“After an all-time low, we’ve started to return to growth” - Asha Sharma touts Xbox turnaround after drastic restructuring and many hundreds of layoffs

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced during an internal town hall that the gaming division has “started to return to growth” following a significant decline. The company’s recovery represents growth of “more than two to three times” its previous levels, with expectations for the positive trend to continue.

This turnaround follows major restructuring that included over 1,800 job losses through layoffs and divestitures. The previous strategy had driven “freefall” financial declines, prompting Microsoft to reorganize its gaming operations and shift business structure.

Sharma attributed the recovery primarily to first-party titles, which have returned to growth while user engagement has stabilized after earlier declines. The restructuring consolidated game studios under major publishers, redistributing studios to Activision and Bethesda.

Looking forward, Xbox is prioritizing PC expansion with ambitions to serve “a billion Windows PCs.” The company is streamlining its publishing process to enable more games on the platform. Project Helix, described as a family of devices, represents another strategic initiative. Battle.net, the publisher’s PC platform, maintains retention rates reportedly comparable to Steam’s.

“After an all-time low, we’ve started to return to growth” - Asha Sharma touts Xbox turnaround after drastic restructuring and many hundreds of layoffs

Sources