{"id":2183728,"date":"2026-10-07T10:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T07:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2183728"},"modified":"2026-10-07T10:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T07:24:13","slug":"after-an-all-time-low-weve-started-to-return-to-growth-asha-sharma-touts-xbox-turnaround-after-drastic-restructuring-and-many-hundreds-of-layoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2183728","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;After an all-time low, we&#8217;ve started to return to growth&#8221; &#8211; Asha Sharma touts Xbox turnaround after drastic restructuring and many hundreds of layoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;After an all-time low, we&#8217;ve started to return to growth&#8221; &#8211; Asha Sharma touts Xbox turnaround after drastic restructuring and many hundreds of layoffs<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">&#8220;We&#8217;re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Sharma-stonks.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Sharma-stonks.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Xbox, Eurogamer.<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Sherif Saed avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"IMG_1950_Uy1XomJ.JPG\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"1638\" height=\"1346\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/sherif-saed\">Sherif Saed<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Senior Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-10-07T10:24:13+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Oct. 7, 2026, 10:24 a.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-asha-sharma-growth-restructuring-layoffs?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          44 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"header_actions\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"1db72fe1-5c27-4e10-bfd2-fd2a5bc5d9b9\" data-name=\"Gears of War: E-Day\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Gears of War: E-Day\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Gears of War: E-Day\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Gears of War: E-Day\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Gears of War: E-Day\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Gears of War: E-Day\" title=\"Follow Gears of War: E-Day\"><br \/>\n  Follow Gears of War: E-Day<br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n  <a class=\"button outline wide preferred_source_button\" data-component=\"preferred-source-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=eurogamer.net\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n    <span class=\"logo\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><br \/>\nPrioritise us on Google  <\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has reportedly told the company that Xbox has &#8220;started to return to growth&#8221; following wide-ranging restructuring that has reorganised the gaming division and resulted in more than 1,800 job losses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business,&#8221; Sharma reportedly said during an Xbox &#8216;town hall&#8217; meeting, according to a transcript seen by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windowscentral.com\/gaming\/xbox\/xbox-ceo-asha-sharma-speaks-at-internal-town-hall-we-must-strengthen-for-cxbox-series-x-s-xbox-helix-and-xbox-game-pass\">Windows Central<\/a>. &#8220;After an all-time low, we&#8217;ve started to return to growth, more than two to three times what we were, and we expect that continue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sharma specifically named the games Gears of War: E-Day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/minecraft-dungeons\">Minecraft Dungeons<\/a> 2 and World of Warcraft: Forever &#8211; all recent releases &#8211; as having had &#8220;strong&#8221; starts and contributing to this.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma reportedly also said Xbox had seen a decline in hours played, player numbers and revenue at the start of the year. The situation has seemingly improved, with the decline in hours played apparently now stabilised.<\/p>\n<p>On Game Pass, Sharma said Xbox&#8217;s previous strategy had sent the service&#8217;s profitability &#8220;into freefall&#8221;. She&#8217;s likely referring to Xbox&#8217;s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-alert-confirms-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-day-one-xbox-game-pass-launch\">to include Call of Duty titles in Game Pass on day one<\/a>, which later pushed the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-increases-price-of-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-despite-record-subscription-profits-last-year\">to raise Game Pass prices in 2025<\/a>, before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-drops-game-pass-prices-call-of-duty-exits-day-one\">cutting prices in 2026 at the cost of losing day-one Call of Duty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why do we exist?&#8221; Sharma reportedly asked. &#8220;We exist to be where the world plays, we will know when we have a billion daily active people, and we have a right to win because we&#8217;re now focused on our fans and franchises.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As part of the same town hall meeting, Sharma touched on Xbox&#8217;s broader plans with Project Helix, its next-generation console. