Xbox's Phil Spencer Says Microsoft's 10K Layoffs 'Hurts' In Email To Staff

The CEO of Xbox sent a company-wide email addressing the mass layoffs at ZeniMax and other game studios

[FallenAngel1984]

Y’all can spend $68.7 billion trying to acquire Activision-Blizzard but can’t afford to keep these 10K employees?

[SullysCigar]

Yeah, poor old Phil is hurting. I'd imagine the 10,000 families of the people Microsoft culled from their empire are hurting.

Meanwhile they go on a $70bn spending spree. That money could employ 10,000 people at $50,000pa for what, 140 years?

[Aussiesummer]

Living in america

[ABizzel1]

I tried to tell people a while back. After nearly every buyout of a company there are mass layoffs either immediately or around 1 year post buyout.

Most are usually overlapping positions (marketing / HR / etc...). but a good amount is also talent. The people in these buyouts would be wise to take their severance pay and start working at other companies, so they can continue to get double pay for the next several months / year.

The exact same thing happened to so many people during the Sprint / T-Mobile merger and those who took their severance and found new work made out the best in that situation.

The developers need to take their severance and find new jobs, and honestly the higher paid ones, should take their pay and build their own studios. We need creativity and the rebirth of the AA franchise / AAA or AAAA indie to rise again, and that's the one area where GamePass and PS+ Premium are beneficial for those developers.

[AmUnRa]

His massage sounded like damagecontrolling, but al does 10.000 people and they'r families are hurt and will be have a difficult time ahead....
But now that 10.000 peole ars out the bonus for the big bosses will rise..disquisting...

[Rocketisleague]

The people who have been made redundant will have been on the 70-200k range, more in some cases. Microsoft pays well and has a lot of bonuses generally. Even here in Ireland (wages way lower than US) they'll pay 100k including benefits for a mid level software developer

[SullysCigar]

^ Oh, well only 70 years at $100k then lmao

[zaanan]

This does usually happen after a buyout, but to do this anywhere near the Activision deal is a real bad look. MS has deep pockets, they could afford to wait a year or 2. And if Phil was so interested in appearing to be the good guy, he would announce that he’s foregoing his bonus this year. Would be tremendous PR and earn respect among all gamers. But no, he just releases a lengthy email that says basically nothing. What a bunch of fucking assholes.

[HeliosHex]

@fallenangel. That's where the money is coming from. The layoffs.

[lelo2play]

Feel sorry for those people, but realistically, since Microsoft hasn't released games for ages, people laid off from the gaming department probably weren't doing much...

[Lifexline]

Unfortunately that’s how corporations function it’s all about money and greed. It’s fucked up but they have to please their investors. Which is why I don’t get why some people here defend companies at times they shouldn’t. Hopefully they all land somewhere very quickly.

[Gamingsince1981]

Phil the liar Spenser is a clown, everyone knows it, he knows it, how he keeps his job no one knows however.

[DarXyde]

It's pretty upsetting to see so many people who have contributed for 10+ years also feel the brunt of it. Regardless of how ANYONE feels about Microsoft as a company (or 343i if you want to be more targeted), this is disheartening. I genuinely hope these people land on their feet with new and better opportunities.

Honestly, I can understand Phil in saying this hurts... But I don't believe him. At all. Microsoft is heavily invested in AI solutions to take over various aspects of their business, so unfortunately, once AI becomes advanced enough, they were always going to do this and wheel out the same "it hurts" line.
What's more, without any sacrifices in exec compensation, really, who believes this actually hurts?

I am genuinely hoping people can see this, find some empathy, and understand the risk of Microsoft gaining too much prominence within this industry.

You can be pro consumer and pro labour at the same time. This is something none of these console manufacturers have figured out yet.

[Aussiesummer]

American capitalism

[frostypants]

Because it's as much about controlling IP as anything. So long as no one else has it they see it as a partial win. It's another example of why there is so much opposition to Microsoft's tactics. Nothing good comes from it for consumers (much less employees of these companies that get taken over).

[Rocketisleague]

Yeah...if you take a look at stocks for major tech companies this is 100% expected, just like Facebook, Google,. LinkedIn, yada yads. Microsoft is just late to the layoff spree that'd happening right now.

I agree it's interesting that layoffs and company strategic goals don't align though..such as the Activision acquisition

They're also.purchasing a 49% share in open ai

[Knushwood Butt]

Which studios were impacted?

