Will Microsoft Sell Xbox? Gaming Chief Asha Sharma Breaks Silence On Spinoff Rumors

Following the announcement that Microsoft would be slashing hundreds of jobs across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the Xbox Gaming Studios management and central functions layer, it was fair to question if the company might consider selling its Xbox division. Despite the rumors, however, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma insists that no such plan is in the works, though there's more to the story here.

Sharma set the record straight in an interview with The New York Times, telling the outlet in no uncertain terms, "Xbox is not for sale." Whether her comments quell the speculation remains to be seen, but that's about as unambiguous as it gets.

"We will do whatever it takes to set the company up for success, and we will look at the right partnerships, the right operating model and everything needed to achieve that," Sharma added.

The notion that Microsoft's gaming arm could be up for sale didn't come out of nowhere. After completing its multi-billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft issued a round of layoffs across its gaming division just a few months later, eliminating 1,900 gaming jobs.

What followed was more uncertainty, along with various strategies related to the Xbox brand, including a 'This is an Xbox' campaign that many felt was tone deaf. But when Sharma was brought on board to replace Phil Spencer as the head of Microsoft's Xbox division, one of the first things she did was end the controversial campaign and assure gamers that Microsoft is committed to returning the Xbox brand back to its former glory.

She's also been transparent about tough decisions that need to be made in order to right the ship, including a 100-day reset plan announced this past summer. Sharma also announced a next-generation system codenamed Project Helix.

Since then, however, the market has taken a brutal turn in terms of chip shortages amid rapid AI factory buildouts. This has driven up the price of consumer hardware, including game consoles the Xbox Series X|S and Sony's PlayStation 5 lineup, even though both are towards the end of a typical console lifecycle and should be going down in price, not up.

So there remains plenty of reason for concern. Despite the layoffs and topsy-turvy market, however, Sharma's comments to NYT should help put minds at ease.