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Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Halts Console Copilot and Overhauls Leadership

The move signals a pivot toward core platform work to revive slowing Xbox growth.

Overview

  • Sharma, who disclosed the change Tuesday in a memo and on X, said Xbox will stop Copilot development on console and begin winding it down on mobile as part of retiring features that no longer fit.
  • Gaming Copilot had been in beta on the Xbox PC and mobile apps and on the ROG Ally handheld, and Microsoft had planned a console launch later this year, though Sharma did not address the status of the existing betas.
  • Four leaders from Microsoft’s CoreAI group are joining Xbox, with Jared Palmer focusing on engineering and tools, Tim Allen leading design, Jonathan McKay driving growth, and Evan Chaki running a forward‑deployed engineering team; former Instacart executive David Schloss will head subscriptions and cloud.
  • Two long‑tenured executives are stepping back, with Kevin Gammill leaving his post and Roanne Sones taking a leave before moving to an advisory role after 24 years each at Microsoft.
  • Sharma framed the reset as a bid to move faster, focus on developer tooling, discovery, personalization, and performance, and repair sliding results that include four gaming revenue declines in six quarters and a 33% drop in hardware sales; earlier moves under her tenure include cutting Game Pass prices and dropping the Microsoft Gaming brand.