Xbox’s Project Helix Could Cost $1,800 While the Company Cuts 3,200 Jobs
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Xbox has already laid off 1,868 people and plans to cut 3,200 jobs over the next year. This came out in Asha Sharma's interview with Fortune. People who know about the plans say more rounds are planned for this month, November, and January, though the schedule could change. Sharma says Xbox is trying to get done an "inordinate amount of things in an inordinate amount of time." The money numbers show why. Xbox makes $21 billion a year, but its profit margin is only about 3%. Its rivals make up to ten times more. Current Xbox consoles have also sold about a third as many as the PS5, and Game Pass has hurt sales of Xbox's own games. Sharma's plan already has dates. The new handheld console would arrive for the 2027 holiday season, and the next console for the 2028 one. Inside Microsoft, the price being used for Project Helix is between $1,200 and $1,800 if the company ends up not covering part of the cost. Game Pass, for its part, is moving toward a tiered setup in which players would pick separate add-ons: console-only games, cloud gaming or multiplayer. The interview also revealed that the development of Helix has caused a clash inside Microsoft itself. Windows wanted the new handheld to use a cut-down version of Windows Home, while the Xbox team preferred to control its own software for better performance. The tension reached the point where a senior Xbox executive...
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