Xbox layoff: What’s next for the video game giant?

As of 2022, it’s normal to be disabled in the video game industry. Approximately 58,000 roles have been cut , Externalaround the world .

Much of this is due to over-recruitment and aggressive expansion around 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic has seen significant growth in player numbers and spending.

During this period, Xbox bought several studios and publishers.

Among its biggest acquisitions are Zenimax/Bethesda, the most popular The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, and Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard. It bought it in 2023 for $69bn (£56bn)..

Video games remain profitable, but the cost of producing them has increased.

Cost of living crises, consumer habits and High investment in AI and increased hardware costs have all had an impact on the market.

When Sharma’s memo landed in early June, some employees, including Autumn Mitchell, began to worry.

“People are reading between the lines,” says a former senior quality assurance tester at Zenimax.

“You mean me? You mean them? You mean my project? You mean my studio?”

Mitchell spoke to BBC Newsbeat about four Xbox developers who have lost their jobs in recent cuts.

All are members of studio unions affiliated with the Communications Workers Union of America (CWA).

In the weeks between Sharma’s initial memo and his eventual dismissal, requests for information were met with “deafening silence,” they say.

“What we were left with was a lot of uncertainty for a month,” says Goin, who sits on the ZOS organizing committee — the union that represents workers at the studio.

Simon Prefontaine, a game designer at Bethesda Game Studios’ Montreal office, said his studio works on “core franchises” such as Fault and The Elder Scrolls.

“Maybe a few of us are expecting it to hit, and we’ll be fine,” he says.

“We didn’t expect the size of the discount that we have here.

“We are stunned.”