Acquiring studios then laying people off just adds weight to the argument that MS are just going after IPs, not talent.

[Orchard]

I haven't seen any overall numbers and can't find any, but from what I've seen around the internet, friends on linkedin, etc:

343 (artists + engineers + leadership)
The Coalition (producers + QA)
Zenimax (marketing + community managers)

[SullysCigar]

Imagine working for Activision Blizzard and seeing what's happening at Zenimax/Bethesda right now.

Are you going to look forward to your future under Microsoft if Monopoly Phil gets his way?

[crazyCoconuts]

In fairness it's happening just about everywhere

[frostypants]

Of course not. Sadly the people making the decision on the EA side won't care because they'd make bank if it goes through.

[Godmars290]

What hurts more will be the temporary contract workers who replace them.

[Crows90]

It's not an argument. It's fact. They're going after IP. They aren't buying small studios. They're buying publishers with prominent IP.

[MrDead]

Yep, I give it a few more years and they'll close Bethesda, absorb the IP's they want into Xbox and ditch the rest.

[Rocketisleague]

Every organisation is likely affected. Azure, Ms office, gaming platforms, managers, software devs(cloud, Web and gaming).

Why should gaming take precidence over azure? The layoffs are for the whole.xompany not just gaming

[shinoff2183]

Because gaming is where they need it. Idk

[shinoff2183]

Dun dun dun. Ips is the answer. You win nothing really but an upvote

[darkrider]

I really don't even know what to say... but for all that told that Don mattrick was bad at is job... I really cant understand how does he still got this job.

[-Foxtrot]

Because he’s such a gamer, like us, look at his clothes, a blazer and a jacket, gosh he’s so cool, he’s clearly our friend working for us than against us. I’m going to give him a hundred chances, the mistakes are clearly not his fault.

/s

[Orchard]

Realistically though, the 10k layoffs are across the board. You can't really blame Phil Spencer for cuts in Azure etc. Or the current economy.

Microsoft are also not alone in this. Amazon and Google just laid off similar/bigger numbers. Sony will at some point too. It's an unfortunate consequence of the economy we live in today.

Did you call for the resignation of Jack Tretton or blame him when Sony laid off 10k employees?

[Christopher]

***You can't really blame Phil Spencer for cuts in Azure etc. Or the current economy.***

We can blame him for game division job losses and not re-assigning or utilizing those positions in a better capacity for future titles.

And, if this was about the current economy, we wouldn't have so much shade thrown at other companies for similar "issues."

[Orchard]

@Christopher That assumes he had the opportunity to re-assign them though. I’ve seen plenty of games industry layoffs occur because your corporate overlords just decide to suddenly slash your budget by $X million.

Ultimately, I don’t really hold him responsible and I won’t hold Jim Ryan responsible when Sony does the same thing. The current state of the US (and the world) is pretty bad, possibly the worst it’s been in my lifetime.

[Christopher]

***That assumes he had the opportunity to re-assign them though. I’ve seen plenty of games industry layoffs occur because your corporate overlords just decide to suddenly slash your budget by $X million.***

Yeah, there's absolutely no way he could have ensured the better management of the games from his position so that there wasn't as much waste in budgeting and maybe even made it profitable to see the continued development of content for games that suffered drastically because of poor use of contract developers and mismanaged milestones and so on and so on. And no way he could have folded the CM positions upward into Xbox CM roles over time or helped them to find jobs elsewhere in the company knowing that they would eventually be cut.

Look, it's not an easy job, but let's not ignore that the faults start with those in power to make the decisions to ensure success and not those who are affected by the lack of success.

***Ultimately, I don’t really hold him responsible and I won’t hold Jim Ryan responsible when Sony does the same thing***

I'll say your posting history says otherwise and leave it at that.

[Orchard]

I do think/agree that Halo as a franchise has been mismanaged for ages, basically the entire duration of 343's existence. But Halo isn't the root cause of these layoffs - everything going on in the world right now is.

They (Xbox) probably thought they would be able to sustain their current level of funding, and well, that rug got pulled out from under them this week by corporate. Unfortunately, at that point, something has to give.
Unfortunately, I doubt this will be the last round of layoffs we see in the games industry in 2023. This year is going to be brutal.

"I'll say your posting history says otherwise and leave it at that."

