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Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has an ambitious goal: not only to make Xbox more lucrative, but to surpass the profit margins of its biggest gaming rivals, Sony and Nintendo.
Speaking to CNBC, Sharma said Microsoft was working to achieve this goal by mid-2030 and had a variety of plans in place, from focusing on more exclusive titles to gaining more ground in the casual games market. “We will build long-term plans for our biggest franchises across film, television, consumer products, sponsorship, live experiences, and form new partnerships globally, including China,” Sharma wrote in an Xbox memo, adding that the company will invest heavily in Minecraft and that revenue growth is expected to speed up in the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years.
“By Financial 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,” she wrote.
While Sharma aims to increase Xbox’s player and revenue growth in the fiscal year ending June 2027, things don’t look too good for the division right now. According to Circana tracking data, US Xbox Series hardware sales fell 27% year-over-year in September 2026–reaching a new all-time September low–and Sharma recently posted online that revenue had declined in the most recent financial quarter. Sharma added that “console sales remain constrained by supply,” but she was vague on the specifics. At the same time, Xbox console prices rose again in August, making it more expensive than ever to buy one compared with its original launch price in November 2020.
Xbox has also gone through a brutal “reset” phase ever since Sharma took over, with over 1,600 jobs eliminated and several studios cut from the Xbox portfolio. If Microsoft wants to make Xbox more profitable than Sony and Nintendo, it could face an uphill battle, as Xbox recorded a 10% quarterly revenue decline. By comparison, CNBC reported that Sony reached a 9.9% operating margin from game and network services alone in its latest financial year, while Nintendo was close to 16% in its fiscal year.
Xbox’s current strategy seems focused on more than just gaming, as the new XP division was unveiled earlier this month. Dedicated to movies, TV, and live events, it follows several recent multimedia project announcements, including the third season of the Fallout TV series, a Call of Duty movie, a Diablo animated series, and a Minecraft theme park opening in 2027.
