In an interview, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and CCO Matt Booty clarify previous statements made by the CEO, saying the company wants to bring back its spirit, and it starts with the console.
In case you haven’t heard, Xbox has a new CEO, and fans haven’t exactly been all too pleased about it. With the surprise retirement of Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond out at Xbox, former CoreAI CEO Asha Sharma has taken over the reins at Microsoft Gaming, with Matt Booty serving as CCO. Today, the new heads of Microsoft Gaming sat down with Windows Central for an interview to shed light on their future plans for Xbox and discuss their efforts to return the gaming juggernaut to form.
In her opening letter, signing on as CEO, Asha Sharma explained she wanted to bring about a “return” to Xbox. She clarifies what she meant by that statement, saying it’s “about returning to the spirit that the team was founded on,” adding, “It’s that spirit of surprise, it’s the spirit of building something nobody else was willing to try — I’ve heard ‘renegade,’ ‘rebellion,’ and ‘fun’ used. That’s what I was thinking about when I wrote that.”
She explained that she knows how long the dedicated fans have been on their platform, and she’s committed to meeting them where they are, starting with the console. This is far different from the previous “Every screen is an Xbox” strategy touted in February 2024. Sharma explains the company wants to reduce this friction (and the “artificial divide” fans have had between devices touted as the console) since then. They’re committed to breaking this divide and starting with the fans; the company plans to go from there. With regards to 25 years of gaming history, Sharma is looking towards “lifetime value, not just what happened in a previous moment.”
She continues, “players have thousands of dollars invested, in money and time too — it’s incredibly important for me to understand that and protect that,” adding, “I am committed to ‘returning to Xbox,’ and that starts with console, that starts with hardware. You will hear more about that soon,” confirming the company’s commitment to the home platform it started as. New hardware is still in the works.
On the topic of AI, CCO Matt Booty confirmed, “We’ve got no pressure from Microsoft; there are no directives on AI coming down. Our teams are free to use any technologies that might be beneficial, whether it’s helping write code, checking for bugs, or working on more production pipeline tasks. At the end of the day, as Asha said, we’re committed to art made by people,” saying the usage of AI in Microsoft’s ecosystem is for AI to be additive and supportive and not replace people. Sharma also said in the interview, “I will not flood our ecosystem with slop,” in regard to her previous role as a CoreAI executive.
Ultimately, the Xbox executives say they mainly want what the fans want: the next 25 years at Xbox to be incredible. With a sign off, Sharma says, “This team has brought it back before, and I’m here to help us do it again.”
Xbox fans will have to wait and see if the team behind the console will meet them “where they are.”
