ArduinoMania

In to a T, players have to navigate the world as a teenager who can't lower their arms from an outstretched, T-shaped position. The character, named Teen, traverses an ordinary coastal town alongside their loyal dog, fending off bullies and discovering the strengths of their unique posture along the way. In the game's reveal trailer, it looks like flying might be the big benefit to T-shaped arms.

The game is an episodic 3D adventure with a rounded, cartoon art style that'll be familiar to anyone who's played Katamari Damacy, Wattam or other titles from creator Keita Takahashi. to a T comes from Takahashi's studio, Uvula, which recently released one of the coolest little games on Playdate, Crankin's Time Travel Adventure.

There's no release date or confirmed platforms for to a T, though Uvula began teasing it back in 2022 and it's being published by Annapurna Interactive. The project is being created in partnership with AbleGamers, a non-profit organization that advocates for people with disabilities in the video game market, leading inclusion efforts in software and hardware development. AbleGamers collaborated with Xbox as it designed the Adaptive Controller, and it provided input to Sony in the creation of the Access controller, the studio's coming accessibility-focused gamepad.

This is shaping up to be a banner year for puzzle games, thanks to the likes of the superb Humanity and the brain-melting Viewfinder. Another one has just emerged on the release calendar in the form of Cocoon, which was perhaps the most exciting game we got to check out at Summer Game Fest earlier this month. Publisher Annapurna Interactive revealed during its summer showcase that Cocoon will hit PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on September 29th. It'll be available on Game Pass as well.

This is the first project from Geometric Interactive, which was founded by two former developers at Playdead, the studio behind Limbo and Inside. Cocoon is an adventure game in which you use orbs to solve puzzles. When you place an orb on a socket, you can jump inside it — each orb is its own world with distinct mechanics and a boss to beat.

Cocoon is all about recursion. You can take an orb inside another world to make use of its abilities, such as being able to see otherwise-invisible paths or activate switches. You'll have the option to jump back out of an orb as well, which will be key to solving some puzzles and bypassing obstacles. We're looking forward to this one.

Volkwagen’s charging network, Electrify America, has pledged to adopt the extremely popular North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector by 2025. This will massively improve access to the NACS connector, which was created by Tesla and originally called the Tesla charging connector.

For those tied to the company’s CCS-1 plug standard, don’t worry. Electrify America says it isn’t going anywhere, as the NACS connectors will join the CCS-1 connectors at charging stations, not replace them. Sibling organization Electrify Canada is also adopting the NACS connector by 2025. The company says this move is part of a larger mandate to “support industry-wide standards” and “streamline public charging” options.

The organization boasts 850 charging stations, totaling over 4,000 chargers, throughout the United States and Canada, so this is a big move. Additionally, Electrify America has officially joined consumer advocacy group the National Charging Experience Consortium (ChargeX) to help improve the charging infrastructure for EV owners.

Electrify America says it’ll share more information on the transition to NACS connectors in the coming months, along with more future plans to update its charging stations. There are rumors, for instance, that parent company Volkswagen may start integrating the NACS standard for its own vehicles, as reported by Reuters.

This has been a big couple of months for the Tesla-created charging standard. Polestar just announced implementation of the connectors, and Volvo made the same move. Ford, GM and Rivian have also committed to using Tesla's tech in North America. SAE International, one of the automotive industry’s most important standardization bodies, recently announced its support for the plug, officially making NACS connectors the biggest game in town.

The Steam Summer Sale is now live, and it includes a solid deal for those who've been on the fence about buying a Steam Deck. Along with thousands of games, the device is on sale until July 13th. The 64GB model has dropped by 10 percent to $359.10, while the variant with 256GB of faster NVMe storage is down to $449.65, 15 percent off the regular price. The 512GB version, which has an anti-glare screen, is 20 percent off at $519.20. The Steam Deck Dock is also 20 percent off, down to $71.20.

