Xbox mandates a four-day return to office

Key points

• Xbox employees near Redmond, Washington must work in the office at least four days a week starting February 1st, 2027.
• The policy applies to Puget Sound employees living within 50 commuting miles of Studio D.
• Xbox employees with existing exemptions must resubmit them under the new rules.

Xbox will require most of its Puget Sound employees to work from the office at least four days a week, up from Microsoft's current three-day requirement. The change takes effect February 1st, 2027, according to an internal memo seen by The Verge.

The rule covers Xbox employees in Puget Sound who live within 50 commuting miles of Studio D, near Microsoft's corporate campus in Redmond, Washington. Xbox chief people officer Jacinda Chislum Pearson described the move as a response to employee feedback and a "need to create more opportunities for people to work together."

What the memo says

Pearson said thousands of Xbox employees live within commuting distance of Redmond, and that working together in person makes it easier to review work, resolve issues and make decisions without scheduling extra meetings. She said leaders should be present and that coming into the office should not mean spending the day on Teams calls from another building.

The memo appears to suggest that established in-office practices for Xbox studios will remain unchanged. Employees with existing exemptions to Microsoft's return-to-office rules will need to resubmit them.

Leaders should be present, and coming into the office should not mean spending the same day on Teams calls from a different building

— Jacinda Chislum Pearson

Layoffs and job cuts

The return-to-office change comes a day after a report said Microsoft was planning to announce further Xbox layoffs this month, and in November and January. In July, Microsoft said it planned to eliminate around 20 percent of Xbox jobs by the end of its financial year in June 2027.