They're useless.

 

[xdarkx]

I doubt anyone here actually care about those that were layoff if there is no change to the Microsoft services/products. Not to mentioned they are not the only company laying off people. A lot of tech companies have been doing the same, such as Google who layoff 12k people today.

 

[DaniPoo]

I kinda want Microsoft to fail even harder for some reason..
I do not like what that have become. I don't like what they are doing with Windows and I don't like their aggressive way of buying up game studios. Yes Sony is doing it as well but that seems more like a response to Microsoft.

And yes buying up studios is something that have been going on for a very long time.
But it's been escalating the last few years.
Bethesda for instance is known to release their games on multiple platforms, (especially Skyrim...) But now they are only allowed to release some of their heavy hitters in Xbox.

It's bullpoop!

 

[krakenx]

Good thing they weren't allowed to buy Activision or else they would have laid off even more.

Mergers/acquisitions are never, ever a good thing. There is no reason why Bethesda should have been affected and if M$ hadn't bought them, they wouldn't have been.

 

[CloudStrife190100]

The halo franchise went downhill when 343 took over sadly.... no surprise there really

 

[Viri]

If you wanna see how much Microsoft cares about Halo, just take a look at the TV show.

 

[Hayato213]

They could've saved the same amount of money by firing 25 VPs.

Not really , Microsoft has a lot high paying software engineers, they did over hired during the pandemic. Software development engineer make 100k+

 

[TraderPatTX]

I guarantee this isn't even in the top 500 horrible things Microsoft has done.

https://nypost.com/2023/01/19/microsoft-held-sting-concert-in-davos-before-layoffs-report/

 

[TomSwitch]

View attachment 348443​

Major layoffs are going on at Microsoft, where around 10,000 people have lost their jobs. This comprises a little less than 5% of the company's total workforce, with layoffs affecting multiple Xbox studios and Bethesda. While the specifics of which divisions suffered the most aren't confirmed, according to a report from Bloomberg, Halo developer 343 Industries was "hit hard". Currently, 343 has been working on content updates for Halo Infinite, and insider reports are claiming that going forward, they won't be in charge of the Halo franchise anymore, while another affected studio, The Coalition, had unannounced projects in the works. Severance packages will be offered to the outgoing employees, which will cost Microsoft about $1.2 billion. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella claims that this decision was "difficult, but necessary", and that right now is "showtime" for Microsoft, and that the company and brand need to raise the bar in order to outdo the competition.

Source

This is the problem with working for US company. They retrench like eating breakfast. It’s just more if business is bad but they do it all the time.

Can’t say for all German company but the one that I worked for did not retrench even when near bankruptcy.

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

Even though they had all those jobs Microsoft still couldn't put out a game last year to save their lives.
While I guess Microsoft will put out Starfield this year (if that doesn't get delayed lol)

 

[yoyoyo69]

Trying to save some pennies after that $68.7 billion spending spree huh?

Exactly. Microsoft recovered quite well the last few years, but I've been fearing them slipping back into old ways.

The one thing I've really been fearful of, is them having full control of gaming, at the moment they basically have control of game streaming (may as well say subscription side of things too).

Every has been putting pressure on Valve/Steam (not a bad thing), Sony were also forced to port games to pc (not a bad thing in itself either). The problem is all of this feeds into more power and control for Microsoft, which has been their long game plan.


They received a very, very large wake up call from Google and the resurgence of Apple, after being so dominant and complacent for decades.

Microsoft have already made quote a few bad decisions this last year and a bit.

No Microsoft IP appeals to me personally, I find them generic and linear, but I can appreciate others do like them. If we allow Microsoft to continue buying up and clearing out, we could end up with a situation much worse than EA, Ubisoft, Squaresoft, TakeTwo/Rockstar, etc. They have much, much more power and control now.


Its looking like over the next decade, we could have gaming consolidated into the same package we have for mobile. ONLY 3 to 4 enormous players, who dictate what goes.

 

[adamred]

I saw that on my local news this morning