Gaming stocks, evening of October 27: Microsoft exit offer ahead of earnings

A day before it publishes quarterly results, Microsoft (MSFT, Nasdaq) is offering some employees a voluntary exit route, according to reports, and Xbox staff are among those invited. This edition focuses on business developments, upcoming earnings and a closer look at Frontier Developments.

Microsoft’s exit offer

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Microsoft’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, announced a time-limited “Voluntary Exit Offer” in a memo. It is open to eligible staff in participating teams in the US, UK, Canada and India, at level 70 and below.

The Verge also reported that up to 60,000 employees could be eligible. Sources familiar with the matter say the eligible teams include Copilot, Windows and Xbox. Coleman wrote that the offer “is new for us” and that the company will learn from it. The memo does not say how many Xbox employees are eligible.

The background: the offer follows layoffs in July and September, mostly across Xbox and commercial sales, and GamesIndustry.biz notes that further layoffs are allegedly planned.

Behind exit offers and earnings calendars are teams making games, and I think it matters not to lose sight of them in the numbers.

On the calendar: earnings

• Wednesday, October 28: Microsoft’s investor relations website lists the company’s fiscal first-quarter 2027 results for this date.
• Thursday, November 5: Nintendo reports half-year results, according to the IR calendar on its investor site.
• Monday, November 9: Take-Two reports fiscal Q2 2027 results, according to the company’s investor page.

From the bench: Frontier Developments

Tonight we take a closer look at Frontier Developments (FDEV, London AIM).

The British company, headquartered in Cambridge with a second studio in Winnipeg, Canada, is known for creative management games: Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo and Jurassic World Evolution. Its portfolio also includes Elite Dangerous, the F1 Manager series and Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters.

According to the company’s announcements, Planet Zoo 2 launched on October 13 on PC and consoles, and on September 3 it announced a collaboration with Disney on a new game.

More from the market

• Auroch Digital: The UK studio has begun a redundancy consultation affecting around a quarter of its roles. In a LinkedIn statement quoted by GamesIndustry.biz, the studio behind Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 and Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! cited “market conditions”.
• Warhorse Studios: The Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 developer suffered a cyberattack, with unauthorised access to company systems and data. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the company is working with cybersecurity experts and is not giving further details for now.
• Call of Duty: According to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, the franchise has passed $40 billion in lifetime revenue. PC Gamer reports.

This column is a journalistic summary only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The writers and the site owner have no personal interest in the companies in this column and hold no shares in them. This information is not a substitute for investment advice that takes into account each person’s data and needs.