San Francisco, Jan 25 (IANS) Microsoft is laying off at least 1,900 employees at gaming company Activision Blizzard it acquired recently, as well as at Xbox.

The job cuts will affect around 8 per cent of the overall Microsoft gaming division that has some 22,000 employees.

“We have made the painful decision to reduce the size of our gaming workforce by approximately 1900 roles out of the 22,000 people on our team,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in an internal memo on Thursday.

“The people who are directly impacted by these reductions have all played an important part in the success of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and the Xbox teams, and they should be proud of everything they’ve accomplished,” he added.

Activision Blizzard President Mike Ybarra has decided to leave the company.

“I want to thank everyone who is impacted today for their meaningful contributions to their teams, to Blizzard, and to players’ lives. It’s an incredibly hard day and my energy and support will be focused on all those amazing individuals impacted – this is in no way a reflection on your amazing work,” Ybarra posted on X.

“Having already spent 20+ years at Microsoft and with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard behind us, it’s time for me to (once again) become Blizzard’s biggest fan from the outside,” he added.

Microsoft completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October last year, after a long battle with regulators in the UK and the US.

The company reorganised its Xbox gaming and marketing leadership in the same month, The Verge had reported.