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-project-helix-console-family-of-devices-asha-sharma\">The executive reaffirmed earlier remarks for Helix to be &#8220;a family of devices&#8221;<\/a>, and teased another foray into the handheld market &#8211; beyond the ROG Ally X &#8211; by referencing that people want to game &#8220;on the go&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Xbox has had a turbulent year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/today-marks-an-exciting-new-chapter-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-retiring-amid-major-leadership-shakeup-that-sees-microsofts-coreai-president-taking-over-roll\">since Sharma took over as CEO in February<\/a>. Shortly after her appointment, she announced a major shake-up and restructuring plan for the gaming division that would encompass <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">wide-ranging layoffs, studio divestitures<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fallout-new-vegas-studio-obsidian-no-avowed-sequel\">focus on its biggest franchises<\/a> and the introduction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-console-affordability-price-asha-sharma\">new business models for both Xbox hardware and services<\/a>. That restructuring work is not expected to be completed until next summer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\" data-autopogo>\n<p>Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has reportedly told the company that Xbox has &#8220;started to return to growth&#8221; following wide-ranging restructuring that has reorganised the gaming division and resulted in more than 1,800 job losses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business,&#8221; Sharma reportedly said during an Xbox &#8216;town hall&#8217; meeting, according to a transcript seen by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windowscentral.com\/gaming\/xbox\/xbox-ceo-asha-sharma-speaks-at-internal-town-hall-we-must-strengthen-for-cxbox-series-x-s-xbox-helix-and-xbox-game-pass\">Windows Central<\/a>. &#8220;After an all-time low, we&#8217;ve started to return to growth, more than two to three times what we were, and we expect that continue.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sharma specifically named the games Gears of War: E-Day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/minecraft-dungeons\">Minecraft Dungeons<\/a> 2 and World of Warcraft: Forever &#8211; all recent releases &#8211; as having had &#8220;strong&#8221; starts and contributing to this.<\/p>\n<p>Sharma reportedly also said Xbox had seen a decline in hours played, player numbers and revenue at the start of the year. The situation has seemingly improved, with the decline in hours played apparently now stabilised.<\/p>\n<p>On Game Pass, Sharma said Xbox&#8217;s previous strategy had sent the service&#8217;s profitability &#8220;into freefall&#8221;. She&#8217;s likely referring to Xbox&#8217;s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-alert-confirms-call-of-duty-black-ops-6-day-one-xbox-game-pass-launch\">to include Call of Duty titles in Game Pass on day one<\/a>, which later pushed the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-increases-price-of-xbox-game-pass-ultimate-despite-record-subscription-profits-last-year\">to raise Game Pass prices in 2025<\/a>, before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-drops-game-pass-prices-call-of-duty-exits-day-one\">cutting prices in 2026 at the cost of losing day-one Call of Duty<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Why do we exist?&#8221; Sharma reportedly asked. &#8220;We exist to be where the world plays, we will know when we have a billion daily active people, and we have a right to win because we&#8217;re now focused on our fans and franchises.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As part of the same town hall meeting, Sharma touched on Xbox&#8217;s broader plans with Project Helix, its next-generation console. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-project-helix-console-family-of-devices-asha-sharma\">The executive reaffirmed earlier remarks for Helix to be &#8220;a family of devices&#8221;<\/a>, and teased another foray into the handheld market &#8211; beyond the ROG Ally X &#8211; by referencing that people want to game &#8220;on the go&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Xbox has had a turbulent year <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/today-marks-an-exciting-new-chapter-xbox-boss-phil-spencer-retiring-amid-major-leadership-shakeup-that-sees-microsofts-coreai-president-taking-over-roll\">since Sharma took over as CEO in February<\/a>. Shortly after her appointment, she announced a major shake-up and restructuring plan for the gaming division that would encompass <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">wide-ranging layoffs, studio divestitures<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/fallout-new-vegas-studio-obsidian-no-avowed-sequel\">focus on its biggest franchises<\/a> and the introduction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-console-affordability-price-asha-sharma\">new business models for both Xbox hardware and services<\/a>. That restructuring work is not expected to be completed until next summer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News &#8220;After an all-time low, we&#8217;ve started to return to growth&#8221; &#8211; Asha Sharma touts Xbox turnaround after drastic restructuring and many hundreds of layoffs &#8220;We&#8217;re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business.&#8221; Image credit: Xbox, Eurogamer. News by Sherif Saed Senior Contributor Published on Oct. 7, 2026, 10:24 a.m. 44 comments [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2183728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2183728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2183728\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2183728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2183728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2183728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}