Microsoft Culled Age of Empires Studio Before Handing It Over to Activision, With Nearly Half of All Staff Gone

Age of Empires studio World’s Edge lost almost half of all employees this week, as part of Microsoft’s latest round of job losses.

The cuts form part of the 268 staff let go across the wider Xbox business, as part of a projected target of 3,200 job losses forecast over the course of this current financial year.

It was announced on Monday that World’s Edge would now be part of Activision, though details on how the studio’s employees had been impacted remained unclear. In the days since, however, staff have now reported via social media that nearly 50% of the company was now out of work, while its next project had been cancelled.

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“I am of course disappointed that this is the way the time with World’s Edge and Age ends for myself and many of my talented teammates that were also impacted — we had some great plans for what’s next,” wrote Adam Isgreen, formerly the company’s studio creative director, who had served at World’s Edge for 16 years. “I hope the team that remains can rise to the occasion down the line.”

“Our studio was reorganized to be under the Activision umbrella,” added Andrew Martz, formerly a senior software engineer at the studio. “As part of that reorg, our next project was cancelled and a large chunk of our studio was laid off. I was part of that layoff.”

“‘It was nice working with you’ was not a message I expected to get while on vacation,” wrote another laid-off staff member, former lead principal software engineer Greg Snook. “Like many others, I was cut loose from Microsoft today. Turns out my last day with building access is also my exact 25-year hire anniversary.”

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It’s unclear what’s next for World’s Edge under Activision, as well as the Age of Empires brand as a whole. While the studio oversaw development of the real-time strategy franchise, it relied on partnerships with external developers such as Relic Entertainment, which was the primary developer for Age of Empires IV. Launched in 2021 for PC, it has since now been ported to Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

Will Age of Empires 5 follow? It seems inevitable, though Activision’s ownership may see the studio’s remaining staff put to work elsewhere. A Halo strategy title, perhaps, now Activision is also overseeing Xbox’s main shooter brand? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, the Viking Sagas DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition launched on Tuesday. It adds three brand new civilizations, 15 new single-player campaign scenarios, and more.