Xbox layoff fiasco deepens with ZeniMax staff watching Slack accounts abruptly close

As expected, Microsoft has begun its third round of layoffs targeting studios under its Xbox Game Studios umbrella, and according to reports, the process is messy, with employees discovering they have been let go from their studio by no longer being able to get into their Slack account.

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Previous reports indicated Microsoft was preparing for a third round of layoffs within its Xbox games division, and that this round would be quite significant in terms of how many people would be let go from development studios. Those layoffs have now begun, as accurately predicted by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, who said a few days earlier that Microsoft would begin the layoff process on Wednesday.

Reports now indicate several Xbox studios are being targeted, and as many as 9,000 people could be affected by these layoffs. More specifically, King, a key aspect of Microsoft's $70 billion Activision-Blizzard acquisition, has had 10% of its staff cut, with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier recently reporting that at least two games have been cancelled: Rare's Everwild, announced in 2019, and ZeniMax Online's unannounced new MMORPG that was codenamed Blackbird and began development seven years ago.

Among the fiasco of job cuts at various studios, some employees are experiencing being laid off by simply not being able to get into their Slack accounts. Schreier wrote in a recent BlueSky post,"As one illustration of just how sloppy and chaotic today's mass Xbox layoff has been, some employees at Zenimax Online Studios are now watching their Slack accounts abruptly get locked out. No message from HR, no word on whether they still have a job, just an ominous Slack deactivation."