I have criticized Jim Ryan a lot indeed, I don't deny that, but I have never blamed him for corporate/Sony-wide layoffs at Sony - and I never will. Unless you're the CEO, there's always someone above you to throw you a curveball and cut your budget.

[SullysCigar]

Orchard, you were conspicuously absent from the previous articles on this subject, and in that time all you've managed to come up with in defence of this move are whataboutisms and platitudes.

Layoffs do happen, but in the context of this particular instance it's important to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

When have we seen layoffs of this magnitude coinciding with industry-changing, record breaking acquisitions?

How does one reconcile blaming the economy and simultaneously trying to spend $70bn?

This is the equivalent of Phil, the garage owner, sacking his mechanics after pulling up in his new Bugatti. And all while claiming it makes him sad.

[Gamingsince1981]

Nearly everything you post is hypocritical, I dont know why you even pretend to be even slightly neutral. If this was Sony you would be doomsaying and saying everything must be going terrible, but MS does it and you're just like "hey guys they are a small indie company only worth 2 trillion cut them some slack" what a joke.

[Christopher]

*** but I have never blamed him for corporate/Sony-wide layoffs at Sony - and I never will.***

As if layoffs are the only thing that happens due to economic issues. Price increases. Supply shortages. Heavier regional pricing. None of those are due to economic issues nor do they come down from the same people over top similar to how Phil is being forced to do things here.

[Orchard]

@Christopher Price increases due to inflation occur indeed, but Jim has been doing price increases long before the current mess that is our global economy.

And yes, layoffs suck, but they don't necessarily impact my opinion of an exec when it is in extenuating circumstances like this - I still regularly say on here that I believe the best Sony/PS leaders/execs in recent times have been Tretton, House and Layden, and Tretton oversaw the biggest layoffs at Sony I've seen to date (similar numbers to this one).

For me, Jim is just too corporate and we're being pushed a bit too far as gamers/consumers - but I still won't blame him for layoffs at the corporate level if/when they occur.

@Sully There has only been this article and the initial announcement yesterday ( https://n4g.com/news/253169... )

I have 7 comments in the other one, 5 in this one. In what world was I absent?

On the topic of the Activision acquisition. They made that decision a year ago, it's not like it was last week.

Similarly, investment varies by department in corporations. Just because they've deemed Halo as an area they don't want to invest in, doesn't meant they don't want to invest in other parts of gaming. I've seen this happen time and time again in the games industry, I've been on teams at large publishers where our projects were canned whilst they simultaneously announced 5-10 other new games.

I'm sure it does make him sad though, it would make any leader sad to see people in your team be cut, especially if the order comes down from above / it's out with your control.

But what do you want him to do? Pack up and quit? Cancel the Activision acquisition and lose billions of dollars? I don't expect him to do that and I wouldn't expect Jim Ryan to do the same either. Business is business. Yes, a few hundred people in Xbox lost their jobs yesterday, but as a leader he now needs to double down and make sure the other thousands of employees under him don't lose their jobs too.

@GamingSince I've never criticized PS for Sony doing corporate level layoffs, nor will I ever. Nintendo, maybe, because Nintendo is basically just Nintendo, they don't really have a non-gaming division.

Also, nowhere did I say MS are an indie company🤷

I do hope you'll both keep that same energy when Sony do their layoffs this year though - I expect to see both of you blaming Jim Ryan and calling for his resignation 😉

[crazyCoconuts]

Gotta agree with Orchard. Satya may have very well told Phil he's gotta axe some fixed percent of his headcount as he did with all of his directs. Sometimes it's rational and sometimes it's just not. We can't tell from the outside and I'm not going to speculate

[SullysCigar]

Oh you were there at the start alright, laying down the defense, but then you disappeared in a puff of smoke the moment all the nonsense was exposed. Why? Because you had nothing.

And what sort of an excuse is "they decided last year they were going to spend $70bn"? You mean last year as in right after the pandemic and the lockdowns? When the economic downtown and inflation hikes were already forecast globally?

They haven't spent it yet. If they pull out now, or lose their case, it will cost them a fraction of the purchase cost and they wouldn't have to be on this cost drive right now.

They're choosing not to do that, because money is more important than people. Let's just call it what it is. It's not so hard.

[Christopher]

Outrageous - no one else is increasing the price of their console and Sony could obviously afford to not do this.

Also no price increase in the US, of course, it’s the only western region where they’re getting pressure from Xbox.

