There was literally no end to the big and earth-shattering news at the end of this week, with Sony hitting us with the closure of Bluepoint on Thursday evening, followed by a total restructuring of the leadership of the Xbox division on Friday evening.
The latter means that Phil Spencer is stepping down as Microsoft's gaming boss with immediate effect, but he will not be succeeded by his protégé Sarah Bond, as everyone had expected, but by Asha Sharma. She comes most recently from a management position at Microsoft's AI division and has also worked with consumer products, but many people reacted particularly strongly to the AI aspect. More AI is not exactly what gamers have been asking for.
Sharma herself has now commented on the change and her new job as head of everything related to Xbox, and it's clear that she realises her background may seem intimidating, because in an official statement she says, among other things:
"As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, 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."
She also mentions that she does not want to milk existing franchises dry and writes that although the most famous brands obviously have a place at Xbox, she wants new franchises to be developed in the future:
"To meet the moment, we will invent new business models and new ways to play by leaning into what we already have: iconic teams, characters, and worlds that people love. But we will not treat those worlds as static IP to milk and monetize. We will build a shared platform and tools that empower developers and players to create and share their own stories."
She also writes something Xbox gamers will like, namely a promise of "the return of Xbox" and something that can only mean that the promise of a new Xbox console is still on the table. Sharma seems eager to invest in this and writes:
"We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with the console that has shaped who we are. It connects us to the players and fans who invest in Xbox, and to the developers who build ambitious experiences for it."
She concludes her rather long post by saying that she wants Xbox to return to its more rebellious side, to surprise and break new ground:
"The next 25 years belong to the teams who dare to build something surprising, something no one else is willing to try, and have the patience to see it through. We have done this before, and I am here to help us do it again. I want to return to the renegade spirit that built Xbox in the first place. It will require us to relentlessly question everything, revisit processes, protect what works, and be brave enough to change what does not."
We know from experience that it often takes at least a year before you start to notice any kind of difference after a change in leadership in such large organisations, and several years before it's noticeable in the games. That said, does this sound good to you? What is your first impression of Asha Sharma as Xbox boss?
<bild>Asha Sharma to the left, Matt Booty (promoted to EVP and Chief Content Office) to the right.</bild>