Last year, Microsoft announced to its employees that it expected them to start working at least three days in the office per-week, and now that requirement is going up to four days for certain Xbox employees as of February 2027.

This is according to a report from The Verge, which quotes Xbox's chief people officer (Jacinda Chislum Pearson) from a recent internal memo. In a nutshell, it sounds like anyone who lives within a short distance of Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington will be told to attend the office for four days or more per-week.

The memo mentions that "thousands" of employees live within commuting distance:

“Starting February 1st, 2027, Xbox employees in Puget Sound who live within 50 commuting miles of Studio D are required to work from the office a minimum of four days a week."

“We have thousands of Xbox employees within commuting distance of Redmond. Taking advantage of that proximity and working together in person makes it easier to review work, resolve issues, and make decisions without the burden of scheduling another meeting.”

As part of this, it's said that leaders should also be present in the building to make the extra mandated time worth it, and that the idea is to review work, solve problems and play games together in order to achieve "time well spent".

There may be exceptions to the rule here, such as in the case of "established in-office practices" at various Xbox studios. In general though, this marks a significant shift towards a more office-based focus for Xbox's future.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know down in the comments section below.

[source theverge.com]