This is one of Steam's two biggest sales of the year alongside the winter edition, so there are bargains galore. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, one of the biggest games of the year so far, is already on sale for 25 percent off ($52.49). Elden Ring is 30 percent off at $42, while the price of Red Dead Redemption 2 has dropped by two thirds to $19.79. Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky, the Halo Infinite single-player campaign and Forza Horizon 5 are all half off at $30 each. Meanwhile, instead of buying Dying Light 2 for that price, note that there's a $27.88 bundle that includes Payday 2.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is down 45 percent to $38.49 and Amazon's MMORPG New World is 60 percent off at $16. Persona 5 Royal has dropped by 40 percent to $36, while Cities Skylines is currently $9, which is 70 percent less than usual. 

Sleeper hit Dredge is 20 percent off at $20 and you can save 30 percent off the Dead Space remake, which is down to $42. Civilization VI is a whopping 90 percent off at $6, while you can snap up all three mainline Witcher games for under $17 and Stray for $22.49 (25 percent off).

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is 75 percent off at $10. Several PlayStation Studios titles are on sale too, including Uncharted: A Legacy of Thieves Collection and God of War ($30 each, down 40 percent), along with Horizon Zero Dawn and Days Gone ($16.49 each, down 67 percent). Both Spider-Man games are 33 percent off with the original dropping to $40.19 and Miles Morales down to $33.49.

As ever, we're barely scratching the surface of the mammoth sale. There are hidden gems all over the place. For instance, I'd never heard of Not For Broadcast until scouring the list of deals, but was curious enough to pick it up. Therein lies the pitfall of Steam sales. There are always tons of compelling deals that threaten to leave your wallet significantly lighter. But hey, you do need things to play on your new Steam Deck.

Niantic is joining the long list of companies laying off employees. The studio published an “organizational update” (after the internal memo was leaked toKotaku) announcing that it would let go of 230 employees. In addition, the company is shutting down its Los Angeles studio and canceling two licensed games: NBA All-World and Marvel: World of Heroes. The only good news for fans is that Pokémon Go, still its flagship product, will live to fight another day.

“I have made the decision to narrow our focus for mobile game investments, concentrating on first party games that most strongly embody our core values of location and local social communities,” wrote CEO John Hanke. “The mobile gaming market is very mature and only the best and most differentiated titles have a chance to succeed. We also want to increase our focus on building for the emerging class of MR devices and future AR glasses.”

Although nobody likes hearing about layoffs, Hanke’s letter seems forthcoming and candid about the company’s challenges and the mistakes he and the leadership team made. He attributes the downsizing to the studio growing its expenses faster than its revenue. “In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees. Post Covid, our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments.” The CEO expects the reductions to “bring expenses and revenue back into line” without shuttering its most valuable property.

On that topic, Hanke said, “The top priority is to keep Pokémon Go healthy and growing as a forever game. While we made some adjustments to the Pokémon Go team, our investment in the product and team continues to grow.” The phone-based AR game launched in the summer of 2016 and instantly became a viral sensation; it also enjoyed a resurgence in popularity during pandemic lockdowns as homebound gamers used the explorative game as an excuse to connect with a world beyond their overly familiar four walls. Just last year, the studio launched a social app for the game that lets players organize and chat.

The letter adds that the AR market “developing more slowly than anticipated” was another factor. Niantic’s games would be ideal for on-the-go AR, which the industry eventually expects to materialize as smart glasses that can pass for standard prescription specs. However, as Apple’s Vision Pro made clear, that future is still likely a ways off. Today’s wearable AR, also including the Meta Quest Pro, is home-based gear designed for work and entertainment in the comfort of your home or office. Although adaptations of Pokémon Go types of experiences may work there to some degree, the company’s trademark approach is tailor-made for AR that isn’t yet available. Niantic may well end up waiting five to 10 years to see consumer-friendly versions of that type of augmented reality — and apparently, that required some reconfiguring.

