After one of the most turbulent stretches in the brand’s history, Xbox leadership believes the worst is over. According to a report from Kotaku, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told employees during an internal company town hall that the company’s so-called “brutal reset” is already showing results, telling staff: “After an all-time low, we’ve started to return to growth.”
“Green Shoots” at the Xbox Town Hall
Per the report, Sharma pointed to early “green shoots” across the gaming business — encouraging signals that the painful restructuring of the past couple of years is finally translating into momentum. The message comes after a period in which Microsoft’s gaming division made headlines more for layoffs and canceled projects than for wins, making any talk of renewed growth a notable shift in tone from Xbox leadership.
What Exactly Was the “Brutal Reset”?
Massive Layoffs and Canceled Games
The reset refers to the sweeping changes Microsoft’s gaming arm has undergone since 2024. Following its blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the division cut thousands of roles — including roughly 9,000 positions across Microsoft in mid-2025, with Xbox hit especially hard. The restructuring also claimed several high-profile projects: the long-awaited Perfect Dark reboot and Rare’s Everwild were both canceled, studio The Initiative was shut down, and earlier waves saw the closure of names like Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin.
An “Xbox Everywhere” Strategy
At the same time, Xbox fundamentally rethought how it sells games. The company embraced a multiplatform approach, bringing former exclusives like Forza Horizon 5, Sea of Thieves, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, while doubling down on Game Pass, cloud streaming, and new hardware like its ROG Xbox Ally handhelds.
Where Is the Growth Coming From?
While Xbox hasn’t shared specific new figures from the town hall, the building blocks of the recovery are visible. Publishing blockbuster titles on rival platforms has significantly expanded Xbox’s addressable audience, Game Pass continues to be a recurring-revenue engine, and franchises like Call of Duty, Minecraft, and Diablo give Microsoft some of the strongest IP in gaming. Recent Microsoft earnings reports have also shown gaming revenue trending upward, lending credibility to the claim that the all-time low is in the rearview mirror.
What This Means for Gamers
For players, the takeaway is a more open Xbox ecosystem. Whether you game on PC, console, handheld, or through the cloud, Microsoft increasingly wants to meet you where you are — and Game Pass remains one of the best-value subscriptions in the industry for day-one first-party releases and a massive back catalog.
If you want to jump into the recovering Xbox ecosystem for less, you can grab discounted Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions, Xbox gift cards, and game keys at TURGAME.com — a quick and easy way to top up your library while the deals are hot.
Whether the “green shoots” grow into a full-blown renaissance remains to be seen, but for the first time in a while, the story coming out of Redmond is about growth rather than cuts.
Source: Kotaku