The hashtag "Stop the Layoff Spiral" is trending.
The Xbox community has run out of patience with the waves of mass layoffs plaguing Microsoft's gaming sector repeatedly. Players have clearly expressed their anger through the Player Voice Portal, the official platform launched by the company earlier this year to gather community feedback. Recently, a demand to "stop the studio closures" topped the list, achieving over 3,000 supportive votes, clearly reflecting the increasing discontent after years of layoffs, project cancellations, and studio closures within one of the most profitable technology companies.
The most circulated post on the Xbox player notes platform stated:
"The layoff of 3,200 employees from Xbox (via Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, Obsidian, id Software, and Xbox Game Studios) is unacceptable. This is merely a continuation of a pattern that has led to the layoff of more than 10,000 employees at Xbox in a span of just two years. Several studios have closed or their futures are threatened, such as Compulsion Games, Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Roundhouse Studios, in addition to many game cancellations. Developers and players agree that this situation cannot continue."
Note: Although Microsoft has laid off more than 10,000 employees over the past two years, the number of layoffs in the Xbox department alone is less than this figure.
The author of the post, user Witt Yao, set out a series of demands he sees as necessary for successfully restructuring Xbox in a way that serves the gaming community, as follows:
The first demand points to the contradiction players saw in the Xbox summer showcase, where the company showcased new footage from State of Decay 3 and hinted at a new game from Hellblade, only to make decisions weeks later to lay off or restructure the studios developing those two games, Undead Labs and Ninja Theory.
Although there is no official information on the executive compensation structure for Xbox's Asha Sharma and her management team, reports revealed that Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella received compensation of $96 million during the fiscal year 2025, which has amplified criticism directed towards the upper management.
While Asha Sharma described the current Xbox restructuring as a necessary correction in the department's course after excessive expansion during the Game Pass era, layoffs have become for many a part of a routine policy within Xbox.
In early 2024, around 1,900 employees were laid off, followed by approximately 650 employees later the same year. July 2025 saw another wave of layoffs affecting several developers, while the last round is still ongoing, with expectations of an additional 1,600 employees losing their jobs within the next twelve months.
"I completely agree with the idea that layoffs represent a management failure. These are incredibly talented developers, and if management is unable to make a profit from their expertise, the problem lies not with them, but with leadership."
"There is no justification for discarding this enormous number of experienced individuals. These people have shaped the gaming industry for many years, and Microsoft is depriving thousands of employees of their livelihood without anyone benefiting from it. For me, I will not renew my Game Pass subscription."
I have loved video games since the days of the family console, preferring adventure games like Tomb Raider and Assassins Creed (before the shift to RPG), I have no bias towards any home console; for me, the best is the one that offers the most distinctive games. What matters to me are the engaging narrative experiences, as the story is the foundation of enjoyment more than the gameplay.
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