Annapurna Interactive has a terrific track record, and we'll soon learn more about what's next from the highly regarded publisher. It's running a Summer Game Fest-affiliated showcase today, and you can watch the stream on YouTube and Twitch at 3PM ET.

The presentation will include "reveals, spotlights and one of our biggest announcements yet," Annapurna says. The publisher is cooking up a bunch of projects, including Cocoon (the most captivating game we tried at Summer Game Fest earlier this month) and story-driven RPG Thirsty Suitors. My dream of a Sayonara Wild Hearts sequel remains on hold at least for now while Simogo works on murder mystery game Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, and perhaps we'll learn more about that today as well.

Elsewhere, Neon White is coming to Xbox at some point, so we may learn during the showcase exactly when that'll happen. Rumors suggest the wonderful Stray is bound for Xbox as well.

Meta isn't the only internet heavyweight removing news content in response to Canada's newly enacted Bill C-18 (aka the Online News Act), which requires that tech companies negotiate compensation with publishers for linked material. Google now says it will pull links to Canadian news stories from its search, News and Discover services in the country. It will also stop operating its News Showcase in Canada when C-18 takes effect in six months.

Google's government affairs VP Cris Turner claims C-18 remains "unworkable legislation," and that Canada's soon-to-be law is unduly harsh. The European Union allows free use of links and short extracts, for example, while the Czech Republic's stricter interpretation of the EU still allowed headlines and links. In Australia, where the law requires that some online services pay for news, Google has negotiated deals that keep its news features available and avoid falling under the law's requirements.

The company maintains that it believes a "vibrant journalism industry" is crucial, and has floated policy ideas it believes will help. These include consultation with experts, investing in newsroom progress and support for conventional news outlets as they transition to digital. The approach dictated by C-18 purportedly leads to "uncertainty" for product strategy and "uncapped" financial penalties.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Razer just launched a new premium gaming mouse, the Cobra Pro, that’s packed with buttons and customization options, all wrapped in an eye-pleasing symmetrical design. There’s seven buttons at the top of the device, two on the side and one on the bottom, adding up to ten. As is traditional with modern mice, each button is fully customizable. However, Razer takes this customization to the next level.

The Cobra Pro stores five memory profiles that allow you to instantly swap between customization options to suit whatever game you’re playing. Additionally, the mouse integrates with Razer’s Hypershift feature, which temporarily adds a secondary set of functions to each button.

The symmetrical design is nifty, but this is a modern gaming mouse, so there’s plenty of customizable RGB lighting. As a matter of fact, the Cobra Pro boasts 11 individually addressable Chroma RGB zones, which Razer says is the most zones available in its class. There’s nearly 17 million colors to choose from, so it’s highly unlikely your mouse’s lighting scheme will match your neighbors.

As for regular specs, the Cobra Pro continues some of the traditions present with the company’s well-regarded Basilisk V3. There’s a Focus Pro 30K optical sensor and next-generation optical mouse switches. The Cobra Pro integrates with the Razer Mouse Dock Pro (sold separately) that amps the polling rate up to 4000 Hz.

The built-in battery allows for 100 hours of use when connected via the company’s HyperSpeed Wireless technology and 170 hours when using traditional Bluetooth. It ships with a USB-C cable for quick-charging.

In addition to the Cobra Pro, the company also launched a bare-bones version for budget-conscious gamers. The standard Cobra mouse is wired and boasts eight customizable buttons. Both options are available now, with the Cobra Pro costing $120 and the standard Cobra coming in at just $40.

After building to this point for over a decade, Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight. After launching aboard the mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship VSS Unity reached an altitude of around 52 miles, or the edge of space. It landed nearly 15 minutes later at the company's Spaceport America base near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, completing the Galactic 01 research mission. 

The company's first client was the Italian government, which had the aim of conducting microgravity research. Aboard were Air Force colonel Walter Villadei, Air Force lieutenant and flight surgeon Colonel Angelo Landolfi, and Pantaleone Carlucci, a research council member acting as flight engineer and payload specialist. Unity was piloted by retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile, with Virgin Galactic trainer Colin Bennett also on board.

Prior to the commercial flight, Virgin Galactic had conducted five crewed spaceflights in total, the last in late May with four employees aboard. However, the company has gone through a lot of pain getting to that point.

After several successful tests of its SpaceShipTwo spaceplane aboard the mothership WhiteKnightTwo back in 2013, Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise crashed in 2014, killing the co-pilot and seriously injuring the pilot. Flight testing resumed with VSS Unity's glide test back in 2016, and the ship finally reached space in 2018. 

The company's first fully crewed spaceflight took place in 2021, when Unity hit an altitude of 53.4 miles with founder Richard Branson on board. However, commercial service was delayed multiple times for different reasons, most recently due to issues in upgrading the mothership VMS Eve.

From a financial perspective, the launch was crucial for Virgin Galactic. With no paying customers until now, the company has lost money for years, including more than $500 million in 2022 alone. It advertises seats at $450,000 per ticket, and previously set a goal of having 1,000 reservations prior to its first commercial launch. 

Virgin Galactic's main rival in the suborbital tourism space race is Blue Origin, which uses a conventional rocket rather than an airplane mothership. Blue Origin CEO (and Amazon founder) Jeff Bezos has said that Virgin Galactic fails to deliver a true spaceflight experience, compared to Blue Origin's system that tops 62 miles in altitude, past the Kármán line often used to mark the beginning of space. Others consider 50 miles the threshold.

Blue Origin has had problems of its own. Last year, one of its New Shepard rockets suffered from a booster failure about a minute after takeoff, forcing the company to deploy its escape system for the uncrewed capsule, which worked as designed. 

Another rival, SpaceX, offers a far different experience — its Falcon 1 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule take customers into a true orbit. SpaceX has even flown a private crew to the International Space Station on a 10-day mission, reportedly for a $55 million fee.

The tech industry is reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions have unfortunately ramped up in 2023. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so we’ve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will continue to update this story as the situation evolves.

June

Dado Ruvic / reuters

Spotify layoffs

Spotify followed up its January layoff plans with word in June that it would cut 200 jobs in its podcast unit. The move is part of a more targeted approach to fostering podcasts with optimized resources for creators and shows. The company is also combining its Gimlet and Parcast production teams into a renewed Spotify Studios division.

GrubHub layoffs

GrubHub has faced intense pressure from both the economy and competitors like Uber, and that led it to lay off 15 percent of its workforce in June, or roughly 400 staff. This came just weeks after outgoing CEO Adam DeWitt officially left the food delivery service. New chief executive Howard Migdal claims the job cuts will help the company remain "competitive."

Embracer Group layoffs

Game publishing giant Embracer Group announced plans for layoffs in June as part of a major restructuring effort meant to cut costs. The company didn't say how many of its 17,000 employees would be effected, but expected the overhaul to continue through March. The news came soon after Embracer revealed that it lost a $2 billion deal with an unnamed partner despite a verbal agreement.

Sonos layoffs

Sonos has struggled to turn a profit as of late, and it's cutting costs to get back on track. The company said in June that it would lay off 7 percent of staff, or roughly 130 jobs. It also planned to offload real estate and rethink program spending. CEO Patrick Spence said there were "continued headwinds" that included shrinking sales.

Plex layoffs

Plex may be many users' go-to app for streaming both local and online media, but that hasn't helped its fortunes. The company laid off roughly 20 percent of employees in June, or 37 people. Most of the affected people are in its Personal Media unit. Plex is reportedly feeling the blow from an ad market slowdown, and is eager to cut costs and turn a profit.

