Xbox CEO Insists It’s Not For Sale Amid Studio Closures, Layoffs

The " Xbox reset " has people wondering whether Microsoft is preparing to exit the video game business, but Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has flatly denied that the gaming division will be put up for sale.

"Xbox is not for sale," Sharma said to The New York Times. "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."

Sharma's comments come in the wake of analysts predicting that Microsoft could sell Xbox off entirely. Compared with Microsoft's profitable cloud computing and artificial intelligence businesses, Xbox has paled in comparison, and the gamble on Xbox Game Pass hasn't paid off, despite Microsoft investing tens of billions in acquiring several video game publishers and studios over the years. Xbox’s accountability margins amount to only a 3% profit, a small return on investment for its parent company.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has …