Microsoft Game Department lay-offs: former employees complained of “inhumane” treatment, and development teams were badly hit
Microsoft undertook a massive lay-off in July, with more than 9,000 people on full pay, and the Xbox game sector has become a disaster-prone area, with a severe impact on numerous workrooms under the banner, including The Initiative, Zeni Max Online, Rare and King.
In an interview with Game Developer, several Zeni Max Media developers (both active and retrenched) denounced Microsoft and Xbox executives for their brutal actions in this downsizing. The developers described the chaos caused by the whole event, with some stating that Microsoft’s treatment was “inhuman” and “contrary”.
A former employee disclosed to journalists that, without any formal notification, the work mailboxes, Slack accounts, etc. had been cancelled in an instant and had been completely disconnected for hours. Page Branson, member of the Association of Communications Workers (ZWU-CWA), pointed out that a confused process of lay-offs had put employees in “a state of collapse and confusion, in which they were unable to confirm that they had been laid off until after work, or even to determine whether the cuts had ended that day”.
As Branson and others gradually sorted out the scope of the lay-offs, they were shocked to find out that the cut-offs included the “absolutely critical” core members of the “Online” team in the upper scrolls. “This is absolutely abnormal! No matter how many times they try to decorate reason — which is inhuman in nature! It’s a lie to say, “Keep dignity” and “Show respect.”
“Someone has worked for the company for 15 years and was finally forced to rush a farewell letter on the Slack. For colleagues who have worked together for many years to make huge profits for Microsoft! It’s disgusting! It’s disgusting!” Mitchell stressed, “If I can pass a word to the executive, it’s: Re-examine your process! It’s neither normal nor acceptable!”
Blanson has shown the most lethal long-term effects of large-scale layoffs: the instant evaporation of institutional knowledge accumulated by his own developers. “A great deal of practical experience disappears overnight, and the staff left behind can only struggle to pull the pieces together. Low morale and widespread confusion have spread to work processes. Those who used to be extremely reliable had disappeared and who were the cornerstones of the team’s work were now the numbers that had been cut off in the first line of the report.”
Mitchell estimates that about one third of Zeni Max Media’s institutional knowledge stock is lost as a result of layoffs and that the remaining team “does not know how to maintain the quality of the original game”. More frankly, she said that when certain key posts were abolished, the project was “nearly impossible to achieve” unless those key core members were returned.
Every story of Microsoft ‘ s downsizing is heartbreaking, and the details above further accentuate the frustration of developers — deeply disappointed by the imprudent attitude of Microsoft and Xbox management to the issue. The short-term financial gains from lay-offs will ultimately be more painfully costly in terms of the brain drain: a broken memory and a collapse of the new human culture, ultimately undermining the core of the creativity that created the game of love for the player.
It is hard to imagine the future of Microsoft and Xbox in the game industry — perhaps eventually becoming ordinary third-party distributors. But even so, it remains to be asked: when an enterprise can do anything to catch up with technology, why should a player trust Microsoft?
