Brendan Sinclair Writes:
"LAS VEGAS--It's not uncommon for game conferences to play host to game postmortems; that is, frank discussions from developers about what worked and what didn't with their latest efforts. This week's D.I.C.E. Summit played host to a postmortem of a different kind, as Bruce Shelley, cofounder of Microsoft's shuttered Ensemble Studios, reflected on what led the Halo Wars studio to its demise"
The previously rumored mass layoffs at Xbox are expected to happen on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, according to a new rumor.
They will have fired close to 20,000 people all up after this round of lay-offs coming, since the ABK deal announcement in January 2022. Shocking really
January 2023:
Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees, which was a significant workforce reduction.
January 2024:
Approximately 1,900 gaming employees were laid off following the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
May 2025:
Microsoft announced a further 6,000 layoffs as part of an organizational shift.
June 2025:
Additional layoffs, including 650 in the gaming business, focused on corporate and support functions
Replies(2)
"They will have fired close to 20,000 people all up after this round of lay-offs coming, since the ABK deal announcement in January 2022. Shocking really"
It's not that shocking considering these numbers aren't just Xbox numbers as you're deliberately trying to make it seem for some reason.
Interestingly, another no shocking fact is that whenever Microsoft releases its quarterly earnings reports, you're quick to point out that those numbers aren't exclusive to Xbox. Yeah... go figure.
They also fired around 2500 people across Microsoft's gaming divisions and Zenimax shortly after buying it, and before they closed down 4 studios including Arkane and Tango.
I remember Satya boasting about how compassionate he was for splitting the list 50/50 across the two companies.
"They also fired around 2500 people across Microsoft's gaming divisions and Zenimax shortly after buying it"
Bring your sources. I´ll wait.
Let's hope its not as bad as socials are making it, good luck to those that unfortunately lose their jobs.
Could be not as bad could be horrible. But it's Ms so I'm expecting the absolute worst.
Sometimes I feel like they brought in Sarah to take the heat away from Phil.
Phil has always stuck his nose into everything Xbox related when it's something positive or at least neutral but as soon as they went the multiplatform root he's stood back and let Sarah do most of the talking in terms of PR. Now they are doing the same with layoffs.
The person who should be let go is Phil himself.
"Phil has always stuck his nose into everything Xbox related when it's something positive or at least neutral but as soon as they went the multiplatform root he's stood back and let Sarah do most of the talking in terms of PR. Now they are doing the same with layoffs."
You have no idea what you´re talking about.
*IF* Microsoft decides to address the upcoming layoffs, Matt Booty will be the one in the spotlight since he is the president of XGS.
Phil will probably be on some bs drama later doing interviews telling people how "devastated" and "sorry" he is for those affected while wiping away his tears with money.
Sarah is the President of Xbox (hardware) so she will be better off taking care of hers business and let both Matt and Phil face the backlash.
Even as the company sets out to overhaul the very definition of Xbox, cuts at its studios risk creating a negative image reminiscent of EA's worst era
I appreciate the article but this guy must be living in a delayed universe, The reputation was ruined 10+ years ago and hasn't recovered since. As such people have voted with their wallets and stopped buying Xbox products in large amounts.
Their reputation was lost way before that. From the moment Microsoft said they entering the console business, we all knew it would be a downgrade.
That's not true at all the OG Xbox had drive and they had hunger and they wanted to accomplish something. It was a great console.
they didn't quite reach their goals and they gave up prematurely because they couldn't win. It was halfway through the Xbox 360 when kinect released and that was when they lost their way and we're a rudderless ship ever since
In all fairness, Xbox had some great games with online play, Xbox 360 even better. Xbox consoles started to die with the Xbox One. Ditch consoles for the PC and PS.
@Bathyj hard to compute ay. Xbox was never better than a PC and that's all they ever were. A demo box. Doesn't get more true than that.
Replies(1)
Rumors of Turn 10 being either shut down or hit with massive lay offs is on the horizon.
The issue is MS will do something right only to do something very, very wrong. And they do this what seems calculative at this point. Doesn't matter what they do the Investors and leadership want more and more money an endless bottomless pit of purr insatiable greed. A company that acts like it's broke or hurting is what really, really infuriates me. They've surpassed apple again well over 3 trillion who acts like they're a million dollar company is fk stupid. Pivots and changes for no reason and can't do things for more than a year with out a pivot or changing their metrics.
That would be really bad since Phil just hyped up next year as a big Forza year at Summer Game Fest.
Isn't the point that it's irrelevant how profitable MS is, the suits have decided it's time that the Xbox division started making them money. Hence the layoffs, the pivots.
That wouldn't surprise me, as motorsport has been heading down hill since the great number 4. Where as playground have consistently put out better games. I think the two studios will be merged under playground games banner.
Replies(2)
Ross Scott—also known as Accursed Farms on YouTube—has been fighting tooth and nail for almost a full year to help spearhead game preservation. Starting after it was announced that Ubisoft's The Crew would be shutting down, permanently ending support for the game, Scott launched the "Stop Killing Games" initiative.
That makes a twofold deadline for the Stop Killing Games initiative. Or, at least, one headed up by Scott: The UK petition, which ends July 14, and the EU Citizens' Initiative, which ends July 3.
If you live in the EU then Please sign this or our game ownership rights and game preservation is
at stake. I know there isnt much time left but please consider signing the petition
People whine and in the end don't do a thing. Then whine more when they get screwed some more smh. If this makes it then it'll be monumental for consumers. That Pirate software guy was no help either smh.
very very good studio. i hope they figure out what to do next.
thanks
Journalists and Medias need to stop calling Ensemble Studios 'The Halo Wars Studio'! For Pete's sake, Ensemble did not get popular because of Halo Wars, they made many good RTS games before Halo Wars such as Age of Empires and Age of Mythology! Sure Halo may be a more popular franchise and Halo Wars is new, but give credit to where credit is due.
It's sad to see Ensemble Studio breaking up. I know half of the team will remain with Microsoft new developing team, wonder where the other half will go. I hope they will continue to create legendary RTS games as well.
And broke up the team. Their debut Console Game is really impressive, and they could've ended up making an RTS that rivaled Starcraft (especially with the rich Halo mythology). Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't like having a diverse and large number of first party studios.