Jez Corden has shared some fascinating insight on how the XBOX reset looks like within Microsoft.
In the latest episode of the XBOX Two podcast, Jez explained that Microsoft pay scaling system has made it prohibitively expensive for them to retain employees. In particular, they’re forced to pay through the roof for AI developers, and that’s made other parts of the company, such as Xbox, unsustainable.
Jez then said this:
…So basically, Activision is a purpose-built gaming operation and Microsoft isn’t. And that is really the crux of why a lot of this a lot of these movements are happening.
The same is true for Bethesda. You know, Bethesda’s like a purpose-built gaming company. Xbox Game Studios was always kind of like a vestigial limb within Microsoft’s wider org…
Because of this division, Jez says that it’s possible that the three remaining XBOX Game Studios (Playground Games, The Coalition, InXile) will also be folded into Bethesda or Activision, or go independent themselves.
If these rumors are true, Asha Sharma has been quietly enduring her own impossible mandate from higher up.
