A Washington state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filing made public on September 24, 2026 shows Microsoft cut 277 jobs in the Seattle region, with artists, game designers and producers making up the largest single cluster of affected workers in the company's ongoing Xbox restructuring. The cuts hit the Redmond campus hardest and fall inside a broader plan to eliminate roughly 20 percent of Xbox's global workforce by the end of Microsoft's fiscal year.
- Washington WARN cuts
- 277 jobs in state filing
- Creative cluster
- 77 art, game production, design, technical art and audio roles
- Largest single category
- 60 software engineering roles
- Redmond share
- 252 of 277 jobs at Microsoft Redmond campus
- Global Xbox cuts
- 268 roles across Halo, first-party, XGS management
- Earlier 2026 Washington cuts
- 605 jobs in July 2026, 4,800 worldwide
What the WARN filing shows by role
A review of the WARN notice by GeekWire found that art, game production, game design, technical art and audio design account for 77 of the 277 positions, the largest single cluster in the filing. Software engineering is the largest single job category, at 60 roles. The remaining positions are spread across product marketing, technical writing, product management, data science, business management, finance and legal.
The filing shows 252 of the affected jobs are based at Microsoft's Redmond campus, with 25 held by remote employees in Washington. Microsoft had previously said about 300 of the cuts were in Washington state, out of fewer than 600 globally.
The Xbox reset, three quarters of the way through
In a memo posted to Xbox Wire on September 22, Xbox executive Matt Booty said the company is eliminating 268 roles across Halo Studios, other first-party studios and the Xbox Game Studios management layer. Booty wrote that the actions completed since July, "inclusive of the studio divestitures, bring us roughly three-quarters of the way through previously announced restructuring."
The memo laid out a reshuffle of studio responsibilities. Activision will develop the next Halo title through a new purpose-built team, while a smaller Halo Studios crew continues to support the franchise. Bethesda will absorb Obsidian, King will take on Microsoft Casual Games, and Playground and Turn 10 will combine around the Forza and Fable franchises.
Divestitures, closures and the road ahead
Booty confirmed that Compulsion and Double Fine returned to management in August with their intellectual property, while Undead Labs has transitioned on similar terms. Two separate agreements for Ninja Theory fell through, and Microsoft will begin consultation with employees on a proposed closure. Consultation with Arkane is expected to run through the end of the year.
Microsoft cut 605 Washington jobs in July as part of 4,800 layoffs worldwide, and the company eliminated more than 15,000 positions globally across two rounds in 2025. An October 6 Xbox town hall is set to review progress.
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Xbox Wire: Continuing Our Reset is the source to consult for the underlying data, statement, ruling or live context.