Microsoft is reportedly laying off another 9,000 employees, with Xbox employees already laid off. This is equivalent to around 4% of their global workforce. Of these, 6,000 are employees involved in software development.
Shortly after this news was reported by CNBC, it was announced that Xbox games such as Perfect Dark and Everwild were canceled. Perfect Dark was highly anticipated by video game fans because it was a continuation of the original game that launched in 2000. It was announced five years ago and now The Initiative studio that developed it has closed.
The cancellation of Everwild is also surprising because it has undergone several years of development at Rare, a fairly well-known studio. MMORPG Blackbird from the developer of Elder Scrolls Online was also canceled. In addition, King, which publishes Candy Crush, also laid off 200 employees
All of these layoffs and cancellations of games under the Xbox banner were done after Microsoft gave in to PlayStation in the current-generation console war. Exclusive games Sea of Thieves, Forza and Gears of Wars are now available on PlayStation. The Xbox mobile console project was also scrapped, replaced by the ROG Xbox Ally in partnership with ASUS.
Microsoft is still the world's second-highest market value company behind NVIDIA. Profits rose last year, but as is often the case, a company's record profit is no guarantee that staff will not be laid off en masse.