- Microsoft is shutting down Skype in May 2025
- The company urges users to move over to Microsoft Teams instead
- Skype has been in steep decline since 2020
Microsoft has confirmed that Skype, the iconic video conferencing program, will shut down in May 2025. That means you’ve only got three months left to swap over – if you haven’t already jumped ship already.
As reported by XDA Developers, a hidden message inside the HMTL code for the Skype for Windows program reads: “Starting in May, Skype will no longer be available. Continue your calls and chats in Teams.” The statement is definitive, capping off the program’s two-decade-long run by saying: “Move to Teams today” and “{userCount} of your friends have already moved to Teams”.
Since its launch in 2003, Skype has been the de facto way of messaging, video conferencing, and audio calls across computers, later adopting mobile platforms, too. It was purchased by Microsoft in 2011, replacing some of the company’s services for Skype, such as Windows Live Messenger and others. The program was later attempted to be integrated directly into Windows in 2015, a plan that was never fully realized.
However, Skype ran the risk of being cannibalized alongside Microsoft Teams, the company’s newest communications venture, which debuted in 2017. Since its release, Teams has been heavily promoted by the company as the new way to communicate casually and professionally, with a lighter user interface and seamless integration between devices. As a consequence, Skype for Business was officially retired in 2021 after Microsoft announced it would be sunsetting the service in 2019.
The final nail in the coffin for Skype was its steep decline that happened during 2020. Despite a rebrand and a facelift from Microsoft, the Zoom alternative saw its numbers slipping significantly from the most popular conferencing program a decade prior, to only around 36 million monthly users, a decrease of 75% percent. While these numbers sound impressive, that’s before realizing that Microsoft Teams was averaging anywhere from 250 to 300 million users a month from 2020 onwards and has remained steady since (via CNBC).
The end of Skype has finally arrived
The news of Skype’s closure should not be surprising for many, as the bulk of its users had already long since transitioned to a newer (and likely faster) alternative that could do more. Skype was primarily billed around one-on-one communication, which is now something we’ve been able to do through Apple‘s FaceTime, WhatsApp, Discord, Facebook Messenger, and dozens of other programs for desktops and smartphones for a while now. Skype simply has not been needed for a long time, especially once the cracks in its functionality began to show.
Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion in cash with a 300% markup from its original valuation in 2007, when eBay purchased the program for $2.6 billion back in 2007. The service was thought of as the next big thing, which was later integrated into the company’s ill-fated Windows phones and was even (briefly) a mandatory part of Windows 10. However, 2011 was a lifetime ago in the age of social media, where so much has arrived to replace it.
For all its faults, Microsoft Teams is a frontrunner for professional business use alongside the likes of Zoom and Google Meet. If you’re having a video meeting in 2025, it’s almost a certainty that you’ll be using one of these three instead of booting up Skype, which feels primitive by comparison. Retirement for the program was a long time coming, and frankly, it’s surprising that it even lasted this long in the first place.
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alekshamcloughlin@outlook.com (Aleksha McLoughlin)
