REPORTED · WARN NOTICE✓ VERIFIEDPublished Sep 2, 2026

Microsoft Cuts Hundreds of Positions in Xbox / Bethesda Studio

SOURCEOFFICIAL FILINGWashington State Employment Security Department· filed June 2, 2025View the filing ↗

EMPLOYEES AFFECTED

305

SHARE OF WORKFORCE

~0.1%

EFFECTIVE DATE

Aug 1, 2025

305 OF 228,000 EMPLOYEES

What we know

Location: Redmond, WA (Permanent County).

Department affected: Xbox gaming division / Bethesda Game Studios Austin.

A WARN notice for this layoff is recorded on June 2, 2025.

Disclosed through an official WARN filing with the WA state workforce agency.

Summary

Former Bethesda Game Studios Austin developer Anne Barrett reported that Microsoft carried out mass layoffs that severely impacted the Xbox gaming division, including Bethesda's Austin studio. The terminations were announced via brief two-minute Teams calls, with affected employees immediately blocked from corporate messaging and accounts. The article states the cuts affected "hundreds of positions," wiping out long-term staff and holders of institutional knowledge and prompting the formation of the OneBGS union by remaining and affected developers. Industry sources warned that further layoffs in the Xbox division may continue in coming months, and activists have publicized affected employees' accounts on social media.

Microsoft Corporation disclosed this layoff in an official WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice recorded by the WA state workforce agency on June 2, 2025. The notice covers 305 employees in Redmond, WA (Permanent County), with the layoff effective August 1, 2025.

That is roughly 0.1% of the 228,000 people Microsoft Corporation employs.

LayoffTalk has tracked 52 layoff events at Microsoft Corporation since January 2023, including 4,344 jobs documented in official WARN filings, with 37 additional events known from news reporting.