Xbox forms Xbox Labs to experiment with game ports, mash-ups and emerging tech

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has set up Xbox Labs, a small internal team meant to turn emerging technology into things players and developers can try, according to a memo to staff that Microsoft published on Xbox Wire on October 13.

In the memo, Sharma describes the group as game makers, engineers and scientists, and says she asked “Scott” to set it up. Polygon identifies him as Scott Van Vliet, chief technology officer for Xbox. “We’ll build in the open, learn from what people do, and measure success by whether more people are playing and creating,” Sharma wrote.

Sharma said the idea came from recent projects in which games were decompiled and rebuilt for hardware they were never designed for. She cited Windows PC builds translated to run on Apple Silicon or in a web browser through WebAssembly and WebGPU, and big games remixed into one another’s source code. In her view, these experiments make games easier to reach, give older titles new life and turn more players into creators. She called those good outcomes for players, even when they challenge Xbox’s business models. Polygon pointed to examples such as the original Halo: Combat Evolved running in a browser with 128-player multiplayer.

Sharma also argued that games share the traits that made coding the first major workload for AI agents. She said people spend more than 72 billion hours a year playing Xbox games, about five times the estimated time spent writing code worldwide. Xbox plans to share the tools it builds with developers across the industry.

A company spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz that Xbox Labs has no explicit directive to use AI and will use it only where it helps or is needed. According to the outlet, the team is made up of existing staff, with no new hires. It brings together R&D work that was already underway, including porting games to Apple silicon, browser-based distribution using WebGPU, and support for modders. No product announcements are planned, the spokesperson said. Some projects may show up in the Xbox Insiders program, while others may reach different audiences.

Sharma said Xbox’s priorities have not changed, including its “4Cs” goals, its hardware and its care for its IP. “LABS gives us a way to explore new technology without abandoning the work already underway,” she wrote.

Polygon contrasted the move with Sharma’s comments in February, when she took over as CEO and said Xbox would not fill its ecosystem with low-effort AI content. The Verge said it asked Microsoft about unauthorized use of its IP in fan projects, but the company did not respond in time for publication.