Allen Adham

Microsoft will let go of 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox this week, it said on Thursday, the latest cuts in the technology sector that has extended massive layoffs over the past years into 2024.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it won’t host BlizzCon this year. The annual event washosted for the first time in person last year since 2020 and was seemingly on the verge of a comeback. Though not meant to be, the company told IGN it’s not a decision “made lightly.”

Blizzard is currently recruiting a dozen members of staff to work on an unannounced game.

Recent reports have revealed troubling news for employees at Blizzard, indicating that the renowned gaming company is considering another round of layoffs. Specifically, the reports outline plans to cut over 130 positions at the Cork, Ireland office, raising concerns about job stability within Blizzard.

Microsoft Corp.'s plans to cut 1,900 jobs from its video game division contradict statements the company made to a US  court that it would operate the newly acquired Activision Blizzard Inc. independently, the US Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.

Microsoft recently cut 1,900 jobs from its gaming division and among the layoffs were many at the recently acquired video game developer Activision Blizzard. Blizzard Entertainment's President Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham are both departing. The tech giant also announced the cancellation of a Blizzard game, called “Odyssey,” that was already six years in development. On Tuesday, Microsoft reported quarterly earnings, posting its strongest revenue growth since 2022.

Microsoft recently announced widespread layoffs, confirming that it was cutting 1,900 jobs across its entire gaming division– which, following the company’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, also includes Blizzard Entertainment. The layoffs have also gone hand-in-hand with the cancellation of Blizzard’s long-in-development survival game, codenamed Odyssey, which was officially confirmed to be in development in 2022, and a new report published by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has shed more light on what brought about the highly anticipated project’s cancellation.

Fresh details about Blizzard’s cancelled survival game have been revealed.

One area hit during the recent round of layoffs at Microsoft were the departments focused on bringing physical Xbox games to retail. On January 25, word began circulating that Microsoft Gaming was laying off a massive 1,900 employees from its 22,000-person team. A large portion of this number apparently is coming from the customer service group at newly acquired Activision Blizzard, which up till now was known for having relatively solid customer service.

The recent layoffs across the various Microsoft studios include the vast majority of the customer service team at Blizzard. This means the multiple live service games run by Blizzard are currently operating with next to no moderators, game masters, and customer service representatives.

Following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is reportedly reducing of 1,900 employees from its workforce. While he didn’t confirm being part of the same, Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra has revealed that he is also departing the company.

Blizzard’s president Mike Ybarra and its chief design officer Allen Adham are leaving the studio, which has also seen a previously announced survival game cancelled.

Microsoft’s head of gaming has confirmed that 1,900 staff will be laid off across Activision Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox.

Microsoft has made the decision to lay off a massive 1,900 staff from its gaming division. While the majority of the Microsoft layoffs are coming from Activision Blizzard, staff at Xbox and ZeniMax are also believed to be affected.

The president of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Ybarra, has announced that he’s departing the company today (January 25). 

Blizzard Entertainment’s untitled survival game set in an original universe is no more. In the wake of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and amid sweeping layoffs across various Xbox gaming teams, the company has canceled the project, according to a report from the Verge.

Microsoft is laying off 1900 people across its video game teams, including Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox, equating to approximately eight percent of its gaming workforce.

Alongside the announcement of 1,900 layoffs and the departure of Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Co-founder Allen Adham, Blizzard's unannounced survival game has been cancelled. Revealed shortly after news of the Microsoft acquisition in January of 2022, little information about the game was ever released to the public aside from vague recruitment posts, though the abandonment of unfinished projects is not unheard of, as the cancellation of the ambitious MMO Titan famously led to the development and release of Overwatch in 2016. As reported by the Verge, Microsoft Game Content and Studios President Booty says Microsoft will be “shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”

Microsoft has laid off 1,900 employees from its gaming division—mainly roles at Activision Blizzard King, but also some at Xbox and ZeniMax Media.

Earlier this morning, it was announced that Microsoft is laying off 1,900 staff from its gaming division, a reduction of around 8% of Microsoft Gaming's total workforce. Following the announcements, Mike Ybarra (also known as Qwik) has announced on X that today is his last day at Blizzard Entertainment.

Microsoft is laying off around 8% of its Gaming Workforce, affecting game developers across Xbox, ZeniMax Media, and the newly acquired Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft has announced that it will be laying off 1,900 members of its 22,000-person gaming division. 

Update, 9:51 a.m. ET, 1/25/24: