Microsoft Gaming will lay off approximately 650 employees, or 3% of the Xbox owner’s global workforce, in a new round of eliminations following last year’s completion of its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. The cuts will primarily impact staffers in “corporate and supporting functions,” per Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer .

Xbox owner Microsoft is to cut about 650 staff from its gaming division in a new round of job losses after its $69bn (£54.3bn) merger deal. The software giant said staff working in "mostly corporate and supporting functions" worldwide would be affected.

Xbox chief Phil Spencer sent out an email to employees this morning with the subject line “Changes to Microsoft Gaming.” The software giant, which spent the past decade spending billions of dollars acquiring video game studios, was laying off 650 people in its gaming division.