The game industry has seen massive layoffs in the last couple of months. Major companies have shut down some of their studios and sacked numerous employees in one go. These layoffs have caused ripples across the entire industry. Among the major companies, Microsoft has joined the fray by shutting down some of their major game studios on May 7, 2024.

Many people believe that the industry is going through challenging times but most people have reacted with anger after Microsoft decided to shut down these studios. Employees are reeling from a shock at the unexpected shutting down of three Xbox subsidiaries and the absorption of a fourth. The studios that have been shut down are Tokyo-brd Tango Gameworks, which published the critically acclaimed action game Hi-Fi Rush.

Microsoft Puts On a Tasteless Show of Support For Ex-Employee

Recently, Microsoft has lit up the headlines by doing a bizarre thing after pulling the shutter on their studios. An ex-employee named Brad Hilderbrand has shared on LinkedIn that the technology giant has sent him a swag package. Hilderbrand said in his post that it is kind of weird to receive goodies from a company that just fired him.

The sending of goodies comes as a poor show of support to the employees who have just lost their jobs. After firing a huge number of employees, people expect big companies to stand by them. However, some might argue that Microsoft is showing its support with this gesture.

Most people see this as just a tasteless show of support to the sacked employees who have lost their jobs and their hard work just wasted away.

The President of Xbox Has Given ‘Clarification’ On the Closures

Xbox president Matt Booty held a meeting on Wednesday morning with ZeniMax staff and praised Hi-Fi Rush but did not give any specific reasons why the company was shut down. This statement was backed up by three people who were in attendance at the town hall meeting.

The Xbox president further clarified by saying that the cuts were a result of the “reprioritization of titles and resources.” He gave a detailed explanation by saying that the company’s studios had been spread like “peanut butter on bread” — and some leaders felt that they were understaffed. So, they had to shut down these studios to free up resources elsewhere.

Booty further said that the shutdown of subsidiary Arkane Austin, the longtime developer of games such as Prey, was in no way connected to the performance of its new multiplayer game, Redfall. Although, Redfaall was a critical and commercial flop this wasn’t the sole reason for the closure of Arkane Austin.

The action by Microsoft to send goodies to a sacked employee hasn’t been received well with most people outraged by this while some believe that it is common practice for big companies. Whatever the case, companies should know better than to show these gestures to sacked employees.