Microsoft Announces Layoffs: 1,900 Job Layoffs at Activision Blizzard & Xbox

Microsoft is set to lay off approximately 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox, affecting around 8% of the total Microsoft Gaming division workforce, which stands at approximately 22,000 employees. While Activision Blizzard will experience the majority of the layoffs, some Xbox and ZeniMax employees will also experience them.

In addition to the layoffs, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has opted to depart from the company. Mike Ybarra was Microsoft’s game content and studios president. Matt Booty, mentioned in an internal memo that Ybarra, who spent over 20 years at Microsoft and played a key role in overseeing the acquisition as Blizzard’s president, has chosen to move on from the company.

Microsoft intends to announce a new president for Blizzard next week as part of its organizational changes. Alongside the departures, Blizzard’s chief design officer, Allen Adham, is also leaving the company. In an internal memo, Matt Booty, Microsoft’s game content and studios president, acknowledged Adham’s significant impact on all of Blizzard’s games as one of its co-founders and expressed that Adham plans to continue mentoring young designers in the industry.

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As part of the restructuring, Blizzard’s previously revealed survival game has been canceled, and Microsoft will redirect some of the team members to other promising projects in the early stages of development at Blizzard. The layoffs at Microsoft in the gaming division coincide with similar workforce reductions at several other major companies in the tech and gaming industries. Riot Games, Google, Discord, Twitch, Unity, eBay, and other well-known companies have all made layoff announcements in the same month.