Xbox is in freefall but all one exec can talk about is GTA 6 pre-orders

A PS5 showcase (Rockstar) Despite thousands of layoffs and concerns over the future of Halo, one Xbox executive really wants to clarify that GTA 6 pre-orders are ‘breaking records’ on the platform. Between thousands of layoffs over the past few years, poor sales of the Xbox Series X/S, and admissions that things are not going well from current CEO Asha Sharma, it’s clear Xbox is in a dire situation. The company’s gamble on Xbox Game Pass this generation has failed to meet their lofty expectations, which has led to a pivot back to exclusive games and a reinforced focus on its home console. Xbox is currently undergoing a so-called ‘reset’, which will see 3,200 people lose their jobs before the end of June 2027. As announced this week, this ‘reset’ also includes several studio mergers and a major shift for the Halo IP, with the next game in the series now in development at Activision. A report on The Verge has unearthed some additional details about Halo’s shift. It’s claimed most of the team at Halo Studios have been laid off, which has been corroborated elsewhere, and that the remaining staff will only continue to support existing titles like Halo Infinite and the recently released Halo: Campaign Evolved. A sequel to Halo Infinite was apparently in the works at Halo Studios, but it was ‘years away’ from launch, so Microsoft ‘pulled the plug’ instead. A separate report by Halo insider and YouTuber Rebs Gaming claims the studio presented an update to Xbox executives regarding their next Halo game only a week prior to these latest layoffs. So presumably that didn’t go well. Expert, exclusive gaming analysis Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. It’s believed other planned projects at Halo Studios have been shelved, including remakes of Halo 2 and 3. According to Rebs Gaming, Halo Studios boss Pierre Hintze wants to ‘use AI to deliver smaller Halo projects and try to get resources to outsource development for the remakes’, but it’s claimed Activision ‘wants nothing to do with Pierre’. Halo: Campaign Evolved hasn’t been much of a success (Xbox Game Studios) Amid all this upheaval, a note in The Verge report claims GTA 6 pre-orders on Xbox are also ‘ringing yet more alarm bells about the platform’, as they are ‘heavily skewed’ toward the PlayStation 5. This shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Sony’s PlayStation 5 has sold over 95 million units worldwide, while the Xbox Series X/S is believed to have sold around 35 million (Microsoft stopped reporting sales figures in the Xbox One era). Based on this alone, GTA 6 is going to sell a lot more copies on PlayStation 5 than Xbox Series X/S, but the crux of Rockstar’s marketing has also strongly pushed the PlayStation 5 version and all but ignored Xbox. Despite these basic facts, and amid all the turmoil around Xbox’s future, the company’s chief strategy officer, Matthew Ball, has gone on a peculiar defensive spree on X, to try and brag about the volume of GTA 6 pre-orders on Xbox – without providing any actual numbers. In response to The Verge report, Ball wrote: ‘We are very happy with GTA 6 pre-orders. The title is breaking records for Xbox, we expect even more records will be broken through the fall, and our internal analysis shows our share of pre-orders to be matching our share of the console market.’ As ever with Xbox, it’s a vague statement with no data to back it up. The Verge’s Tom Warren replied by asking the key question: ‘What’s your share of the console market?’ Unsurprisingly, Ball didn’t provide an answer. Ball’s since made a point to refute the same reporting shared by other X accounts, including CharlieIntel and NextGenPlayer. While he’s within his right to do so, it feels bizarre that he would call out this relatively minor part of a report, when so much worse is going on. The actual question he should be answering is why anyone should have any faith in Xbox at this point, as it lays off thousands of people, butchers great studios like id Software, yet still finds money to fund Hideo Kojima projects for petty PR wins. GTA 6 is set to have a major impact on the games industry, with its presence inevitably set to roll into the next generation. However, when it comes to Microsoft’s next console Project Helix, it’s unclear if Xbox will even be a part of that conversation at all. Xbox’s future is more uncertain than ever (Microsoft) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Ganondorf almost got his own Zelda spin-off by Ubisoft claims report Arrow MORE: Games Inbox: What is the best Rare game? Arrow MORE: EA Sports FC 27 is out today but here’s 4 features EA still need to fix GameCentral Sign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.