Xbox is currently undergoing a “reset” that’s on course to cut 20 percent of its headcount. With hundreds more layoffs reportedly looming over the next few months, Xbox is also now requiring that employees within 50 miles of its Washington headquarters come into the office four days a week, one more than the current mandate.
“Starting February 1st, 2027, Xbox employees in Puget Sound who live within 50 commuting miles of Studio D are required to work from the office a minimum of four days a week,” Xbox chief people officer Jacinda Chislum Pearson recently told staff, according to The Verge. “We have thousands of Xbox employees within commuting distance of Redmond. Taking advantage of that proximity and working together in person makes it easier to review work, resolve issues, and make decisions without the burden of scheduling another meeting.” Isn’t that what Copilot AI is for?
Forcing a shift from three days a week in office to four suggests that Xbox leadership thinks its employees are currently pursuing a work-life balance that isn’t optimized to achieve the gaming division’s ambitious new goals. It might also just be a way to try to incentivize more of them to quit and help keep the layoff numbers artificially low. Maybe it’s the only way Xbox CEO Asha Sharma thinks the gaming OS and Windows teams will finally settle their differences.
Microsoft is putting the onus on managers to be present during these in-office days and make the hour-long commutes “worth it.” “Leaders should be present, and coming into the office should not mean spending the same day on Teams calls from a different building,” Pearson told staff, according to The Verge. “Time well spent means reviewing work, solving problems, and playing games together, strengthening our path to becoming one Xbox.” That’s one way to keep couch co-op alive.
It’s a pretty raw deal for those who will have just survived the biggest downsizing in Xbox’s history. Fortune reported this week that the next rounds of layoffs are coming this month, next month, and in early January. Happy Holidays.