A next-generation portable console (belonging to the Project Helix family of devices), by the 2027 holidays, followed a year later by the new home console, with a price that Microsoft's internal projections currently place between $1,200 and $1,800, and with the possibility that it will no longer be a Windows-based PC, as previously expected. These are the most relevant rumors of a long portrait of Asha Sharma published by Fortune, which takes stock of the strategy with which the CEO of XBOX intends to relaunch the brand, between new waves of layoffs and an XBOX Game Pass ready to change structure.

The hardware plan is the heart of the relaunch. According to reports, Sharma aims to launch the new portable device by the 2027 holidays, while forthe console we will have to wait until those of 2028. The work takes place inside Building 87, Microsoft's design laboratory in Redmond, where the CEO regularly discusses with designers such as Carl Ledbetter in meetings dedicated to prototypes of the Project Helix hardware, also designed to keep us connected to the XBOX ecosystem when we play on the move, and possible strategic partnerships. Internal sources also report that Helix's engineering deadlines have been brought forward by several months, increasing the pressure on development teams, called upon to accelerate also thanks to artificial intelligence. On this point, Sharma made it clear that he does not want to use "AI for the sake of using AI," but that he sees it as a tool to solve specific engineering and performance problems, such as developer workflows.

The most delicate issue remains that of price. The range between $1,200 and $1,800 is the current estimate of how much the console would cost the public if Microsoft decided not to subsidize part of it. The increase in hardware costs, fueled by the shortage of memory chips, weighs on the bill, in a context in which the division's profit margin is around 3%, a value ranging from a third to a tenth of that of competitors. Analyst Piers Harding-Rolls of Ampere Analysis then recalls that the global console market remains stuck at about 200 million users per generation, with Gen Z and Gen Alpha increasingly preferring mobile, PC and platforms such as Roblox.

The project has also reignited tensions between the XBOX team and the Windows team. The top management of Windows would have liked the future handheld to adopt a lightened version of Windows Home, while the group led by Sharma has focused on proprietary software under its control, to ensure the best possible performance in gaming. The clash was such that a senior executive of XBOX would have threatened to cancel the laptop in order not to adopt the Windows build. Today it is XBOX that largely leads the development of the operating system, although the CEO stressed that the collaboration remains close: "We can't build Helix alone".

Important news also concern the Game Pass, although not entirely new for those who have followed the rumors of recent months. According to sources, a major overhaul of the service is being prepared with an à la carte approach, in which we will be able to choose the features we are interested in through "bricks" dedicated to exclusive console games, cloud gaming and multiplayer, all organized in a tiered structure. A revision that comes after years in which the subscription, despite having built a solid business, ended up eroding the sales of first party titles precisely in the delicate launch phase, also thanks to internal metrics in competition with each other, such as subscription revenues as opposed to those of the store.

We also learn that the chapter on layoffs is not closed. So far, 1,868 jobs have been cut out of the 3,200 expected by next year, along with different managerial levels, and the next rounds would be planned for this month, for November and January, although plans could still change. The choice to proceed in waves would have demoralized part of the staff, forced to live for months with uncertainty about their future, and there has been no shortage of hitches, such as the case of a dismissed employee who was then offered to stay.

On the content front, resources are being shifted from smaller studios to those responsible for the most iconic franchises, with the aim of releasing big releases more frequently. In the case of Minecraft , the intent is to make it more competitive against Roblox, while the new XP division will be responsible for commercially exploiting the strongest properties, on the model of what Disney does with Marvel. Another team will explore new ways of creating and distributing games on various devices, including through AI. Exclusives will also grow, as Gears of War: E-Day demonstrates, and according to Brian Fargo, working on Clockwork Revolution, today studios must present a solid and credible business case to obtain funding.

The numbers explain the urgency of the change of course: the division is worth about $21 billion, the console still accounts for 80% of the business and the current XBOX Series X|S, according to third-party estimates, have sold just over a third of its main competitor. XBOX now has about 100 million daily active users, but Sharma's long-term goal is to exceed one billion. There are some positive signs: active console usage has returned to growth on an annual basis after the previous year's decline, and the CEO expects financial improvements to begin to be seen during fiscal year 2027, while the next test will be Microsoft's quarterly report expected by the end of the month.

Finally, there remains the knot of the future of the brand within Microsoft. Several employees, current and former, believe that XBOX may be prepared for a sale, a spin-off or the entry of external investors, hypotheses also fueled by the transition of email addresses from microsoft.com to xbox.com and the abandonment of the Microsoft Gaming name. Judson Althoff, head of Microsoft's commercial sector, however, rejected these readings: "Asha is one of the best leaders we have in the entire company. We would not have put her in charge of a business that we intend to sell". Sharma herself is on the same line, according to which XBOX will remain an important part of Microsoft for a very long time to come.