Xbox’s new leader, five days later
And some crucial Xbox what-ifs relevant to Xbox's past and Xbox's future
Before Friday, many of the people I speak to who have worked at Xbox didn’t know Asha Sharma. She is the new CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division and is now the business’ most important enigma.
Her world had not intersected with most of team Xbox—or so they thought; more on that in a moment—until the news hit on Friday: longtime Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer was stepping down (not shocking) and would not be replaced by the heir apparent, Xbox president Sarah Bond (shocking).
Most recently, Sharma was the president of CoreAI - Product at Microsoft and an evangelist for Microsoft’s AI work, promoting the part of the business that’s been the clear priority for the company’s CEO.
Before her recent Microsoft run, from 2021-2024, Sharma was the chief operating officer at online grocery delivery company Instacart, helping lead it through its transformation into a publicly traded company.
And before that: She worked the start-up Porch, an insurance and software services company for homeowners, then at Facebook/Meta where she was head of product across Messenger and Instagram Direct.
Looking for gaming connections in Sharma’s background, one might take note of her affinity for Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin’s award-winning 2022 novel about two video game designers. She told an AI-focused interviewer last summer she’s read it multiple times. But that’s just a fun aside.
More intriguing: a brief bio, circa 2018, notes that before all of those aforementioned jobs, right before Porch,“Asha worked at Microsoft in Windows and Xbox.” That’d be during her original stint at Microsoft from 2011-2013. A Microsoft rep confirmed to me this is accurate, though had no details to share on just what Xbox work she did at the time.
Sharma’s career trend may not have involve gaming all that much—plenty of other top gaming execs’ didn’t—but it shows a consistent focus on software start-ups and shaping teams. Her resume is that of a builder rather than someone with a track record of stripping things down, though you don’t need to click online all that much to find anxieties that she’s been placed at Xbox, if not for an infusion of AI, then for a dismantling.
Sharma is at least already building her team. On Saturday, her former Porch colleague, Craig Cincotta, announced on LinkedIn that he was assuming the role of Sharma’s chief of staff. He’s been at Microsoft communications for AI, Azure, HoloLens and other divisions for the past decade. He ran Xbox PR during a prior Microsoft stint from 2010-2013.
On Tuesday, Sharma addressed Microsoft’s gaming team during a town hall. After the event, she posted praise for Spencer:
He pushed for backward compatibility because players asked for it. He helped bring Xbox One X to life. He created Game Pass. And through it all, he re-centered our decisions around players and creators.
A lot of careers get summed up by milestones. Phil’s impact shows up in stories. In the creators who felt safe taking risks, in the teams who did the best work of their lives because someone believed in them, and in players across generations who felt like Xbox was theirs.I’ll always remember this day. I’m proud to be part of Team Xbox. Now our journey begins
Xbox Exec meets X, and it goes as you’d expect
Sharma’s rise to the top Xbox job was meant to be announced Monday, but started leaking last Friday, shifting Microsoft’s plans, according to people familiar with the situation.
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