{"id":787817,"date":"2026-07-08T21:45:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787817\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:45:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:45:46","slug":"microsoft-cuts-4800-jobs-as-it-revamps-xbox-in-latest-wave-of-mass-layoffs-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/787817\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft cuts 4,800 jobs as it revamps Xbox in latest wave of mass layoffs | Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Microsoft said on Monday it was eliminating about 4,800 jobs \u2013 roughly 2% of its global workforce \u2013 in a cost-cutting move that will deliver a sweeping restructuring of its struggling Xbox gaming division.<\/p>\n

The cuts include the deepest overhaul in Xbox\u2019s history, with approximately 3,200 gaming jobs to be shed over the coming fiscal year, four game studios being spun off or sold, and a fifth entering a review process that could lead to closure, the company said.<\/p>\n

The announcement is the latest in a string of mass layoffs by the tech company as it spends large sums of money to stay in the artificial intelligence race, with companies investing tens of billions of dollars in AI-ready datacenters and computing power.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur business is changing because the world around it is changing,\u201d Amy Coleman, Microsoft\u2019s executive vice-president and chief people officer, wrote in a memo to all employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies don\u2019t get to choose whether their industry changes; they only get to choose whether they change with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coleman said the layoffs fell mostly within Microsoft\u2019s commercial business and Xbox.<\/p>\n

She said the eliminated roles were \u201cnot being replaced by AI\u201d, but acknowledged that automation was reshaping how work is done across the company.<\/p>\n

On the commercial side, she said the cuts would build on Microsoft\u2019s $2.5bn push, announced last week, to embed 6,000 engineers inside enterprise clients to accelerate AI adoption by often reluctant customers.<\/p>\n

At Xbox, CEO Asha Sharma told employees in a separate memo that 1,600 positions were being cut immediately, with the rest to follow through fiscal year 2027.<\/p>\n

Xbox has been through successive rounds of cuts since Microsoft\u2019s $68.7bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard closed in 2024 after a long review process by regulators over competition concerns.<\/p>\n

Sharma described Xbox\u2019s business as \u201cnot healthy\u201d, with profit margins \u201c3-10 times lower\u201d than rivals.<\/p>\n

She succeeded the longtime Xbox chief, Phil Spencer, who retired in February, and has pledged to return the division to growth by 2027.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHistory is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe will not be one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four studios will leave Xbox as part of the restructuring.<\/p>\n

Compulsion Games<\/a> and Double Fine Productions will become independent, retaining their intellectual property and game catalogs.<\/p>\n

Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new owners with funding to continue their current projects.<\/p>\n

In France, Arkane\u2019s management is beginning a required consultation with its works council to review what Sharma called \u201cpotential strategic options\u201d \u2013 a process that could result in further closures or a sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microsoft said on Monday it was eliminating about 4,800 jobs \u2013 roughly 2% of its global workforce \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-787817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}