Latest news with #MattBooty
Gizmodo
a day ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
AI Is Not in the Memo, but It Haunts Every Layoff at Xbox
In the new AI economy, it seems no job is safe, not even at a thriving business. Microsoft's Xbox division is a case in point. Last quarter, its revenue soared by 8% year over year. And yet, the division is now at the center of the tech giant's largest wave of layoffs since 2023, with thousands of its employees among the 9,000 jobs cut by Microsoft on Wednesday. In a memo sent to his shell-shocked employees and reviewed by Gizmodo, Microsoft's head of gaming, Phil Spencer, performed a masterclass in corporate doublespeak. He announced a massive new round of layoffs across the Xbox division, all while insisting that business has never been better. 'I recognize that these changes come at a time when we have more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before,' Spencer wrote. 'Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger.' Xbox's Phil Spencer confirms layoffs impacting Microsoft Gaming unit in an internal memo shared with staff. "To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business." — CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) July 2, 2025And yet, in the same breath, he confirmed that thousands of jobs would be eliminated and that the company will 'end or decrease work in certain areas of the business.' A separate memo from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty made the damage concrete: long-awaited, ambitious titles like Perfect Dark and Everwild are being canceled, and at least one studio, The Initiative, one of Microsoft's newer, high-profile studios, is being closed entirely. So what's really going on? If the company is stronger than ever, why fire thousands of people and scrap years of creative work? Microsoft Is Firing About 9,000 Because Business Is Great The answer isn't in what the memos say, but in what they omit: artificial intelligence. The corporate jargon about 'agility,' 'effectiveness,' and 'removing layers of management' is a convenient smokescreen for a calculated and ruthless strategic pivot. Microsoft is moving toward a new model of game development, one that requires fewer humans. These layoffs appear as the first major casualties of the company's new AI-driven efficiency doctrine. 'The success we're seeing currently is based on tough decisions we've made previously,' Spencer wrote. 'We must make choices now for continued success in future years.' When asked to comment on the apparent contradiction between Phil Spencer's claims of record success and the thousands of job cuts, a Microsoft spokesperson declined. Microsoft hasn't directly said that artificial intelligence is replacing workers in its gaming division. But the timing and language of the memos come amid the company's aggressive push to integrate generative AI into everything, from Office and Azure to GitHub Copilot and game development. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has already stated that AI is writing '20 to 30 percent' of the company's code. This isn't just about simple automation. In game development, AI tools are now capable of generating background art and textures, writing and localizing dialogue, designing levels, conducting quality assurance testing, and even assisting with project management. In theory, this should speed up production and make developers more efficient. In practice, it also means that some tasks once performed by full teams are now handled by a handful of people and a few powerful models. In this new paradigm, large teams of human creators become 'redundant.' The 'tough decisions' Spencer mentions are about maximizing profits in a successful business by replacing people with software. The gaming division is simply the latest and most visible test case for this new philosophy. For years, gamers have anticipated ambitious, creative swings like Perfect Dark and Everwild. These projects require huge teams of artists, designers, and engineers working for years to build new worlds from scratch. But that model is now seen as inefficient. In the age of AI, it is far cheaper and faster to have a smaller team manage AI tools that churn out content for existing, predictable franchises. When Spencer says 'we will protect what is thriving,' he isn't talking about creativity. He's talking about a business model. And right now, the most thriving business model is the one that promises the most aggressive automation and the highest margins, even if it comes at the cost of thousands of jobs and the death of ambitious new ideas. Microsoft says it has more than 40 projects in active development and that its fall 2025 slate is strong. If all goes to plan, players will barely notice the difference. The games will ship. The platform will thrive. But behind the scenes, the people who make those games are being reorganized, laid off, or replaced, sometimes by code they helped train. That is the real transformation happening in gaming. And if Microsoft's success is built on tough decisions, the toughest one may be this: a future of gaming where AI builds the worlds, and fewer people get to be part of them.
