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Xbox Boss Phil Spencer is Leaving Microsoft

erek

erek

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“Just as Xbox is celebrating its 25th year, a major division shakeup has occurred. According to the latest update, Matt Booty has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, reporting to Asha. His experience includes working with nearly 40 game studios, including Xbox, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and King. Former Xbox chief Phil Spencer shared that the new leadership with Matt Booty and Asha Sharma has given him confidence in continuing the Xbox legacy. Under the new leadership, they need to help expand the Xbox business, which now has an active user base of over 500 million gamers across the globe.”

Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/346604/xbox-boss-phil-spencer-is-leaving-microsoft-after-nearly-40-years
 
New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is Indian AI executive with no experience in gaming.

1771626625920.png
 
crazy that Phil Spencer has been at Microsoft for 38 years...I thought Xbox president Sarah Bond was his most likely successor but she has also left the company
 
Twisted Kidney said:
The culling will begin within the calendar year.
Click to expand...

Great games I have my doubts, but Xbox hardware and Windows Lite are so far in development I'd be very surprised if they get cut.

I know there's a call for cloud gaming but until the AI bubble bursts that hardware is far more valuable for that.
 
Axman said:
Great games I have my doubts, but Xbox hardware and Windows Lite are so far in development I'd be very surprised if they get cut.

I know there's a call for cloud gaming but until the AI bubble bursts that hardware is far more valuable for that.
Click to expand...

I think they're going to burn all of those studios to the ground with ever increasing demands for demented profit margins and then sabotage that by demanding ever shorter development times and trying to barge in on live service sectors that are dominated by massive incumbents. Everybody wants to make the next Fortnite, just like everybody was making the WoW killer. Now World of Warcraft has 9,000,000 subs and a comfy couch made of skulls. This endless consolidation is killing any sense of diversity, creativity, and art that video games once had.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
I think they're going to burn all of those studios to the ground with ever increasing demands for demented profit margins and then sabotage that by demanding ever shorter development times and trying to barge in on live service sectors that are dominated by massive incumbents.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of OK with that?

Short-term: it will suck. But it already sucks because all of the actual creatives are already constrained by that muzzle. Their studios and brands can only make "safe" content as it stands.

We need studios and creators free to take risks again. Ironically, that plays in Valve's favor in a big way, so maybe, just maybe, Microsoft understands that. They are very invested in Xbox and Windows gaming right now, in a way that Playstation fans are completely blind to.

I own both Xboxes and Playstations; I'm not particularly biased there. If anything, I'm a Deck man, now.
 
Axman said:
I'm kind of OK with that?

Short-term: it will suck. But it already sucks because all of the actual creatives are already constrained by that muzzle. Their studios and brands can only make "safe" content as it stands.

We need studios and creators free to take risks again. Ironically, that plays in Valve's favor in a big way, so maybe, just maybe, Microsoft understands that. They are very invested in Xbox and Windows gaming right now, in a way that Playstation fans are completely blind to.

I own both Xboxes and Playstations; I'm not particularly biased there. If anything, I'm a Deck man, now.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm on the fence, but I mostly agree. Industry consolidation is the yellow brick road to enshitification.
 
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hmmm. someone with neither gaming experience nor delivered a solid product before 🤔

a very bad omen that they sacked Sarah Bond

Xbox King Phil Spencer Bows Out As Asha Sharma Grabs The Controller, Sarah Bond Exits​


Spencer will stay on in an advisory role through the summer, while Xbox president Sarah Bond has chosen to leave the company.

Why the shake-up matters​

The leadership shuffle follows a rocky period for Microsoft Gaming that has included multiple rounds of layoffs and studio closures over the past year, according to reporting by The Verge. Analysts also point to the choice of an AI product leader to run the division as a sign that Microsoft wants its gaming arm tightly aligned with the company’s broader AI and consumer-product strategy, as reported by Bloomberg. That alignment could reshape where Microsoft spends its gaming dollars and how it defines success in the coming years.

https://hoodline.com/2026/02/xbox-king-phil-spencer-bows-out-as-asha-sharma-grabs-the-controller/
 

Nadella's message to Microsoft execs: Get on board with the AI grind or get out​

According to an internal memo, Nadella also started a weekly AI accelerator meeting and corresponding Teams channel to speed the pace of AI work and get more ideas from across the company.

