Portside

Microsoft laid off 1,600 employees across its Xbox division this week, including hundreds of union video game workers represented by Communications Workers of America.

The workforce reduction comes in addition to what new CEO Asha Sharma calls the “most significant restructure” in the Microsoft division’s history. Microsoft announced approximately 4,800 total job cuts across the company Monday, including the 1,600 Xbox employees.

“When Microsoft sought to grow its video game division, corporate executives made an agreement with video game workers and their union, CWA, to respect their right to organize for a new day for workers across Microsoft’s video game studios,” said CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. “Although our union signed neutrality agreements with Microsoft, we have been extremely disappointed by a company that has slow-walked our members at the bargaining table, making CWA members wait for the protections of a union contract.

“But make no mistake – whether our members have a contract in hand, or are still at the bargaining table, CWA members at Xbox have the power and protection of union membership,” Cummings Jr. continued. “When Microsoft decides to treat the workers who built Xbox as expendable, it should know who they’re dealing with. This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight with each and every member at CWA — hundreds of thousands of people strong.”

More than 3,500 Xbox workers have formed unions with CWA since 2022, when Microsoft agreed to a neutrality framework that allowed workers to make that choice. Now, bestselling Xbox games like “Doom,” “Quake,” “Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout” are made with union-represented labor.