Gaming

Xbox

Engadget Podcast: Xbox resets with layoffs

We chat with Mike Futter from the Virtual Economy Podcast about Microsoft's sad Xbox trajectory.

By Devindra Hardawar

July 10, 2026 10:15 am EST

Aaron Souppouris for Engadget

Microsoft made its Xbox layoffs official this week, and they're absolutely brutal. The company plans to lay off 3,200 employees, or 20 percent of its workforce, over the next year. This week, 1,600 were immediately let go. To help us understand Xbox's strategy (if there's any), we chatted with Mike Futter, co-host of the Virtual Economy Podcast and Director of Ops and Publishing at Causeway Studios. Once again, we chart Xbox's sad decline to the inauspicious debut of the Xbox One in 2013.

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Topics

• Microsoft's Xbox layoffs get real and several studios are spun off – 0:59

• Mike Futter's prediction for the future of game dev: AAA and everyone else – 35:34

• Behold, iRobot's first new product post-bankruptcy: a vacuum operated by humans – 42:39

• Jess Conditt's Steam Machine review: Very expensive and underpowered...but at least it's quiet! – 44:47

• Pop culture picks – 46:06

Credits

Host: Devindra Hardawar

Guest: Mike Futter

Producer: Ben Ellman

Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien