Microsoft Is Taking The Axe To Employees, Games And Game Prices

One Out Of Three Is Bad

Microsoft, specifically their gaming studio, is dual wielding axes and slashing everything within reach.  So far they’ve cancelled Rare’s Everwild, The Initiative’s Perfect Dark, and ZeniMax’s Project Blackbird to name a few of the upcoming games which will never see the light of day.  In some cases they’ve shut down entire companies, you can see the current list here.  This has had quite an impact on the staff, Microsoft let 10,000 workers go in January 2023, 1,900 in January 2024, and 650 in September 2024.   This year we’ve seen almost 6,000 people from across the company losing their jobs and the news is that another 9,000 are slated for dismissal in the very near future.  Apparently it would be even worse if some of the employees hadn’t unionized.  As you might expect this has had a horrible effect on employee moral and Rock, Paper, SHOTGUN has linked to some interviews with ZeniMax employees which you can take a peek at if you are curious … or want to feel better about your company for a minute.

In amongst all of this horror is one small piece of good news, Microsoft is not pulling a Randy Pitchford and is dropping the price on Outer Worlds 2 without first putting their foot in their mouth.  The price should be cut by $10 everywhere; hopefully Steam haven’t updated their Canadian pricing yet as it is a hefty $90.  If you have already pre-ordered at the full price you have yet more proof that pre-orders are a bad idea to spend money on.  There will likely be some way to reclaim your cash, so keep an eye out for updates.