Xbox major layoffs incoming as insider tips Asha Sharma’s first ‘reset the business’ move

Another day, another layoff news. This time, it's Microsoft employees on the chopping block, or so it seems, according to insider information. Specifically, the Xbox division is said to be heading towards mass layoffs, a first under the new leadership of CEO Asha Sharma.

Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has received information from people familiar with Microsoft’s strategy, pertaining to upcoming layoffs in the Xbox division. He claims that while the exact scale is unclear, the closing of Microsoft’s fiscal year on June 30 will be followed by major layoffs. Furthermore, Xbox is also said to “significantly” slash its marketing budget, along with cuts in some other areas as well.

This comes shortly after Asha Sharma’s Bloomberg Tech interview, where she candidly spoke about the Xbox business not being in a healthy spot. She mentioned that some changes will have to be made, but did not talk about any restructuring. The Bloomberg report, however, does cite an email sent by her to employees outlining some revenue numbers. It said, “…our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time (the past five years). Going forward, this cannot continue.”

It further talks about how things have grown over the past five years and that making the right investments moving forward is crucial.

As mentioned earlier, it is unclear what the scale of the layoffs will be and what will get deprioritized. The news follows Ubisoft’s major shakeup, wherein two more studios have been shut down, and another has gone through layoffs, affecting around 380 employees.