Xbox is making some big changes — again. On June 10th, a few months after Asha Sharma took over as CEO, she and newly-promoted chief content officer Matt Booty sent a memo to staff warning of an “Xbox reset.” The business, they said, is facing significant challenges, including a 3 percent “accountability margin,” massively higher component prices for consoles due to the memory and storage shortage, and an “over extended” studio system.
That same day, The Verge and Bloomberg reported that the Xbox division was planning layoffs in July. The cuts, expected to be announced on July 6th, could include studio closures or spinoffs. The Verge’s Tom Warren reported on June 30th that Microsoft is looking at closing at least five studios and potentially canceling games like Blade.
Read on for all of our coverage of the shifts at Xbox.