That threat seemingly helped lead to the current situation with the Xbox team “now largely controlling the direction of the operating system for the project, Fortune writes, though Sharma said the two groups are still working closely together. Fortune also reports that Microsoft has pressured the hardware team to move up the timelines for Project Helix hardware “by at least several months,” in part by using AI tools where applicable. The profile also cites “people familiar with the strategy” in reporting that Xbox Game Pass will soon shift to a heavily tiered “a la carte” structure that lets subscribers pick and choose “add-ons for console-only games, cloud gaming, and multiplayer.” That would be an interesting shift from the current Game Pass plans, which all include some level of cloud-based gaming, console exclusives, and console multiplayer even for players who don’t make use of them.
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging profile, Fortune addresses concerns from “several current and former staff members” that Sharma was put in place merely to enact painful cuts before an impending sale of a spinoff of the Xbox group. But the piece also quotes Microsoft executive Judson Althoff pushing back against that idea, saying, “We would not have put [Sharma] on a business we intend to sell. There’s going to be a ton of speculation about all this.
Time will tell.”
Source: Ars Technica
