Xbox’s first-party games business has started to return to growth after hitting an all-time low, CEO Asha Sharma told employees at Tuesday’s staff town hall. She credited reinvestment and described the progress as “more than two to three times what we were,” but did not identify the measure or its baseline. A transcript obtained by Windows Central records the remarks.
At the start of the year, Xbox was declining in hours spent, player numbers, and revenue. Sharma said hours spent had since stabilized. She also pointed to strong starts for Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2, and World of Warcraft Forever, and said positive sentiment toward Xbox had risen 30% over the past year.
Game Pass also featured in Sharma’s account of the reset. She said the previous strategy had sent Xbox into “freefall” and suggested the service could become “more flexible for more players.” She described Xbox’s ambition as being where the world plays, saying it would know it had reached that point when it had one billion daily active people.
Xbox’s reset has included 1,600 job cuts in July and another 268 in September. The company also announced plans to move Rare, World’s Edge, and the Halo franchise to Activision, fold Obsidian Entertainment into Bethesda, and merge Turn 10 with Playground Games. Ninja Theory faced a proposed closure while Xbox continued to explore other options, as its staff consultation continued.
On September 30, Sharma said Xbox was not for sale, while leaving room for changes to its partnerships and operating model.
What would you want Xbox to disclose to make the recovery claim easier to judge? For continuing coverage of Xbox’s Game Pass plans, first-party slate, and studio restructuring, follow along on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
