Microsoft to cut jobs at Rare?

UPDATE: Gamesindustry.biz reports 12 staff have already been made redundant from Rare, with others required to reapply for their jobs internally.

Following extensive layoffs in Microsoft’s games group, Develop reports that Rare is the latest studio facing job losses.

The statement from Rare (which is shockingly full of corporate-ese) includes the sentence: “As we restructure to successfully execute against our shared strategy within this framework, we will be implementing a new approach to current projects in the pipeline that could serve as an industry-wide model for how to achieve a more efficient and scalable development process.”

Are Microsoft shifting to the film/TV model of freelancers and contract workers, moving from project to project as their skills are needed. In the long run, I believe that this is better for both employers and employees, but it will take an shift of ethos across the entire industry before it becomes the norm.

We’ll be watching, and looking out for when Rare confirms how many jobs are added to the Job Loss Tracker..