The Algorithm Age

The Thursday letters page reacts badly to the Xbox layoffs, as one reader agrees that Rematch is not real competition for EA Sports FC. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@.co.uk Blame game I think these latest job cuts will be the final straw for many people when it comes to Microsoft . They have been failing so badly for so long it’s got to a point where I think they’re already irrelevant for a lot of folks, but this has got to be the final straw. Or at least it should be, because the final straw should be Phil Spencer, and all his horrible friends, leaving Xbox and brand new management coming in (or Microsoft just shutting it down, which is actually looking increasingly likely in the long term). I just do not understand why this man still has a job. When hundreds of other developers get dumped for the crime of simply existing why is Phil Spencer, who has overseen two failed generations of consoles, still in charge and appeari...

The next batch of Xbox layoffs could be the worst so far, with an industry insider predicting studio closures as well. It’s been reported for some time that Microsoft is planning another major wave of layoffs throughout the company and a couple of days ago it was claimed that the Xbox division would be amongst those impacted. These layoffs will supposedly happen by the end of June, but previously no exact figures were given for how many people would be affected. If a new rumour is to be believed though, Xbox could lose upwards of 2,000 employees – approximately 10% of its entire workforce. The prediction comes from respected game designer George Broussard, who previously co-founded Apogee Software, better known nowadays as 3D Realms, and was one of the creators behind the Duke Nukem games. In a Bluesky post from earlier this morning, Broussard claims to have heard ‘internal developer stuff’ from within Microsoft, with anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 people expect...