According to Engadget , the gaming industry continues to face sad news. Recently, Microsoft announced further staff cuts at two game developers owned by Activision Blizzard, Toys for Bob and Sledgehammer Games.
According to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle, 86 employees at Toys for Bob, the studio famous for the Skylanders series, will lose their jobs on March 30. In addition, the studio's office will also be closed. This number is much higher than the initial estimate of only about 35 employees affected.
In addition, 76 other employees at Sledgehammer Games, the studio behind Call of Duty: Vanguard , will also be cut. The developer, founded in 2009 and has contributed to many popular Call of Duty titles, will reportedly move to a fully remote work model after closing its office.
Microsoft announced to lay off 162 more gaming employees
In total, the layoffs affect 162 Microsoft employees. This is part of a plan to cut 1,900 employees across the Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax (Bethesda) teams announced by Microsoft at the end of January.
The cuts have caught the attention of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which said the layoffs contradicted Microsoft's commitments during negotiations to acquire Activision Blizzard. The commission has ordered a halt to the $69 billion deal pending further investigation.
Layoffs in the gaming industry have become a concern. An estimated 10,500 jobs will be lost in 2023. In the first month of 2024 alone, that number has already reached 6,000, suggesting the situation is getting worse. These cuts are part of a larger wave of layoffs happening in the tech industry as a whole.
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