The still relatively new head of Xbox, Asha Sharma, has been on the job for just over two months and has already shaken up the organisation in a big way, often in a manner that has been well-received by fans. And now she's at it again with a move that we think very few will object to.
Through social media, she has announced that she is restructuring the Xbox team and has "promoted leaders who helped build Xbox, while also bringing in new voices to help push us forward". We don't know if this has any connection to the meeting with Xbox creator Seamus Blackley (which we reported on the other day), but it certainly seems like there will be more passionate Xbox employees moving forward.
Sharma also writes that "you'll see us begin to retire features that don't align with where we're headed" and specifically mentions that she "will stop development of Copilot on console".
As recently as the first half of March (shortly after Phil Spencer stepped down), Microsoft announced the Gaming Copilot feature, which was intended to be a sort of digital sidekick while you play. The idea was that you could get AI assistance in, for example, Elden Ring or help finding something in Resident Evil Requiem. Now it's clear that the concept is being scrapped before it even got off the ground. Anyone who was worried that former AI chief Asha Sharma would flood Xbox with AI seems to have been way off the mark.
As you may notice, she also writes "begin retire," so it sounds like this is the first Xbox feature she's scrapping, but not necessarily the last.
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