The clarification follows a CNBC report addressing months of speculation sparked by earlier coverage from Bloomberg, which suggested Microsoft’s chief financial officer Amy Hood had set a company-wide “accountability margin” of 30 per cent that included Xbox.

That figure would have been far above the games industry norm, typically estimated at between 17 and 22 per cent, and was widely cited by analysts and developers as evidence of mounting financial pressure inside Microsoft’s gaming arm.

Microsoft told CNBC that while it does set ambitious performance goals, the reported 30 per cent profit mandate for Xbox is inaccurate.

The company did not outline specific internal targets, but the denial arrives after a bruising year for the division.

Xbox has faced thousands of job cuts in 2025, alongside the cancellation of long-running projects including Perfect Dark, Everwild, and ZeniMax Online’s unannounced MMO.

Several studios have also been shuttered, and Xbox quietly dropped its annual “Wrapped” feature, reportedly due to budget constraints.

The broader backdrop is a console market in decline, as industry-wide hardware spending fell sharply in 2025, with Xbox Series X and S sales hit particularly hard compared with rivals from Sony and Nintendo.

Microsoft has not reported console unit sales for nearly a decade, but third-party estimates suggest Xbox hardware is trailing significantly this generation.

At the same time, Microsoft has been reshaping Xbox around cloud, subscriptions, and cross-platform play.

Xbox Game Pass continues to grow, cloud gaming hours are up sharply, and former exclusives are increasingly launching on PlayStation and other platforms.

Microsoft executives have repeatedly argued that Xbox’s future is not defined by hardware margins alone, but by reaching players “everywhere”.