Xbox warns of a ‘reset’ as it prepares for layoffs
Xbox warns of a ‘reset’ as it prepares for layoffs
Xbox 警告将进行“重置”，并准备进行裁员
Microsoft’s Xbox division will be hit with significant layoffs next month, according to people familiar with Microsoft’s plans. 据知情人士透露，微软 Xbox 部门下个月将进行大规模裁员。
The company has been preparing for the layoffs internally for weeks, with Xbox CEO Asha Sharma hinting about “making hard choices” last month. Sources suggest the cuts could even involve a studio closure, or changes to the Xbox studio lineup. In a recent Giant Bomb episode, rumors of 1,000 layoffs for Microsoft’s Xbox division were mentioned. Bloomberg also reported today that the cuts would be “major,” and involve budget cuts for marketing and other areas of Microsoft’s Xbox business. 该公司在内部已为裁员准备了数周，Xbox 首席执行官 Asha Sharma 上个月曾暗示将“做出艰难的选择”。消息人士称，此次裁员甚至可能涉及工作室关闭或 Xbox 工作室阵容的调整。在最近的一期 Giant Bomb 节目中，提到了微软 Xbox 部门将裁员 1,000 人的传闻。彭博社今日也报道称，此次裁员规模将是“重大”的，并涉及微软 Xbox 业务在营销及其他领域的预算削减。
Moments before Bloomberg’s report, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty sent a memo to Xbox staff, warning of an “Xbox reset” over the next 100 days. Sharma and Booty pointed to difficult challenges the business is facing. “Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform, and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time,” they wrote. “Going forward, this cannot continue.” 在彭博社报道发布前不久，Xbox 首席执行官 Asha Sharma 和首席内容官 Matt Booty 向 Xbox 员工发送了一份备忘录，警告未来 100 天内将进行“Xbox 重置”。Sharma 和 Booty 指出了该业务目前面临的严峻挑战。他们写道：“不包括动视暴雪（Activision Blizzard King），过去五年里，我们在内容、平台和硬件补贴方面的持续投资超过 200 亿美元，但在此期间我们的年收入却下降了近 5 亿美元。展望未来，这种情况不能再持续下去了。”
They also noted that “we are in a hardware component crisis,” saying that component costs for the 2027 holiday season are expected to be “over 5x the prices we paid only two years earlier. Memory costs have followed a broadly similar trajectory.” They said that “we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix.” 他们还指出，“我们正处于硬件组件危机中”，并表示 2027 年假日季的组件成本预计将是“我们两年前支付价格的 5 倍以上。内存成本也呈现出大致相同的增长轨迹。”他们表示：“在继续致力于 Helix 项目的同时，我们需要为硬件寻找新的商业模式和合作伙伴关系。”
Sharma and Xbox strategy chief Matthew Ball have been hinting at “radically different” console business models this week, and the mention of “partnerships for hardware” certainly plays into the idea that other PC OEMs might be able to create Xbox-branded devices based on AMD’s new chips in the future. 本周，Sharma 和 Xbox 战略主管 Matthew Ball 一直在暗示“截然不同”的主机商业模式，而提到的“硬件合作伙伴关系”无疑印证了这样一种观点：未来其他 PC 原始设备制造商（OEM）或许能够基于 AMD 的新芯片制造 Xbox 品牌的设备。
But right now, Xbox’s “current platform infrastructure is not built for the battle ahead,” Sharma and Booty wrote, saying that “we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of XBOX and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming.” 但 Sharma 和 Booty 写道，目前 Xbox 的“现有平台基础设施无法应对未来的战斗”，并表示“我们将演进并重建我们的技术栈，审视整个 Xbox 的能力，并考虑潜在的并购，以帮助我们在硬件、PC、移动端和流媒体领域取得胜利。”
Sharma has already made some big decisions since taking over, including making Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution Xbox console exclusives. 自接任以来，Sharma 已经做出了一些重大决策，包括将《战争机器：E-Day》（Gears of War: E-Day）和《发条革命》（Clockwork Revolution）定为 Xbox 主机独占游戏。