To the surprise of absolutely no one, a new report indicates that Microsoft’s recent push to cut over 9,000 employees (or about four percent of its entire workforce) came about because the company needs more money to invest into AI.
According to a report by the Seattle Times, Microsoft is “looking to trim costs where it can” so it could continue to pour money into AI infrastructure, the costs of which have been on a steady rise as the technology becomes more widespread. The report also states that this does not necessarily mean Microsoft is replacing its workers with AI, but I find it hard to believe that that motive isn’t hidden somewhere between the lines.
Microsoft, per the report, is aiming to spend over $80 billion “to meet AI demands,” which is a stark $25 billion increase over the previous year.
If it were just Microsoft doing the usual business by cutting yearly costs at a corporate level, no one in gaming would really care. After all, for a company employing hundreds of thousands, expenses can rack up quite quickly. However, the cuts significantly impacted Microsoft’s gaming division headed by Xbox, where the company invested tens of billions acquiring massive studios and publishers as well as spent years getting all the necessary licenses and approvals to avoid accusations of monopolization, all in service of AI.
Many studios were closed, and hyped-up announced games were canceled, to the great dismay of gamers and particularly Game Pass users. Microsoft’s whole schtick with acquisitions was to expand its first-party offerings on day one via Game Pass, the future potential of which has now significantly shrunk so Microsoft can continue developing tools to reduce human input in art and technology.
After all, there is nothing more important in this day and age than artificial mass production, and if it is video game artists who are to be sacrificed to achieve it, then so be it.
The post It seems your beloved studios and upcoming games were axed so Microsoft could spend $80 billion on AI appeared first on Destructoid.