Microsoft Gaming just lost an engineering VP barely two months after bringing him on board.
That's a short enough tenure to make you wonder if the office coffee was bad, or if something deeper is going on.
Two Months and Out the Door
The VP in question was hired to oversee engineering for the entire Microsoft Gaming organization. Two months.
That's not enough time to even figure out where the bathrooms are, let alone make a meaningful impact on something like Xbox Cloud Gaming or next-gen hardware.
Post-Acquisition Blues
Microsoft has been in a constant state of reorganization since it finalized its massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We've seen layoffs, studio closures like Tango Gameworks, and a steady stream of executive departures.
It paints a picture of an organization that's still struggling to figure out its own identity.
Leaving after just two months is a red flag, no matter how you slice it. It takes most executives a full quarter just to get their sea legs. This guy didn't even make it to the end of the onboarding video.
Industry-Wide Musical Chairs
This isn't just a Microsoft problem, though it's a particularly visible example. The gaming industry is going through a brutal consolidation phase.
Big tech companies are buying up talent and studios, but they're finding out that retention is a lot harder than acquisition. People don't always want to work for a giant bureaucracy after coming from a nimble studio.
It's a trend we've been tracking closely, especially with how it impacts Xbox's hardware roadmap and Game Pass subscriber growth.
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