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Could Microsoft sell off Xbox amid the company's biggest restructuring strategy yet?

Analysts say Xbox, as it stands, would be too expensive for even some of the biggest buyers

It's suggested that big players would be more interested in purchasing "specific pieces" of the business

As Xbox goes through its biggest restructuring yet, and the seemingly never-ending stream of bad news for those involved continues, the future of the gaming company is uncertain.

While some question whether it would be in Microsoft's best interest to sell off the gaming company, industry analysts have suggested that the move would be a hugely expensive endeavour for interested parties, but it's possible that the Xbox we know could be dismantled piece by piece.

Microsoft's major Xbox restructuring announcement, which Xbox CEO Asha Sharma called a "reset," confirmed that thousands of employees were affected by layoffs, including 1,600 immediate job cuts with another 1,600 to come before the end of the current financial year.

The company has also let go of four studios, including Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions, which are returning to independence, and Senua and State of Decay 3 creators, Ninja Theory and Undead Labs, which are currently looking for new ownership.

This new strategy follows a year of struggles for Xbox, which has increased the prices of its consoles once again, cancelled and shuttered several games and studios , with Sharma now admitting that the company is "not healthy" in its current state, with Game Pass being a key fault.

"Our business today is not healthy," Sharma said in an email sent to Xbox employees. "We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected."

Before the recent upheaval, The Information (via Reuters ) reported that Sharma was looking to speed up development on games in The Elder Scrolls , Fallout , and Halo franchises and that Microsoft is considering options for its Xbox gaming unit, including a potential spinoff or restructuring ​as a wholly owned subsidiary.

While some believe that the recent restructuring is a plan to make Xbox easier to sell, analysts have suggested to The Verge that there wouldn't be many interested stakeholders who would purchase the entire business, mainly because it would be too expensive considering Xbox's current portfolio.

"I think all options are on the table, considering the drastic measures already put in place to try and restructure the business at both a cyclical and structural level," said Yoshio Osaki, president and CEO of market research firm IDG Intelligence.

Similarly, New York University professor Joost van Dreunen told The Verge, "A wholesale divestiture of Xbox remains on the table, and it looks likelier given Xbox's struggles with rising hardware costs and Microsoft's focus on AI and infrastructure."

He added, "It's never been clear what role Xbox plays in Microsoft's flywheel," but a full sale is the "less likely path" since there are few buyers, including giants like Netflix, Amazon, and Tencent, who would want or afford "an entire interactive-entertainment conglomerate running north of $23 billion in annual revenue."

Instead, Van Dreunen said the likelier scenario is that big players might go after "specific pieces" of the business, with Osaki noting "it's possible that "individual studios, IPs, and teams are sold or spun off piecemeal.”

Sharma revealed her vision for Xbox after taking up the position of CEO in January and said she plans to return to the spirit of what the company was founded on, as well as reduce "the artificial divide between different types of devices."

With the latest part of her plan underway, which has notably delivered another crushing blow to the studios under Xbox's ownership, it's unclear right now where the gaming giant is headed.

According to Osaki, the full vision will be clear by "year-end," while van Dreunen thinks it will be "within 24 months."

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EU mandates driver-facing cameras for all new cars.

Systems trigger alarms if the driver looks away for 3.5 seconds.

The mandatory safety measure has triggered privacy concerns.

The European Union has switched on the final phase of its updated General Safety Regulation, and the headline requirement lands squarely on the driver. As of July 7, every new passenger vehicle sold in the bloc must carry an eye-tracking driver-monitoring system. Plenty of automakers already run some version of this hardware for fatigue warnings, but the law turns an optional feature into a legal requirement across all new cars and vans.

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American drivers shouldn’t treat this as a distant European problem. Federal safety programs aimed at impaired and distracted driving move toward the USA’s own mandatory rollout of driver monitoring systems for new cars by 2027, so the tech arriving in European showrooms today is a preview of what lands stateside tomorrow.

Review: We Play Passenger With Stellantis Hands-Free Active Driving Assist

The EU’s sweeping mandate is expected to affect an estimated 15 million vehicles per year. Among its requirements is the so-called Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) system, which relies on dashboard-integrated infrared sensors and software capable of analyzing precise head and eye movements .

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BMW

The software maps out specific zones of the interior, reserving its closest attention for the lower portions of the cabin, including the instrument cluster, the infotainment display, the steering wheel, the dashboard, and the center console.

More: A $10 Ronaldo Doll Head Is Fooling Tesla So Drivers Can Doze Off

If the driver keeps their eyes fixed in this area for more than 6 seconds at speeds between 20-50 km/h (12-31 mph), or for more than 3.5 seconds when going faster than that, they get visual and acoustic warnings. To prevent false alarms, the software builds in a minimum tolerance of 50 milliseconds.

Driver Distraction Is The Enemy

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The legislation is driven by the European Commission’s estimate that between 10% and 30% of traffic accidents in Europe stem from driver distraction. Lawmakers reckon the driver monitoring system could save 25,000 lives by 2038.

The American data tells the same story. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ( NHTSA ) ties driver distraction to 16% of all fatal collisions, 21% of injury crashes, and 22% of every automotive accident in the States.

Buyer Concerns

Renault

While improving road safety is a noble goal, the way these systems actually behave is already fueling a backlash. Automotive reviewers claim they often trigger false alarms by mistaking a normal blinking pattern and ordinary head movements for drowsiness, then nagging the driver to take a break. Others see one more mandated electronic package that could further inflate the cost of their new car.

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More: The Feds Could Soon Clear The Way For A Tesla With No Brake Pedal

The most serious concern, though, has to do with privacy. On paper, the official EU text explicitly states that the ADDW system must function as a closed-loop architecture. Yet privacy advocates warn that regulators have yet to set up any independent auditing mechanisms to confirm manufacturers are actually following the rules.

As reported by Risky Business , citing Belgium’s VRT channel, Volvo openly admitted that its driver-monitoring architecture processes real-time data on secure external cloud servers, contradicting the closed-loop guidelines.

Volvo

That admission is troubling given the automotive industry’s track record with consumer data . Giants like GM, Hyundai and Kia have been caught tracking driving habits and selling that telemetry to data brokers, who then pass it to insurance companies to jack up customer premiums.

More: He Braked Hard Once, Then His Insurance Jumped $100 A Month

The hope, and it is only that, is that regulators might actually do their job and stop modern vehicles from turning into high-tech corporate spies.

Other Requirements

Besides the driver monitoring system, the new legislation requires all new passenger cars and vans to come standard with a more advanced AEB featuring pedestrian and cyclist detection. Automakers must also provide better forward vision in their models, expand the safety glass area that protects pedestrians during collisions, and run extra tests for worn tires.

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Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

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OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Work alongside GPT 5.6.

The new agent can gather context across apps, files, and workflows to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.

ChatGPT Work works on mobile, web, and desktop.

After a short preview period, OpenAI is officially debuting GPT 5.6. With GPT 5.6, the company is releasing three models: Sol, Terra, and Luna. But that’s not the only reveal the company has today, as it also introduced ChatGPT Work.

Today, OpenAI announced the launch of ChatGPT Work. This new agent is designed to gather context across apps, files, and workflows to create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. ChatGPT Work will work on mobile, web, and desktop.