World's Edge, the studio managing the Age of Empires franchise, has laid off just under half its staff—268 employees—as part of Microsoft's broader Xbox consolidation and restructuring programme. The layoffs come as the studio transitions from Xbox's direct control to Activision's management, and a new game project the team was developing has been cancelled as a result.

The 268 job cuts represent the latest phase of Microsoft's gaming division "reset" led by newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. This follows an initial round of 1,600 layoffs in July, with total redundancies expected to reach approximately 3,200 across the entire organisation, potentially including the entirety of developer Ninja Theory. World's Edge primarily serves as steward of the Age of Empires franchise rather than sole developer, having collaborated with studios including Forgotten Empires and Relic Entertainment on major releases.