CNET
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Microsoft Layoffs Are Here and These 3 Games Have Already Been Canceled
Microsoft is moving ahead with mass layoffs, cutting a little less than 4% of its workforce or about 9,000 roles across the company. As a result, multiple games brewing within Xbox Game Studios were canceled, including some fairly high-profile projects. When reached for comment, Microsoft directed CNET to reports Wednesday by Variety, confirming their accuracy. "To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness," Microsoft Gaming chief Phil Spencer wrote in a staff memo Wednesday morning, as published by Variety. Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty confirmed the game cancellations in an internal email published by Variety, naming Perfect Dark and Everwild specifically, as well as other "unannounced" titles. "We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio," Booty wrote in the email. "As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative." Booty added that the decisions to axe these games "reflect a broader effort to adjust priorities and focus resources to set up our teams for greater success within a changing industry landscape. We did not make these choices lightly, as each project and team represent years of effort, imagination and commitment." What Xbox games have been canceled? Perhaps the most significant title canceled amid these new layoffs was a reboot of the classic FPS series, Perfect Dark. The studio that had been working on this new title, The Initiative, will be shut down entirely. The long-awaited new entry in the sci-fi espionage series has been in the works since the studio opened in 2018 and first showed off gameplay footage for the title during an Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024. Another notable title getting the axe is Everwild, a long-gestating new IP from Rare, the revered British studio Sea of Thieves, which Microsoft acquired in 2002. Over the decades, the studio has also produced the original Donkey King Country games for the SNES, the original Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64, Conker's Bad Fur Day and the Banjo-Kazooie series. According to unnamed sources who spoke to Video Games Chronicle, numerous job cuts and a broader restructuring are expected at Rare, resulting in the game's cancellation. The sources also confirmed reports over the years about Everwild's somewhat turbulent development, claiming that it had "struggled to nail down a clear direction for the title." The game has reportedly been in development for the better part of a decade, being officially announced in 2019, followed by a trailer in 2020. In 2021, reports emerged that development on the game had been "rebooted." The other title reportedly put out to pasture was an untitled new MMORPG from Zenimax Online Studios, the creator of the popular MMO Elder Scrolls Online, which has reportedly reached upward of 25 million players since launching in 2014. Details about what this title was are sparse, with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reporting that the game went by the codename "Blackbird" and had been in the works since 2018. Windows Central said in its report about Perfect Dark's cancellation that Blackbird was once intended to act as a successor of sorts to Elder Scrolls Online. David Lumb, a senior reporter at CNET, noted how these new developments at Microsoft underscored the recent job instability in the gaming industry, as well as the uncertainty the cancellations are sure to cause among gamers. "The biggest losses are to the seemingly thousands of people who are out of a job in a tumultuous industry that's seen record layoffs year over year," Lumb explained, adding, "The cancellations of big games like the upcoming Perfect Dark and Rare's next game Everwild are concerning for Microsoft's next few years of releases, but also to confidence that a game being teased at, say, an Xbox Showcase will end up coming out." According to Variety, all games that were shown off during the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase in June will continue being developed.
Mint
a day ago
- Business
- Mint
Microsoft layoffs hit Xbox division hard; 10% of Candy Crush team cut, multiple games cancelled
Microsoft has begun a sweeping round of job cuts within its gaming division, affecting hundreds of employees across its global operations, Bloomberg an Xbox spokesperson declined to provide an exact number, the redundancies are said to be 'widespread and significant,' according to sources familiar with the matter. The layoffs span multiple studios and regions. King, the Stockholm-based mobile game developer known forCandy Crush, is reportedly letting go of 10 per cent of its workforce, approximately 200 staff. Other European teams, including ZeniMax, have also initiated job reductions. Several high-profile subsidiaries of Microsoft Gaming, such as Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Halo developer 343 Industries, and Turn 10 Studios, known forForza Motorsport, have all been affected. Multiple long-term projects have been scrapped as a result. UK-based Rare Studio's fantasy titleEverwild, which had been in development for years, has been cancelled. ZeniMax Online Studios' original online game has also been shelved. Both studios will see staff reductions following the cancellations. Notably, the report highlighted that Xbox has further axed its planned reboot of Perfect Dark and closed The Initiative, the studio co-developing the game. In a memo to staff, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty cited the decisions as part of a 'broader effort to adjust priorities and focus resources' for success in an evolving industry. The redundancies form part of Microsoft's latest wave of job cuts, which will see 9,000 roles eliminated companywide, its second major round this year. In May, the tech giant cut 6,000 roles, largely in product and engineering departments. The current cuts will span multiple teams, regions, and levels of seniority, with an emphasis on streamlining processes and removing layers of management. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, acknowledged the difficult decisions in an internal email, stating the company must prioritise its strongest opportunities to ensure long-term growth, added the report. While no specific figures were provided, Spencer assured affected employees they would receive 'priority review' for other roles within Microsoft. Despite the setbacks, Spencer maintained that the company's roadmap across platforms, hardware, and games 'has never looked stronger.' Employees within the gaming division had anticipated further restructuring since May, when speculation grew that Xbox could face deeper cuts. This marks the fourth significant round of layoffs within Xbox in the past 18 months. The division, which employed around 20,000 people as of January, has faced increasing pressure to deliver higher margins following Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in late 2023. (With inputs from Bloomberg)
