Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has reportedly told employees that the company’s future cannot rest only on the franchises it already owns. Speaking at an internal town hall, Sharma said Xbox still needs to build original games, according to a transcript reported by Windows Central.
“We’re backing our strongest franchises. I want our great games to become great global billion-dollar franchises,” Sharma reportedly said. “I would also like to see us continue to create enduring new IP. We will not survive if we only revive on the past. We have to find new ways, and courage, to have invention on new IP, that reaches new sets of audiences.”
A message that cuts against the year’s moves
The comments land after a year in which Xbox has looked more focused on its biggest brands than on anything new. As VGC recaps, Sharma’s overhaul has included thousands of layoffs and studio closures and divestments. Halo moved under Call of Duty publisher Activision, Obsidian was assigned a new Fallout under Bethesda, and studios including Double Fine, Ninja Theory and Compulsion Games have been divested.
That is why the new-IP line stands out. Many of the teams known for original Xbox games are no longer part of the company, so the question now is who inside Microsoft will be making the next new thing. Sharma did not name projects in the reported remarks.
Eurogamer reports that the same meeting touched on Project Helix, Xbox’s next-generation console, and on a return to growth after what Sharma called an all-time low. Eurogamer says it has asked Microsoft to confirm the meeting and the transcript. Separately, Sharma recently told The New York Times that “Xbox is not for sale,” pushing back on earlier reports that Microsoft had weighed restructuring the gaming division.
RCG covered the growth side of Sharma’s message last week, when she told staff first-party games are growing again. The new-IP comments show the other half of the pitch. Xbox wants its blockbusters bigger, and it says it still wants room for games nobody has heard of yet.
