By Sagar V. Mankar 
Microsoft has begun 2025 with a new round of layoffs, affecting employees across its sales, security, and gaming divisions. According to Business Insider, employees started receiving notifications of their termination on Tuesday, though Microsoft has described these cuts as “small” without revealing specific numbers.
This latest round of job cuts follows a challenging 2024 for the gaming industry. Last January, shortly after completing its Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft laid off 1,900 gaming employees. The company continued restructuring throughout the year, including a significant reduction of 650 positions in September 2024.
One of the most dramatic changes came in May 2024 when Microsoft closed four gaming studios, including the notable developers Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. There was a silver lining for Tango Gameworks, however, as the studio found new life when Krafton stepped in to purchase and relaunch it.
The broader gaming industry faced similar challenges in 2024, with nearly 16,000 professionals losing their jobs across more than 160 companies. The start of 2025 hasn’t brought much relief – in just the first 15 days, the industry has already seen three studio closures and multiple layoffs, including cuts at Rocksteady. According to the game layoffs tracking site obsidian.md, nearly 200 gaming industry professionals have already lost their jobs this year from 9 companies.
Microsoft has not responded to requests for additional comments about these latest workforce reductions.