Executives do not present in these new meetings. Instead, lower-level technical employees are encouraged to speak and share what they're seeing from the AI trenches. This is designed to avoid top-down AI leadership, and is intentionally a bit messy and chaotic, according to people familiar with the new approach.

Production function, explained​

Asha Sharma, Microsoft CoreAI product president, who joined in 2024, said the company has shifted its operations dramatically in her short tenure. Nadella's new "production function" is about using AI to radically change how the company creates, builds, and delivers products and services.

When she joined, the AI industry would crank out a big new foundation model roughly every six months. Then, releases happened every six weeks. Today, AI is changing so quickly that it's forcing Microsoft to rethink not just its products but the entire way software is made, Sharma said in an interview arranged by the company.

For decades, software development has worked like an assembly line. You take a set of inputs — people, time, resources — and transform them into output. Scaling production required scaling those inputs.

"AI breaks that relationship," she said.

AI agents, data, and intelligence now act as a new type of scalable unit that can generate software, insights, and decisions without a corresponding increase in engineering hours or budget. That means the marginal cost of creating something new drops dramatically, Sharma explained, and teams can now spend more on "judgment, taste, and problem-solving."

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-ai-revolution-2025-12

the pressure is forcing some Microsoft veterans to decide whether they want to stay and commit to the mountain of work required.
"You've gotta be asking yourself how much longer you want to do this," the executive added. People familiar with the matter said Nadella is having direct conversations with executives to secure their commitment to the transformation or facilitate their departure.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...ip-leave-or-sign-on/articleshow/126068828.cms
 
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Marees said:

Nadella's message to Microsoft execs: Get on board with the AI grind or get out​

According to an internal memo, Nadella also started a weekly AI accelerator meeting and corresponding Teams channel to speed the pace of AI work and get more ideas from across the company.

Executives do not present in these new meetings. Instead, lower-level technical employees are encouraged to speak and share what they're seeing from the AI trenches. This is designed to avoid top-down AI leadership, and is intentionally a bit messy and chaotic, according to people familiar with the new approach.

Production function, explained​

Asha Sharma, Microsoft CoreAI product president, who joined in 2024, said the company has shifted its operations dramatically in her short tenure. Nadella's new "production function" is about using AI to radically change how the company creates, builds, and delivers products and services.

When she joined, the AI industry would crank out a big new foundation model roughly every six months. Then, releases happened every six weeks. Today, AI is changing so quickly that it's forcing Microsoft to rethink not just its products but the entire way software is made, Sharma said in an interview arranged by the company.

For decades, software development has worked like an assembly line. You take a set of inputs — people, time, resources — and transform them into output. Scaling production required scaling those inputs.

"AI breaks that relationship," she said.

AI agents, data, and intelligence now act as a new type of scalable unit that can generate software, insights, and decisions without a corresponding increase in engineering hours or budget. That means the marginal cost of creating something new drops dramatically, Sharma explained, and teams can now spend more on "judgment, taste, and problem-solving."

https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-ai-revolution-2025-12

the pressure is forcing some Microsoft veterans to decide whether they want to stay and commit to the mountain of work required.
"You've gotta be asking yourself how much longer you want to do this," the executive added. People familiar with the matter said Nadella is having direct conversations with executives to secure their commitment to the transformation or facilitate their departure.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...ip-leave-or-sign-on/articleshow/126068828.cms
Click to expand...

