SUMMARY
- Microsoft has announced that it is laying off as many as 1,900 employees from its gaming division. The layoff has majorly affected Activision Blizzard employees.
- In the memo announcing the layoffs, Matt Booty, Microsoft’s game content and studio president announced that the company is shutting down its upcoming "unannounced" survival game.
Microsoft has announced that it is laying off as many as 1,900 employees from its gaming division. The layoff has majorly affected Activision Blizzard employees. As a result, the cut in workforce is also said to be affected.
Microsoft Phil Spencer, via an internal memo, announced that it is laying off 8% of its workforce. Along with the lay-off, Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard, also announced that he will be leaving the company. But those aren’t the only big news coming out of Microsoft’s decision.
Although the actual scale of impact on the devs because of the layoffs as well as the games is not known yet, however, the company has confirmed the immediate effect on one of its titles.
Blizzard’s Survival Game cancelled
In the memo announcing the layoffs, Matt Booty, Microsoft’s game content and studio president announced that the company is shutting down its upcoming “unannounced” survival game. They also stated that the tea working on the title would be moved to the other “promising new projects” that Blizzard is working on.
Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees 📝
Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment, has departed from the company, and the previously unannounced Survival IP has been canceled.
Best wishes to any and all employees affected 💔 pic.twitter.com/RBEpaj9qb1
— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) January 25, 2024
They said, “As part of this focus, Blizzard is ending development on its survival game project and will be shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.”
As part of the announcement, Matt also announced two major people Mike Ybarra, Blizzard President, and the chief design officer Allen Adham would also be exiting Blizzard.
Although not a lot of details about the survival title were revealed, it was a significant one for Activision Blizzard. This is because it was a rare new franchise from the developer that primarily focuses on its big brands of Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, and StarCraft.
When did Blizzard announce the survival game?
Blizzard announced that it was working on a new survival game on January 25, 2022. Ironically the game was declared canceled on the exact same date two years later, that is January 25, 2024. Notably, the game would have marked the developer’s first new property ever since 2016, which is when it launched Overwatch. Now, since the game has been canceled as a part of layoffs at Microsoft, fans will have to wait longer for a new franchise from Blizzard.
We’re building a survival game in an all-new universe.
Join us in writing our next chapter: https://t.co/yf7W5p9ERQ pic.twitter.com/vWtkDYh1kX
— Blizzard Entertainment (@Blizzard_Ent) January 25, 2022
Back then, the developers had shared a proper blog post titled ‘Create a new Universe with us’ announcing the game along with a couple of artworks as well. The blog also was a public announcement to invite individuals to join the team working on it. It included a list of as many as nine openings in art, design, and programming combined.
The blog described the games as “Blizzard is embarking on our next quest. We are going on a journey to a whole new universe, home to a brand-new survival game for PC and console. A place full of heroes we have yet to meet, stories yet to be told, and adventures yet to be lived. A vast realm of possibility, waiting to be explored.”
The concept art had a group of young adults leaving a ‘real’ urbanized world setting and peeping out into a colorful fantasy realm. Another image depicted a high-fantasy world with some indications of magic as well.