Layoffs at Toys for Bob and Sledgehammer Games affect 30% to 40% of employees, a source familiar with the matter says.

Crash Bandicoot developer Toys for Bob and Call of Duty studio Sledgehammer Games have reportedly lost about 40% and 30% of their employees, respectively.

The layoffs are part of Microsoft's decision to lay off 1,900 employees across its video game teams. In an email sent to employees, Xbox President Phil Spencer called the decision “a painful decision following Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year, and its $7.5 billion acquisition of Zenimax in 2021. Microsoft also laid off Ma Nearly 900 jobs at this time last year as well. .

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Activision Blizzard employees have been contacting him directly to see if they've been affected, while industry insider Tom Henderson says 40 percent of Toys for Bob's workforce equates to about 35 employees (thanks, TheGamer).

On the other hand, Sledgehammer is listed LinkedIn It employs between 500 to 1,000 employees, indicating that between 150 to 300 employees may be affected by job cuts.

It's been a terrible start to the year for the industry. As Victoria recently summarized for us, this month alone has seen several other companies announce layoffs, including League of Legends developer Riot Games, Black Forest Games, Unity, Behavior Interactive, and Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games.

Earlier this month, GDC published its State of the Games Industry 2024 report, revealing that 35 percent of game developers have been affected by layoffs in the past 12 months. Half of those surveyed admitted fears that more job cuts are also on the way.