Xbox brand feeling the heat through Microsoft job cuts

by Stevie Smith - Jan 23 2009, 13:00

Videogame hardware and software companies may well be flying the flag of growth in a technology industry seemingly besieged by flagging product sales, hurried restructuring and significant job cuts, but current whispers suggest the successful Xbox brand is feeling the pinch.

Specifically, the tech watchers at ZDNet are claiming Microsoft’s recently announced job cuts – set to total 5,000 over the next 18 months – will see the American software giant’s Entertainment and Devices division hit by a sizeable chunk of those upcoming losses. For those not in the know, the Entertainment and Devices division is responsible for Microsoft’s extremely popular Xbox 360 home console.

Those claims emerge alongside a Joystiq report that has already unearthed the departure of two Xbox employees a day after Microsoft announced its operational cost-cutting plan, which will see the immediate departure of 1,400 jobs.

One of those unfortunate souls the Redmond-based titan has dropped is Chris Paladino, a member of the Gamerscore Blog who unveiled his status as a job loss ‘casualty’ via microblogging service Twitter. The Gamerscore Blog is to also bow out as one of Microsoft’s official online services.

Industry magazine MCV has pointed to yet more Twitter reports claiming that Microsoft has shown the door to former Achievement Junkie podcast host Nelson Rodriguez, while there are also rumours suggesting the whole of Microsoft’s famed Flight Simulator development team have been subjected to the cull.

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