Xbox targets billion-user goal amid historic staff cuts

The scale of the reduction is unprecedented, with 1,600 employees departing this summer and another 1,600 slated for exit over the coming year. As part of this pivot, Microsoft is spinning off Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs, and Ninja Theory into independent entities. These studios, once acquired to populate the Game Pass subscription service, no longer fit the company’s narrowed focus.

Leadership now seeks to prioritize major blockbuster properties over the broad content strategy that defined previous years. While the company pursues a massive expansion of its user base, the transition leaves the gaming division’s long-term identity in flux. For a platform currently struggling with inconsistent messaging and mounting operational deficits, scaling to a billion users with a significantly leaner workforce remains a high-stakes gamble.