United Kingdom, Dec. 22 -- Microsoft has pushed back against claims that it imposed a 30 per cent profit margin target on its gaming division, denying reports that such a goal drove recent layoffs, studio closures, and cancelled projects across Xbox.

The clarification follows a CNBC report addressing months of speculation sparked by earlier coverage from Bloomberg, which suggested Microsoft's chief financial officer Amy Hood had set a company-wide "accountability margin" of 30 per cent that included Xbox.

That figure would have been far above the games industry norm, typically estimated at between 17 and 22 per cent, and was widely cited by analysts and developers as evidence of mounting financial pressure inside Microsoft's gaming arm....