When the major restructuring of Xbox management was announced on Friday evening, everyone involved except Sarah Bond made an official statement. Now, just a few days later, Windows Central was given the opportunity to interview both the new gaming boss Asha Sharma and Matt Booty, who was promoted to chief content officer in connection with this.
One of the questions asked in the long and in-depth interview was what Sharma meant when she promised both "the return of Xbox" and "a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console." She replied:
"I think that our core Xbox fans and players have invested up to 25 years of themselves in these universes and our console. I want to make sure everybody knows I'm committed to Xbox, starting with the console. We're going to keep meeting players where they are — the world continues to evolve and change. We're going to make sure Xbox is a great place for developers and players."
Later in the interview, Sharma returned to the Xbox consoles again, and seemed to reaffirm that Xbox hardware is something that has a future:
"Xbox players have thousands of dollars invested, in money and time too — it's incredibly important for me to understand that and protect that. I am committed to 'returning to Xbox,' and that starts with console, that starts with hardware. You will hear more about that soon, we'll have some announcements coming up. You will see us collectively investing here. We also know that there are a lot of players who aren't on console or our hardware, and I want to deliver great games to them too. I need to learn more about what that can look like, what decisions were made, what we need to do going forward, and I want a little bit of time and space to do that."
In the same interview, Booty also had something to share regarding Xbox, stating that Microsoft will not become a third-party publisher, saying:
"We're committed to being a first-party games publisher in partnership with our first-party platform team."
Booty also touched on the use of AI among Microsoft's many Xbox developers, explaining that there are no requirements in this regard. It is one tool among many others:
"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 or check for bugs — things more in the production pipeline."
Sharma concludes by saying that she knows Xbox hasn't been without its problems, adding that her job now is to try to turn things around for a better future, and reminding us that Xbox has faced crises before that the brand has survived:
"We know that the business has gone through some challenges. I'm going to use my expertise and the leaders that have the deep gaming depth around the table to help us grow the business, and make sure that we have an incredible next 25 years. I will listen, I will learn, I will communicate what we're seeing, and what we're doing. I think from here, the work is proof over promise. Matt and I are in it, every hour of every day of every night, I am fully in this thing. This team has brought it back before, and I'm here to help us do it again."
We recommend checking out the entire interview, which contains several interesting details for those who want to know more about how the future of Xbox will unfold.