Xbox Leadership Blames Past Expansion for Massive Layoffs and Studio Closures
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Xbox boss Asha Sharma has pointed the finger at Phil Spencer's past leadership for spreading the company too thin, leading to recent massive layoffs and studio closures.
Xbox executive Asha Sharma recently addressed the company's sweeping restructuring that resulted in sixteen hundred layoffs and the closure of five studios. In a candid interview with Fortune reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, Sharma admitted that previous leadership under Phil Spencer spread the company too thin through unfocused growth bets. She noted that leadership failed to properly maintain the core business while pursuing aggressive expansion across multiple fronts.
Sharma also claimed that a financially healthy Xbox division could have easily weathered the ongoing hardware and RAM crisis affecting the entire industry. This rationale has drawn plenty of skepticism from the gaming community. Major platform holders like Sony and Valve are also struggling with rising component costs, meaning financial buffering alone would offer a temporary fix rather than a permanent solution for hardware manufacturing realities.
For players, these corporate finger-pointing exercises offer little comfort as game passes, subscription tiers, and hardware prices continue to shift. Sharma warned that stabilizing the core business is merely a necessary step rather than a complete fix. This implies that more structural changes and difficult decisions are likely ahead for the platform as it recalibrates its strategy for cross-platform and cloud futures.
Tags: Xbox, Microsoft, Gaming Industry, Layoffs, Hardware
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun