Microsoft’s second major round of layoffs in 2025 is making waves across the gaming world — and according to multiple reports, the Call of Duty franchise hasn’t come out unscathed.
Roughly 9,000 employees, or about 4% of Microsoft’s workforce, have been let go in what’s being called the company’s largest round of layoffs in over two years. And with Xbox and its partner studios in the crosshairs, some Call of Duty developers are reportedly among those affected.
According to a memo shared by Xbox CEO Phil Spencer (via Insider Gaming), the move is meant to “remove layers of management” and help the company “focus on strategic growth areas.”
While Microsoft hasn’t publicly broken down which teams were hit, reports suggest that CoD developers across the Activision ecosystem are among the impacted. That includes teams working on the mainline series as well as support studios.
As of now, the next big entry in the franchise — widely believed to be Black Ops Gulf War, developed by Treyarch — is still expected to launch later in 2025. But with key developers exiting and project teams being reshuffled, fans are understandably anxious about what this means for the quality, timeline, and live support of upcoming CoD content.
