Layoffs at Microsoft: They are closing the departments responsible for retail Xbox games

A few months ago, in the context of her legal dispute Microsoft To acquire Activision Blizzard, the American giant's plans to update the Xbox Series Of course, a few twenty-four hours after the huge leak, the head of Microsoft's gaming department, Phil Spencer, came to reassure players, confirming that the company's plans had changed since then.

Of course, just a few days ago, fears that Microsoft was pursuing a future devoid of physical games came back to the fore when the company announced that Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, one of Xbox Game Studios' most anticipated releases, would be coming exclusively to digital form. Now, similar news has come to the limelight.

The American giant announced, on Thursday, that it will undertake a new wave of mass layoffs, as it will lay off 1,900 employees at Xbox, Bethesda, and Activision Blizzard. This wave affected many departments, from Blizzard customer support to developers of various studios. But Jez Corder, the highly reliable Windows Central reporter, has revealed how to do it The layoffs particularly affected the departments responsible for the retail release of Xbox games.

In particular, Ghez emphasized the following:

Microsoft has also closed the departments that handle the release of Xbox games in retail stores. If you've seen the leaks about the digital-only Xbox console… you can get an idea of ​​where Microsoft is going here.

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Note: Reducing retail teams does not confirm that Microsoft is completely abandoning Xbox games at retail just yet, and they may outsource or perhaps merge. So don't start “Xbox is leaving retail” on that basis.

However, this seems to be the industry's path. There is no escape from this.

Microsoft has also shut down departments dedicated to bringing Xbox games to physical retail stores… which if you've only seen the digital Xbox console leaks… well, you can get an idea of ​​where Microsoft is going here.

– Jez (@JezCorden) January 25, 2024

It should be noted that Microsoft has not issued an official statement on this matter yet.