Age of Empires Studio Hit by Massive Layoffs

World's Edge, the studio behind Age of Empires, lost nearly half its staff and had its next project cancelled as Microsoft moves it under Activision.

Did you hear the news about World's Edge? The Age of Empires studio just got hit with massive layoffs, and it's not looking good.

As part of Microsoft's latest round of job cuts, nearly 50% of World's Edge employees were let go this week. That's almost half the studio. The cuts are part of the 268 staff let go across the wider Xbox business, which itself is part of a projected 3,200 job losses over the current financial year. Ouch.

It was announced on Monday that World's Edge would be moved under Activision, but at the time, we didn't know how badly the staff would be affected. Now, employees have taken to social media to share the grim reality. Adam Isgreen, the studio's former creative director who spent 16 years at World's Edge, wrote: "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. I hope the team that remains can rise to the occasion down the line."

Andrew Martz, a former senior software engineer, added: "Our studio was reorganized to be under the Activision umbrella. 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." And Greg Snook, a former lead principal software engineer, shared a particularly rough detail: "'It was nice working with you' was not a message I expected to get while on vacation. 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." Talk about a gut punch.

So what does this mean for Age of Empires? World's Edge has overseen the RTS franchise, but it often relied on external partners like Relic Entertainment, which led development on Age of Empires IV. That game launched in 2021 for PC and has since come to Xbox and PlayStation. With the studio now under Activision and a huge chunk of its team gone, the future of the series is murky. Will we still get Age of Empires 5? It feels inevitable, but Activision might have other plans for the remaining staff. Could they be put to work on a Halo strategy game? After all, Activision now oversees Xbox's main shooter brand too. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, there's a bit of good news for Age fans: the Viking Sagas DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition launched on Tuesday. It adds three new civilizations, 15 new single-player campaign scenarios, and more. So at least there's something new to play while we wait to see what happens next.

What do you think about these layoffs? Are you worried about the future of Age of Empires? Let us know in the comments.