According to GameDaily.biz, Microsoft has undergone a round of lay-offs affecting its internal teams at its streaming platform Mixer and TV magazine show Inside Xbox.
GameDaily.biz quoted several internal Mixer staff announcing their departure on Twitter, including producers Kate Yeager, and senior producer Joshua Hnosko. Among the Inside Xbox luminaries announcing that they have been laid off is Rukari Austin, who was a product marketing officer at Microsoft.
Microsoft has not said how extensive the lay-offs are, only making the vaguest of comments on the subject. It told GamesIndustry.biz: “Like most companies, it regularly re-evaluates each of its internal business groups, which can lead to either increased investment or redeployment of resources.”
It has been pointed out that Microsoft’s financial year ends on June 30, which is likely to have been one motivating factor behind the lay-offs: there is speculation that Microsoft has decided it will be cost-efficient to reduce its internal content-generation teams for Mixer and Inside Xbox, in order to rely more on outside agencies.
Inside Xbox only returned in 2018, after it was canned by Microsoft in 2012, but with Microsoft’s Project Scarlett console due next year, it is not likely to be shelved once more, although following the lay-offs it may return in a different form.
For further news on the matter, we’d suggest you refer to Microsoft’s Xbox Wire website.
