Asha Sharma has directly answered the longstanding speculation about Microsoft’s XBOX division.
In an interview with the New York Times, the XBOX CEO said this:
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.
We’ve got a long way to go with Microsoft, and we’re going to take the long-term view.
Asha was partly addressing criticism and speculation following her announcement of the XBOX Reset. That move has already led to layoffs of just below 1,500 employees, as well as divesting from several game studios.
But we should also acknowledge that these criticisms have been hounding XBOX for many years, since the platform peaked with the XBOX 360.
Asha has recently launched Mythic Achievements, launched a disc-to-digital program, moved the next Halo game to Activision, and snagged the publishing rights to PHYSINT. While Asha has to take criticism into account, she surely sees how positively XBOX users are reacting to these and her other actions.
