Local Xbox workers to rally

“This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight with each and every member at CWA — hundreds of thousands of people strong”

REDMOND, WA (July 14, 2026) –Microsoft gutted the Xbox workforce last week, announcing layoffs of some 3,200 workers through the end of the fiscal year, with 1,700 workers immediately losing their jobs. It’s the latest — and extreme — example of the churn-and-burn mentality studio heads appear to have increasingly adopted in the pursuit of profit, leaving in the dust the workers who make the games. Fans have flooded Xbox forums to condemn layoffs and studio closures, broadly urging executives to negotiate in good faith with game developers and their unions and recognize layoffs as a failure of leadership.

As players make their voice heard online, local game developers organized with the United Videogame Workers-Communications Workers of America (UVW-CWA) will rally in at the Redmond Microsoft campus on Wednesday, demanding an end to layoffs.

Many videogame workers at Microsoft-owned studios organized with CWA under a labor neutrality agreement. But Microsoft has delayed at the bargaining table, per CWA.

“When Microsoft sought to grow its video game division, corporate executives made an agreement with video game workers and their union, CWA, to respect their right to organize for a new day for workers across Microsoft’s video game studios,” said Claude Cummings Jr., President of CWA in a statement following the layoffs announcement. “Although our union signed neutrality agreements with Microsoft, we have been extremely disappointed by a company that has slow-walked our members at the bargaining table, making CWA members wait for the protections of a union contract. But make no mistake – whether our members have a contract in hand, or are still at the bargaining table, CWA members at Xbox have the power and protection of union membership.”

“When Microsoft decides to treat the workers who built Xbox as expendable, it should know who they’re dealing with,” Cummings Jr. continued. “This is not just a fight with the thousands of workers across Xbox; it’s a fight with each and every member at CWA — hundreds of thousands of people strong.”

TAKE A STAND: Join union game developers and allies for a rally on Wednesday, July 15 at 12:30 p.m. outside the Microsoft Redmond campus (15607 NE 40th St, Redmond, WA 98052 US).