Microsoft is undergoing significant workforce changes this week, with the announcement of layoffs affecting 1,900 employees at both Activision Blizzard and Xbox. The majority of the layoffs are concentrated at Activision Blizzard, but there will also be an impact on some Xbox and ZeniMax staff members.
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The restructuring translates to approximately 8 percent of the total workforce within the Microsoft Gaming division, which comprises around 22,000 employees. As part of this reorganization, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra has chosen to depart from the company. Matt Booty, Microsoft’s game content and studios president, conveyed this development in an internal memo, noting that Ybarra’s decision follows over two decades of service at Microsoft. With the completion of the acquisition as Blizzard’s president, Ybarra has decided to move on.
Microsoft intends to name a new Blizzard president next week. Simultaneously, Allen Adham, Blizzard’s chief design officer and one of the company’s co-founders, is also parting ways. Booty acknowledged Adham’s broad impact on all of Blizzard’s games and mentioned that Adham plans to continue mentoring young designers in the industry.
As a consequence of the reshuffling, Blizzard’s previously revealed survival game has been cancelled. However, Microsoft plans to reassign individuals working on the cancelled project to other promising initiatives that Blizzard has in the early stages of development.
These layoffs align with a trend in the tech industry this month, where companies such as Riot Games, Google, Discord, Twitch, Unity, eBay, and others have also announced workforce reductions.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, valued at $68.7 billion, concluded in October, following a 20-month regulatory battle in the UK and US. The departure of former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick at the end of December left a vacuum that Microsoft has not directly filled. Instead, a group of Activision Blizzard executives now reports to Matt Booty.
These workforce adjustments come a few months after prominent changes in Xbox leadership, including Sarah Bond’s promotion to Xbox president, overseeing all Xbox platform and hardware efforts. Booty, who now heads game content and studios, was also elevated in this leadership reshuffle, overseeing Bethesda, ZeniMax studios, and Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft’s last significant round of layoffs occurred a year ago, affecting 10,000 employees. The upcoming fiscal Q2 2024 earnings report, scheduled for next week, will mark the first time the financial results incorporate the impact of the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
