It’s been a rough year for the games industry with thousands of layoffs, including at companies like Microsoft. About 1,900 jobs were cut from Xbox, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax in January, followed by the closure of studios like Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Studios, and Tango Gameworks in May.
However, Insider-Gaming has reported on more recent layoffs, including senior product manager Angela Viness, design researcher Jessie and technical program manager Cory Ebert. Each took to social media to reveal their positions had been eliminated. Unfortunately, The Verge’s Tom Warren reports that more layoffs will be happening this week at Xbox and that Jessie was let go while on vacation.
The extent of the layoffs is unknown, but it could be part of the “widespread cost-cutting initiative” for Xbox Game Studios that Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported back in May. The division has reportedly faced scrutiny from Microsoft after it acquired Activision Blizzard, but the direct cause of the recent layoffs is unknown. Stay tuned for further updates in the coming days.