Asha Sharma | Fortune Interview • XBOX plans to release a next-generation handheld device by the 2027 holiday season. • Xbox intends to release its next-generation console in holiday 2028 • Xbox reportedly projecting the console to cost $1,200 - $1,800, unless the company subsidizes some of the cost • Xbox is planning a major overhaul of Game Pass that would have players choose features à la carte, including add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer, with the system operating on a tiered structure. • Sharma had Xbox’s new motto plastered on office walls after she took over: “Great games; return of Xbox; future of play,” • She’s planning the next rounds of layoffs for this month, November, and January, people familiar with the plans said. • The two sides have clashed over what software should run Project Helix, the next-generation hardware. Windows leaders wanted an upcoming handheld device to use a trimmed-down version of Windows Home. • Sharma’s team, meanwhile, has sought to build and control its own software to get the best gaming performance. • Tensions ran high enough that a senior Xbox executive threatened to scrap the handheld project rather than adopt the Windows build, according to people briefed on the clash. • Xbox is now largely controlling the direction of the operating system for the project, though Sharma emphasized the two still collaborate closely, saying, “We can’t build Helix on our own.” • Sharma said she has no timeline for how long she expects to be Xbox’s CEO. Asha Quotes: “It’s hard to be a first-time CEO … where everybody sees everything you do,” “We are trying to get done an inordinate amount of things in an inordinate amount of time.” “The benefit of everybody caring is that you’re going to be able to pick out things that people really care about to actually make our product better,” “We’re not here to do the minimum viable thing to just have a good business,” “We’re here to be the No. 1 entertainment company.” “As a leader, you’re taught to be confident, and I think being curious is way more important,” “If you’re confident, you might be right, and if you’re curious, you will find a better way. If people understand what’s happening, they will come up with better ideas to fix it than anyone else will.” Matt Booty Quote: “If there’s any place that we got out of sync maybe in the last five years, it’s not that any one of those [individual bets] wasn’t working. It’s just that we hadn’t connected the dots maybe as well as we should have,” Judson Althoff Qutoes: “Xbox is valuable to Microsoft’s broader enterprise business because its low-latency demands stress-test Microsoft’s cloud, and it helps the company maintain retail relationships with giants like Walmart while connecting the company to creator demographics through Minecraft.” “Asha is one of the best leaders we have at the whole company. We would not have put her on a business we intend to sell,” Althoff said. “There’s going to be a ton of speculation about all this. Time will tell.” via: Fortune fortune.com/2026/10/20/the-n…