An executive producer at Xbox Game Studios has been heavily criticized for recommending AI tools to recently laid-off workers in the games industry. On July 20, 2025,Microsoftannounced significant layoffs that will affect approximately 4% of its workforce, or around 9,000 employees. These layoffs particularly affected its gaming divisions asMicrosoftshuttered studios like The Initiative, canceled games like thePerfect Darkreboot and Rare’sEverwild, and reduced headcount at other major developers under the Xbox umbrella, such asForza Motorsport’s Turn 10.
In a now-deleted LinkedIn post, Xbox Games Studios executive producer Matt Turnbull recommended that laid-off workers use AI tools to “reduce the emotional and cognitive load that comes with job loss.” “I know these types of tools engender strong feelings in people, but I’d be remiss in not trying to offer the best advice I can under the circumstances,” Turnbull wrote. He then offered several AI prompt ideas for “career planning,” “networking & outreach,” and “emotional clarity and confidence,” including a prompt that recommended workers use AI to combat feelings of impostor syndrome.
According toVGC, the now-deleted post inspired a wave of backlash from industry professionals and formerMicrosoft employees affected by the layoffs. Eric Smith, a producer at ZeniMax Online whose project was canceled as part of the Microsoft layoffs, responded, “Read the room dude.” “I’m sure you’re trying to help, but WTF,” Game Designer Paul Murphy replied. Murphy asked Turnbull to “give them the respect they’ve earned and assume they have the ability to write their own resumes.”
After Mass Layoffs, Xbox Game Studios Producer Recommends AI To Former Workers
This recent mass layoff comes in the wake ofanother series of layoffs earlier in 2025, which cut the positions of 6,000 workers across the company. In 2023 and 2024, Microsoft laid off more than 10,000 employees. Including this most recent wave of layoffs, this adds up to more than 25,000 Microsoft employees who have been laid off since the beginning of 2023, many of whom were in Xbox Games Studios and other gaming divisions.
Turnbull’s post comes off as especially tone-deaf because ofMicrosoft’s recent push into AIand the threat that AI will replace many of these workers' positions. In 2025, Microsoft planned to spend more than $80 billion to build out its AI infrastructure, adding to the company’s now more than $100 billion investment in AI.
In the last decade, Microsoft spent more than $100 billion to bring high-profile development studios under its umbrella, most notably Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax Media, Mojang, and Rare, all of which have been affected by this most recentwide-ranging series of layoffs across Microsoft. According to an internal email sent by Phil Spencer to Xbox staff, the cuts are intended to remove “layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness.”
