Microsoft lays off nearly 5,000 employees across Xbox, commercial sales
Microsoft lays off nearly 5,000 employees across Xbox, commercial sales
微软在 Xbox 和商业销售部门裁员近 5000 人
Microsoft cut around 4,800 roles, or 2.1% of its global workforce, on Monday — the latest in a series of layoffs that’s stoking fears that AI will replace people at companies. The layoffs will hit Xbox and commercial sales the hardest, with Xbox losing 1,600 staffers today, according to memos shared with Microsoft’s staff.
周一，微软裁减了约 4800 个职位，占其全球员工总数的 2.1%。这是近期一系列裁员行动中的最新举措，引发了人们对人工智能将取代企业员工的担忧。根据微软内部共享的备忘录，此次裁员对 Xbox 和商业销售部门的打击最为严重，其中 Xbox 今天裁减了 1600 名员工。
Here’s a snippet from a memo from Amy Coleman, EVP and chief people officer: Our business is changing because the world around it is changing. The way technology is built, deployed, and used is transforming faster than at any point in my time here. Our customers’ needs are shifting, the business models that serve them are shifting, and that means the work itself — what we do, where we focus, and how we’re organized — has to transform too. Companies don’t get to choose whether their industry changes; they only get to choose whether they change with it. That means we will need to adjust resources and roles and shift how we operate so we can have the greatest impact for our customers.
以下是微软执行副总裁兼首席人力资源官 Amy Coleman 在备忘录中的摘录：“我们的业务正在发生变化，因为周围的世界也在变化。技术构建、部署和使用的方式正经历着我任职以来最快的转型。客户的需求在变，服务客户的商业模式也在变，这意味着工作本身——我们做什么、关注什么以及如何组织——也必须随之转型。企业无法选择行业是否会发生变革，只能选择是否随之变革。这意味着我们需要调整资源和角色，转变运营方式，以便为客户创造最大的影响力。”
Coleman stressed that the roles being eliminated today “are not being replaced by AI,” but noted, “what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done.” “Some of the tasks we do every day can now be automated, and that means we all need to keep learning, keep building new skills, and keep adapting as the work evolves,” Coleman wrote. To many feeling the sting of unemployment, that’s a distinction without a difference.
Coleman 强调，今天被裁减的职位“并非被人工智能取代”，但她指出，“事实是，人工智能正在改变工作完成的方式。”Coleman 写道：“我们每天执行的一些任务现在可以实现自动化，这意味着我们都需要不断学习、不断培养新技能，并随着工作的演变不断适应。”对于许多感受到失业痛苦的人来说，这种区别并没有什么实质意义。
The layoffs build on Microsoft’s recent launch of its Frontier Company business unit, which is focused on delivering enterprise AI deployments with the firm’s existing AI tools and an army of forward deployed engineers. That move is backed by a $2.5 billion investment, mirroring a common theme we’re seeing among layoffs this year — job cuts are correlating with increased AI spending.
此次裁员建立在微软近期成立“前沿公司”（Frontier Company）业务部门的基础上，该部门专注于利用公司现有的 AI 工具和一支前沿部署工程师团队，提供企业级 AI 部署服务。这一举措得到了 25 亿美元投资的支持，反映了今年裁员潮中的一个共同主题——裁员与 AI 支出的增加密切相关。
Speaking about the Xbox layoffs, Coleman said little: “We are restructuring to position the business for long-term success. Engineering teams across the company will also evolve their structure and priorities to meet customer needs and innovate for the future.”
在谈到 Xbox 的裁员时，Coleman 并没有多说：“我们正在进行重组，以确保业务实现长期成功。公司各地的工程团队也将调整其结构和优先级，以满足客户需求并为未来进行创新。”
Of today’s 4,800 layoffs at Microsoft, 1,600 will hit Xbox, with about 3,200 cuts in total expected through fiscal year 2027, according to Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox. In an email she sent to employees on Monday, Sharma called this “the most significant restructure in Xbox history.”
根据 Xbox 首席执行官 Asha Sharma 的说法，在微软今天裁减的 4800 人中，有 1600 人来自 Xbox，预计到 2027 财年总共将裁减约 3200 人。在周一发给员工的电子邮件中，Sharma 将此称为“Xbox 历史上最重要的重组”。
“Our business today is not healthy,” Sharma wrote. “We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.” She added that Xbox made bets like its monthly subscription service Game Pass, alongside moves to grow its portfolio of content and invest in multiplatform, among other attempts to breathe life into the business. None of those strategies grew at the expected pace, leading to the core business weakening even as Xbox added more teams and investment. “And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history,” Sharma said. “We must reset Xbox.”
