Microsoft’s Surface, Xbox, and HoloLens divisions affected by the planned layoffs

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Published onFebruary 10, 2023

published onFebruary 10, 2023

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In January, Microsoft announced its plans tocut 10,000 employeesover the next coming months. The company’s CEO further highlighted that initial plans made during the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t quite turn out as expected, and that they were facing a different economic reality.

Bloomberg reportsthat Microsoft’s plan to cut some employees from its workforce continued to take shape yesterday. The affected parties are reportedly spread across the Surface devices, HoloLens mixed reality hardware, and Xbox divisions.343 Industrieswas also affected last month though Microsoft promised to continuesupporting Halo Infinite.

Earlier this month, Microsoft’s COO and CVP of Windows and Devices, Robin Seiler highlighted thatMicrosoft is still committed to supporting HoloLens 2 and its Mixed Reality programdespite concerns by the public. With the news of the layoffs hitting the Hololens hardware team hard, it is difficult to establish Microsoft’s commitment to it. What’s more, it is unclear whether the production of a third iteration of the goggles is still in play.

The Informationalso reported that Microsoft’s Industrial Metaverse team has also been scrapped completely. The company put this team in place four months ago to help drive the sales of Microsoft’s mixed reality headset as well as make HoloLens the new screen for frontline workers.

Microsoft hasn’t commented on the layoffs but has affirmed its commitment to the mixed reality space and the current HoloLens 2 version. It hasn’t yet been established how hard both the Xbox and Surface divisions have been hit. Though Xbox boss, Phil Spener did send out an email stating, “I encourage everyone to take the time and space necessary to process these changes and support your colleagues.”

According toa WARN noticefiled in Seattle, 617 employees have been affected. This adds to the massive layoffs trend that has been going on across major tech firms. Just yesterday, Microsoft’s GitHub, GitLab, and Yahoo announced that they’ll becutting their workforce.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

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