Bilawal Bashir

Senior Features Writer Kyusai Media
Find me at [email protected]

[Kyusai Media @KyusaiMedia]

Kyusai is here to provide quality independent games and tech journalism — but we need your help! We’ve messed around with our pricing structure, so for just £1, you can help us provide honest and permanently ad-free coverage. You’ll also gain access to our Discord server!

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@SpawnYaardReply Playstation card would be epic! Thanks!

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

Was buying COD worth it? I think not

[ASHA @asha_shar]

This is an important email I sent today to all employees at XBOX:

Team,

We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.

I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.

Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.

First, we will reset our content portfolio.

Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.

Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.

We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.

In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.

Second, we will reset our platform.

We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.

We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.

Third, we are resetting how we operate.

As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.

For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.

Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX's history. We wish him all the best.

These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027.

History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them.

Asha

[em stonham @wildflowerbroth]

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is looking awesome so far 👀 @MWEvergreen did a banger preview for folks curious about the upcoming title from @Focus_entmt! 🐭

https://t.co/O8DV2kUser

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@SamSmith_1987 Need the real third part too

[Kyusai Media @KyusaiMedia]

Thanks to @thestorymob, the Kyusai team attended VALORANT Masters this week and it was an unreal experience! Wicked to see such high-level gameplay, stay tuned for further coverage ⚡️💥

https://t.co/igNPlpGVWa

@VALORANT @ValorantEsports

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@bobbylakhanpal @AdityaRajKaul Kinda funny tho

[Kyusai Media @KyusaiMedia]

It’s DreamHack time! We’re teaming up with our pals at @Razer for a giveaway to celebrate — you’ve got a chance to win a BlackShark V3 Pro and a Raiju V3 Pro. Full entry details in the thread 🧵

#RazerDreamhack

[Aleksha McLoughlin @Aleksha_McLo]

https://t.co/Kn64PPUGYt

The new Xbox console, dubbed "Project Helix" will play PC games, but is that enough to save Microsoft's gaming division? The latest for @KyusaiMedia

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

Free RE Requiem!

[Aleksha McLoughlin @Aleksha_McLo]

@KyusaiMedia is giving back to the community after our excellent Resident Evil Requiem review by our Social Lead @wildflowerbroth

https://t.co/3fFjkZqyA5

We’re giving away one copy of @RE_Games Requiem to one lucky reader. Full details below.

[Aleksha McLoughlin @Aleksha_McLo]

https://t.co/zNSovNfBW7

🇺🇸 America!

Thank you for your patience. The Hardest Video Games Ever Made, published by @WhiteOwlBooks, is now available to pre-order through @CasemateIPM

It'll cost you $35 but I promise that the read is worth it!

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

Leon is here mates!

https://t.co/gDQbEvYLZA

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@Aleksha_McLo @KyusaiMedia @VG_Josie @wildflowerbroth @LiterateElf @SamSmith_1987 YASSS

[Em @LiterateElf]

@KyusaiMedia is live, folks!

https://t.co/bdRYHPqe3g

A big shout-out to the wonderful team, as well as additional thanks to @Aleksha_McLo and
@VG_Josie for their incredible work getting the site launch-ready.

Make sure to follow us, because we've created something special.

[em stonham @wildflowerbroth]

Beyond excited to be a part of this 🪷✨ @KyusaiMedia is gearing up to be one of the most exciting spaces in gaming media, and I am blessed to be working with such lovely folks. Check it out, heaps more coming!

https://t.co/Hgm6JmFuxX

#KyusaiMedia #Kyusai

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

We are here finally!

[Josie Clark @VG_Josie]

After a lot of hard work from everyone involved we have now officially launched @KyusaiMedia

https://t.co/ChVoDQdIMq

Tell your friends. We're taking over.

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@PlayRatedGames Logitech makes some awesome stuff!

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@aghaasadharoon I wonder where so call intellectual thinkers were when someone was let go for 50rs. The very definition of hypocrisy.

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@aghaasadharoon Acha yar woh uncle say keh k 65rs kilo wala petrol to mangwa do.

[Bilawal Bashir @BilawalGun]

@flintdawg8208 Man this is just sad