Earlier this month, rumors began to spread about potentially massive layoffs coming to Microsoft’s Xbox gaming division this summer. While the majority of those those cuts don’t appear to have happened yet, game developers under Xbox have come together to push for more layoff protections for their members.
Members of the United Video Game Workers and representatives from workers at Microsoft’s first-party studios–including Bethesda’s parent company Zenimax, as well as Activision Blizzard–were present at a press conference conducted by the Communications Workers of America. Collectively, they pushed for enhanced layoff protections for all Xbox workers, including advance warning of impending layoffs, temporary hiring freezes to give the remaining devs a chance to advance internally, and two years of recall rights for affected employees.
As reported by Kotaku, speakers noted that Microsoft has paid its executives exorbitant amounts of money while investing billions in AI while recently raising the price of Xbox consoles again.
“The money is there, leadership is simply choosing where it goes and who pays,” said CWA District 9 vice president Frank Arce, who added that Xbox employees “will not be treated as disposable.”
During the press conference, union representatives noted that Microsoft has been slow to address layoff protections with its current unions. Developers from Zenimax and Activision both noted that Microsoft hasn’t responded to their proposals, while workers from Blizzard’s World of Warcraft team reportedly said they had seen “positive movement” on the issue.
South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games has reportedly already been hit with some layoffs as it–and other developers like Double Fine and Ninja Theory–negotiate with Microsoft to avoid full studio closures. The head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, has also departed from Microsoft after 15 years.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently shared his desire for Xbox to begin pulling its weight financially. That’s led to rumors that the entire Xbox division may be spun out of Microsoft as a separate company. It’s also been reported that more price hikes may be coming to Xbox consoles in 2027.
