The recent layoffs at Xbox have been incredibly upsetting. Hardworking developers lost their jobs, exciting games were canceled, and fans of this brand feel like they’re holding onto a big pile of nothing. While Game Pass is still a good deal, and that remodeled Xbox Ally X could be good, these layoffs make this company look incompetent and greedy.
Unfortunately, those accusations continue to hold more water, as The Seattle Times has reported that Microsoft laid off 15,000 employees to invest in AI. It’s a move that proves to be unpopular each time, but they make shareholders happy for cost-cutting and saving reasons.
Microsoft is reportedly investing $80 billion in an AI infrastructure in order to keep up with the other companies that want this technology to succeed. It lines up with the company’s partnership with OpenAI, though both companies said that this was so humans could work alongside AI.
While replacing human workers isn’t a concrete plan, the investment in this AI infrastructure has led to cost-cutting and the firing of actual employees who had been there for years.
The Seattle Times had this to say about Microsoft's employee cuts:
"Microsoft’s push into AI doesn’t mean the company is replacing workers with the technology. Rather, the significant cost of building out the infrastructure over multiple years has Microsoft looking to trim costs where it can."
It seems that the folks fired from various Xbox studios were just collateral damage for an investment that might lose this company more money in the long run. While everyone is preparing for AI to be a more crucial working feature in the future, replacing human jobs wasn’t what most people expected. Although the shareholders are happy with this move, only time will tell if this is an investment worth making.
Based on everything happening, it appears that we’re headed towards an age of AI-slop entertainment that can’t be stopped. Hopefully, games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 can convince everyone that entertainment made by artists with a vision is still the way to go.
For more Xbox coverage, stick with us here at Gfinityesports.com: the best website for gamers.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Gaming News and Xbox page.