There's been a running joke that Xbox has 'no games', and given the poor lineup of Xbox One exclusives, that's not really surprising. We're talking about Halo 5: Guardians, Kinect Sports Rivals, and Powerstar Golf here. Things have changed for the console giants in recent years, with more studios finally releasing games, but few of them doing it well. 2025 was a particularly bad year for Xbox. That's because most big games, from The Outer Worlds 2 to Avowed and Forza Motorsport, have fallen short of expectations.
Newly appointed Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is on board to finally turn the console around after two disastrous generations. Until now, this has meant lowering Game Pass prices, reducing Copilot for games, and addressing long-ignored community issues, but at the heart of every gaming company are games. According to a new report published by The Information, three anonymous sources claim that Sharma plans to liquidate underperforming studios and invest the money into strong games like Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Halo.
What it means for the rest of Xbox
It's been 11 years since Fallout 4 was released, 8 years since The Elder Scrolls 6 (15 years since Skyrim was released), and 5 years since Halo: Infinite. The Xbox Series X/S was seriously lacking in flagship features. The next Halo is a remake. The Elder Scrolls 6 might not be ready until 2030. Non-remastered Fallout won't return until . ~ after That. Fans aren't the only ones disappointed. The same goes for Xbox, and Sharma is now looking to shorten the long development cycle and release these games faster.
Sharma is also reportedly planning to invest more in Minecraft.
It may sound like an exciting prospect, and I'm sure there are some fans out there who are cheering on how Xbox will finally release a new Fallout game, bypassing Bethesda and enlisting Obsidian for more spinoffs. However, it is not without compromise. Unfortunately, spending across Xbox won't change in 2027, so funding these games means reallocating resources and cutting costs elsewhere, potentially accounting for upcoming layoffs. There are even rumors floating around that the studio may be shutting down, with some even speculating that Double Fine, creators of the brilliant Brutal Legend and Psychonauts, could be in jeopardy.
This also means far fewer Double-A projects, and a more risk-averse Xbox focusing on generating consistent revenue using those resources rather than building a diverse library for its Game Pass subscription. Still, it's not a short-term solution, but it might just be what Xbox needs right now. No matter how much money a studio invests, developing a game still takes longer than ever.
- released
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2026
- ESRB
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middle
- developer
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bethesda game studio
- publisher
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Bethesda Softworks
