Overview
- Satya Nadella announced Phil Spencer’s retirement after nearly four decades at Microsoft and appointed Asha Sharma as executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
- Sharma most recently led Microsoft’s CoreAI and previously served as Instacart’s chief operating officer and as a vice president at Meta.
- In her first remarks, Sharma vowed to focus on beloved games created by people and said the company would not flood its ecosystem with low-quality AI content.
- Xbox president Sarah Bond is also exiting, while Matt Booty is being promoted to chief content officer to maintain oversight of internal studios.
- Under Spencer, Xbox advanced Game Pass and completed major acquisitions such as Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, yet the business still seeks stronger payoff from those investments.