Microsoft drops 650 more Xbox employees

Although AI is attracting a lot of attention (and capital) these days, other areas of the tech landscape are not that fortunate. The gaming sector, sadly, seems to be going through a tough time. Earlier this year, about 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees lost their jobs. After that unfortunate event, several game studios shut down, including Redfall developer Arkane Austin. Now, the black ball is in Microsoft's court again. This time, it's about cutting no less than 650 jobs in the gaming division.

An internal memo issued by Xbox chief Phil Spencer yesterday morning carried the bad news, saying that "As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and managing our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 roles across Microsoft Gaming — mostly corporate and supporting functions — to organize our business for long term success."

The $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard took a while to go through all the hassle usually involved by such deals, since Microsoft had to get approval from both UK and US regulators. In the aforementioned memo, Spencer also mentioned that US employees who are losing their jobs will receive exit packages consisting of severance, extended healthcare, as well as outplacement services. However, the packages for employees in other markets will be different, depending on location. On the bright side, he also mentioned that no studios are being closed and "no games, devices or experiences are being cancelled," at least for now.

Xbox gamers can now grab Halo Infinite Standard Edition for Xbox Series X and Xbox One off Amazon at 55% off, which translates to $26.99 instead of $59.99.