Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has spoken about the state of Xbox following layoffs that affected thousands of workers, saying that the “streamlining” at the company is “great to see.”
The tech executive opened up about how the business’ gaming branch is doing during a recent interview on the Sources Podcast with Alex Heath. It’s a conversation that followed not only the 1,600 job cuts Xbox delivered in July of this year but also the additional structural changes that were announced just this past week.
When touching on Xbox’s place under the grander Microsoft umbrella, Nadella said he feels “fantastic” about the IP the brand has in its portfolio and its “ability to take that and produce great games going forward.” As layoffs continue to reshape the developers who have made some of those great games, he still seems to be feeling pretty good.
“There’s a certain amount of streamlining the team is doing and [Xbox CEO Asha Sharma] is doing, which is great to see,” Nadella said in the wake of the most recent cuts. “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. So, that is our goal, and I think Asha and team have said that Xbox is going to get back to growth this next fiscal year, and that’s the plan they’re executing on, and in that process, do a bang-up job of producing some great games.”
It’s optimism that may come as a shock to those who have watched as Microsoft continues to redefine what the Xbox name means by shedding game developers like Double Fine and Ninja Theory and reorganizing beloved studios like id Software. Maybe the most telling sign that the company is entering a new chapter arrived just this past week, when it announced that Halo would be moved from Halo Studios to its Activision teams.
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