Xbox’s recent round of layoffs reportedly reached employees through brief, tightly controlled video calls, with some teams left without clear answers for weeks. The account comes from a Game Developer report that spoke with multiple people affected by the cuts.
The report describes meetings where chat features were disabled, microphones were muted, and cameras were switched off. At one studio, the people delivering the news could not even see the reactions of the employees receiving it.
At id Software, where more than 130 people were reportedly laid off, one source said the call lasted less than a minute. Developers were also told not to come into the office, even though some had already started commuting.
Access to Slack and internal email was reportedly removed within 48 hours. That left current and former employees trying to piece together what had happened through unofficial communication channels, including groups managed by union members and organizers.
“Many of us did not know what was happening for weeks,” one developer told Game Developer. The same source said senior staff either did not know what was happening or did not share what they knew, leaving employees to worry about their own positions and the future of their teams.
Another id Software source questioned whether Microsoft cared about the people affected and said the process appeared to add unnecessary pain. Those comments were made against the backdrop of a further 1,600 layoffs that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said would take place before 2027.
That future reduction has left remaining staff uncertain about how long their jobs are safe. One developer said employees do not know how anyone at Xbox studios can feel secure while more cuts are already planned, then questioned whether layoffs could continue after June 2027.
The uncertainty also creates a difficult environment for studios expected to keep producing games while pursuing Xbox’s goal of reaching more than one billion daily players. Employees facing another round of possible job losses may understandably be weighing whether to search for work elsewhere, even as opportunities across the industry remain limited.
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