Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has voiced strong support for the ongoing restructuring within the Xbox division, describing the reorganization as positive progress despite recent staff reductions and studio shifts across the company's gaming business.
Speaking in a recent podcast interview, Nadella expressed high confidence in the current intellectual property and developer portfolio under Microsoft. He commended Xbox Chief Executive Asha Sharma for guiding the streamlining efforts, emphasizing the necessity of creating a sustainable business model capable of delivering games to expanded audiences on both Xbox and PC platforms.
Nadella noted that executive leadership expects the gaming division to return to growth in the upcoming fiscal year. The goal, he explained, is to balance strong software publishing with platform provision while maintaining high quality in game production.
Broader Studio Changes
These public comments follow another wave of 268 layoffs and reports indicating the impending closure of United Kingdom-based developer Ninja Theory. Structural realignments are also shifting studio management across Microsoft's holdings: Obsidian Entertainment is moving under Bethesda Softworks, while Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios are merging into a combined entity.
Concurrently, Rare, World's Edge, and the management of the Halo franchise are being integrated into Activision. Among these affected groups, Age of Empires developer World's Edge and Undead Labs have both suffered substantial staff cutbacks, with Undead Labs also transitioning to operate independently.
The current adjustments build upon a major restructuring initiated in July, when Sharma announced 3,200 job cuts in what she characterized as the most significant reorganization in Xbox history. While 1,600 of those terminations were effective immediately, select studios, such as Double Fine Productions and Compulsion Games, were permitted to separate and return to independent status.
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