This generation is For The Payers.

[BehindTheRows]

It's always a "but Sony Too™" with any blunder under Microsoft. It's like you just can't criticize them without resorting to mentioning Sony. I honestly give you as much crap as I do because you are the standout here. The ability to be bipartisan is there, you just choose to see things through green glasses. So far, we have NO layoffs at Sony, in the gaming sector. Or Nintendo, for that matter. Only Microsoft. It's a big deal and bad news for a whole lot of people. Plenty of y'all run around spreading the gospel of how loaded Microsoft is. Cool. Then 10,000 people shouldn't have just lost their jobs in such a way.

And I won't even mention the acquisitions.

[RauLeCreuset]

@Christopher

Careful. Quoting someone's past words to point out the inconsistency with, and dare I say insincerity in, their current argument apparently crosses an ever shifting line. Nevertheless, I'm glad you're pointing out what many of us have and what is on display here. The game is to defend and circle back to Sony. We all see the pattern, so what happens next?

Speaking of patterns, there's a pattern among Phil Spencer defenders where his culpability is often denied, and someone else is blamed. It's wild, considering how much credit he gets and gladly receives. It's not like 343 got hit so hard by coincidence. They're cutting losses there because they lost faith after a game Phil vouched for pre-delay disappointed.

Still, while it doesn't exonerate Phil, there is some truth to the reality that he has people over him he is answerable to who control the purse strings. Some of us have been saying this in other topics, but I guess some want to acknowledge it conveniently as a way to excuse Phil.

[RauLeCreuset]

One other thought, because I'm not going to pretend people didn't say what they said when it's relevant to the conversation:

"Everyone could see this game (Halo) was going to be a mess, and here we are."

It strikes me as inconsistent to say that a month ago but argue against Christopher's point that Phil had an opportunity to reassign or better manage personnel.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"Ultimately, I don’t really hold him responsible and I won’t hold Jim Ryan responsible when Sony does the same thing. The current state of the US (and the world) is pretty bad, possibly the worst it’s been in my lifetime."

https://n4g.com/news/250103...

Game. Set. Match. ♟️

Sony cited the economy as a reason why for price increase, no sympathy or reasonable understanding from you in regards to that unlike you are with Microsoft's layoffs. I once again say, Gee I wonder why?

Please don't restrict me cl1983 for pointing out his double standard 🙏🏾

[RauLeCreuset]

@Outside_ofthe_Box

I wish I had more than one up vote to give.

I couldn't help but notice the comment about Sony and Jim was not only pointedly more critical but also didn't shift the focus to others who have or might do the same.

[Crows90]

Current economy? They're buying publishers like they're fast food burgers.

For contrast Sony paid additional money for talent retention in Bungie acquisition

[IRetrouk]

"Also they chose Gamescom week to announce this… PlayStation under Jim Ryan is so out of touch with gamers."

Seems like you hold Jim responsible for things he doesn't control to me🤷‍♂️
Phill gets a pass though, right?

[IRetrouk]

Isn't sony currently employing throughout their studios? Why would they take on new people just to then fire them within a year?
None of us know what sony will or won't do, we can use a bit of common sense though.

[1Victor]

Orchard “Microsoft are also not alone in this. Amazon and Google just laid off similar/bigger numbers. Sony will at some point too. It's an unfortunate consequence of the economy we live in today. ”
I can’t tell about google or Sony’s future like your crystal ball but I can guarantee you with 100% that Amazon layoff are from seasonal holidays warehouse and packages distribution employees

[Noskypeno]

Right now Microsoft can't afford these layoffs if they want their gaming division to be respected. Sony didn't have to worry as much, we know they released Gow R, HFW, DS and more. The last time Sony had a drought like this was at the bey of the PS3 generation. Just give us updates on Contraband, Perfect Dark, Everwild, Fable and all the other games teased 3 years ago. A simple vertical slice can do some wonders now, it might sting if it gets downgraded but shoot for the moon as they say. A tweet saying they're still working on it, doesn't make me want to upgrade to the Series X.

[darkrider]

Dude, not working. You cant deflect this. It's bad, very bad, but even so you try and damage control. I just hope what you are doing here is payed, because if its isn't....

There isn't any defense possible and even somebody so blind with a corporation would see this. But, of course, not you.

