AT&T CTO Jeremy Legg told WIRED the company's workforce will be smaller in five years, as it retires legacy landline infrastructure and automates internal processes with AI. AT&T cut about 8,000 jobs last year and roughly 2,100 more in the first half of 2026; a person familiar with the matter said the company is targeting around 85,000 employees by 2030, though AT&T disputed that figure as inaccurate. CEO John Stankey has said he wants AT&T to look like a 'dramatically different' company by decade's end.
wired.com
· 2026-09-23
Xbox has laid off 268 employees across Halo Studios, other first-party teams and Xbox Game Studios management, part of a previously announced plan to cut 1,600 jobs through July 2027. As part of the restructuring, Activision will take over development of the next Halo game and also manage Rare and World's Edge, while Obsidian continues working under Bethesda on Fallout and Grounded 2, and Playground and Turn 10 merge to handle Forza and Fable together.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-22
Microsoft has restructured its Xbox game studios, placing Halo Studios (formerly 343 Industries), Rare and Age of Empires developer World's Edge under Activision's control. The move accompanies 268 additional layoffs, with the remaining Halo team reduced to a small community-support unit while Activision assembles a new team to lead the franchise's future.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-22
Microsoft's Xbox division is transferring future Halo game development to Call of Duty publisher Activision, part of a fresh round of 268 layoffs. The move follows Ninja Theory's failed sale talks, with the Hellblade studio now facing a proposed closure after two potential buyers walked away. Xbox says it is three-quarters through a restructuring plan that has already eliminated 1,600 jobs immediately, with 3,600 total cuts planned.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-09-22
Microsoft announced further restructuring at Xbox as part of cuts affecting roughly 3,200 employees, consolidating several studios and shifting development of Halo to a different team. Obsidian is moving from Xbox Game Studios to Bethesda to focus on Fallout, Microsoft's casual games like Minesweeper and Solitaire are shifting to King, and Playground and Turn 10 are merging into a single studio.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-22
Microsoft is laying off roughly 268 employees across Halo Studios, other first-party teams, and Xbox Game Studios' central functions, according to a memo from chief content officer Matt Booty. Two prospective buyers for Ninja Theory fell through, so Microsoft is starting a consultation process on potentially shutting the Hellblade studio unless another buyer emerges. Undead Labs has completed its spinout to independence, while talks over Arkane's future continue under French labor law through year's end.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-22
Even as OpenAI and Anthropic employees anticipate windfalls from potential IPOs, Bay Area tech layoffs hit over 14,500 workers in the year ending June, nearly double the prior year. Former Google employee Basem Istanbouli started un(PTO) in December to support unemployed tech workers, and the group has grown from three founding members to more than 1,700, with weekly hikes now drawing crowds of 80 or more.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-21
Apple has cut a small number of employees working on Fitness+ audio content, including the Time to Walk and Time to Run series, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He says new episodes will continue but less frequently, and the layoffs are seen internally as the start of larger cost-cutting changes to come rather than a one-off trim.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-21
Kojima Productions has publicly disputed reports suggesting the studio is struggling financially or facing project cuts. Founder Hideo Kojima acknowledged the broader industry turmoil of closures and cancellations but insisted his upcoming project, Physint, remained stable and unaffected until recent speculation caused concern.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-20
Flock Safety, a surveillance camera and license-plate reader company, is offering employees voluntary buyout packages instead of conducting layoffs as it faces a decline in customers. The move suggests the company is trying to cut costs while avoiding the reputational and morale hit of forced job cuts.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-20
Heart Machine founder Alx Preston announced that a publisher backing an unannounced project decided to abandon it this week, leaving the studio without its primary funding source. With no other immediate financial options, the Hyper Light Drifter developer laid off nearly its entire team, following earlier cuts tied to the cancellation of Hyper Light Breaker in October 2025.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-16
Employees of Build A Rocket Boy have posted on LinkedIn that their jobs are ending, and Kotaku reports the studio is shutting down entirely. The closure follows the disastrous June 2025 launch of MindsEye, which prompted PlayStation refunds, multiple layoff rounds, and founder Leslie Benzies' claims of internal and external sabotage.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-16
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