Microsoft has reportedly laid off around 1000 employees, including Xbox staff

Microsoft has reportedly laid off around 1000 employees, including staff working for its Xbox division.

Insider (paywalled) reports that the layoffs have been taking place across Microsoft’s entire workforce, rather than focusing on a single department.

According to the report, cuts have affected staff from the Xbox division, as well as those from the Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technology organisation.

It’s also been revealed that Studio Alpha, which was created as a “serious gaming initiative” to make cloud-based wargame simulations for military and commercial customers, is among the departments being closed down entirely.

Greg Chapman, who was principal architect at Studio Alpha, tweeted that he and his entire team had been let go.

“Whelp, it’s been an adventure,” Chapman tweeted. “Today me and my entire team were laid off. 12 years here at Microsoft, and 25 in game development. Details shortly once the shock wears off.”

Meanwhile, KC Lemson, who joined Microsoft as a Software Test Engineer in 1998 and was most recently a group product / program manager, revealed on Twitter that she was one of the employees who had been let go from the company.

She tweeted: “Welp, who’s got two thumbs and just got laid off from Microsoft this morning? 2022 has been quite a year.”

Microsoft’s Mission Engineering team, which studied space technology, has also reportedly been affected, with employees being told in an email that the group would be “deprioritising work already underway”, and that team leaders would be working with staff who are “part of a prioritisation change” to “wrap up existing work and determine next steps”.

In a statement to Insider, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “Like all companies, we evaluate our business priorities on a regular basis, and make structural adjustments accordingly. We will continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”

Main image credit: Microsoft