# Xbox's Shakeup and Wake Up Last Friday, Ryan McCaffrey had [the scoop of all scoops](https://www.ign.com/articles/phil-spencer-retiring-sarah-bond-out-matt-booty-promoted-as-microsoft-ai-exec-asha-sharma-named-new-xbox-boss-exclusive) for Xbox—Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are out: Matt Booty ascends and Asha Sharma enters as the new Xbox CEO from Microsoft's CoreAI division. My initial reaction was a bit like this...  I wanted to write that day or weekend, but life got in the way and I knew that more would come out in the following days. There is much to glean inside the company when this all went down. The [[Xbox Declares the End of the Console Wars|mess that Xbox has made of itself this generation]] becomes more clear in the aftermath of the restructuring. That Friday was full of people assuming Sarah Bond was sidelined for an AI exec by Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella. For years, many have assumed that Bond would be the replacement for Spencer, including myself. Emails were leaked and Bond was only mentioned in Spencer's. This all seemed fishy to me and I was right. This story was meant for the following Monday and McCaffrey got the leak.[^1] > "Spencer, in his email to Microsoft staff, said in part: 'Last fall, I shared with Satya that I was thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life. From that moment, we aligned on approaching this transition with intention, ensuring stability, and strengthening the foundation we’ve built. Xbox has always been more than a business. It’s a vibrant community of players, creators, and teams who care deeply about what we build and how we build it. And it deserves a thoughtful, deliberate plan for the road ahead.  > > 'Today marks an exciting new chapter for Microsoft Gaming as Asha Sharma steps into the role of CEO, and I want to be the first to welcome her to this incredible team. Working with her over the past several months has given me tremendous confidence. She brings genuine curiosity, clarity and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners, and team, and we’re committed to getting it right. I’ll remain in an advisory role through the summer to support a smooth handoff.' Tom Warren at The Verge got [the back half of the scoop](https://www.theverge.com/tech/883015/microsoft-xbox-new-ceo-shakeup-notepad?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6IkpYeERHeWF6NUwiLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvODgzMDE1L21pY3Jvc29mdC14Ym94LW5ldy1jZW8tc2hha2V1cC1ub3RlcGFkIiwiZXhwIjoxNzcyMjkwNjAwLCJpYXQiOjE3NzE4NTg2MDB9.getJ-3kspePX7CrVmely9uWHy0nEaJuj6YCKKbJMCfU&utm_medium=gift-link) with the inside look at the shake up and the weekend that ensued following IGN's report. > "Spencer’s decision led to months of careful successor planning. It was announced to the world on Friday, but it was supposed to be today. Microsoft was forced to announce early because it started to leak and *IGN* was planning to run a story, according to sources familiar with the situation. > > That kicked off a day of chaos..." I remember a lot of heated discussion around Bond's LinkedIn post looking like she was out of the loop. I knew Bond doesn't manage her own LinkedIn (although she might be now), and this was just a casualty of reporting. I couldn't imagine a world where this succession wasn't planned and known by all major players involved and I was right. In early 2024, there were departures at Xbox that caused the command chain to funnel more directly to Bond, herself recently promoted to the president of Xbox. This included the Chief Marketing Officer. Warren with the internal vibes; > "That meant the Xbox marketing team was now reporting directly to Bond. A month later, Microsoft delivered a [marketing campaign](https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/11/24196361/microsoft-xbox-no-console-required-notepad) that signalled people didn’t need to buy an Xbox console anymore. The message was that 'you don’t need an Xbox to play Xbox,' because games were available through Xbox Cloud Gaming on TVs. > > This was all part of the 'Xbox everywhere' strategy that Bond had been pursuing, a vision to move the Xbox brand beyond its roots in console hardware. Months later the [“This is an Xbox” campaign launched](https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/14/24296420/microsoft-this-is-an-xbox-marketing-campaign-xbox-everywhere), with commercials that positioned a phone or a tablet as an Xbox instead of just a console. It was a confusing campaign, and I’m told it offended many Xbox employees internally." It offended many people outside of Xbox. The writing was on the wall all gen though, as [[Xbox Declares the End of the Console Wars|I have written about]]. > "The pivot away from console, led by Bond, under Spencer’s direction, hasn’t gone well for Xbox. Microsoft’s Xbox hardware revenue [has declined](https://www.theverge.com/news/869493/microsoft-q2-2026-earnings-revenue-profits-windows-xbox-gaming-surface) for three financial years in a row, and it looks like those declining revenues are going to continue throughout fiscal 2026." [[Not to Be Outdone By PlayStation and Nintendo, Xbox Raises The Prices Again|You don't say]]? While focusing on Xbox as a publisher and service, instead of a console with a library of games, Xbox leadership's eye was off the ball with the supply chain and AI's rabid consumption of RAM, GPUs, and silicon—a rabid consumption that their parent company frenetically feeds. Warren's piece and quotes from folks inside put Bond as the muscle behind the push for cloud, mobile, etc. I believe it, but "the pivot away from console, led by Bond, *under Spencer's direction*..." is the key to me. She may have been the face, but Phil has for years championed cloud gaming, mobile, etc. I mean, this is the guy that green lit *[Gears Pop!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears_Pop!)