Update: Jez Corden from Windows Central has responded to this article via Twitter. He pointed out that Rukari Austin was laid off prior to the current round of layoffs. Corden also pointed out the current round of layoffs were part of regular employee turn over.
Original article below:
With all of the recent atudio acquisitions and the hiring spree going on over at Xbox Game Studios, it may come as a bit of a surprise that some people at Microsoft’s Xbox division have been laid off. We have recently learned that a number of employees have indeed been laid off. The exact number of affected employees is not known at this time but Jez Corden over at Windows Central puts the number at over a dozen. You can see the tweet from Jez below.
Xbox hit with layoffs today. At least over a dozen staffers in live shows and content seem to have been affected. Investigating.
— Jezcraft ⛏️ (@JezCorden) June 18, 2019
It appears that none of the affected employees were game developers or were attached to one of Microsoft’s internal game development studios. According to Jez those who were laid off came from “live shows and content”. This naturally leads us to look at Inside Xbox, the monthly show hosted by Larry Hryb. Investigating Inside Xbox leads to this tweet from Rukari Austin who served as Product Marketing Manager and could regularly be seen on the show:
It's been a helluva run at Microsoft & Xbox – nearly 8 years – but sadly it looks as if that time is coming to an end.
I was caught up in a lay-off, the first in my career (Achievement unlocked). So, it's time for me to start looking for my next gig. pic.twitter.com/pPEfhmuz2Q
— Rukari Austin (@rukizzel) June 14, 2019
I doubt that Inside Xbox has been completely canceled but the show will likely see some changes. Those of us at The Inner Circle hate to see people get laid off and we wish the best to all of those affected. We will bring you more details when they become available.
