Report: Microsoft lay-offs hit game test team, GFW group PDF Print E-mail
Written by Phil Meza   
Saturday, 24 January 2009
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More details continue to be uncovered regarding Microsoft's massive 5,000-person lay-off plan initiated yesterday, and it's looking less and less cheerful for the Entertainment and Devices folks. Especially the game-cenric ones.

Following up on the information from last night which revealed that "the bulk" of the 1,400 employees laid-off yesterday were from the E&DD, today we have confirmation that yes, the ACES Studio (of Flight Simulator fame) has been axed. On a lighter note, Microsoft also confirmed that while the studio is gone, the future of the PC-centric flying franchise isn't up in smoke. Yet.

"We are committed to the Flight Simulator franchise which has proven to be a successful PC based game for the last 27 years. You should expect us to continue to invest in enabling great LIVE experiences on Windows, including flying games, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time."

Sounds a bit familiar to two other MS-owned studio closures from last year, no? In addition, Venture Beat's Dean Takahashi reports that he's heard roughly 30% of Microsoft's testing/QA team has been laid-off. It's unclear if these people will be brought back on board. As well, the entire game group is scheduled to undergo management restructuring next week. These reports are, at this time, unable to be confirmed or denied. If the rumors regarding the testers are true, well, that's too bad for the quality of Games for Windows titles, eh? And speaking of now-free-to-use Games for Windows, other sources are now indicating that that group itself has seen lay-offs, though no specific details are known.



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Last Updated ( Saturday, 24 January 2009 )
 
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