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Microsoft announced this week that it’s laying off 1,900 people as part of its “success” plan following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. It appears that the layoffs affect staff across almost every department of Microsoft’s gaming division. This would be bad enough news, but Microsoft is not the first games company that’s laid off a large number of employees in 2024. It’s not even the only one that’s laid off almost 2,000. In fact, according to videogamelayoffs.com, we’ve had over 5,000 layoffs despite only being 26 days into the new year.
Just to put that into perspective, a conservative estimate of 2023’s layoffs puts the overall number at 10,500 people. But that’s across the entire year. While 2023’s layoffs were ruinous and depressing, at least they were spread out over several months (a small reprieve, if one can call it that). In less than a month, we’ve had half as many layoffs in 2024 as we had (again, conservatively estimated) in all of 2023.
Why is this? It appears that, cliche though it is, things are going to get worse before they get better. The same economic factors behind last year’s layoffs are still in play. Microsoft’s plans to create “a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure” sound similar to other companies’ plans for “restructuring” during the post-pandemic slump. The industry boomed spectacularly in the last few years, and now we’re in a corrective period. We’ll have to see what is left once the bloodletting is over.
In personal news, I’m almost overwhelmed by the games that came out this week. We’ve now got Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8 and the remake of the Apollo Justice trilogy. I’ll probably be playing as much of each as possible, but I will be a bit busy as my 33rd birthday is coming up and I suppose I need to celebrate to mark the occasion.
What to play this week
What’s new:
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Tekken 8
- Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy
- Go Mecha Ball
- Graven
- Phantom Abyss
- Lil’ Guardsman
- Stargate: Timekeepers
- Enshrouded
- Anomaly Agent
- Jett Rider
New on subscription services:
- Yars: Recharged (Prime Gaming)
- Firefighting Simulator — The Squad (GeForce Now)
- Metal: Hellsinger (GeForce Now)
- Road 96: Mile 0 (GeForce Now)
- Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun (GeForce Now)
- Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun — Aiko’s Choice (GeForce Now)
- Solasta: Crown of the Magister (GeForce Now)
- Tails Noir (GeForce Now)
- Wobbly Life (GeForce Now)
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Rachel Kaser
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