Phil Spencer has been the face of Xbox for over a decade now. In fact, he got the role ever since the disastrous promoting of the Xbox One by Don Mattrick. But soon, that face will change again. This is because, effective 23 February, Spencer will be retiring. It doesn’t end there either, as Xbox president Sarah Bond, long thought to be the one to succeed Spencer, has also resigned.
In their place, Microsoft is putting Asha Sharma in the seat of Microsoft Gaming CEO. Her prior role to leading Xbox is as President of CoreAI Product. Reporting to her is Matt Booty after being promoted from Xbox Game Studios to Chief Content Officer. Which sounds like a strange move, having an incumbent of the videogames industry reporting to a newcomer. But for what it’s worth, Spencer will stay on in an advisory role “through the summer to support a smooth handoff”.
Former AI Exec Says No AI Slop
In internal emails first reported by IGN and later posted officially by Microsoft, Sharma gives the impression that she understands what gamers want. She says that “my first hob is simple: understand what makes this work and protect it”. And part of this supposedly means “we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans and created with the most innovative technology provided by us”.
Which all sounds well and good. But time will tell if those words hold water. After all, Microsoft is among the biggest names in the industry-wide push of generative AI tech. Per her own LinkedIn page, Sharma herself previously led the product portfolio of AI models, apps and agents, as well as dev tools for them.
(Source: , Microsoft, Asha Sharma / LinkedIn)
