Xbox's new CEO says the business is not for sale - but she does not rule out a spin-off
Asha Sharma told the New York Times that "Xbox is not for sale," answering months of speculation that Microsoft was restructuring the division to make one easier. Her answer closes one door and leaves another open.
Asha Sharma, who took over Microsoft's gaming business after Phil Spencer retired, has given the flat denial the last few months have been asking for. "Xbox is not for sale," she told the New York Times.
What she actually said
The full quote, as VGC relays it, is broader than the headline: "Xbox is not for sale. 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." She also said Xbox has "a long way to go with Microsoft" and that she is "going to take the long-term view."
Read closely, that is a denial of one specific thing. Selling Xbox to another company is off the table. "The right operating model" is not a phrase that rules out reorganising it.
Why the question was being asked
The Information reported earlier in the summer that Microsoft had weighed spinning Xbox out as a wholly owned subsidiary. On its own that is an accounting and reporting change, but it is also the structure that would make a future sale straightforward, which is why the report landed the way it did. Sharma's answer addresses the sale, not the subsidiary.
It arrives on the back of a rough year. Xbox has run repeated rounds of job cuts and studio consolidation, and VGC's write-up of the interview says the division expects to return to growth next year after a revenue decline, with Satya Nadella publicly backing Sharma's streamlining as "great to see" and pushing for a "sustainable business model."
Why it matters
"Not for sale" is the strongest thing an Xbox boss has said on this, but it answers a narrower question than the one players have been asking about the platform's future.