Xbox CEO Asha Sharma tells staff new IP is essential, despite studio closures

Asha Sharma told Xbox staff that new IP is essential for survival. "We will not survive if we only revive on the past." - Asha Sharma, CEO, Xbox Windows Central obtained transcripts of the town hall, held amid Xbox's division-wide reset. The reset already closed or divested Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Ninja Theory.

Halo moved to the stewardship of Call of Duty publisher Activision this year.
Obsidian was reassigned to build a new Fallout under Bethesda.
Double Fine, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and Ninja Theory were divested or closed.
All four studios built reputations on original, story-driven IP.

InXile's Clockwork Revolution is Xbox's clearest new-IP exclusive for next year.
Microsoft signed Hideo Kojima for two future projects, OD and Physint.
Gears of War: E-Day shipped successfully, yet its studio still faces cuts.
The upcoming roster shows few other titles built from original concepts.

"Xbox is not for sale... We will do whatever it takes to set the company up for success." - Asha Sharma, CEO, Xbox
Sharma reiterated the denial to the New York Times after a report by The Information.
That report claimed Microsoft considered restructuring gaming as a separate subsidiary.
A subsidiary structure would make Xbox easier to sell in future, per the report.

For Publishers & Developers: Pitch original concepts to Xbox as external publishing deals filling its thinned internal pipeline.
For Investors & VC: Target newly independent ex-first-party studios as deal flow, valuing any retained IP rights.
For Service Vendors: Pitch co-dev and porting capacity to franchise teams absorbing further headcount cuts.