Deep cuts at Xbox Europe as Nadella swings axe

Microsoft is making big cuts to its Xbox EMEA team, the firm has confirmed.

It is part of the 18,000 redundancies that was announced yesterday by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. 12,500 of those will be from the firm’s Nokia division.

A source told MCV last night that as many as 75 per cent of full time Xbox EMEA roles in Reading were being cut – with staff having to reapply for the remaining 25 per cent of roles. The UK Xbox team has also been reduced slightly by 10 per cent and all contractor roles have also been cut. However, Xbox did not confirm or deny these numbers when contacted by MCV.

Microsoft says the reductions will not impact the launch of Xbox One in 13 European Countries this September.

We eliminated a number of EMEA roles in the UK to gain efficiencies,” said a Microsoft spokesperson to MCV.

We remain very committed to the market and will continue to support our local development teams. We believe that the UK has exceptional games industry talent and we’ll continue to focus on game creation in the through Microsoft Studios like Rare, Lionhead Studios, Lift London and Soho Productions. Also, Europe continues to be an important market for Xbox, and we’re excited to launch Xbox One to fans in 13 mainland European markets in September.”