Again Don mattrick is light years better then him. Phil wasn't able to make a single blockbuster. He milked to the death halo, dead, forza, just another racer, gears, dead...

Before the start of this Gen do you even remember what he told how they learn and were ready... Beside the stupid PR of 12 teraflops and now a weak 4 teraflop console is making them be afloat...

Canceled fable, destroyed lionhead and now put a studio that does racers making an rpg. Phil is brilliant

Any comparison with sony is just sad...

[shinoff2183]

Has it been said that some of those 10k layoffs were from azure or anywhere else

Orchard sure the economy isn't great but lifetime you must be extremely young cause from what I remember 08ish was way way worse. The economy is bad but some kinda make it seem worse then it is

Also Jim hasn't been doing price increases before the economy was bad the economy has been off for the last few years. Truth is like pointed out if this was Sony you'd be on here killing them.

[lelo2play]

Not everyone fired are from the gaming department. Microsoft have other business besides gaming...

[1Victor]

Lelo “ Not everyone fired are from the gaming department. Microsoft have other business besides gaming...”

So does that make it ok to destroy the livelihood of up to 10,000 families?😡

[lelo2play]

@1Victor

Are you drunk?

[Orchard]

So does anyone know the actual numbers affected @ Xbox studios? Obviously it won't be anywhere near 10k.

[Eonjay]

I read somewhere that 343i lost 60 so about 25%. The claim also mentioned that the cuts came mostly from the team working on the campaign portion of Infinite. As you already know, only Microsoft knows the total cut from Xbox but they have not and will not be providing a public facing accounting.

[LoveSpuds]

Yet another issue to consider with whole publishers getting consolidated under one umbrella, when the company want to make cuts these studios can also find themselves on the chopping block. I worry most about Tango Studio as they are one of my faves, but their games were never blockbusters, I can just see them getting shuttered down the line☹️

[shadowT]

Next year Activision Blizzard mass layoffs?

[Knushwood Butt]

Yeah, I bet those employees can't wait for the takeover.

/s

[ZwVw]

Phil should be the main Xbox employee to be laid off.

[babadivad]

They hired 40k people last year. They have been hiring thousands of people every year. Why is this 10k layoff such a big deal? Maybe I'm out of the loop on this one.

[Hofstaderman]

Among those laid off were veterans in game development, some of whom were with Microsoft for over a decade. The lead single player campaign developer for Halo Infinite was also removed and he worked on the campaign for Halo 1.

[Eonjay]

That is equivalent to saying you shouldn't be mad about being laid off because you were hired at one point.

[babadivad]

No it isn't. Chill with the hyperbole. I said I was out of the loop as to why the layoffs were a big deal considering the crazy hiring spree Microsoft has been on for a decade. Nearly doubled their number of employees.

Hofs gave me the information I was missing. Thanks @Hofs.
.

[1Victor]

@ baba if you hasn’t skip the conversation you would had noticed the comment far above about how Microsoft have layoff over half a million employees in the last 4 years and how X defense force think it’s ok to layoff employees that been on the company for a long time

[Hofstaderman]

They going to claim the layoffs are the reason as to why their games are delayed….watch this space.

[Lightning77]

Yep, we just found MS next excuse for bot releasing games book mark this.....

It's already looking like another crap year for them already.

[Lightning77]

"Microsoft said US employees impacted by the job cuts who are eligible for benefits will receive above-market severance pay, continuing healthcare coverage and vesting of stock awards for six months, career transition services, and 60 days’ notice prior to termination."

At least they'll be taken care. Maybe this wouldn't happen if they didn't spend 70b on this ABK BS... Shame on you Phil you caused this

[porkChop]

"Maybe this wouldn't happen if they didn't spend 70b on this ABK BS... Shame on you Phil you caused this"

Wtf are you talking about? The acquisition hasn't gone through yet. They haven't spent the $68B so no it isn't the reason. It's almost like we're entering a global recession that is impacting every industry.

These layoffs are company-wide at MS, it's not just Xbox. I agree that the layoffs are BS but blaming them on an acquisition that hasn't even happened is actually braindead.

[Lightning77]

I'm not sure if the money has been spent yet most likely not but this ABK stuff isn't helping anything MS is trying to do. Especially with Lay offs in the gaming sector it doesn't make them look any better. You're right Amazon reported laying off 18,000 ppl and Google had major lay offs also. Like I said it still doesn't make MS look good and more importantly will it impact development of some of their games?

