Xbox CEO says the team has one year to start growing again - The Verge

After a massive Xbox “reset” that laid off thousands of employees and spun off four studios, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma wants to get Xbox back to growth. In a memo obtained by The Verge, Sharma told staff by the end of fiscal year 2027 (which runs through next June), “we will return XBOX to player and revenue growth.” Xbox will also “improve profits back in line with industry averages,” Sharma said. “Every function and studio will own part of that outcome.” Since taking over Xbox in February, Sharma has made sweeping changes to attempt to turn things around. Previously, she has cited challenges like a low accountability margin, increasing component costs for hardware, an “over extended” slate of studios, and platform infrastructure that’s “not built for the battle ahead.” In addition to the major structural changes, Xbox made Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution Xbox console exclusives and is planning to do more. Sharma has also set an ambitious and nearly impossible goal to make Xbox “one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day.”  In Thursday’s memo, Sharma laid out four Xbox priorities for fiscal year 2027: > CORE: Strengthen our platform, led by console   > CONTENT: Grow great games into global franchises   > CREATION: Make Minecraft the world’s creator platform   > CONNECTION: Extend the worlds that fans love Xbox will measure progress toward its goals in three “stages,” Sharma said. The first is to return to growth by the end of fiscal year 2027. The second is to turn its bets into growth; “In FY28 and FY29, our Four C’s and roadmap must move into businesses producing meaningful player value and revenue acceleration.” The third is to “scale what works,” and by fiscal year 2030, “our ambition is to be halfway to our long-term daily-player goal with sustained double-digit growth in players and engagement and industry leading margins.” Sharma shared some vague numbers about Xbox’s current playerbase. “XBOX is one of the largest stadiums in the world, bringing together more than 100 million people every day, more than 500 million each month, and nearly one billion each year,” she wrote. She also noted that console “generates the majority of XBOX revenue and remains the foundation of our fandom” and that it is still Xbox’s “flagship experience.” Xbox’s OS, Game Pass, Windows, and streaming “become our platform for new players and developers.”  The company is also shifting its studio system from a decentralized model to one that’s “more focused around our strongest franchises and biggest new ideas,” Sharma said — something that’s already become evident with changes like the big new Fallout push. Xbox will build “long-term plans” for its biggest franchises “across film, television, consumer products, sponsorship, live experiences, and form new partnerships globally, including China.” Three Xbox franchises “already generate more than $1 billion annually,” though Sharma doesn’t specify which those are. To grow its share in casual games, Xbox plans to lean on Candy Crush-maker King as well as Microsoft Casual Games, Sharma said. And Xbox is planning to invest in Minecraft “more than ever before.”