With recent layoffs at Xbox having raised many eyebrows in the gaming industry, some have even started believing that Microsoft might be getting ready to sell the division off. However, speaking to The New York Times, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has denied the existence of any such plan and said that “Xbox is not for sale.”
“We will do whatever it takes to set the company up for success, and we will look at the right partnerships, the right operating model and everything needed to achieve that.” However, setting the company up for growth won’t be an easy task. Sharma has acknowledged this, noting that “We’ve got a long way to go with Microsoft, and we’re going to take the long-term view.”
Sharma’s statement comes following massive layoffs, with the company cutting 1,600 jobs back in July across many studios, and even deciding to divest itself of four of its studios – Double Fine Productions, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, and Ninja Theory. The company is also internally discussing the future for Arkane Lyon.
At the time, Sharma said that profit margins at Xbox were “3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses,” and that the company had spread itself too thin over the last decade by entering massive deals to acquire major companies.
“Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio.
“We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset Xbox, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.”
While Sharma said at the time that around 1,600 more cuts were planned before the end of the fiscal year, a more recent report indicates that Xbox might be trying to avoid hitting that target number by moving its employees around to different teams rather than laying them off altogether. Divesting studios also seems to be a major part of this plan.
Xbox recently went through another round of layoffs, affecting 268 roles across various studios. As part of the move, the company has also decided to consolidate many of its studios and has even announced that a new Halo project is being developed by Activision. Halo Studios, on the other hand, will keep a “small team” that will continue to support older games.
World’s Edge and Rare are also being brought under the Activision umbrella, while Obsidian is coming under Bethesda. Turn 10 Studios – the team behind Forza Motorsport – is being merged with Forza Horizon and Fable developer Playground Games.
More details will likely be revealed in the coming weeks, since Xbox CCO Matt Booty has confirmed that there will be an all-Xbox meeting to “reflect on our progress and look ahead to one of the strongest game lineups in our history.”
