Efforts by those now running Xbox to convince onlookers that the gaming division of Microsoft is now in a better place to start hauling in the ever-growing money numbers those overseeing it crave have continued alongside Microsoft first financial report since this month's mass layoffs. Both Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and her boss Satya Nadella have declared they're looking for the division to be growing financially again by about this time next year.

"When it comes to Xbox we are making the necessary decisions required across our content portfolio, platform, and operations to reset the business for long-term growth," big boss Nadella said in an earnings call as Microsoft posted their financial results for April 1st to June 30th, 2026. "We have the best IP in the industry and talented studios around the world, and believe we can bring these strengths together and return the business to growth in Fiscal 2027."

Sharma echoed that in a tweet, declaring: "In FY26, over 200 million new players came to Xbox and our games, but our business did not grow with our audience. We need to close that gap by investing in what players value. That will take time, but we expect to return to growth by the end of FY27."

In FY26, over 200 million new players came to XBOX and our games, but our business did not grow with our audience. We need to close that gap by investing in what players value. That will take time, but we expect to return to growth by the end of FY27.

— ASHA (@asha_shar) July 29, 2026

Of the two, Nadella's remarks - while naturally corporate and vague - might be the most revealing, with Kotaku pointing out that in a lengthier statement this time last year he seemed a lot more upbeat about how Xbox we doing and gave specific examples of games and series which had done big numbers. He also shouted out Game Pass' annual revenue. This time, if we put aside referring to mass layoffs as "necessary decisions required" for a second, he just vaguely alluded to Xbox having good games and studios without bothering to name any specifically. Then again, maybe it'd have been even more jarring for the exec to be specifically declaring his undying admiration for a studio like Bethesda, Obsidian, or Id Software not long after slicing away chunks of the staff which have made them tick.

Getting into the specifics of the results which have spurred these 'Ah, we'll get 'em next time' statements, Microsoft reported that Xbox's revenue decreased by $1.7 billion (7%) year-on-year, driven by declines in both content and services and hardware. Content and services revenue was down 5% compared to last year, while hardware was down a whopping 29% as Microsoft struggled to shift consoles.

With the RAM crisis looming over most new hardware the company might look to deploy to try and get that last number up and freshly-slashed studios either being pushed to start on new games or fathom how they'll continue to build on their existing ones with less workers at their disposal, I don't see much reason right now to believe in a magical reversal of fortunes over the course of a single year. That's not to say I'm not hopeful for remaining staff that next year brings fewer to no layoffs, if the bigwigs at Microsoft would ever let such a thing happen in this era of cuts seemingly regardless of how well any one game might do or whose strategy might be to blame for it not racking up the numbers anticipated.