Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has a blunt answer for everyone speculating that Microsoft is preparing to exit gaming: “Xbox is not for sale.” Sharma made the comment in a new New York Times profile published September 30, addressing head-on the rumors that this year’s brutal restructuring is a prelude to Microsoft shopping its gaming division around.
“Whatever It Takes”
“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 told the Times. She added: “We’ve got a long way to go with Microsoft, and we’re going to take the long-term view.”
Kotaku notes the interviewer characterized the answer as a “bob and weave” — and the Times itself points out it doesn’t completely rule out Xbox being spun off as a standalone entity that still works closely with Microsoft, something analysts have floated for years. Eurogamer observes there are no signs of that happening so far.
Why Everyone Keeps Asking
The skepticism is understandable. Xbox has spent 2026 in a corporate “reset” that plans to cut some 3,200 jobs before next summer, a process that began with hundreds of layoffs and studio consolidation. Double Fine, Compulsion Games and Undead Labs have gone independent, the fates of Ninja Theory and Arkane remain up in the air, and the Halo series was handed to Activision — along with Rare and Age of Empires studio World’s Edge — while Obsidian was slotted into Bethesda. Only a handful of studios remain under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella: The Coalition, Playground Games, Mojang, InXile and what’s left of Halo Studios.
To many observers, that looks like streamlining a business for a sale. Gaming has always been an awkward fit for Microsoft next to its cloud and AI businesses, despite the massive $70 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023, and hardware sales have struggled while the big bet on Game Pass “failed to materialize” at the scale hoped. Earlier this year, The Information reported internal Microsoft discussions around spinning Xbox off — as a sale, a standalone subsidiary or a joint venture. Kotaku also notes the counter-reading: gutting Halo Studios to start over is a five-year bet, not an exit strategy.
The Long-Term View
Near term, Xbox’s hopes ride on next week’s Gears of War: E-Day and next year’s Clockwork Revolution as console exclusives, plus faster sequels for franchises like Fallout and Diablo — a new entry of which was announced for 2029. Sharma also recently signed a deal with Kojima Productions to publish Physint, after rival PlayStation pulled funding from the project. For now, her message is simple: Xbox is staying put.