Xbox outlines platform overhaul in internal strategy memo

• The company is rebuilding its platform infrastructure to improve speed and efficiency.
• Xbox said its systems are overly complex and rely heavily on external vendors.
• The company is considering potential mergers and acquisitions to support future growth.

Xbox has outlined plans to strengthen its platform across hardware, PC, mobile and streaming as part of a broader overhaul.

In an internal email from CEO Asha Sharma and executive Matt Booty, the memo said Xbox is entering a new phase focused on rebuilding its platform infrastructure and improving the speed at which it delivers value to players. 

It noted that the company’s systems are currently overly complex, with hundreds of dependencies, and said Xbox will evolve and rebuild its technology stack while reducing reliance on external vendors.

The leadership said Xbox will review capabilities across the business and explore potential mergers and acquisitions to help compete across hardware, PC, mobile and streaming. 

The memo also noted that Xbox is expected to end the fiscal year with an accountability margin of around 3%, highlighting some of the financial challenges the business has faced.

Increasing value 

In the memo, Xbox stated that over 1 billion players engage with its games annually, totalling 72bn hours of gameplay across console, PC, mobile and streaming, excluding certain regions. It also said its franchises are increasingly expanding beyond games into TV and film.

“We must increase the value we ship to players while decreasing the time it takes to do so," said Sharma. “Going forward, we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of XBOX and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming."

“For some of you, these realities will be surprising and even frustrating to discover. We won’t succeed by hiding hard truths, nor will we succeed by doing the same thing and expecting different results.

“Like the ‘everyday wins’ mentality from the first 100 days, we will sprint to make progress against hardware, content, experience, and services together."

Elsewhere, Xbox is also planning major layoffs next month as part of a restructuring under Sharma, with the scale still undisclosed. The cuts are expected after June 30th alongside reductions in marketing and other budgets.