[porkChop]

Yeah it likely will have some impact on development. How much really depends on how many devs were laid off, what their positions were, and how far along their project was.

It's shitty. These large corporations could obviously afford to forgo layoffs, though I'd imagine due to the global economy the investors are likely pressuring to cut costs. As much as I dislike unions I think the game industry actually needs them. Devs/artists have essentially no protection or job security as of right now which makes stuff like this easier for corps to do.

[Eonjay]

True but keep in mind that Phil doesn't have the power to unilaterally spend 70 Billion of Microsoft's cash. This was approved by Nadella.

[AmUnRa]

Yeah, Phil was pounding his chest and saying he got the green light and they would be making more aquisions in the near future...i wonder how that is going to work out after rhis shitshow.

[shinoff2183]

Shit with everything they are sending them off with they might as well have kept the employees

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Microsoft with a net worth of close to $2 trillion dollars needs to layoff 10k? All I see is a piece of shit company that wants more money for no reason at all. Greedy SOBs.

[Futureshark]

Well that should help subsidise gamepass for another year or two.

[Binarycode]

Hurts. don't make me fooking laugh.

[masterfox]

hypocrite, it doesn't make any sense, in one hand he try to spend 70 billions on game studios and the other does a mass layoffs?, he doesn't care that much of the employees , he only cares about the game name brands that are famous and want's that money that those games generate, he doesn't care about the quality implemented in order to create some of those games, so that's why in his mind thinks every game can probably be handle by whatever other developer is available, and cause of that mentality he already ruined MS one of their biggest games and that is Halo, he thought 343 can do the job Bungie did, and well look at it now, Halo franchise is flooded with mediocrity, if the Activision deal goes throu the first thing Philly will do in the near future is exactly this, do another major layoffs.

[TheEnigma313]

Yet Phil still has a job.

[Knushwood Butt]

Failing upwards.

[Hofstaderman]

How? I swear he must have something on Satya….

[SullysCigar]

Kinky pics? Vomit.

Maybe it's Gates he has dirt on? Phil's been there a long time, he's bound to know some things. If he ever does get the boot, I hope it's not followed by arkancide..

[TheEnigma313]

Has to be.

[Godmars290]

Bet it didn't hurt HIS bonus.

[Magatsuhi]

Anyone who believes this is a fool.

[jambola]

Poor rich guy 😥

[Hauntedasylum8]

What does he care? He just got an *award* he’s sleeping soundly at night while others have to stress about finding new work. POS 🖕🏻

[gold_drake]

thid feels less an email to staff than it is to be released to the press lol

[Stanjara]

Another episode Phil Says S2E2

[Stanjara]

Naked Phil by the fireplace: We're sorry
Phil behind a burning forest: We're sorry
Phil with the Polar bear: Sorrryyyyy

[Good-Smurf]

Said all that while wiping his crocodile tears with 100 dollar bills.
While still hellbent on spending $69 billion.

[DOMination-]

Whilst this news is sad for those affected, in most cases it's likely getting rid of people who are duplicating work of others (especially from acquisitions - eg. you maybe don't need a finance person at a subsidiary when the parent company already has one doing it all).

In the case of the gaming division, it's no surprise that 343i would be affected considering the poor performance of that studio over the last ten years.

And nobody mentions this but over the last five years MS went from 140k employees to 220k so I'd say during uncertain economic times and a pandemic, they've done their bit to stimulate jobs

[StarkR3ality]

You guys clearly weren't around in the last recession or have shit memories..

It's not nice but unfortunately lay offs happen. A business is there to make money, and if staff aren't contributing to making money, they get laid off.

Same thing happened in 2008, even worse that it is now. Maybe not within the gaming industry, but millions lost their jobs.

I know I'll get comments saying "Microsoft is spending 70 billion on Activision" yeah because it's going to make them money in the long run, the people getting fired probably aren't as awful as that is.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Okay. I won't say they are spending 70 billion.

They have spent more than 7.5 billion buying Zenimax Bethesda. While they also spent untold millions buying playground games, double fine, Ninja theory, compulsion games, obsidian, Mojang, undead labs, Inxile, etc etc etc.

That would be somewhere around 80 billion. But hey. Who's counting..

That's more than enough to have kept 10,000 employees from getting laid off don't you think?

