technology

Xbox’s bold plan for the future sounds nearly impossible

The Verge·July 7, 2026

It's another bad week for the video game industry. Microsoft outlined a series of layoffs on Monday that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma described as "the most significant restructure in Xbox history." But buried in Sharma's memo was a curiously optimistic statement: "I want Xbox to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect," she wrote. Xbox has been a shambling mess after Microsoft spent billions of dollars with little to show for it, and now it aims to reach a much bigger audience with a much smaller team, amid one of the most challenging times in the ind …

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