Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Gaming Division Staff Including Blizzard President Mike Ybarra

Even the mighty Microsoft isn’t immune to the massive layoffs sweeping across the video game and tech industries as it announces plans to reduce its gaming division’s workforce 8%, affecting roughly 1,900 employees from recently acquired Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax Online Studios, and even Xbox.

“As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will the whole of our growing business,” reads CEO Phil Spencer’s memo. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.”

According to a follow-up memo, Blizzard’s survival sandbox MMO and will be shuffling some of the of its development team to “several promising new projects” that are currently in the early stages of development.

Here's Mike Ybarra’s official statement on Twitter:

I want to thank everyone who is impacted today for their meaningful contributions to their teams, to Blizzard, and to players’ lives. It’s an incredibly hard day and my energy and will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection on your amazing work. If there’s anything I can help with, connections, recommendations, etc., DM me.

To the Blizzard community: I also want to let you all know today is my last day at Blizzard. Leading Blizzard through an incredible time and being part of the team, shaping it for the future ahead, was an absolute honor. Having already spent 20+ years at Microsoft and with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard behind us, it’s time for me to (once again) become Blizzard’s biggest fan from the outside.

To the incredible teams at Blizzard - thank you. Words can’t express how I feel about all of you. You are amazing. Continue to do incredible things and always keep Blizzard blue and the player at the forefront of every decision.

To all of those impacted today - I am always available to you and understand how challenging today’s news is. My heart is with each one of you.

Microsoft also reportedly axed nearly all of Activision Blizzard’s customer service department, including GMs for several live service games. Physical Xbox game divisions have also been shuttered and most of Microsoft’s customer service and community management staff were given the boot. All customer service roles across the company will apparently now be outsourced.

This is the second round of layoffs at Microsoft in as many years. The last layoffs were in January 2023 which affected over 10,000 of the tech giant's employees.