- Phil Spencer resigns and retires from Microsoft
- Asha Sharma is the new EVP and CEO of Microsoft Gaming
- She will provide the new leadership and direction for all Xbox games
It’s a new dawn for Xbox and its millions of devoted fans. Microsoft announced on Friday (February 20) that longtime Xbox boss Phil Spencer is retiring and Asha Sharma will step into the role of CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
Sharma joined Microsoft two years ago after previously serving as Instacart’s COO. Phil Spencer, who started as an intern, is leaving after 38 years at Microsoft, the last dozen of which led Microsoft’s gaming efforts.
Under his leadership, the Xbox business was transformed, characterized by a focus, perhaps less on hardware and more on the platform as a service. He expanded Game Pass and launched several “Day One” releases on the platform. Xbox Network, formerly Xbox live, currently has over 500 million monthly active users. Spencer oversaw the acquisitions of Activision and Minecraft and the release of major game franchises such as Halo, Forza and Gears of War.
Spencer also owns the much-mocked Game Pass price hikes, which drove monthly fees up 50%, from $19.99 a month to $29.99 a month, and his laser focus on cloud-based services has left some worried that the once-famous Xbox console is now a second-glass citizen in the Xbox gaming ecosystem.
Yes, Xbox, No, AI
Clearly aware of these and other criticisms, Asha Sharma promised in a blog post, “that Xbox will return.”
“We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with the console that has shaped who we are. It connects us to the players and fans who invest in Xbox and to the developers who build ambitious experiences for it,” Sharma wrote.
That’s great news for Xbox fans, but Xbox faces an uphill battle with the current console, which according to Quantumrun has just under 31% market share compared to the PS5.
However, Sharma is not promising a pure return to hardware first. As she notes in her company announcement, “Gaming now lives across devices, not within the confines of any single piece of hardware. As we expand across PC, mobile and cloud, Xbox should feel seamless, immediate and worthy of the communities we serve.”
It sounds like more cloud-based device-agnostic services.
Sharma also touched on the most controversial technology topic: AI, committing to human-created content.
We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop
Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma
“As monetization and AI evolve and impact this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, made by humans and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”
While it’s not yet clear how Sharma and her newly promoted lieutenant, Microsoft Games Chief Content Officer Matt Booty, plan to achieve those goals, there’s no shortage of enthusiasm, “I want to return to the apostate spirit that built Xbox in the first place,” Sharma wrote.
“Together, Asha and Matt have the right combination of consumer product leadership and game depth to push our platform innovation and content pipeline forward,” Microsoft CEO Satya wrote in his message to staff.
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