Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff in an internal town hall that the gaming platform has begun returning to growth after hitting an all-time low. Sharma also ruled out selling Xbox, detailed a multi-device strategy for Gen-10 hardware codenamed Project Helix, and pointed to recent momentum for major game franchises.
Months of sweeping layoffs and studio closures have put Microsoft’s gaming division through one of its most significant restructures in video game history. Addressing employees directly in an internal town hall, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma insisted that the drastic measures are working to rescue the platform from a severe downturn.
Sharma took over the leadership role in February 2026 following the retirement of former Xbox boss Phil Spencer. Before joining Xbox, she oversaw platforms serving 180 million developers and hundreds of thousands of enterprises within Microsoft’s CoreAI product group. Under her direction, the division has faced a profound shift, with thousands of employees cut and significant structural changes enacted across studios.
Asha Sharma Rules Out Xbox Sale and Defends the Business Reset
Speculation that Microsoft might sell or spin off its gaming division swirled following months of steep budget cuts, thousands of staff reductions, and closures of studios like Ninja Theory and Double Fine as reported by GameSpot. But Sharma shut down those rumors directly in an interview with The New York Times.
“Xbox is not for sale”
Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO
Sharma added that she will pursue the right partners, the right operating model and everything else necessary
to achieve goals.
Subscription Price Hikes Cost Millions of Users
During the town hall meeting, Sharma pointed squarely at previous subscription strategies for driving the platform’s balance sheet into freefall according to internal transcripts. During the FTC versus Microsoft trial of 2023, Microsoft had hoped for 100 million subscribers by 2030, a milestone now appearing highly unlikely.
The subscription difficulties followed an October 2025 price hike that Xbox Chief Strategy Officer Matthew Ball publicly acknowledged had cost the service millions of subscribers.
To correct course, Sharma removed future Call of Duty titles from Day One Game Pass availability in April 2026 and restructured subscription pricing, cutting Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99. Despite the painful downsizing, Sharma told staff that the division has started to climb back up.
“We’re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business, after an all time low, we’ve started to return to growth, more than 2 to 3 times what we were, and we expect that continue.”
Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO
Sharma also credited strong starts for recent franchise entries including Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2, and World of Warcraft: Forever, while claiming a 30 percent boost in overall brand sentiment compared to the previous year. Furthermore, she noted that hours spent on platforms are no longer declining.
Project Helix and the Gen-10 Family of Devices
Looking toward the next generation of hardware, Sharma outlined hardware plans for Gen-10 under the codename Project Helix.
“We are moving to a family of devices for Gen-10. There is not one device that fits all. We will certainly have a great console first, but we also know that many players will be on the go. There are some things that we are the best in the world to manufacture, and there are other things that will we partner on. So, we will be sharing more about that as our plans develop. The operating system is starting to look really good. We’re very excited about this.”
Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO
Chief content officer Matt Booty noted last month that the broader corporate reset is roughly 75 percent complete, leaving hundreds of additional staff reductions anticipated in the months ahead as development on major titles like Halo moves under Activision management.
