As of about 4:27 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, Windows Central reports that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff at an internal town hall held that day that the business has “started to return to growth.” Microsoft’s own release of July 29 covers the quarter that ended June 30, which closed before the town hall, so it neither confirms nor contradicts the claim.
The town hall remarks below come from Windows Central’s exclusive report by Executive Editor Jez Corden, which says: “Today, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma addressed all of Xbox in an internal town hall, the transcript of which was shared to Windows Central and verified by trusted sources.” Windows Central does not name the source. Kotaku’s Oct. 6 article by Ethan Gach relays the report and adds its own commentary.
What Sharma reportedly said about growth
Windows Central writes that Sharma “noted that Xbox was declining in hours spent, players, and revenue at the start of the year,” that Xbox “has stabilized in hours spent,” and that “after year-over-year declines, Xbox has now returned to growth.” Those sentences are Windows Central’s paraphrase of the meeting, not a transcript quotation. It adds that she repeated that the previous Game Pass strategy sent Xbox into “freefall” declines. Kotaku’s narration is that the gaming division had a good quarter, and that the Xbox reset, which in Kotaku’s own words includes “ongoing rounds of brutal layoffs,” has reversed the platform’s “freefall.”
The quotation Windows Central prints, as it appears there, is:
“We’re making the right decisions to reinvest in the business, after an all time low, we’ve started to return to growth, more than 2 to 3 times what we were, and we expect that continue.”
Kotaku prints the same sentence with “all-time low” and “that to continue.”
The games and goals she named
According to Windows Central, Sharma called out three titles for having “strong” starts, and Kotaku repeats the list:
- Minecraft Dungeons 2
- Gears of War: E-Day
- World of Warcraft: Forever
Windows Central writes that Xbox “has seen a 30% increase in positive brand sentiment over the past year”; Kotaku writes that she “claimed a 30-percent boost in ‘brand sentiment’.” Neither report says how brand sentiment was measured.
Windows Central says Sharma described “four C’s” leading Xbox forward: core, content, creation and connection. It says she argued Xbox needs to invest more in its console business even though that segment is not growing across the industry, and that strengthening the Xbox Series X|S generation depends on Xbox Cloud Gaming, the disc-to-digital program and Play Anywhere. It adds that she hinted Game Pass will become “flexible for more players” and that Xbox is “simplifying” the target and streamlining the tools for publishing on Xbox. Kotaku lists the same goals: Play Anywhere and Disc-to-Digital, making Xbox easier to develop for, and making Game Pass subscriptions “more flexible.”
On PC, Windows Central says Sharma spoke about growing Battle.net as a platform, said it is almost on par with Steam for user retention, and said of the partnership that brings CD Projekt RED’s games such as The Witcher 3 to Battle.net: “We will do it the right way for those communities.” Kotaku reads this as a sign that more such releases on Blizzard’s PC launcher may follow.
The Gen 10 “family of devices”
Kotaku says the remarks most likely to draw attention from fans concern Gen 10 hardware, called Project Helix. Windows Central prints Sharma as saying:
“We are moving to a family of devices for Gen-10. There is not one device that fits all. We will certainly have a great console first, but we also know that many players will be on the go. There are some things that we are the best in the world to manufacture, and there are other things that will we partner on. So, we will be sharing more about that as our plans develop. The operating system is starting to look really good. We’re very excited about this.”
Kotaku’s own comment is that the arrangement may already have a preview in the existing Xbox Series X/S, gaming PCs that run Windows, and the Asus-made Xbox Ally X. It adds that it “remains to be seen” how many members of the Gen 10 “family” Microsoft will make itself, and how robust the operating system meant to unify them turns out to be.
The reporting contains no specifications, prices, release dates or device list.
Engadget reported that she used a similar phrase, “a great family of devices,” for Project Helix in a BBC interview at gamescom.
What Microsoft’s own results say
Microsoft’s most recent published results are for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, released July 29. Compared with the same quarter a year earlier, Microsoft says in that release:
- Total revenue was $90.0 billion, up 18%.
- Revenue in More Personal Computing was $12.9 billion, down 4%.
- “XBOX content and services revenue decreased 10%.”
That 10% decline is the only Xbox revenue figure in the release’s headline results. Microsoft has not yet reported the quarter that ended Sept. 30, and no Xbox revenue figure for that quarter had been published, in Microsoft’s release or in either report on the town hall, as of the time stated above.
PlayDay.One reported on July 30 that Sharma wrote on X on July 29: “In FY26, over 200 million new players came to XBOX and our games, but our business did not grow with our audience. We need to close that gap by investing in what players value. That will take time, but we expect to return to growth by the end of FY27.” The post does not say which measure, such as revenue, users or margin, it refers to. Microsoft’s fiscal year 2027 ends June 30, 2027.
What the reporting does not say
- What “growth” is measured by. Windows Central says Xbox declined in hours spent, players and revenue at the start of the year and has stabilized in hours spent, but its report does not say which measure “returned to growth.”
- The baseline for “2 to 3 times what we were.” The phrase has no stated starting point in either report.
- Whether the September quarter showed growth in Xbox revenue. No such figure appears in the Windows Central or Kotaku reports or in Microsoft’s July 29 release.
- How the 30% increase in positive brand sentiment was calculated.
- Who gave Windows Central the transcript. The report says only that it was “shared to Windows Central and verified by trusted sources.”
What Kotaku adds about the reset
Kotaku notes that it will be hard for many people inside Xbox to celebrate the momentum yet. Its sentence reads: “Chief content officer Matt Booty said last month that Xbox is only 75 percent of the way through its painful reset, and there are still hundreds of more staff to be laid off in the months ahead.” “Last month” is September, per Kotaku’s Oct. 6 article. Windows Central adds that Sharma “noted upon caution” about the state of the economy, what it calls “the RAMpocalypse,” and general disruption in the entertainment business.
Kotaku adds that some of the company’s biggest gaming bets under Sharma, such as rebooting Halo under Activision, will take many years to come to fruition.
What to watch next
- Microsoft’s report for the quarter ended Sept. 30, which would show whether the Xbox content and services line moved from the 10% decline in the June quarter.
- Any official Microsoft or Xbox publication of the town hall remarks or of the transcript, and any definition of the growth measure.
- More detail on Gen 10 and Project Helix, which Sharma reportedly said will be shared “as our plans develop.”
- Further layoffs, which Kotaku says are still expected in the months ahead.
For the earlier Xbox layoffs and the Halo decision, see Plainly Now’s report on the 268 Xbox job cuts.