REDMOND, WA – Earlier today, QA testers at Xbox Game Studios received the news that they were being laid off. The announcement comes on the heels of the recent price increase for the Xbox Series S and Series X. Some suggest the two are related. 

Kayden Cade, former game tester, said he saw this coming.

“We had been getting fewer consoles to test games on,” Cade said on a Zoom call before also confirming that he was forced to test games using an original Xbox “Duke” controller. “I thought it was because there weren’t any exclusives, but I overheard two managers talking about how expensive hardware is. It turns out, a company worth billions couldn’t afford to make little boxes anymore.” 

Bill Williams, who worked in the same QA department, confirmed as much.

“They can’t afford the hardware to keep us employed,” Williams said, “I offered to buy my own console to playtest on. Big mistake! HR saw my offer and determined that the company was paying me too much and could no longer afford my salary.”

Microsoft has blamed the price increase of their flagship console on high component costs, a direct result of the demand for datacenters needed for A.I. We emailed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma for comment and received the following reply:

“Copilot, write a reply to this email blaming anyone but me or A.I. for this. Format: press release. Tone: stoic corporate jargon. Don’t forget to write XBOX in all caps. Also, add the green logo. The gamers love that green logo.” 

At press time, Microsoft pumped another billion dollars into further developing Copilot, which is now rumored to be replacing the laid off QA testers.