The head of Xbox Game Studios, Craig Duncan, has officially stepped down from his role alongside its chief of staff, Louise O’Connor. The announcement comes a few days after reports that layoffs within XBOX are imminent.
Duncan took over from Alan Hartman in November 2024, and oversaw the many studios under XBOX’s banner. Some of these included Halo Studios, The Coalition, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and more. Both Duncan and O’Connor used to work at Rare. The reason for their departure is currently unknown. Until a replacement is found, his studios will report to Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty.
In February, former Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer retired and Xbox President Sarah Bond resigned from Xbox. In their place, Asha Sharma took the reins as Xbox CEO and Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty took over as Chief Content Officer of Xbox. Since then, Xbox has lowered the price of Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99 and renamed Microsoft Gaming to simply “Xbox.” Yesterday, she stated that Xbox has ended development of AI tool Copilot for Xbox Series X|S. Additionally, it will “wind down” Copilot on mobile devices.
In a recent message, Sharma reported that the XBOX business needs a “reset,” as they work to navigate the increased costs of hardware components, lacking platform infrastructure, and a severe profit deficit. During the recent Xbox Games Showcase 2026, XBOX showed off both first and third-party games alike. Some of the major announcements included a new look at Halo: Campaign Evolved, the announcement that Persona 4 Revival would release on February 18, Spyro: A Realm Beyond, the first look at Persona 6, and more. Only time will tell if these announcements and the new leadership will “revive” the XBOX brand as many are hoping.
