Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Says Xbox Is Not for Sale Amid Layoffs, Game Pass Changes and Windows 11 Plans

The profile describes a 38-year-old executive with no background in games who took over in February. Since then she has cut Game Pass prices, launched a large restructuring, cut jobs and moved studios between publishers. Under the business story sits a question that matters to everyone who plays on Windows: will Microsoft still treat Xbox as a real platform once the cost-cutting is done?

Who Sharma is and why the appointment surprised people​

Microsoft announced on February 20, 2026, that Sharma would become executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, reporting to Satya Nadella. Nadella's memo pointed to her two years at Microsoft, her time as chief operating officer at Instacart and her role as a vice president at Meta. He did not describe her as a game industry veteran. Matt Booty became chief content officer, reporting to Sharma. Phil Spencer had decided to retire after 38 years at Microsoft, 12 of them leading gaming. Sarah Bond left the company at the same time.

On April 23, Microsoft renamed Microsoft Gaming as "XBOX," and Sharma's title became CEO XBOX. The Times reports that she came from the president of product role in Microsoft's CoreAI division. According to the profile, her arrival drew misogynistic and racist abuse online, which faded within a few weeks.

The Federal Reserve's official page for its Productivity and Jobs task force lists Sharma as one of three leaders, alongside Marc Andreessen and Stanford economist Charles I. Jones. The group studies how new general-purpose technologies, including AI, affect the economy. The Times says her appointment was announced three days after the summer layoffs. That timing comes from the profile and was not independently confirmed.

Section summary: Microsoft hired an operator to run Xbox, not a game developer. The rebrand, the stated strategy and the Fed appointment all point to a leader focused on business models and scale.

The "not for sale" answer, in context​

The question did not come out of nowhere. Rumors of Microsoft considering selling Xbox intensified in June 2026, when The Information reported that the Redmond-based tech giant had explored several structural alternatives for its embattled gaming division. Those reportedly included a spin-off, a major reorganization into a wholly owned subsidiary, and a joint venture with outside partners. Game Rant points out that the same report did not indicate that Microsoft had actually begun a sale process or that any such restructuring was imminent.

Read Sharma's full answer carefully. After the denial, she said Xbox "will look at the right partnerships, the right operating model and everything needed to achieve that." EnosTech noted that this is vague enough to mean almost anything. "Not for sale" excludes an outright sale. It does not exclude a subsidiary structure, a joint venture or a deep partnership, which are the options The Information reported. The Times also says many analysts expect an eventual spinoff.

Nadella declined to speak to the Times. On a recent episode of the Sources podcast, though, he supported the cuts. "There's some amount of streamlining the team is doing, and Asha is doing, which is great to see. And then we have to invent the right sustainable business model that allows us to deliver gaming to more and more people." The Times adds that Nadella expects Sharma to return Xbox to growth in the next fiscal year.

Section summary: The denial is clear about a sale and open about almost everything else. Expect structural changes to stay on the table.

The numbers behind "our business today is not healthy"​

In July, Sharma told staff the business was not healthy. OPB quoted more of the same letter, in which she said Xbox was operating at margins "3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses."

Coverage of the job cuts has been inconsistent, so precision helps here:

• July plan: GeekWire reported that Microsoft said Xbox would cut about 3,200 roles by the end of its fiscal year. GeekWire put that at roughly 20% of the division. The Times describes 20% of employees losing their jobs over the summer. Other outlets describe the plan as two rounds of about 1,600 each, with the second due by the end of fiscal 2027. The 20% figure is the total for the whole plan, not a count of people already gone.
• September round: On September 22, Microsoft cut 268 roles across Xbox Game Studios, according to GeekWire and OPB. Microsoft counts these within the July total. The company said the restructuring was about 75% complete. A later state filing put Microsoft's total cuts in Washington, across all divisions, at 277.

Studio changes from the same restructuring, as reported by GeekWire:

GeekWire says Arkane is the last of five studios Microsoft moved to divest in July. Double Fine and Compulsion Games went independent in August. Windows users should note one detail: Solitaire and the other casual games bundled with Windows now sit under the Candy Crush maker. That is an org-chart move, not an announced product change.

The Times also reports that union members in Maryland planted a red flag for every lost job. That detail comes only from the Times and was not separately confirmed.

Section summary: The 20% figure describes the full multi-phase plan. The studio changes mix spinoffs, possible closures and internal transfers, and those are different outcomes.

Game Pass: the price cut and the missing subscriber numbers​

Sharma's most visible early move was on pricing. GameSpot reported in June that Xbox strategy chief Matthew Ball said Game Pass lost "millions" of subscribers after the 2025 increase from $20 to $30 a month. Microsoft then lowered Game Pass Ultimate to $23 a month. Ball also said that no longer putting new Call of Duty games on Game Pass had gone over well with users. Aroged frames this the other way: the lower price came at the cost of Call of Duty no longer arriving on the service on launch day.

The Times says Game Pass peaked at 34 million subscribers. GameSpot adds two caveats. Microsoft announced that number in 2024, and it included Xbox Live Gold accounts converted to Game Pass Core. Microsoft does not publish current subscriber totals, so nobody outside the company knows how many members it lost or has won back.

Project Helix and the Windows connection​

The strategy matters most to PC players. At GDC in March, Xbox said Project Helix, its next-generation console, is designed to play both Xbox console games and PC games. It uses a custom AMD chip built for the next versions of DirectX and FSR. Xbox plans to start shipping alpha hardware to developers in 2027 and has not announced a consumer launch date. In the same keynote, Xbox said Xbox mode for Windows 11 would start rolling out in select markets in April, and that the Xbox Play Anywhere catalog had passed 1,500 games.

