Microsoft filed a notice for 605 layoffs in Redmond without naming a division

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, from public records. Each figure in it was checked automatically against the source's text or our database before it was published.

Microsoft gave Washington state a WARN notice dated Jul 6 for 605 layoffs in Redmond, with Sep 4 as the effective date. A WARN notice is the advance warning of a mass layoff or plant closing that US law requires employers to give workers and the state. The notice lists the layoffs as permanent and does not name a division, so it does not say which Microsoft company or which games the 605 workers are tied to.1^,2^,3^,4^,5^,6^,7^,8

Among the companies under Microsoft are Activision, which develops and publishes Call of Duty; Blizzard Entertainment, which develops and publishes Diablo, Overwatch and World of Warcraft; and Mojang Studios, which develops and publishes Minecraft. The notice names none of them.9^,10^,11^,12^,8^,1

The same day, ZeniMax Media Inc. gave Maryland a separate notice, dated Jul 6, for 166 workers. ZeniMax Media sits under Microsoft Gaming, which sits under Microsoft. Its notice covers a site at 1370 Piccard Drive in Rockville, in Montgomery County, and is listed as a mass layoff with no recall. It also gives Sep 4 as the effective date and does not name a division.13^,14^,15^,16^,3^,17^,18^,19^,20^,21^,22^,23

In the 12 months to the end of Oct 20, 2026, notices from Microsoft and the companies under it add up to 1,261 workers, across 4 notices. Besides the Jul 6 notices from Microsoft and ZeniMax Media, one came from Microsoft in Washington, dated Sep 22, for 277 workers in Redmond, with Nov 21 as its effective date. Like Microsoft's Jul 6 notice, it lists the layoffs as permanent and does not name a division. Another came from ZeniMax Online Studios in Maryland, dated Jul 6, for 213 workers.24^,25^,26^,27^,28^,29^,30^,31^,3^,16^,32^,33^,7^,8^,34^,35^,36^,37

Those totals count only the WARN notices from the states whose notices we collect. Open-role counts for Microsoft are not available, so there is no hiring trend to set beside the notices.24^,3