Geek Culture
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
Microsoft Cancels 'Perfect Dark' Reboot, Shutters Development Studio
Xbox studio The Initiative has been shut down amid the latest wave of Microsoft layoffs, killing the troubled Perfect Dark reboot along with it. According to IGN's sources, over 9,000 staff at Microsoft are set to lose their jobs. Apart from The Initiative, sources also state that beloved British studio Rare has also seen a hit to personnel, with its long-in-development title Everwild being cancelled as a result. Additionally, Bethesda's London office, as well as Candy Crush studio King, have also been affected by the layoffs. Perfect Dark Zero (2005) This unfortunate news comes via a series of memos sent to Microsoft gaming staff, the first of which was from Xbox boss Phil Spencer, which read: Today we are sharing decisions that will impact colleagues across our organization. To position Gaming for enduring success and allow us to focus on strategic growth areas, we will end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft's lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness. Out of respect for those impacted today, the specifics of today's notifications and any organizational shifts will be shared by your team leaders in the coming days. While Spencer's message did not include specific details on which studios and staff were affected, a follow-up memo by head of Xbox Game Studios Matt Booty confirmed the cancellation of Perfect Dark and Everwild , and the shuttering of The Initiative, writing: Following Phil's note, I want to share more about the changes to the Studios business units. We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative. These decisions, along with other changes across our teams, reflect a broader effort to adjust priorities and focus resources to set up our teams for greater success within a changing industry landscape. We did not make these choices lightly, as each project and team represent years of effort, imagination, and commitment. Perfect Dark (2000) Perfect Dark originally released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 and was a first-person shooter centred on agent Joanna Dark as she attempts to stop an extraterrestrial conspiracy. The Initiative, a studio formed by Xbox in 2018, was working on a modern reboot together with Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. The first trailer for the Perfect Dark reboot was subsequently released in 2024 during the Xbox Showcase, featuring a sneak peek at gameplay, which featured a mix of slick traversal and first-person combat, alongside the reveal of returning protagonist Dark. The doomed project would then go radio silent, with a notable absence at this year's Xbox Showcase in June. It seems Microsoft is on a warpath as of late, making a huge number of cuts to its gaming teams since 2024, including laying off 1,900 staff in January that year, followed by the closing of developers Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin in May. Prior to the current layoffs, the most recent staff cuts occurred in May this year, when Microsoft let go of approximately 6,000 staff, amounting to 3% of its entire workforce. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. Microsoft Perfect Dark The Initiative Xbox
Indian Express
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Microsoft cancels three 3 games as layoffs impact Xbox team and its gaming studios
Microsoft, on Wednesday, July 2, announced that it is laying off approximately 9,000 employees, which is around 4 per cent of its global workforce. Many of these layoffs are also impacting the company's Xbox division as well as other gaming studios, leading to some upcoming games being cancelled. In January 2024, Microsoft's gaming division had about 20,000 employees. While the tech giant hasn't clarified how many people were impacted in the Xbox division, the cuts seem to be widespread and significant and happen to be the fourth major layoff in the last 18 months. As part of the recent layoffs, at least three upcoming video games have been cancelled. In an internal email published by Variety and later confirmed by Microsoft, Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios, said, 'We have made the decision to stop development of Perfect Dark and Everwild as well as wind down several unannounced projects across our portfolio. As part of this, we are closing one of our studios, The Initiative.' The Initiative was working on a reboot of the classic FPS series – Perfect Dark. The upcoming sci-fi espionage title has been under development since the studio opened back in 2018. Another title that is now cancelled is Everwild, a game that was under development for more than a decade by Sea of Thieves maker Rare. Founded in 1985 and acquired by Microsoft in 2002, Rare is known for games like Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Kinect Sports, Kameo and Banjo-Kazooie. Zenimax Online Studios, the developer of the popular massive multiplayer online game Elder Scrolls Online, is also impacted by the layoffs. As a result, the studio is also doing away with its upcoming MMORPG game codenamed Blackbird. According to Engadget, citing 'a developer with knowledge of the situation', at least five employees at Halo Studios have been fired as part of the latest layoffs. The gaming studio currently has somewhere between 200 to 300 employees and is working on multiple games, including the next major Halo instalment. Forza Horizon developer Turn 10 Studios also reportedly laid off more than 70 people. Stockholm-based gaming studio King, which Microsoft purchased back in 2023 as part of its Activision Blizzard acquisition, is reportedly cutting 10 per cent of its staff. Known for making Candy Crush, a report by Bloomberg citing people familiar with the plans suggests that the recent round of layoffs impacted around 200 jobs. Some layoffs are also taking place at Raven Software, a studio known for making hit titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Singularity, Quake 4 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