May

REUTERS/Chris Wattie

Shopify layoffs

Shopify's e-commerce platform played an important role at the height of the pandemic, but the Canadian company is scaling back now that the rush is over. In May, the company laid off 20 percent of its workforce and sold its logistics business to Flexport. Founder Tobi Lütke characterized the job cuts as necessary to "pay unshared attention" to Shopify's core mission, and an acknowledgment that the firm needed to be more efficient now that the "stable economic boom times" were over.

Polestar layoffs

Polestar delayed production of its first electric SUV (the Polestar 3) in May, and that had repercussions for its workforce. The Volvo spinoff brand said in May that it would cut 10 percent of its workforce to lower costs as it faced reduced manufacturing expectations and a rough economy. Volvo needed more time for software development and testing that also pushed back the EX90, Polestar said.

SoundCloud layoffs

SoundCloud followed up last year's extensive layoffs with more this May. The streaming audio service said it would shed 8 percent of its staff in a bid to become profitable in 2023. Billboard sources claim the company hopes to be profitable by the fourth quarter of the year.

April

Dado Ruvic / reuters

Lyft layoffs

Lyft laid off 13 percent of staff in November 2022, but took further steps in April. The ridesharing company said it was laying off 1,072 workers, or about 26 percent of its headcount. It comes just weeks after an executive shuffle that replaced CEO Logan Green with former Amazon exec David Risher, who said the company needed to streamline its business and refocus on drivers and passengers. Green previously said Lyft needed to boost its spending to compete with Uber.

Dropbox layoffs

Cloud storage companies aren't immune to the current financial climate. In April, Dropbox said it would lay off 500 employees, or roughly 16 percent of its team. Co-founder Drew Houston pinned the cuts on the combination of a rough economy, a maturing business and the "urgency" to hop on the growing interest in AI. While the company is profitable, its growth is slowing and some investments are "no longer sustainable," Houston said. 

March

Roku layoffs

Roku shed 200 jobs at the end of 2022, but it wasn't done. The streaming platform creator laid off another 200 employees in March 2023. As before, the company argued that it needed to curb growing expenses and concentrate on those projects that would have the most impact. Roku has been struggling with the one-two combination of a rough economy and the end of a pandemic-fueled boom in streaming video.

Lucid Motors layoffs

If you thought luxury EV makers would be particularly susceptible to economic turmoil, you guessed correctly. Lucid Motors said in March that it would lay off 18 percent of its workforce, or about 1,300 people. The marque is still falling short of production targets, and these cuts reportedly help deal with "evolving business needs and productivity improvements." The cuts are across the board, too, and include both executives as well as contractors.

Meta (Facebook) layoffs

Meta slashed 11,000 jobs in fall 2022, but it wasn't finished. In March 2023, the company unveiled plans to lay off another 10,000 workers in a further bid to cut costs. The first layoffs affected its recruiting team, but it shrank its technology teams in late April and its business groups in late May. The Facebook owner is hoping to streamline its operations by reducing management layers and asking some leaders to take on work previously reserved for the rank and file. It may take a while before Meta's staff count grows again — it doesn't expect to lift a hiring freeze until sometime after it completes its restructuring effort in late 2023.

February

Rivian layoffs

Rivian conducted layoffs in 2022, but that wasn't enough to help the fledgling EV brand's bottom line. The company laid off another six percent of its employees in February, or about 840 workers. It's still fighting to achieve profitability, and the production shortfall from supply chain issues hasn't helped matters. CEO RJ Scaringe says the job cuts will help Rivian focus on the "highest impact" aspects of its business.

Zoom layoffs

Zoom was a staple of remote work culture at the pandemic's peak, so it's no surprise that the company is cutting back now that people are returning to offices. The video calling firm said in February it was laying off roughly 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its personnel. As CEO Eric Yuan put it, the company didn't hire "sustainably" as it dealt with its sudden success. The layoffs are reportedly necessary to help survive a difficult economy. The management team is offering more than just apologies, too. Yuan is cutting his salary by 98 percent for the next fiscal year, while all other executives are losing 20 percent of their base salaries as well as their fiscal 2023 bonuses.

