More layoffs have occurred this week at Microsoft owned studios. A report by the San Francisco Chronicle states that 86 employees of Toys for Bob and 76 employees from Sledgehammer Games have been let go. Microsoft recently announced that 1,900 employees were being let go from Microsoft owned gaming divisions.
In 2021, it was reported that Toys for Bob employed 180 people. In 2021, Sledgehammer Games reportedly employed over 450 people. The report from the San Francisco Chronicle says that these layoffs at Toys for Bob and Sledgehammer Games were discovered through official state filings.
The future for either of these studios remains unclear. The Chronicle's report does say that Toys for Bob's facility will also be closing. It is anybody's guess right now if that means Toys for Bob will be fully shuttered or if the remaining employees will continue on as remote workers.
A separate report from Insider Gaming suggests that Sledgehammer Games is closing its office in favor of finding a smaller space. Employees were reportedly told to work remotely while this relocation took place.
Sledgehammer Games has been a Call of Duty studio since its creation 14 years ago. They have either assisted other Call of Duty studios or they have taken development lead on the yearly title. The last couple of releases led by Sledgehammer Games include the most recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and 2021's Call of Duty: Vanguard.
Toys for Bob was another Activision owned studio that assisted in development of the yearly Call of Duty titles. However, they also developed non-Call of Duty titles such as 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4, 2018's Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, and they were the main studio behind the popular Skylanders games.
Edit: The post date should now be correct.