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If Microsoft sold off Xbox, who would even buy it?
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If Microsoft sold off Xbox, who would even buy it?
There might not be many takers, though Microsoft could sell it in parts.
There might not be many takers, though Microsoft could sell it in parts.
by Jay Peters
Jay Peters
Senior Reporter
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Follow See All by Jay Peters
Jul 8, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Part Of Xbox’s ‘reset’: all the news about Microsoft’s layoffs and studio changes see all updates
Jay Peters
Jay Peters
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Follow See All by Jay Peters
is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
This week, Microsoft took a huge ax to its Xbox business. The company announced that it would be laying off 1,600 workers now, 1,600 more over the next fiscal year, and that it would be shedding four studios. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hasn’t been shy about why she’s making such dramatic cuts, saying in a memo that the business is “not healthy.” Speaking to Fortune, she said that “we simply spread ourselves too thin.”
Given the scale of the changes and Xbox’s currently vague strategy of focusing only on big games, it’s unclear just what the future of the platform is. As Microsoft invests much of its resources into everything AI, a struggling consumer business with a difficult future doesn’t necessarily seem like a good fit for the company. Which opens up the possibility that Microsoft could be preparing to eventually exit the gaming business altogether by selling off Xbox. This, in turn, raises an even bigger question: Who could possibly buy Xbox?
While nothing has been confirmed, Microsoft’s recent moves make selling off the brand seem like a possible option, as New York University professor Joost van Dreunen tells The Verge. “A wholesale divestiture of Xbox remains on the table, and it looks likelier given Xbox’s struggles with rising hardware costs and Microsoft’s focus on AI and infrastructure,” he explains. “It’s never been clear what role Xbox plays in Microsoft’s flywheel.” But a full sale is the “less likely path,” van Dreunen says. Few buyers, even giants like Netflix, Amazon, Tencent, or a sovereign wealth fund that could theoretically afford the business, would want “an entire interactive-entertainment conglomerate running north of $23 billion in annual revenue.”
Image: Xbox Game Studios
Despite the cuts, Microsoft still has a lot under the Xbox umbrella.
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