Over the past year, our focus has been on minimizing disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work. As part of aligning our post-acquisition team structure and the management of our business, we have made the decision to eliminate approximately 650 positions across Microsoft Gaming (mostly corporate and support roles) to organize our business for long-term success.
I know this is difficult news to hear. We are deeply grateful for the contributions of our colleagues who are finding out they have been impacted. In the US, we are supporting them with exit packages that include severance pay, extended medical care, and outplacement services to help them with their transition; outside the US, packages will vary by location.
With these changes, our corporate and support teams and resources are aligned for sustainable future growth and can better support our studio teams and business units with programs and resources that can scale to meet their needs. Separately, as part of managing the business, there are some impacts to other teams as they adapt to changing priorities and manage the lifecycle and performance of games. No games, devices or experiences will be cancelled and no studios will be closed as part of these adjustments today.
Throughout our team’s history, we’ve had some great times and some challenging times. Today is one of those days. I know going through more changes like this is difficult, but even in the toughest times, this team has been able to come together and show each other love and kindness as we work to continue to deliver for our players. We appreciate your support as we navigate these changes and thank you for your compassion and respect for each other.
Phil