Yahoo layoffs

Engadget's parent company Yahoo isn't immune to layoffs. The internet brand said in February that it would lay off over 20 percent of its workforce throughout 2023, or more than 1,600 people. Most of those cuts, or about 1,000 positions, took place immediately. CEO Jim Lanzone didn't blame the layoffs on economic conditions, however. He instead pitched it as a restructuring of the advertising technology unit as it shed an unprofitable business in favor of a successful one. Effectively, Yahoo is bowing out of direct competition in with Google and Meta in the ad market.

Dell layoffs

The pandemic recovery and a grim economy have hit PC makers particularly hard, and Dell is feeling the pain more than most. It laid off five percent of its workforce in early February, or about 6,650 employees, after a brutal fourth quarter where computer shipments plunged an estimated 37 percent. Past cost-cutting efforts weren't enough, Dell said — the layoffs and a streamlined organization were reportedly needed to get back on track.

Deliveroo layoffs

Food delivery services flourished while COVID-19 kept people away from restaurants, and at least some are feeling the sting now that people are willing to dine out again. Deliveroo is laying off about 350 workers, or nine percent of its workforce. "Redeployments" will bring this closer to 300, according to founder Will Shu. The justification is familiar: Deliveroo hired rapidly to handle "unprecedented" pandemic-related growth, according to Shu, but reportedly has to cut costs as it deals with a troublesome economy.

DocuSign layoffs

DocuSign may be familiar to many people who've signed documents online, but that hasn't spared it from the impact of a harsh economic climate. The company said in mid-February that it was laying off 10 percent of its workforce. While it didn't disclose how many people that represented, the company had 7,461 employees at the start of 2022. Most of those losing their jobs work in DocuSign's worldwide field organization.

GitLab layoffs

You may not know GitLab, but its DevOps (development and operations) platform underpins work at tech brands like NVIDIA and T-Mobile — and shrinking business at its clients is affecting its bottom line. GitLab is laying off seven percent of employees, or roughly 114 people. Company chief Sid Sijbrandij said the problematic economy meant customers were taking a "more conservative approach" to software investment, and that his company's previous attempts to refocus spending weren't enough to counter these challenges.

GoDaddy layoffs

GoDaddy conducted layoffs early in the pandemic, when it cut over 800 workers for its retail-oriented Social platform. In February this year, however, it took broader action. The web service provider laid off eight percent of its workforce, or more than 500 people, across all divisions. Chief Aman Bhutani claimed other forms of cost-cutting hadn't been enough to help the company navigate an "uncertain" economy, and that this reflected efforts to further integrate acquisitions like Main Street Hub.

Twilio layoffs

Twilio eliminated over 800 jobs in September 2022, but it made deeper cuts as 2023 got started. The cloud communications brand laid off 17 percent of staff, or roughly 1,500 people, in mid-February. Like so many other tech firms, Twillio said that past cost reduction efforts weren't enough to endure an unforgiving environment. It also rationalized the layoffs as necessary for a streamlined organization.

January

REUTERS/Peter DaSilva

Google (Alphabet) layoffs

Google's parent company Alphabet has been cutting costs for a while, including shutting down Stadia, but it took those efforts one step further in late January when it said it would lay off 12,000 employees. CEO Sundar Pichai wasn't shy about the reasoning: Alphabet had been hiring for a "different economic reality," and was restructuring to focus on the internet giant's most important businesses. The decision hit the company's Area 120 incubator particularly hard, with the majority of the unit's workers losing their jobs. Sub-brands like Intrinsic (robotics) and Verily (health) also shed significant portions of their workforce in the days before the mass layoffs. Waymo has conducted two rounds of layoffs that shed 209 people, or eight percent of its force.

