Microsoft To Fire 1,900 Workers Across Gaming As Its Market Cap Hits $3 Trillion

Microsoft, which is hitting a daily all time high every day now because supposedly everyone will be using some AI version of MS Office (right before they are laid off thanks to, well, AI) and just surpassed a $3 trillion market cap, announced it would lay off 1,900 people across its video-game divisions including at Activision Blizzard (maker of such iconic games as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Diablo), which it purchased for $69 billion in an acquisition that closed late last year, and which was supposed to be the source of growth before MSFT realized that OpenAI (which is neither open, nor is its woke chatbot actually AI) is a far more golden goose. Some are wondering if MSFT bought the game maker just to lay off most of its staff (spoiler alert: yes).

According to Bloomberg, in an email to staff, Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer wrote that the cuts represented about 8% of Microsoft’s 22,000 gaming workers. Other video-game companies, including Riot Games, have also enacted mass layoffs.

“Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth,” Spencer wrote.

The cuts arrive just three months after Microsoft finalized the Activision Blizzard acquisition. In an email to staff reviewed by Bloomberg, Activision Publishing chief Rob Kostich wrote that the cuts were made “to reset and re-align our resources for the future.”

Meanwhile, as the BLS reports continued growth month after month, here a snapshot of some of the more notable tech layoffs in just the past few months: