Overview
- Xbox, in a memo shared Wednesday, appointed industry analyst Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer and named Scott Van Vliet chief technology officer.
- Ball will report to CEO Asha Sharma and will focus first on strengthening the console business, according to the reports.
- Van Vliet previously led Azure OpenAI and engineering for Microsoft Teams and will formally start after the Xbox Games Showcase.
- Xbox also promoted Chris Schnakenberg to corporate vice president for partnerships as hardware, Project Helix, and the OS teams continue to report to Sharma.
- The hires extend a recent reshuffle that brought CoreAI veterans into Xbox to sharpen strategy, speed product work, and prepare next‑generation plans like Project Helix, a device Microsoft is developing to run console and PC games.