Asha Sharma takes over immediately as CEO of Microsoft Gaming, bringing an unusual resume for a gaming executive. She spent the past few years heading development for Microsoft's AI enterprise teams, right in the thick of the company's ChatGPT integration push and enterprise AI buildout. Before that, she was COO at Instacart for three years, managing the grocery delivery giant's operations during its explosive pandemic growth. And before Instacart, she spent four years at Meta running the company's messaging apps including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct.

there's another angle worth considering. Sharma's operational background at Instacart and messaging experience at Meta suggests she knows how to scale platforms and manage massive user bases. Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's Netflix-for-games subscription service, has been growing but hasn't hit the scale Microsoft hoped for. Someone with Sharma's background in subscription operations and user retention could be exactly what Game Pass needs.

The gaming industry's reaction has been mixed. Developers and Xbox fans are understandably nervous about an outsider taking the reins, especially one without a public track record in gaming.

https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/microsoft-taps-ai-executive-asha-sharma-to-lead-xbox-gaming
 
so Sarah Bond left because she was promised the top spot after Spencer retired and MS decided to go in a different direction?
 

Phil Spencer isn’t retiring as the chief of Xbox ‘anytime soon’​

Spencer has headed up Microsoft’s Xbox efforts since 2014.
by Jay Peters and Tom Warren
Jul 3, 2025, 1:10 AM GMT+5:30

Microsoft says that Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO and the head of Xbox, isn’t retiring “anytime soon.” The company has responded to rumors of Spencer’s retirement, which have spread online today following Microsoft’s major layoffs.

“Phil is not retiring anytime soon,” says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications, in a statement to The Verge. The denial comes after Call of Duty leaker GhostOfHope claimed “Phil Spencer will be retiring from his role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming after the launch of the next generation Xbox” and that Xbox president Sarah Bond would be taking over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

While Microsoft’s comment doesn’t address the rumor fully, it makes it clear Spencer isn’t retiring imminently. Separately, Microsoft communications chief, Frank Shaw, took to X to claim that at least part of the rumor was made up.

https://www.theverge.com/news/696922/phil-spencer-xbox-microsoft-gaming-retiring
 
Marees said:

Phil Spencer isn’t retiring as the chief of Xbox ‘anytime soon’​

Spencer has headed up Microsoft’s Xbox efforts since 2014.
by Jay Peters and Tom Warren
Jul 3, 2025, 1:10 AM GMT+5:30

Microsoft says that Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO and the head of Xbox, isn’t retiring “anytime soon.” The company has responded to rumors of Spencer’s retirement, which have spread online today following Microsoft’s major layoffs.

“Phil is not retiring anytime soon,” says Kari Perez, head of Xbox communications, in a statement to The Verge. The denial comes after Call of Duty leaker GhostOfHope claimed “Phil Spencer will be retiring from his role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming after the launch of the next generation Xbox” and that Xbox president Sarah Bond would be taking over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

While Microsoft’s comment doesn’t address the rumor fully, it makes it clear Spencer isn’t retiring imminently. Separately, Microsoft communications chief, Frank Shaw, took to X to claim that at least part of the rumor was made up.

https://www.theverge.com/news/696922/phil-spencer-xbox-microsoft-gaming-retiring
Click to expand...

My guess is he didn't retire, he got retired. Micro$lop does not want a gaming guy running XBox, not since they became an Ai company.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
I think they got cleaned out on Ai grounds, or at least Phil did.
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Phil lost the battle...writing was on the wall for a few years...

from 2023: "Microsoft conceded defeat in the high-stakes video game console wars for the first time, admitting on Thursday it will never be able to catch up to Sony and Nintendo...a chastened and downbeat Phil Spencer issued what appeared to be a brutally honest 40-minute mea culpa in which he even implied his job was on the line after a series of self-inflicted blunders"

https://archive.ph/TG5t7
 
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vegeta535 said:
This will be the end of Xbox.
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This? As if the Titanic didn't already hit the iceberg and the damage had already been assesed. If you didn't know Xbox was dead after 3 years of hardware sales in the tank and software sales in the wrong direction, then dude, you must have failed your intro to economics class. Eventually any company will cut ties with a business that for 26 years has never turned a profit.
 