[Profchaos]

What hurts even more is the fact the executive team sat down amd watch sting perform live the night prior to laying off all those employees.

Along with a 10 billion investment in open air and 70 to 80 mil for Activision.

[thesoftware730]

This whole, laying people off while trying to spend 69B argument is so dumb.

Is it sad people lose their jobs? Yes, yes it is. With that out of the way, this is how ALL mega corps work, they do assessments of ALL sectors of their business, see where money is being loss, or stagnant, and how to trim some of the "fat". 343i no matter the reason was not producing, 500mill plus ongoing spending, Phil bought on people to help them, which did not right the ship...yes, you get cut when evaluations come around, that happens, anywhere in any company...this is nothing new, especially in a down turning economy.

They don't stop investing and spending money on future prospects of making more money, that would be counter productive, and lead to a slow demise of ANY mega corp. I can give so many examples big and small its not even funny. In other fields it's the same, James Cameron said if Avatar 2 didn't make like 2b they won't do another one...people would have loss jobs, this is how it works...but studios don't stop making new movie investments do they?

Let's point to Google, just yesterday the laid off 12k people will they stop spending money and investing and speeding? Amazon has laid of workers as well, will they stop spending? MS is not only Xbox, this was a company wide cutting spree that affected way more divisions than Xbox, you guys are looking at MS as a gaming company, when in fact they are a mega corp like Amazon and Google, huge layoff like this ain't new, and pretending like MS is somehow unique in this regards is silly at best.

Once again, Phil doesn't own MS lol.

[GamingSinceForever]

I’m amazed by how many disagreed when you are spitting straight facts.

[thesoftware730]

It's N4G, that is how it goes.

They disagree with no sound debate/argument or meaningful points. 98% of them are literally repeating the same thing which makes no sense to the reality of the situation.

[rippermcrip]

Because the Activision and Bethesda purchases do indeed matter.

They claim these purchases are for the good of the industry. They claim it is good for gamers. They say it isn't anticompetitive.

But with Bethesda so far... what have they done that is good for anyone? Nothing. Have they done anything anticompetitive? Yes, they've already pulled games from Sony.

Fired a bunch of people. Nothing to show for games.

Even less likely to fulfill the bullshit promises with less employees.

[GamingSinceForever]

@rippermcrip ….What you just said has nothing to do with this. We weren’t talking about ethics when it comes to the acquisition.

That’s the problem on this site some of you are so toxic that you can’t have a sensible debate.

[thesoftware730]

@ripper's comment.

Exactly what I said, repeating the same meaningless points based on feelings, wild predictions, and a crystal ball.

[rippermcrip]

None of what I said is "feelings", they are all facts. It all matters.

Part of the argument for Microsoft getting Activision is the mismanagement at Activision.

.
Riigght...because Microsoft knows how to manage gaming studios well. These layoffs are just more arguments against it.

[Psychonaut85]

Awwwww poor baby. F$&k Phil

[Ristul]

Maybe stop spending billions of dollars to aquire the whole gaming market, that way you could, I don't know, create something new with the help of all those people you sacked.

[GamingSinceForever]

Acquiring ABK for $69B does not equal a $69B loss. They are investing in an asset that should appreciate in value over time.

Some of you on here make it seem as if this acquisition is a financial loss.

They are buying fine art not a damn car. Does this make more sense to y’all now?

[SurgicalMenace]

It is a netted loss until there is an ROI.

[CobraKai]

It’s gonna be a cut and paste mass email. He has no personal connection with any one of them, if he did, they’d still be working. MS isn’t in any dire financial trouble. He feels no pain.

[Spenok]

Yeah, his bottom line. He won't see a CENT of hurt from it himself.

69 Billion for Acti-Blizzard.... 0 for these families. Sucks for them. Not for him.

This guy is such a PR joke.

[ghostrider32]

And people thought Don Mattrick, was the Devil. Most companies would have thrown Phil under the bus, years ago.

[XBManiac]

Activision-Blizzard, King... time to update Linkedin profiles?

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Pretty shitty move MS. Stop trying to buy Activision and give those people their jobs back.

[jznrpg]

Ahh Phil’s words made everything better in his mind but 10k people are looking for work .

[Orchard]

While I agree that his words will do very little to console those who lost their jobs at Xbox Studios - you are being misleading on the 10k part, the majority of the layoffs are outside of Xbox - Xbox Game Studios don't even have 10k employees.