Microsoft's Xbox division is shifting its focus to giving gamers more value for their investment in Xbox Gen9 consoles. In a major strategic update, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Head of Game Studios Matt Booty announced a new initiative to 'stabilize Gen9' – the console generation consisting of the Xbox Series X and Series S – as a high-quality, reliable base for the future of the brand.
Speaking in an interview with GameFile, after a period where Xbox seemed to focus heavily on cloud and PC expansion, Sharma's latest comments signal a return to 'console-first' thinking. Sharma admitted that the company hadn't invested as much in the console platform recently as it should have. To fix this problem, she said she has formed a specialized team dedicated solely to improving console features, reliability, and performance.
'We are investing in it as a first-class experience again. We want to make sure that all the players who want to be on Gen9 are on Gen9 with a great console with regular updates,' Sharma stated. The newly-formed team has already hit the ground running, delivering several dashboard updates and improvements to the Xbox achievement system in just the last few weeks.
'We have formed a team and we're investing in console features. We are standing up the muscle to make sure that all of our performance and reliability and quality is great,' she said, adding, 'I think that the Gen9 is a great piece of hardware, and we want to make sure that gameplay and the platform experience is excellent. We know we just haven't invested as much there and so we're getting back to that.'
Bi-weekly updates coming in 2026
In a move expected to please power users, Sharma reportedly shared in an internal Microsoft meeting that the division is moving to a rapid-fire release schedule. Starting now and continuing through the rest of 2026, Xbox owners can expect bi-weekly console updates. These updates aim to ensure the platform experience, which includes the speed of the UI to the stability of gameplay, is 'excellent' on both the powerhouse Series X and the more affordable Series S.
While Sharma was bullish on the quality of the hardware, she remained cautious about sales numbers. When asked if she expects a surge in Series X|S console sales, she declined to provide specific guidance, shifting the focus instead to the 'Xbox ecosystem' as a whole.