“我们今天的业务并不健康，”Sharma 写道，“我们的运营利润率比同类平台和发行商业务低 3 到 10 倍。”她补充说，Xbox 曾押注于月度订阅服务 Game Pass，并采取了扩大内容组合和投资多平台等举措，试图为业务注入活力。但这些策略都没有达到预期的增长速度，导致核心业务在 Xbox 增加更多团队和投资的同时反而被削弱了。“现在，该行业正面临历史上最严重的硬件危机，”Sharma 说，“我们必须重置 Xbox。”
As part of the shift, Microsoft will transition four of its gaming studios to operate under new management, ensuring preservation of intellectual property and ongoing projects. Specifically Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to independent studios, according to Sharma. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs are coming under new ownership with funding to complete and grow some of their more popular games.
作为转型的一部分，微软将把旗下的四个游戏工作室转交给新的管理层运营，以确保知识产权和现有项目的延续。据 Sharma 称，Compulsion Games 和 Double Fine Productions 将恢复为独立工作室。Ninja Theory 和 Undead Labs 将由新的所有者接管，并获得资金以完成和发展其部分热门游戏。
According to Sharma’s memo, Xbox is also flattening management hard, cutting the current 14 management layers to no more than five, but ideally three. As part of this major organization redesign, Xbox is making longtime executive Helen Chiang chief operating officer with end-to-end profit and loss authority across content、hardware, platform, and services.
根据 Sharma 的备忘录，Xbox 还在大力精简管理层，将目前的 14 个管理层级削减至不超过 5 个，理想情况下为 3 个。作为此次重大组织重组的一部分，Xbox 任命资深高管 Helen Chiang 为首席运营官，负责内容、硬件、平台和服务的端到端损益管理。
Xbox’s restructuring plan centers around narrowing focus by dropping sprawling creative bets that don’t produce platform-scale returns, and instead homing in on core strategic pillars like Mojang and King, the studios behind Minecraft and Candy Crush.
Xbox 的重组计划核心在于缩小业务范围，放弃那些无法产生平台级回报的广泛创意押注，转而专注于 Mojang 和 King 等核心战略支柱，这两个工作室分别是《我的世界》（Minecraft）和《糖果传奇》（Candy Crush）的开发商。
The Xbox layoffs come as the gaming industry shrinks amid new generative AI opportunities. Companies building world models — like Google DeepMind, World Labs, General Intuition, Luma AI, and Runway — have received millions in funding over the past year and garnered plenty of hype for their playable world model demos. All of those companies see gaming as a near-term opportunity for commercialization.
Xbox 的裁员正值游戏行业在生成式 AI 新机遇下萎缩之际。构建世界模型的公司——如 Google DeepMind、World Labs、General Intuition、Luma AI 和 Runway——在过去一年中获得了数百万美元的融资，并因其可玩的世界模型演示而备受追捧。所有这些公司都将游戏视为近期商业化的机会。
In April, Microsoft offered buyouts structured as voluntary separations to an undisclosed number of employees — some estimates put the number at around 5,500 — with the goal of building high-performing teams. Last year, Microsoft laid off about 15,000 employees across two rounds. The eliminations are part of a series of layoffs in the tech industry that’s seen close to 154,000 people lose their jobs just in the first half of 2026, with Big Tech firms like Meta, Oracle, Amazon, and Cognizant cutting thousands of workers.
今年 4 月，微软向数量不详的员工提供了以自愿离职为形式的买断方案（据估计约为 5500 人），旨在打造高绩效团队。去年，微软分两轮裁员约 1.5 万人。这些裁员是科技行业一系列裁员行动的一部分，仅在 2026 年上半年，就有近 15.4 万人失业，Meta、甲骨文、亚马逊和高知特（Cognizant）等大型科技公司纷纷裁减了数千名员工。
Microsoft said that along with Monday’s cuts, it’s working on ways to keep staff on by reskilling workers or placing people in new roles. “Over the past year, we have redeployed more than 4,000 employees into new roles, including another 500 this month,” Coleman said. Microsoft did not immediately return a request for comment and more information.
微软表示，除了周一的裁员外，公司还致力于通过技能重塑或安排员工担任新职位来留住员工。“在过去的一年里，我们已经将 4000 多名员工重新部署到新的岗位上，其中包括本月的 500 人，”Coleman 说。微软未立即回复置评请求及提供更多信息。