According to a UK report, games and technology giant, Microsoft could be preparing to cut thousands of jobs across the company this month.

Today, mass redundancies have become standard practice in companies in the technology industry. According to a new report, Microsoft could be the next tech giant to shed thousands of jobs. At a company known to gamers worldwide for its Xbox brand, the news of potential layoffs echoes what is happening in the games industry.

With its Windows operating system, Microsoft Office suite and Xbox brand, Microsoft products have become a familiar sight in offices and arcades worldwide.

Microsoft continues to grow its presence in the games industry. In 2021, it acquired the publisher Bethesda Softworks. In early 2022, it announced plans to acquire Activision. But with the global economic slowdown following the pandemic, the company and other companies in the games industry are looking for ways to cut costs. These layoffs are not limited to developers and publishers.

A recent article by the British news agency Sky News reports that Microsoft is preparing to cut up to 11 000 jobs at the company this month. According to the article, the company will cut “roughly 5%” of its workforce worldwide. No details about where these cuts will come from within the company are given. News of the possible layoffs at the gaming and technology giant – which, according to the article, come ahead of CEO Satya Nadella’s speech to investors on 24 January – comes as Microsoft faces another European Union investigation into its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The article tries to put the rumoured layoffs in context, citing Microsoft’s statements late last year warning of a decline in revenue as customers of cloud computing services reassess their spending, which accounts for a significant portion of Microsoft’s revenue.

Sky News reports that if the company were to cut such a significant part of its workforce, it would follow a pattern that other games and technology industry companies have established in recent months. In addition to thousands of job cuts at developers and publishers in the traditional games industry, similar layoffs have taken place in the VR games market, with Meta announcing mass layoffs at the company at the end of 2022.

Reports of mass layoffs at Microsoft have not yet been confirmed. The move would be in line with similar releases seen in industries around the world. It is unknown how eliminating so many jobs would affect Microsoft’s gaming interests. But it is likely to prove challenging for Xbox employees to focus on entertainment. Especially when they know their job could be next on the chopping block.

Source: Sky News