Microsoft CEO Says Xbox's "Streamlining" Is "Great To See" Following Recent Layoffs - techpowerup.com

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called Xbox's ongoing job cuts "great to see," commenting on the restructuring led by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. The remark follows Xbox's latest layoffs, which cut 268 more jobs on top of the 1,600 eliminated earlier this year, part of…

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Sunday, September 27th 2026

Microsoft CEO Says Xbox's "Streamlining" Is "Great To See" Following Recent Layoffs by DrUsmanSaleem Sunday, 08:37 Discuss (66 Comments) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called Xbox's ongoing job cuts "great to see," commenting on the restructuring led by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. The remark follows Xbox's latest layoffs, which cut 268 more jobs on top of the 1,600 eliminated earlier this year, part of a plan that has already folded studios together, reshuffled franchises like Halo, and pushed several developers out entirely. Nadella made the comment on the Sources Podcast with Alex Heath during a broader interview about Xbox's place within Microsoft. When asked about his feelings about the state and future of Xbox, Nadella said:

"I feel fantastic. There's some amount of streamlining the team is doing, and Asha is doing, which is great to see. And then we have to invent the right sustainable business model that allows us to deliver gaming to more and more people. That has always been the goal, which is, we want to be a great publisher and a great platform provider for games across both PCs and Xboxes."

Calling the cuts "great to see" probably lands very differently for the thousands of employees who actually lost their jobs this year than it does from Nadella's position. Sharma has defended the restructuring by pointing to Xbox's margins, which she says trail comparable platform and publishing businesses by 3 to 10 times. Chief Content Officer Matt Booty said the company is now roughly three-quarters of the way through the announced cuts, so more changes are apparently still on the way before the fiscal year ends. Sources: Sources Podcast with Alex Heath, via Kotaku

66 Comments on Microsoft CEO Says Xbox's "Streamlining" Is "Great To See" Following Recent Layoffs

#1 Such a streamlined business indeed, they got nothing coming out of it, and whatever does is AI slop full of bugs and nonsense we never asked for.

Keep at it Nutella #2 That is some psycho thing to say. Having zero empathy is not a trade of a good leader, it is a trade of a psycho. #3 On the one hand, of course, a business isn't a charity and it has to be profitable in order to be able to continue providing services.

On the other hand, the reason they even have that many people to lay off is their "embrace, extend, extinguish" philosophy of acquiring indie studios and then letting them die, so no. #4 "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called Xbox's ongoing job cuts "great to see," commenting on the restructuring led by Xbox CEO Asha Sharma."

wow any/all those people with mortgages, kids/families, etc.

The whole world on a downward spiral, but look at all the leaders and execs and easy to see why........... #5 “We had some tough decisions to make. We have to run a sustainable business, and the results we were seeing just wasn’t what we were hoping for. However, I’m confident our new leadership is up for the task of turning things around.”

See, how hard was that to come up with? Sound like a human instead of a Bond villain. #6 Streamlined? More like steamrolled.
I'm sure the couple of gutted studios, working in fear of being closed next day, will produce some great exclusives that will save whole xbox platform, right?
(Soon: All to be replaced by AI anyway, we never needed these humans in a first place, playable ai slop with ads for everyone) #7 Yes, he could have phrased it better. But they're coached on how to protect stock prices, not sssssoundth human-like.

I can't be the only one that agrees with him though? Other than the RIPs of studios - which I've learned to live with ever since Westwood - these people were pulling a Microsoft salary while just not putting out good video games which is the entire point of why they exist and we're talking about them.

Blah blah I'm callous blah blah for shame blah blah I've never been fired. All untrue.

I want more great games to be played by the maximum number of people possible. This may increase the chances of that.

Can't we TPU Intellectuals say that some of these changes being for the best is possible while acknowledging the time for emotion is past? Or is my optimism showing? #8

FierceRedYes, he could have phrased it better. But they're coached on how to protect stock prices, not sssssoundth human-like.

