Microsoft laying off 3% of workforce in biggest round of cuts since 2023 – report

Microsoft is laying off three percent of its workforce across the business – potentially including its gaming division.

The news comes from a CNBC report, following Microsoft’s latest financial report from the end of April where it announced an 18 percent year-on-year increase in net income – plus a five percent increase in gaming revenue specifically.

“We continue to implement organisational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.

Back in June last year, Microsoft had 228,000 employees, meaning that a three percent drop would amount to approximately 6840 people – though of course employee numbers may have fluctuated, especially following other rounds of layoffs.

As such, this would be the largest round of cuts since the company laid off 10,000 employees in January 2023. Bethesda Game Studios, The Coalition, and 343 Industries were all affected.

Since then, Microsoft has continued to lay off staff. In January 2024, 1900 people from across Microsoft’s video game teams were laid off, with a further 650 staff laid off in September.

Already this year, Microsoft laid off a “small” number of employees back in January. While these cuts were performance-based, this new round of cuts are not related to performance, the Microsoft spokesperson said.

Eurogamer has contacted Microsoft for further comment on whether Xbox Studios are impacted.

At the start of the month, Microsoft confirmed it would be raising the price of its Xbox console across the world, with some new games costing $80.

Last month, Microsoft-published games even dominated the download charts on rival console, Sony’s PS5.