XBOX CEO reveals crucial Project Helix update amid 'component crisis'

XBOX CEO Asha Sharma and chief content officer Matt Booty have shared an update on Project Helix, the codename for XBOX's upcoming console, in an internal memo sent to employees confirming a company "reset".

It's been 100 days since Sharma and Booty took the reins from Phil Spencer back in February.

There have already been a lot of changes happening at XBOX since they took over, including the price of Game Pass decreasing, scrapping old marketing campaigns and making some first-party XBOX games exclusive again, such as Gears of War: E-Day and Clockwork Revolution.

And in a new internal memo shared publicly, Sharma and Booty shared the latest on Project Helix amid quite a bleak update on where gaming consoles are at right now.

It said: "We are currently unable to make as many [Series X/S] consoles as players want to buy and we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix."

So good news for Project Helix - but that was prefaced with a tough update on console components.

The memo said: "We are in a hardware component crisis. When I joined as CEO in February, the price we paid for console storage components was over 2x as high as we paid last fall.

"These costs have since doubled again.

"And as we plan for the 2027 holiday season, we expect another significant increase, taking us over 5x the prices we paid only two years earlier. Memory costs have followed a broadly similar trajectory.

"While the entire industry is facing a components crisis, we believe we have been impacted more greatly than many of our peers due to the choices we made over the last half decade."

Asha Sharma and Matt Booty took over at the helm of XBOX from Phil Spencer in February / XBOX & Microsoft

Sharma and Booty also shared the financial position XBOX finds itself in, being incredibly open about its performance.

"We will end this fiscal year at about a three per cent accountability margin, down year-over-year," the memo added.

"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.

"Going forward, this cannot continue."

There are reports XBOX is planning for more major layoffs but this has not been confirmed by the company.

Elsewhere from Indy100:

• The Elder Scrolls 6 teaser hits another unwanted milestone
• New Xbox console revealed - everything we know so far

How to join the Indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the Indy100 rankings.