Microsoft Games will lay off 1,900 people: Activision Blizzard is the hardest hit, Xbox is also affected

Microsoft will lay off 1,900 employees in its Activision Blizzard and Xbox divisions this week. While Microsoft is primarily laying off employees at Activision Blizzard, some Xbox and ZeniMax employees will also be affected. The layoffs account for approximately 8% of the approximately 22,000 employees in Microsoft’s gaming division.

At present, League of Legends developer Riot Games, Google, Discord, Twitch, Unity, eBay and other companies have also announced layoff plans.

Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October last year after a 20-month battle with regulators in the United Kingdom and the United States. Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick resigned at the end of December last year, and Microsoft did not appoint a direct successor. Activision Blizzard executives now report directly to Microsoft's president of game content and studios, Matt Booty.

A few months ago, there was a major change in Xbox leadership. Sarah Bond was promoted to president of Xbox, responsible for all efforts on the Xbox platform and hardware. Booty was also promoted to president of gaming content and studios, which includes overseeing Bethesda, ZeniMax Studios and Activision Blizzard.

The last time Microsoft announced large-scale layoffs was a year ago, affecting 10,000 employees. The company will report earnings next week, which for the first time will include the impact of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.