Microsoft announced yesterday it would lay off 4,800 staffers, including 1,600 roles that were eliminated from its Xbox division yesterday. An additional 1,600 roles will be eliminated at Xbox through the fiscal year
In an email to staffers, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said the company “bet on [subscription service] Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content” to progress, but that “they did not grow at the pace we expected.”
In the email, Sharma also announced structural changes to the company. Xbox’s corporate vice president of product services, Dave McCarthy, would leave his role after eight years. Helen Chiang, the corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise, was named as the company’s COO—a newly formed role that includes “end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services.”
In the past, the company’s studios and teams operated independently. Chiang will “bring our businesses together under one operating model,” Sharma outlined, “making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.”
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Before the layoffs were announced, other Xbox heads stepped away from the company. In June, Xbox Game Studios head Craig Duncan stepped down from his role after joining the team in November 2024. The company’s chief of staff, Louise O’Connor, also departed
Fast Companyreached out to Xbox for comment
As part of “the most significant restructuring in Xbox history,” many staffers with decades of experience at Microsoft and Xbox had their roles eliminated.
