Today, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) held a press conference with members of various Microsoft Xbox unions in response to recent reports that mass layoffs are about to hit the company, where several employees from across multiple Xbox unions and different studios spoke out against both the prospect of mass layoffs themselves as well as the uncertain environment currently at the company.
The conference was opened by the vice president for CWA District 9, Frank Arce, who condemned mass layoffs both past and potential, saying Microsoft workers “will not be treated as disposable.”
Multiple individuals on the call argued that the layoffs were unnecessary in the first place. Arce pointed out Xbox’s recent console price hikes, saying that “The money is there, leadership is simply choosing where it goes and who pays.”
Sherveen Uduwana, a representative of United Video Game Workers speaking in solidarity with the group, pointed out the $96.5 million dollar salary collected by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last year. Mahreen Fatima, a senior environment artist on Diablo 4, also pointed out the billions Microsoft has invested in artificial intelligence in recent years, and demanded proof the company was short on money. “They’re just choosing not to protect us.”
Microsoft Xbox has a number of different unions across its game studios, many of which have emerged since Microsoft agreed to a “labor neutrality agreement” back in 2022. Due to the staggering of when these unions were formed, some unions within Microsoft already have signed contracts that include layoff stipulations, but many others are still in the bargaining process. Several union members called out management for dragging its feet on contracts, particularly where it concerned cementing layoff protections. On the call, CWA members mentioned that the World of Warcraft union bargaining team had recently seen positive movement from management on layoff protections, which they praised. However, Zenimax union members said Microsoft has sat on their proposal for layoff protections for months with no response, while an Activision Publishing union member said their bargaining group had 20 proposals for which they were currently waiting on Microsoft’s response.
They also emphasized that they wanted layoff protections cemented for all workers, not just the unionized ones, including advanced notice of layoffs, two years of recall rights, and hiring freezes to give existing employees chances to find new opportunities across Xbox. Andrew Snell, a QA tester in Activision Publishing, said that Xbox unions would be joining forces across their disparate teams and units to fight back against future layoffs. “We’re done paying for executives’ failures,” he said.
While no layoffs have officially been confirmed as of yet, Xbox is expected to undergo a significant restructuring including major personnel cuts in the coming days, after the end of its fiscal year tomorrow. Previously, we had reported that the company is preparing to shutter Compulsion Games, with other reports coming in about similar looming shutdowns of Double Fine and Ninja Theory, though all three studios appear to have been given the opportunity to negotiate other exit strategies. As these reports came out, we also learned that the head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, had resigned.
