Some distressing news: Microsoft is getting on the layoff train. It has let go of its entire Modern Life Experiences team, which, according to reports, is 200 strong.
This report by Business Insider first revealed the truth, indicating that the full MLX team workforce has been served notices. While the Redmond-based company did not comment on the news, there appears to be decent evidence that the incident is true.
Our strongest confirmation yet comes from Erynn Hesler, product design lead and manager for consumer products at Microsoft, who took to LinkedIn to offer her support to colleagues who faced the hard news.
Although she notes that the team was small, since the entire division is being slashed, the decision could potentially impact every one of them.
Microsoft has offered these employees two months (60 days) time to either find another suitable position at the company or take severance.
As The Verge notes, the technology giant originally formed the Modern Life Experiences team in 2018 after a rather rocky period for its consumer products. This was a year after the company killed off its Groove music service, discontinued Kinect, and finally admitted that Windows Phone was dead.
The big idea behind the MLX division was to research and develop consumer-focused projects, an area where Microsoft has generally struggled.
Its only success has come in products like the Xbox consoles and the Surface line of devices. And with devices like the Microsoft Band disappearing, Cortana falling way behind its rivals, and HoloLens pivoting towards commercial customers, things are not looking too up for this side of the business.
This news can be taken as an indication that Redmond is potentially giving up on the consumer side of things. Either that or the company does not feel it requires a whole department for it.
Its consumer efforts are now focused on Windows, Microsoft 365, Teams, Surface, and, obviously, Xbox.
That said, this change in direction comes after Microsoft very recently broke its own hiring record by adding 40,000 employees over the year, bringing the total count as of June 20, 2022, to a mighty impressive 221,000.
