Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees, Xbox included

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to roughly 60,000 employees, and Xbox staff are among them, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

The program is called a "Voluntary Exit Offer." According to a memo from EVP and CPO Amy Colemon, it's open to eligible employees in the US, UK, Canada, and India. Rock Paper Shotgun puts 60,000 at roughly 25% of Microsoft's overall headcount.

The memo frames it as a choice for people already thinking about leaving. "This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support," it said.

It also pitches the offer as a tool for the company itself, saying it "gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs." The memo says it builds on the Voluntary Retirement Program Microsoft ran earlier this year.

Workplace commentator Amanda Goodall, who posted about the offer on X, said it's the first time Microsoft has offered something like this and that it applies to employees at level 70 or below.

This is landing on a gaming division that's already been through a lot. Xbox has seen multiple rounds of layoffs and plenty of turnover under new CEO Asha Sharma's "reset." Rock Paper Shotgun also notes that Microsoft recently told some staff it plans to require four days a week in the office starting in February.

Several outlets read the offer as a step toward more cuts. Eurogamer described it as essentially paying staff to get ahead of any potential layoffs, and Destructoid's headline put it as a choice to leave now or probably get laid off later anyway. Microsoft's memo doesn't say what happens if too few people take the deal.

Microsoft hasn't publicly said how many Xbox employees are eligible, or what the buyout packages include.