Sharma's April strategy memo explains why. She wrote that Windows now accounts for more players and more hours, and that competition there is most intense. The memo makes daily active players the main target. It promises flexible pricing and says players' progress, friends and identity should carry across console, PC, mobile and cloud. It also says Xbox will reconsider its approach to exclusives, release windows and AI.

The Times describes Sharma's goal as reaching 1 billion people by using the cloud to open markets in Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and by building up Minecraft against Roblox. It also reports that Microsoft started a disc-to-digital program after Sony said it would stop making physical PlayStation discs in 2028. Gameranx separately lists the disc-to-digital program and the Physint publishing deal with Hideo Kojima among Sharma's recent moves.

Analysis: charm offensive or real turnaround?​

Sharma's early moves have been well received: a price cut, publicly written values like "clarity is kindness," and a quick deal with Kojima. Those are cheap gestures compared with what remains. Halo is moving to a new team. One studio may close and another still has no announced outcome. Helix is at least a year away from developer hardware.

Supporters will say a business with margins she herself called 3 to 10 times below its peers needed hard decisions, and that consolidating publishers is a reasonable answer. Skeptics will say a division that hands its flagship franchise to Activision and keeps talking about "operating models" looks like one being prepared for a spinoff, whatever the CEO says. Both readings fit the facts available so far.

What this means for you​

• If you play on PC: Watch Play Anywhere and Xbox mode on Windows 11. That is where the strategy is most concrete.
• If you subscribe to Game Pass: The price cut came with a trade-off: no new Call of Duty games on day one. Decide whether the current catalog is worth the $23 to you.
• If you're waiting on Helix: Developer alpha hardware is due in 2027. There is no consumer date yet.

Sharma has said Xbox is not for sale. Whether it stays a strong platform inside Microsoft will depend on what ships, not on what she says.

Update: Sharma reportedly claims growth recovery and outlines next-generation device family (October 6, 2026)​

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly told employees at a recent townhall that the division has begun returning to growth after reaching an all-time low, according to Kotaku’s October 6 report, citing Windows Central. She also reportedly claimed brand sentiment had improved 30 percent compared with a year earlier. That changes the timeline from an expected future recovery to management claiming one is already underway, although the reported remarks do not identify the financial metric or comparison period behind the growth claim.

Sharma also reportedly described Xbox’s next hardware generation as a family of devices rather than a single console, according to the same reporting. She said Microsoft would prioritize a console while also serving players on the move, with some hardware manufactured internally and other products developed through partnerships. This adds detail to the Project Helix strategy, but does not establish specific models, manufacturers or release dates.

For Windows players, the practical implication is a potentially broader hardware ecosystem, not an announced change to current PC compatibility. According to Kotaku’s account, Sharma also called for easier Xbox development and more flexible Game Pass subscriptions. Those remain stated goals: the report provides no new subscription tiers, prices or rollout timetable.

Update: Sharma reportedly outlines Battle.net investment and PC partner reforms (October 7, 2026)​

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly plans to invest further in Battle.net and other PC applications that reach distinct audiences, according to Insider Gaming’s October 7 report, citing additional Windows Central coverage of the recent employee town hall. Sharma reportedly described Battle.net’s player retention as nearly matching Steam’s and identified it as a platform for first-party and selected third-party games. That comparison is a management claim; the report supplies no supporting retention figures.

According to Insider Gaming’s account, Sharma also pointed to an addressable audience of a billion Windows PCs and said more offers through PC manufacturers would follow this fall. The report does not specify their terms, eligibility or availability, so Windows buyers should not treat those remarks as an announced promotion.

For developers, Insider Gaming reports that Sharma acknowledged difficulty working with Xbox and outlined simpler development targets, a headless partner center and cleaner, machine-readable APIs. These are more concrete priorities than the previously reported call to make Xbox development easier, but no delivery dates were provided. Taken together, the reported remarks suggest investment across multiple PC distribution channels rather than reliance on a single Xbox application; they do not announce a launcher merger or an immediate change for existing players.

Update: Sharma reportedly identifies revenue and engagement declines behind Xbox recovery claim (October 7, 2026)​

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reportedly told employees that hours played, player numbers and revenue were all declining at the start of 2026, according to eXputer’s October 7 report, citing a town-hall transcript shared by Windows Central. The additional detail identifies measures behind the previously reported downturn; eXputer says Sharma described subsequent stabilization and a return to year-over-year growth. These remain reported management claims rather than independently verified results.

According to eXputer, Sharma also attributed Xbox’s “freefall” to its previous Game Pass strategy and said growth was running at two to three times its low-point level. The report provides neither absolute figures nor a precise baseline for that comparison. Its suggestion that Sharma specifically meant the Call of Duty withdrawal and subscription price cut is the outlet’s interpretation, not an explicitly documented explanation from her.

For Windows players, the additional reporting offers business-performance context, not a new subscription announcement. It establishes no further Game Pass pricing, catalog or PC availability changes.

Update: Sharma reportedly promises console-first reset and customizable Game Pass (October 8, 2026)​

According to iXBT.games, Asha Sharma told employees that Xbox must restore the trust of console owners before it expands further into other markets. She reportedly said the company has no “moral or business right” to neglect its most loyal hardware users, adding a more explicit console-focused commitment to her broader multi-device strategy.

iXBT.games also reports that Sharma plans to make Game Pass more flexible by allowing players to choose individual content packages based on their interests. If implemented, that would go beyond the previously reported goal of flexible subscriptions and could mean a more modular alternative to the current all-in-one tiers.

No package names, pricing, eligible games or launch schedule were disclosed.