The first wave of layoffs at the beginning of the year is coming. Recently, Microsoft made its first drastic layoff after acquiring Activision BlizzardEven Blizzard President Mike Ybarra and Blizzard co-founder and chief design officer Allen Adham have announced their imminent resignationsThis has undoubtedly set off quite a wave in the industry. Microsoft's layoffs not only involve a large number of people, accounting for nearly 8% of the company's total workforce in the gaming divisionAnd it directly influenced Activision Blizzard's important project - "Odyssey". Once seen as Blizzard's next big IP, this survival MMO game is now facing the fate of being canceled.
Microsoft's layoff plan is not an isolated case. Recently, a number of tech giants, including Google's parent company Alphabet and Amazon, have also announced layoff plans. According to layoff statistics, **layoffsFYI's data shows that:Already in January, 76 tech companies laid off more than 21,000 employees. According to a report released earlier this month by Challenger, Grey and Christmas,:The tech industry laid off 16 jobs in 2023With 80,000 jobs, it is the largest number of layoffs in any industry, including Microsoft's 10,000 layoffs.
It's all said, don't let people who don't know how to do it command blindly
This layoff is not an idea that Microsoft came up with in the thigh. In an internal memo, Matt Booty, president of Microsoft's game content and studios, said:This is part of the "Execution Plan with a Sustainable Cost Structure". Meanwhile, Microsoft Games CEO Phil Spencer also pointed outLayoffs are a necessary step for companies to "scale, increase efficiency, and generate more revenue."
The competition in the game industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and factors such as survival MMO games focusing on game duration and content homogenization continue to be constrained, making it difficult to surviveThe cost of developing a big game is rising, and the payback period is getting longer and longer。This means that Microsoft needs:Focus more on the profitability and ROI of your game, rather than just scale and market share.
In this context, the fate of "Odyssey" took a turn. The game was originally prototyped on Epic Games' UE engine, but was later moved to Blizzard's own Synapse engine. However, the Synapse engine is not yet ready for production, which means that Odyssey is still years away from completion.
The winds of commerce have blown over the sails of the game
For Microsoft, such uncertainty is clearly unacceptable. In the business world, time is money, and the pace of Odyssey clearly doesn't meet Microsoft's expectations. Therefore,Microsoft decided to transfer part of the staff "to one of several promising new projects where Blizzard is in the early stages of development," Microsoft has decidedThis may be to ensure the rational allocation of resources and a better return on investment.
With the deep involvement of AI, labor efficiency is gradually inadequate, and in the face of the increasing novelty in the technology industry, Microsoft's layoffs may be inevitable. However, this is undoubtedly a difficult time for the employees who have been laid off. The Communications Workers Association (CWA) commentedEven in an extremely lucrative industry, even if you work in a successful company, your livelihood is not guaranteed if you don't have a voice in your job.
In the midst of a cold winter in the gaming industry, many companies are opting to abandon projects with uncertain prospects and reduce staff and costs to meet complex challenges. Even industry giants like Microsoft, as well as its recent acquisition of Blizzard, are not immuneFrom this point of view, Microsoft's layoffs of the Odyssey program and the layoffs of nearly 2,000 people may be just a starting point for the industry to reorganize.