Microsoft has confirmed plans to cut around 9,000 jobs, marking its latest round of layoffs in 2025. This move will affect approximately 4% of the company’s global workforce, which totals 228,000 employees.
The tech giant said the cuts are part of efforts to reshape the business for a fast-changing market. Although the company did not list affected divisions, reports suggest its Xbox gaming unit will take a hit.
Internal emails revealed the cancellation of two major game titles—Perfect Dark and Everwild. The studio behind Perfect Dark, The Initiative, will also be closed. Employees from Turn 10 and ZeniMax Online Studios have shared on social media that they were impacted too.
ZeniMax director Matt Firor announced his departure after 18 years, saying he would continue supporting the game as a player. Independent Irish studio Romero Games also confirmed job losses after its funding was withdrawn.
These layoffs follow three earlier rounds this year, including a 6,000-job cut in May. A database from Washington state shows over 800 roles will be lost in Redmond and Bellevue, Microsoft’s home base.
Microsoft is investing $80 billion (£68.6bn) in data centres to support AI development. The company recently hired AI expert Mustafa Suleyman to lead its AI division.
Despite its investment in OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, Microsoft reportedly struggles to promote its AI assistant, Copilot. Meanwhile, competitors like Meta are offering AI talent signing bonuses of up to $100 million.
Microsoft says the changes are needed to stay competitive in the evolving tech landscape.
