Asha Sharma has been named the new Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Gaming, effective Monday, February 23, replacing Phil Spencer, who is retiring after 38 years with the company. The appointment, announced Saturday, comes with a significant restructuring that also sees Matt Booty promoted to Chief Content Officer, while Xbox President Sarah Bond has resigned, according to a statement from Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.
Sharma, currently President of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, joins Xbox after previously serving as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and a Vice President at Meta. She also sits on the board of The Home Depot, according to reports. Nadella highlighted Sharma’s experience in scaling services reaching billions of users and supporting developer ecosystems as crucial for the gaming business’s next phase of growth.
In an internal memo to staff, Sharma outlined three key priorities: “Great Games,” “The Return of Xbox,” and “The Future of Gaming.” Her commitment to the Xbox platform was explicit, stating, “We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox, starting with the consoles that have defined us.” However, she also affirmed that Microsoft would continue its cross-platform strategy, suggesting a continued presence beyond dedicated hardware.
Booty, who will report to Sharma, will oversee nearly 40 studios encompassing Xbox, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard and King, responsible for franchises like Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crush, and Fallout. In his own memo, Booty indicated no planned organizational changes within the studios themselves, though this does not preclude potential future workforce reductions following significant layoffs at Microsoft in the past year.
Sharma also addressed the growing role of artificial intelligence in game development, stating a commitment to creating games “with the most modern technologies” while emphasizing the importance of human artistry. She explicitly stated a desire to avoid “AI slop,” signaling a cautious approach to integrating AI that prioritizes quality and creative input over purely efficiency-driven development. “We will not pursue short-term efficiency at the expense of our ecosystem, nor will we flood it with soulless AI,” she wrote.
The timing of the leadership transition coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Xbox, and as Microsoft’s gaming division reaches over 500 million monthly active users. While no specific timeline for the next generation of Xbox consoles was provided, AMD recently indicated that development of a semi-custom chip for Microsoft is on track for a release next year, though supply chain issues could potentially delay that timeline.
