The sudden leadership change at the helm of Microsoft Gaming and Xbox, with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving their roles, has inevitably dominated the gaming industry conversation over the past few days.
While Phil Spencer’s retirement was in the air (despite Microsoft denying it just a few months ago) after a long tenure, it was believed that Sarah Bond, who had been president of Xbox since October 2023, would be the natural successor. Bond has instead left the company, and a subsequent report by The Verge revealed that she was the main driver behind the controversial ‘This Is an Xbox’ marketing campaign, which fans didn’t take well at all.
Microsoft has instead selected Asha Sharma, previously president of CoreAI, as the new CEO of the gaming division. It was another decision that has so far proven controversial; Xbox founder Seamus Blackley, who first thought of a Microsoft console and pitched it to Bill Gates over twenty-five years ago, openly shared his opinion that Sharma will be Xbox’s caretaker toward the eventual division’s shutdown in favor of Microsoft’s core businesses (chiefly AI-related).
His concerns are perhaps a little extreme, but certainly not entirely unfounded. In a recent Alinea Analytics newsletter, Head of Market Analysis Rhys Elliott mused that making games is more of an art than a business for a tech giant, adding that it’s a
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