When it was revealed that Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond would suddenly be stepping down from their positions at Xbox, it was clear that the company was undergoing a significant shakeup. New CEO Asha Sharma got to work immediately, throwing a few token gestures at fans to earn some goodwill before gutting studios.

As with most leadership changes, Xbox was eager to present an image of unity, with Sharma making appearances alongside Spencer. However, as the layoffs are being rolled out, it's clear that Xbox is ditching Spencer's strategies - and Sharma even appears to blame her predecessor for the situation Xbox is currently in.

Asha Sharma Comments On Xbox's Previous Strategy Of Mass Acquisition

"In order to grow, we made a bunch of bets... and as we did that, we inherently didn’t focus on the core business," Sharma tells Fortune in a recent interview spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun. "The number one measure of your strategy is what you put your resources behind, and we simply spread ourselves too thin."

That's a clear rejection of all of Xbox's acquisitions, which happened under Phil Spencer. On the one hand, there is wisdom in calling out a previous business decision to ensure that mistakes aren't repeated. But that does ring a little hollow when it is the developers paying the price for these decisions - and I am sure they had to be approved by more people than just Spencer, so it isn't enough that he's gone now. I am also not quite sure if "placing bets" is a good analogy for buying a company and making it part of yours. Or maybe it is when you're Xbox.

Ultimately, this quote tells us what we can expect from Xbox going forward. We probably won't get any more acquisitions, or at least far less than previous years. The companies that Xbox did buy will likely continue to be reduced or put onto fewer projects, to try and focus on the biggest IPs - something that has been reported elsewhere, particularly with IPs owned by ZeniMax.

However, this strategy of putting your eggs into fewer baskets might not work so well for Game Pass. There was a method behind the madness when it came to acquiring new studios: bulking up the Game Pass library. Admittedly, that may not have worked well, since Game Pass has fallen well short of its projections, but again, it's the studios being punished when they did what was asked of them.

At least this tells us why Spencer left Xbox so suddenly. It was already suspected that he may not have left of his own volition, and this will only add to those rumours. In the meantime, we will just have to wait and see what Xbox looks like after these layoffs.

Microsoft

Date Founded April 4, 1975 CEO Satya Nadella Subsidiaries activision blizzard, Microsoft Studios, Mojang Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox Game Studios Consoles Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Xbox One X, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series X|S Services Xbox Game Pass Headquarters Redmond, Washington, United States Expand Collapse