Xbox Reportedly to 'Move Faster' on Developing Games in Its Biggest Franchises - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 June 2026 / 4,723 Views
Xbox is reportedly looking to "move faster" on developing new entries in its biggest franchises, including The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Halo, and more. This is according to sources that spoke with Information.
Sharma is most interested in the two Bethesda franchises, according to the sources. The last new mainline entry in The Elder Scrolls series was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in November 2011, while it was 2015's Fallout 4 for the Fallout franchise.
The sources claim Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood have approved Sharma's plan to spend more money on its top-tier franchises in the coming fiscal year that starts in July.
Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty recently stated he has had a chance to see The Elder Scrolls VI and says it "looks amazing."
The report also claims Microsoft is considering to spin off Xbox into its own separate subsidiary like with LinkedIn and GitHub. This would give Xbox more autonomy from its parent company.
"Microsoft doesn't have any imminent restructuring plans, but those options are on the table," reads the report from The Information. "Nadella and Hood haven't ruled out restructuring Xbox's relationship to Microsoft at some point in the future if doing so would make Xbox a more successful business, the people said."
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma in a message sent to employees that was posted online talked about the challenges facing Xbox and is looking for a "reset" to make Xbox "stronger" and the "#1 gaming and entertainment company."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Honestly why wouldn't you use your big IP? Time to tell studios to stop messing around, and get back to what works. Like I'm sorry but screw Starfield.... waste of time. Stop spending all that time on Fallout 76, and get to work on Elder Scrolls or Fallout.
I 100% would approve obsidian making a new Fallout game!
Fallout 76 probably makes them more money than any of the offline Fallouts did.
Yeah. Skyrim was a cultural and commercial phenomenon. Why did MS let BGS's keep their biggest franchise on the sidelines all these years. Should've just told them to go all in on another Elder Scrolls as that's clearly what people want
They did that with Bungie with Halo and Bungie wanted out. Developers also want to make their own projects
The difference is that Bungie had already been with MS for about 10 years before they left. How could BGS/Zenimax leave MS when they had just been purchased?
People leave, talent leave. Forcing a company to make something they are not ready to make will only lead to disappointment.
Games should be made when the developer is ready to make them.
I am a huge Half Life fan, I want a Half Life 3 but I will never push Valve to make it unless they are ready to make it because i want it to be awesome, not rushed for the sake of the internet.
In that case, have another studio make TES games. MS owns TES IP and owns so many studios. You have to find a way to make it happen.
That's how you get asstastic sequels like Devil May Cry 2 and Gotham Knights
And it still would've done way better than starfield did
Lol no it wouldn't. If you want to have low standards for your favourites IPs, that's fine but people want to see the best from them.
I am happy to wait 20 years for TES6 then them ruin the IP but rushed sequels.
Too bad. You had your chances, and it didn't work out, now you get back to doing what people want. If you want to leave, there is the door. Someone has to give them a hard talking too.
Cool, and when they leave, they take their IPs with them.
People complained when MS weren't giving development freedom, but now they complain they are. Crazy.
MS owns the IP they can't take it with them. Bungie lost the rights to Halo IP and Zenimax would lose the right to TES IP too.
Xbox made a deal with Bungie, and that deal was to spin them off however MS keep the Halo IP. Not all companies will want to lose their IPs.
Well Starfield was a Bethesda project before Microsoft ever bought them and while it didn't reach the heights hoped, it still made plenty of money. The problems came after that. Resources should have been allocated to ensure timely development of the next mainline Elder Scrolls or Fallout while maintaining the revitalized 76. Microsoft has badly mismanaged their manpower sinc ethe late 360 era, it's a persistent issue.
Likely means shoving AI into their biggest IPs. -_-
Bingo. It means exactly that. Gen AI for everything.
The world is doomed because of lazy billionaires who want AI in everything.
Years go by and these crazy acquisitions they made year after year never seem to really pay off in terms of games.
I wonder if Microsoft inner workings turn everything under their umbrella into a development hell filled with formal processes and bureaucracy that delay development and hinder the final products' quality. I feel like almost everything they churn out is disappointing and lukewarm in terms of reception, feels sterile and generic, take too long to come out, and has no real impact in favor of Xbox as a brand... And I say this as someone who yearns for strong competition in this industry so the big three are forced to do better with their consoles and games, benefitting the consumer.
These guys are the eternal promises beyond the horizon.
And now they're considering spinning off Xbox.
What a waste the whole past decade has been.
They are considering spinning Xbox off according to Corden.
I mean, I think that would be a good thing.
They are also apparently considering selling Xbox and/or joint ventures.
The Players should buy Xbox and make it the first gaming Co-op.
About time
A spinoff could be a good thing or a bad thing. Depends on the outcome.
So, I kinda think this industry needs that in general, not at the expense of staff, crunch is not the way forward but we used to be in a era of trilogies per gen, yet now we are lucky if we get 1 game from a studio every gen.
It feels like they try and one up themselves each time which for the most part, they don't need to do, many just want sequels with new mechanics. This is what things like Uncharted or Mass Effect were and each of those entries came out 2 to 3 years apart. The ones that seemingly have done best are some Capcom series, RE for example or SquEnix with FF7R, using existing resources to make the next (painful as a fan of FF for me as have no interest in FF7R games. :P).
Activision's COD approace with multiple studios working on multiple games in each series at the same time?
Do we need another crunch scenario ?
The amount of sequels/new releases vs the amount of IP's xbox owns really doesnt make sense right now. They should have a packed schedule year round, every year. Otherwise why make all these expensive aquisitions?
If they can churn out annual COD why not semi annual Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Halo etc.
Spinning off is just a different way to own them - Playstation is already a subsidiary of Sony so its probably not as big of a deal as some bad faith journalism would have us believe
Annual Halo confirmed.
