Microsoft cuts 8% of gaming division after closing Activision deal

Jeremy Monken’s wife had just given birth to a healthy daughter when he got the news.

“I was just sitting at the hospital, watching my wife feed our newborn and getting laid off in a Zoom call," he said. "So, that was my morning.”

Microsoft notified Monken that he was one of 1,900 employees being laid off, about 8% of the company’s gaming division. The job cuts come three months after Microsoft closed its mega-acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard.

The Redmond-based company did not respond to questions about where the roles are located or when the layoffs will be completed. Employees from gaming studios across the country said they were let go in LinkedIn and Facebook posts. Activision is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Monken, who is based in LA, said the layoffs came as a shock.

“There was just so much positivity around the Microsoft acquisition,” he said. “We had heard from other studios that had been acquired by Microsoft … that there weren't layoffs like this after the acquisitions. Generally everybody saw the Microsoft acquisition is just a universally good thing.”

Monken doesn’t begrudge Microsoft, but he said the hire-and-fire cycle pervasive in the gaming industry needs to change. This is the fourth time in his career as a game producer that he’s been laid off.

“It's just the shape of the industry right now, and it needs to be changed, because this isn't sustainable,” he said. “The amount of layoffs that have happened in 2023 are just ridiculous. To say that this — this is an industry that has so much revenue and so much money — but this is the only way we know how to operate is ridiculous.”

The Verge first reported the layoffs.