Microsoft’s gaming division is still working through a broad round of layoffs, and one former Obsidian developer says the cuts reached his team too. Jay Turner, who previously worked as a senior writer and narrative designer at Obsidian, said he and “a good number” of other developers were laid off this morning.
Turner described the move as “Microsoft sacrificial rituals” in a post on Bluesky. In that same post, he said he was looking for a Senior Writer/ND role and pointed to more than two decades of experience on projects such as Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
I and a good number of very talented game devs were laid off by Obsidian as part of the Microsoft sacrificial rituals this morning. If you or anyone you know is looking for a Senior Writer/ND with more than two decades' experience in titles like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, please let me know!
— Jay Turner (@silopolis.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T18:14:06.444Z
The layoffs are part of a much larger reduction across Microsoft Gaming. The company said 3,200 employees would lose their jobs over the next year, with 1,600 already affected. The cuts have also reached other studios, and separate reports have suggested that ZeniMax Online Studios was hit hard as well. For more context on the leadership changes around the division, Microsoft Gaming’s leadership shake-up helps fill in the bigger picture.
Obsidian has not offered a detailed public breakdown of the layoffs, but Turner’s post puts a human face on what has become a far wider company-wide cut. For a studio built on story-heavy RPGs, losing experienced writers and narrative designers is the kind of news that lands hard.
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