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All is not well at Xbox, as reports circulate of company-wide layoffs happening toward the end of this month, June 2026. A former higher-up at Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shuhei Yoshida, appears to have commented on this on social media, with a prediction for what's going to happen structurally.
On Twitter, Yoshida, who was president of SIE Worldwide Studios for over a decade, posted a slightly cryptic message about the future of the green-tinted brand. "Xbox will dissolve into Windows, and it's [Microsoft]'s strength…," he says, with a cute little thought bubble.
At first, this seems completely out of the blue, but it comes on the heels of a Bloomberg report on potentially hefty layoffs on the way within Microsoft's console wing. The outlet claims that a relatively high number of job losses are expected are part of restructuring under new CEO Asha Sharma.
（´-`）.｡oO (XBOX will dissolve into Windows, and it’s MS’s strength…)June 12, 2026
To what extent, and which departments will be most impacted, are unknown. But it's not a good omen at a time of uncertainty for PlayStation's long-standing rival. Hardware sales have been going down quarter on quarter for some time now, as Xbox ports more and more of its banner releases, including the upcoming Halo: Campaign Evolve and Fable 4, to PlayStation 5.
Gears of War: E-Day apparently very nearly joined them, too. The timing of Yoshida's tweet makes it seem like a reaction to this news, as he seems to suggest Xbox will be folded into the Windows platform and business overall, as the operating system is Microsoft's greatest asset.
There are recurring rumors that Project Helix, the next generation of Xbox, will use Windows, as opposed to the bespoke Xbox OS the console family's tended toward. The machines have become more Windows-like over the years anyway, and this gen looks set to continue toward being PC-like.
It's an odd time in the history of Xbox. We'll have to see what the lay of the land is in months to come.