polonyc2 said:
https://x.com/asha_shar/status/2024954423391519030

View attachment 786736
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Here are some more GREAT checklists of corporate speak:

1) Make BETTER games to BETTER penetrate market share
2) Make MORE Xbox
3) Make the future of Xbox
4) Increase the VALUE of the Xbox brand
5) Make GAMES
6) Make more Xbox SERVICES
7) Service Xbox SERVICES
8) Streamline Xbox services
9) Enhance Xbox services
10) Service Xbox Enhancements
11) Enhance the streamlines

Its the most bland corporate speak. It means nothing, and does not instill any confidence. Tell us how they will make games that are great, and maybe people will care. But even diehard Xbox fans know the ship is practically submerged at this point.
 
Flogger23m said:
Here are some more GREAT checklists of corporate speak:

1) Make BETTER games to BETTER penetrate market share
2) Make MORE Xbox
3) Make the future of Xbox
4) Increase the VALUE of the Xbox brand
5) Make GAMES
6) Make more Xbox SERVICES
7) Service Xbox SERVICES
8) Streamline Xbox services
9) Enhance Xbox services
10) Service Xbox Enhancements
11) Enhance the streamlines

Its the most bland corporate speak. It means nothing, and does not instill any confidence. Tell us how they will make games that are great, and maybe people will care. But even diehard Xbox fans know the ship is practically submerged at this point.
Click to expand...

Modern Xbox Priorities
1) Collect Data for Israel
2) Send Data to Israel
3) Ban people for criticizing Israel
4) Idk make a game or something I guess, who cares. Throw a black lesbian in there if you do
 

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cthulhuiscool said:

View: https://youtu.be/l01AMCBG0Wk?si=rBRw465eSK58HLmu
Wasn't fun how they chose Christmas to tell us why our STEM degrees were no longer valid because Indians have more spelling bees? I graduated my GA Tech Data Science MS program with a 3.9 and realized jobs aren't real, economic system genocide is. Art School rip your heart out.
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That campaign was deemed unsuccessful just FYI - this is also not a joke or in any way sarcastic just literal and verbatim
 
Well, after seeing Microsoft and Xbox last decade of performance, I'm kinda glad all this is crumbling. When Nutella took over, Microsoft really started to take a turn. As well the fiasco that was thr Xbox one.

I want MS to fail so game developers start to concentrate on open platforms like Linux. While MS of the past was mostly fine in the advancement of technology, these days? Not so much.

They just unfortunately hold a lot of good IP.
 
I agree with Jez. they appointed an yes-woman as xbox chief

she is saying all the right things but, she is being set-up to fail. when the inevitable happens she will smoothly move to the next job/position in her career — just like she's always done

This is where Spencer is different spending decades in same area


https://twitter.com/JezCorden/status/1980969668715196752?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1980969668715196752|twgr^3f68e99037423a4f5edd44e92bcf5a01b7f9e367|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/xbox-king-phil-spencer-bows-out-as-asha-sharma-grabs-the-controller-sarah-bond-exits.2633882/
 
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kram182 said:
That campaign was deemed unsuccessful just FYI - this is also not a joke or in any way sarcastic just literal and verbatim
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You would trust a guy who lies about being good at Diablo 4 for no reason to build the AI future of humanity, right? I would, but only after shoving a screwdriver up my nose...


View: https://youtu.be/WGiMmrGMi-k
 

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cthulhuiscool said:
You would trust a guy who lies about being good at Diablo 4 for no reason to build the AI future of humanity, right? I would, but only after shoving a screwdriver up my nose...


View: https://youtu.be/WGiMmrGMi-k
Click to expand...


I mean TBH if you held a gun to my head and forced me to choose between the 3 I would trust him more than these two

1771690250350.png1771690321221.png

But I'm not forced to choose between those 3 so I choose Andrew Torba and Gab AI 👍
 
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