* and was no doubt looking at King and *Candy Crush* as sweet additions to the portfolio during the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Do not be fooled—the [[The Future of Xbox Isn’t Just a Console – Wired|pivot away from console]] was Phil. > “I don’t think it’s ‘hardware agnostic’ as much as it’s ‘where you want to play,’” Which makes Sharma's email to the team more striking. She says all the right things, top to bottom, with a top three of "great games," "the return of Xbox," and the "future of play." > "We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console which has shaped who we are." I mean, to be fair, there's at least one more Xbox console in the wings. It's been [[Xbox Preservation Team "Announced"|talked]] about and [teased](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/06/19/xbox-amd-next-generation-xbox/) for years now. Last summer they announced the [multi-year AMD deal](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/06/19/xbox-amd-next-generation-xbox/) for custom silicon, which is [[The King of Custom – PS5 Specs Revealed|crucial in this day and age of consoles]]. > "This week, Xbox announced it is actively building its next-generation lineup across console, handheld, PC, cloud, and accessories. As part of this, Xbox unveiled that it has entered into a strategic, multi-year partnership with AMD to co-engineer silicon across a portfolio of devices, including future first-party consoles and cloud." My favorite part of Sharma's email was this; > "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.  > > "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." That last paragraph was clearly crafted to target the immediate backlash her previous position brought with it. Back to Warren with insider concerns; > "Some Xbox employees worry she’ll force AI into everything Xbox does, but Sharma was clearly ready for that reaction." I mean, Microsoft is their parent company. A year ago Xbox [announced a generative model for gameplay dubbed Muse](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2025/02/19/muse-ai-xbox-empowering-creators-and-players/) that I have meant to write about now for apparently a year. AI is taking the technology and gaming industries, let alone the world, by storm. I will say, the gaming communities absolute total rejection of the technology is ridiculous. There are untold gains and benefits to be had with the capabilities that AI brings. The important element is to use it for what it is—[[Memory Card 29 – Intentional Tools|a tool]]. I think a prime example of this was last year's overhyped "indie" darling *Clair Obscur: Expedition 33* where the use of AI in its development was revealed *after* it won hearts and awards. Doesn't make the game any less good knowing the dev team of 30~ people used some AI tools along the way. The community seemed to do a total 180 and bite back. Absolute ridiculousness. Jez Corden over at Windows Central actually got to [interview Sharma and Booty](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/exclusive-talking-to-new-xbox-ceo-asha-sharma-and-cco-matt-booty). The latter's statement to about AI and wrongly speculated "mandates" rings true to me. > "'Just as a group, game developers are always eager to adopt new technology. When Photoshop showed up, it took about one month for it to appear in every game studio on the planet because it was so useful,' Matt noted that Xbox's goal is for AI to be additive and supportive, rather than disruptive on its teams. 'What I hear throughout our studios: it is the people, our artists, our coders, the writers — they're doing the creative work. In my experience, any time there's a new technology, what happens is there's a need for more specialists, new specialists. It raises the bar on what the expectations are for the quality of the games.'" Back to Sharma and her leadership sensibilities. > "Xbox notoriously ditched any form of exclusivity on its games, shifting units to PlayStation paying little mind to the criticisms that it reduces the need to actually *buy* an Xbox. Sharma told me that nothing is off the table when it comes to revising Xbox's strategy — but finalizing the strategy will take time, and data parsing... > > "'...Right now, I need to learn, candidly. About the 'why' of these decisions, what we were optimizing for, and what the data says about the Xbox strategy today. That's the honest answer. I'm looking at lifetime value, not just what happened in a previous moment, or in short term efficiencies and things like that. The plan's the plan until it's not the plan.'" One can only hope that this means the end of advertising everything is an Xbox. If you are a jack of all hardware, you are the master of none. It does make me wonder how the decisions for the next Xbox made back with Spencer and Bond will be compatible with the new leadership and however they decide to steer the ship. Perhaps the rumored "[don't call it a delay](https://insider-gaming.com/ram-prices-next-gen/)" delays due to parts shortages will be a blessing in disguise—if the Series consoles can survive that long. Microsoft may need to eat crow to keep the new box price as low as possible. Booty was even so bold as to claim that Xbox is committed to being a first-party developer and company, despite porting everything everywhere all at once. > "*We're committed to being a first-party games publisher in partnership with our first-party platform team.*" That I will believe when I see. But Sharma continues to *say* the right things, emphasis my own; > "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." Xbox was dying on the vine before this shake up. It has been poisoned by decisions made to control the living room. It has been drowned by the billions of dollars poured out in acquisition. It has had studios—[[Phil Spencer Visits The Initiative|new]] and [old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Game_Studios#Former)—wither into oblivion. The immediate future shows signs of life though. For the first time in ages, *Halo*, *Gears*, *Forza*, and *Fable* come out in the same year—from teams that make superb games to boot![^2] This change in leadership may just be fertile ground that Xbox the company, the brand, and the community need. It's a wake up call. Time to see how Sharma and Booty will answer. [^1]: Good for him. [^2]: Except for "Halo Studios" because that's just 343 with a different name. They got serious proving to do too.