It is currently reported that among the 1,900 employees that Microsoft has laid off recently, the company has laid off all teams responsible for bringing physical games/media releases to retail channels. This may mark Microsoft's complete shift of its future center to complete digitalization.
Just like the previous announcement of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft's announcement of large-scale layoffs once again shocked the gaming industry. While many details have yet to be revealed, several Blizzard executives are known to have left the company, and Blizzard's survival game project Odyssey has been cancelled.
At present, it seems that the layoffs have a profound impact not only on Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, but also on the future of Microsoft's own Xbox game division. Because reports say that important Microsoft teams have questioned that the team that developed Xbox retail products has completely disappeared from the company and all employees have been laid off.
The news was first revealed on Twitter by Jez Corden, editor-in-chief of Windows Central. According to him, Microsoft shut down the team responsible for physical media development, mainly the department that brought the product to retail channels.
He wrote: "If you saw the leak of the digital-only Xbox console... then you have an idea of where Microsoft is going."
This refers to the new version of the Xbox Series This has not been confirmed by Microsoft.
And this news actually fits with another previous report: large retailers are moving to remove all physical games from their stores. Best Buy announced last year that it would begin removing physical media such as DVDs from its stores. There are also reports that Walmart has also begun removing physical versions of Xbox games from its stores.