Microsoft Lays Off 9% of Gaming Division Following Activision-Blizzard Acquisition
Following the Activision-Blizzard Acquisition by Microsoft, 1,900 People Were Layed Off, Totaling 9% of Jobs from the Gaming Division
- Microsoft is laying off 1,900 people out of 22,000 in its gaming division, totaling 9% of the department.
- Blizzard President Mike Ybarra, who worked at Microsoft for 20 years and Blizzard for 4 years, is also stepping away from Microsoft and Blizzard.
- Activision-Blizzard is known for properties such as Call of Duty, Diablo and World of Warcraft.
Microsoft is following suit of other big tech and gaming companies such as Discord, Twitch, and most recently, Riot Games, by laying off a massive number of people within the company. Following their acquisition of Activision-Blizzard 1,900 (or 9%) people will be losing their job from the gaming division.
In a statement, Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO, said that this plan was part of an overall restructuring to cut areas of overlap and “align on a strategy and execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business.”
Now, three months after the $69 billion acquisition of Activision, Blizzard, and King by Microsoft, that strategy includes laying off 1,900 of the 22,000 people in the gaming division. Activision-Blizzard is one of the biggest developers and publishers in gaming with titles in their portfolio such as World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Diablo, and Candy Crush Saga by King, their mobile gaming subsidiary.
Included in this round of layoffs, long-time Microsoft and Blizzard name Mike Ybarra, now Former President of Blizzard said on Thursday he too would be leaving Microsoft and Blizzard.
Spencer also said that Microsoft would be providing “full support” to those affected by the layoffs including location-dependant severance to all employees.