I can't be the only one that agrees with him though? Other than the RIPs of studios - which I've learned to live with ever since Westwood - these people were pulling a Microsoft salary while just not putting out good video games which is the entire point of why they exist and we're talking about them.

Blah blah I'm callous blah blah for shame blah blah I've never been fired. All untrue.

I want more great games to be played by the maximum number of people possible. This may increase the chances of that.

Can't we TPU Intellectuals say that some of these changes being for the best is possible while acknowledging the time for emotion is past? Or is my optimism showing?

See my comment above. You can handle delivering this message much better. You can acknowledge that it’s a tough decision, but one that had to be made. Instead, he just sounds like people don’t matter. Even if that’s what he believes, it’s not a good look. If that’s the MS culture as a whole, then that explains a lot. I don’t doubt they need to do some housecleaning, but that’s not the issue. #9

BlindZenDriverThat is some psycho thing to say. Having zero empathy is not a trade of a good leader, it is a trade of a psycho.

Having suicidal empathy for poor work and lazy workers isn't a trait of a good leader either.

r00tczStreamlined? More like steamrolled.
I'm sure the couple of gutted studios, working in fear of being closed next day, will produce some great exclusives that will save whole xbox platform, right?
(Soon: All to be replaced by AI anyway, we never needed these humans in a first place, playable ai slop with ads for everyone)

Well, these studios have had between 5-10 years to put out decent product and have failed to do so. How else should they be treated? Do we need endless paragraphs of empty platitudes about how much they "care"?

Darmok N Jalad“We had some tough decisions to make. We have to run a sustainable business, and the results we were seeing just wasn’t what we were hoping for. However, I’m confident our new leadership is up for the task of turning things around.”

See, how hard was that to come up with? Sound like a human instead of a Bond villain.

But if he did, people would just bash him for being out of touch anyway. We've seen it repeatedly through other layoffs. #10

TheinsanegamerNHaving suicidal empathy for poor work and lazy workers isn't a trait of a good worker either.

Microsoft had many failed games across a number of studios. That's clearly not lazy workers but mismanagement.

Nevermind that you are jumping to conclusions based on zero evidence. Just because the games were bad, doesn't inherently mean the layment were immediately at fault. #11

evernessinceMicrosoft had many failed games across a number of studios. That's clearly not lazy workers but mismanagement.

Yes, which is why the management (Phil) was effectively fired and replaced.

evernessinceNevermind that you are jumping to conclusions based on zero evidence.

Zero evidence? We have over ten years of atrocious results from the Xbox division to gaze upon. How many more failures do you need?

evernessinceJust because the games were bad, doesn't inherently mean the layment were immediately at fault.

Oh right I forgot. If a game is successful, it is because of the poor overworked and underpaid developers. If it is a failure, it's because management is terrible and holding back the poor worker.

Also we have always been at war with eastasia. #12 He could have at least worded things to sound like a human being, not the typical psycho out of touch mega corpo CEO.

Also yes a majority of these game companies putting out failure after failure is the fault of the leadership and the C suite suits, blaming this on the workers is some "corporations are people too" mentality.
The new leadership gutting studios to chase short term profits isn't going to save Xbox, Xbox is pretty much dead at this point and I question what is going to happen to the remaining studios M$ owns. #13

Hecate91He could have at least worded things to sound like a human being, not the typical psycho out of touch mega corpo CEO.

Also yes a majority of these game companies putting out failure after failure is the fault of the leadership and the C suite suits, blaming this on the workers is some "corporations are people too" mentality.
The new leadership gutting studios to chase short term profits isn't going to save Xbox, Xbox is pretty much dead at this point and I question what is going to happen to the remaining studios M$ owns.

Can you explain why playground games, which is owned by the same people, made good games and regulated themselves properly, has not seen layoffs? Does the c suite just love them more, did they get different instructions?

And more importantly: Why didn't the other Xbox studios do that? #14

DrUsmanSaleemCalling the cuts "great to see" probably lands very differently for the thousands of employees who actually lost their jobs this year than it does from Nadella's position.