Amazon layoffs

Amazon had already outlined layoff plans last fall, but expanded those cuts in early January when it said it would eliminate 18,000 jobs, most of them coming from retail and recruiting teams. It added another 9,000 people to the layoffs in March, and in April said over 100 gaming employees were leaving. To no one's surprise, CEO Andy Jassy blamed both an "uncertain economy" and rapid hiring in recent years. Amazon benefited tremendously from the pandemic as people shifted to online shopping, but its growth is slowing as people return to in-person stores.

Coinbase layoffs

Coinbase was one of the larger companies impacted by the crypto market's 2022 downturn, and that carried over into the new year. The cryptocurrency exchange laid off 950 people in mid-January, just months after it slashed 1,100 roles. This is one of the steepest proportionate cuts among larger tech brands — Coinbase offloaded about a fifth of its staff. Chief Brian Armstrong said his outfit needed the layoffs to shrink operating expenses and survive what he previously described as a "crypto winter," but that also meant canceling some projects that were less likely to succeed.

IBM layoffs

Layoffs sometimes stem more from corporate strategy shifts than financial hardship, and IBM provided a classic example of this in 2023. The computing pioneer axed 3,900 jobs in late January after offloading both its AI-driven Watson Health business and its infrastructure management division (now Kyndryl) in the fall. Simply put, those employees had nothing to work on as IBM pivoted toward cloud computing.

Microsoft layoffs

Microsoft started its second-largest wave of layoffs in company history when it signaled it would cut 10,000 jobs between mid-January and the end of March. Like many other tech heavyweights, it was trimming costs as customers scaled back their spending (particularly on Windows and devices) during the pandemic recovery. The reductions were especially painful for some divisions — they reportedly gutted the HoloLens and mixed reality teams, while 343 Industries is believed to be rebooting Halo development after losing dozens of workers. GitHub is cutting 10 percent of its team, or roughly 300 people.

PayPal layoffs

PayPal has been one of the healthier large tech companies, having beaten expectations in its third quarter last year. Still, it hasn't been immune to a tough economy. The online payment firm unveiled plans at the end of January to lay off 2,000 employees, or seven percent of its total worker base. CEO Dan Schulman claimed the downsizing would keep costs in check and help PayPal focus on "core strategic priorities."

Salesforce layoffs

Salesforce set the tone for 2023 when it warned it would lay off 8,000 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce, just four days into the new year. While the cloud software brand thrived during the pandemic with rapidly growing revenue, it admitted that it hired too aggressively during the boom and couldn't maintain that staffing level while the economy was in decline.

SAP layoffs

Business software powerhouse SAP saw a steep 68 percent drop in profit at the end of 2022, and it started 2023 by laying off 2,800 staff to keep its business healthy. Unlike some big names in tech, though, SAP didn't blame excessive pandemic-era hiring for the cutback. Instead, it characterized the initiative as a "targeted restructuring" for a company that still expected accelerating growth in 2023.

Spotify layoffs

Spotify spent aggressively in recent years as it expanded its podcast empire, but it quickly put a stop to that practice as 2023 began. The streaming music service said in late January that it would lay off 6 percent of its workforce (9,800 people worked at Spotify as of the third quarter) alongside a restructuring effort that included the departure of content chief Dawn Ostroff. While there were more Premium subscribers than ever in 2022, the company also suffered steep losses — CEO Daniel Ek said he was "too ambitious" investing before the revenue existed to support it.

Wayfair layoffs

Amazon isn't the only major online retailer scaling back in 2023. Wayfair said in late January that it would lay off 1,750 team members, or 10 percent of its global headcount. About 1,200 of those were corporate staff cut in a bid to "eliminate management layers" and otherwise help the company become leaner and nimbler. Wayfair had been cutting costs since August 2022 (including 870 positions), but saw the layoffs as helping it reach break-even earnings sooner than expected.