All articles tagged with #microsoft
Microsoft is cutting about 3,200 Xbox jobs—the largest restructuring in the division's history—as part of a broader reset of its gaming unit amid weaker player engagement, rising hardware costs, and AI-driven market pressure, with experts noting this could herald a spin-out or breakup of Xbox in the next two years.
Asha Sharma, head of Microsoft's Xbox division, was named to a Federal Reserve task force on Productivity and Jobs amid backlash over 4,800 layoffs and approvals to hire 2,273 H-1B visa workers. Microsoft says the visa figures are company-wide renewals and not Xbox-specific. Critics argue the move favors foreign labor, while the Fed says the panel will evaluate tools and methods to improve employment and productivity as policymakers reassess approaches.
OneBGS members across Bethesda Game Studios, Id Software and ZeniMax Online Studios plan protests next week in Montreal, Rockville, Austin and Texas after 440 staff were laid off amid Microsoft/BGS restructuring. The union says it has rights to effects bargaining and is demanding preferential transfers to open Xbox/Microsoft roles, stronger severance and extended healthcare, and recall rights for laid-off workers; Microsoft/BGS say the cuts aim to align talent with core franchises, and the union notes this is the third ZeniMax studio to unionize while the fight continues at the bargaining table.
Microsoft’s 2026 sustainability report shows carbon emissions rose 25% in 2025 to 34 million metric tons, driven mainly by datacenter expansion and a policy shift away from certain renewable-energy certificates, underscoring that AI infrastructure is increasing energy demand and outpacing scalable sustainability solutions on the path to carbon negativity by 2030.
Despite broad layoffs at multiple Xbox studios and a company-wide reset, Windows Central’s Jez Corden says id Software and its id Tech engine aren’t going away. Microsoft reportedly has no plan to drop id Tech or move teams to Unreal, and the core id Software staff remains intact. DOOM and Quake are still seen as franchises to invest in, with pitches like Perfect Dark or Ironwood in consideration, but the near-term focus remains on existing IP and the engine powering them. In short, the DOOM studio and its tech are expected to endure despite the layoffs.
Microsoft says AI-powered vulnerability discovery is accelerating the identification of Windows flaws, leading to more security updates in each Patch Tuesday. Its MDASH system scans critical Windows binaries, validates findings with multiple AI models, and reduces false positives before engineers review and ship fixes. The company is also updating Secure Development Lifecycle practices to account for AI-enabled attacks, and CISA is using Anthropic's Fable AI for government software audits, highlighting a broader trend toward AI-assisted cybersecurity.
Microsoft disclosed 4,800 total job cuts for the year, including 1,600 in its Xbox division, even as USCIS data show the company has been approved to hire thousands of H-1B visa workers this year. Critics argue the visa program undermines American workers, prompting calls to end or curb H-1B, while a federal judge blocked Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee and investigations into visa fraud continue. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma cited strategic business reset and slimmer margins as a rationale for the layoffs, highlighting the broader tension between corporate hiring practices and immigration policy.
Microsoft is reportedly making Windows 11's Start menu and Taskbar search box 4 pixels taller, creating a chunkier look to align with the upcoming Ask Copilot UI. The change appeared in a Windows 11 preview build changelog and was confirmed by a Microsoft engineer, though it's not yet being previewed publicly; insiders are expected to see it first before a general rollout.
A flurry of Pacific Northwest tech moves includes Dropbox naming Mike Torres its first chief product officer after stints at Google and Amazon; T-Mobile orchestrates a leadership reshuffle with Chris Sambar named chief enterprise officer and Michael Katz exiting while André Almeida’s role expands to marketing, brand and broadband. Microsoft layoffs hit Xbox veteran Kevin LaChapelle among others, and additional leadership changes include Inflection.io’s Adam Schoenfeld departure, Stoke Space adding Kevin Weil to its board, Helion Energy hiring Skippy Shaw for Washington government affairs, and Microsoft exits such as Carissa Allen and Nick Parker transitioning to Nvidia during the broader churn.
Microsoft is previewing Cloud rebuild, a Windows 11 recovery option that reinstalls the OS from the cloud even if the PC won’t boot. It downloads the Windows image and drivers from Windows Update and applies the latest updates, but personal files, settings, and applications aren’t restored. Accessed via WinRE in Insider builds (Preview Build 26300.8772+), with general availability expected after testing; other recovery options include Reset this PC, Quick Machine Recovery, and Point-in-Time restore.
Hundreds of Communications Workers of America members are affected by Xbox’s mass layoffs during Microsoft’s restructuring, with about 3,200 jobs cut and five internal studios divested; the CWA says it will take all necessary legal action to secure severance, open-role placement, and recall rights, and has launched a hardship fund with the United Videogame Workers, while Xbox CEO Asha Sharma blames overextension for the cuts.
A longtime id Software developer, Michael Maynard, says Microsoft cut roughly half the studio in a recent Xbox restructuring, praising the studio’s DOOM titles and engine tech while calling the layoffs a “waste” of a team dedicated to excellence; the move is part of Microsoft’s biggest Xbox reorganization, including about 3,200 job cuts and the offloading of four studios.
Microsoft is reportedly shifting toward making more of its first-party games Xbox-exclusive to lure players, with two announced titles—Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution—confirmed as console exclusives. While big multiplayer releases may stay multiplatform, the broader strategy includes continued PC availability for many titles. The Bloomberg report comes amid large-scale layoffs and studio reorganizations at Microsoft, fueling questions about the fate of future tentpole franchises.
Microsoft laid off Kevin LaChapelle, a 37-year Xbox veteran who led the Xbox Backwards Compatibility Program and Xbox Cloud Gaming, as part of a broad restructuring that hit thousands of workers (about 3,200 of them at Xbox). LaChapelle helped make hundreds of Xbox 360 and original Xbox titles playable on newer consoles, and his departure comes as Xbox undergoes a significant organizational reset. The Backwards Compatibility initiative was revived this year amid talk of integrating Xbox into a future PC–console Helix system, and LaChapelle expressed sadness at leaving while wishing the team success.
A Bloomberg-sourced report says Microsoft, led by CEO Asha Sharma, plans to expand exclusive titles for Xbox, with Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution confirmed as console exclusives. The strategy aims to grow the Xbox ecosystem by prioritizing tentpole single‑player games on Xbox while keeping multiplayer experiences on other platforms, raising questions about potential future exclusivity for franchises like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls. The move comes as Microsoft conducts significant layoffs in the Xbox division and signals a shift toward closer Xbox/Minecraft integrations and stronger co-marketing with its hardware.