Then we'll skip the Christmas tree this year.
:twitch:

Regards,
Fred. #15 It would be great to see the CEO position getting streamlined too. #16

N3utroIt would be great to see the CEO position getting streamlined too.

If he did his job as well as these devs were, he would have, ages ago.

Unfortunately for them, nadella has increased Microsofts value by over 1000% since taking over in 2014, and it is more profitable then ever. So as far as his bosses are concerned, he's doing great. #17

FierceRedYes, he could have phrased it better. But they're coached on how to protect stock prices, not sssssoundth human-like.

I can't be the only one that agrees with him though? Other than the RIPs of studios - which I've learned to live with ever since Westwood - these people were pulling a Microsoft salary while just not putting out good video games which is the entire point of why they exist and we're talking about them.

Blah blah I'm callous blah blah for shame blah blah I've never been fired. All untrue.

I want more great games to be played by the maximum number of people possible. This may increase the chances of that.

Can't we TPU Intellectuals say that some of these changes being for the best is possible while acknowledging the time for emotion is past? Or is my optimism showing?

A lot of users here love being outraged. When someone is unwanted, he is dismissed. Simple as. If he is unjustly laid off and is actually the absolute peak of excellence (for real, for real), surely he can be excellent somewhere else. #18

IsaakA lot of users here love being outraged. When someone is unwanted, he is dismissed. Simple as. If he is unjustly laid off and is actually the absolute peak of excellence (for real, for real), surely he can be excellent somewhere else.

There were some layoffs at id Software which has been a great studio. Excellence here refers to the profit and not technical merits of the game. #19 Nadella needs to go. His lack of vision and too much focus on the accounts has put MS in this position. #20

lambdaThere were some layoffs at id Software which has been a great studio. Excellence here refers to the profit and not technical merits of the game.

A great studio in your eyes, and I'm sure you have strong reasons for calling it such. Just as I love some small obscure games that I know for sure are barely breaking even.

Ultimately, the merit of a product lies in its profitability. It is the closest we have to a universal metric of excellence. Every other criteria is much more subjective and dependent on the opinions of each consumer.
Well, you could argue that some studios or publishers produce games with profit as a secondary goal, but that is evidently not the case with Microsoft. And they are acting in accordance to their pursuit of that primary goal. Profit. #21 The guy's latest pay package (inc. options etc) is $96 million.

There are so many savings they could make. #22 End of the day xbox was kind of a shitshow in terms of actually getting good games at sensible budgets done. Gutting studio's was always going to happen after that. halo studio's after the shitshow that was campaign evolved. Sure the individual devs are not to blame but you can't keep it going like that. #23 It is great to see indeed

The Xbox division was so poorly managed that many of us thought it was victim of Microsoft corporate, but in reality it was just Phil doing Phil stuff #24

BlindZenDriverThat is some psycho thing to say. Having zero empathy is not a trade of a good leader, it is a trade of a psycho.

True.... and I am not defending him. But you kinda gotta talk like that when shareholders and potential investors are the target audience...... unfortunately (dunno if that was the case here.)

But if you tip too far into pleasing shareholders and not customers (and staff), you end up in position like blizzard. now microsoft-xbox-activision-blizzard. #25

BlindZenDriverThat is some psycho thing to say. Having zero empathy is not a trade of a good leader, it is a trade of a psycho.

CEOs and surgeons have a higher chance of being psychopaths, which is good for this kind of job

A good leader doesn't allow incompetent people and activists to sink the company, he fires them, so they don't bother the good ones. Phil did the opposite Add your own comment

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원문 게시일: 2026-09-26T23:41:55Z

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Microsoft CEO Says Xbox's "Streamlining" Is "Great To See" Following Recent Layoffs - techpowerup.com

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66 Comments on Microsoft CEO Says Xbox's "Streamlining" Is "Great To See" Following Recent Layoffs