- Xbox Game Studios CEO Craig Duncan and Chief of Staff Louise O’Connor step down
- Their departures come amid reports of mass job cuts at Xbox
- The news also follows reports of several studio closures, including Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, and Double Fine.
Xbox Game Studios CEO Craig Duncan reportedly resigned from his position this week after less than two years in the role.
This is according to The Game Business, which claims that Duncan’s chief of staff, Louise O’Connor, is also leaving the company, less than a year after her arrival.
Duncan took the job in 2024 after the retirement of previous boss Alan Hartman, but has been with Xbox since 2011 and was the head of Microsoft. Sea of Thieves studio, Rare, for 14 years.
His role as CEO meant he oversaw many Xbox-owned studios, such as Rare, as well as Halo Studios, The Coalition, Flight Sim, Turn 10, Playground Games, Obsidian, Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, The Initiative, Double Fine, InXile, Undead Labs, and more.
Meanwhile, O’Connor joined Rare in 1999 as an animator for the Nintendo 64 game. Conker Bad Fur Daybut left the studio in 2025 after the cancellation of Always wildbefore becoming chief of staff in September last year.
The couple’s departure from Xbox comes after Bloomberg reported that CEO Asha Sharma was considering massive job cuts after she and chief content officer Matt Booty outlined a new “Xbox reset.”
The news also follows new reports that Microsoft is shutting down several award-winning studios, including Infernal Blade developer Ninja Theory, Compulsion Games, the creator of South of midnightAnd Psychonauts studio, Double Fine.
Employees of Ninja Theory, which has just announced its new game Senua during the Xbox Games Showcase 2026, they were reportedly informed of the closure on June 15 and told The Verge that they hoped to find a new buyer.
Bloomberg and Kotaku were the first to report the closures of Compulsion Games and Double Fine, which are in “active negotiations” for a split.
Sharma has been CEO for just over 100 days and has reformed ‘Microsoft Gaming’ to ‘Xbox’ and reiterated his plan to ‘come back to Xbox’ by taking the brand back to its roots.
During the Xbox Games Showcase, Sharma announced that Gears of War: E-Day will be an Xbox console exclusive, with Mechanical revolution.
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