Microsoft Gaming CEO resigns, placing former head of its AI crew in cost

This does not (in all probability) imply that Microsoft will now be instantly pivoting its gaming efforts to AI, with Sharma giving an “Everybody please calm down” interview to Variety the place she tried to emphasise that “great stories are created by humans.” (She additionally launched a written assertion through which she pledged to “not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop,” utilizing a time period that Microsoft’s AI-obsessed CEO, Satya Nidella, has bristled at in the past.) That being mentioned, selecting an AI head who’s solely been with Microsoft since 2024—as a substitute of Bond, who’s additionally reportedly leaving, and who’s been a part of the corporate’s gaming crew since 2017—does really feel exhausting to not learn as a shift in priorities.

Microsoft’s gaming division has had a reasonably tough time of it lately, regardless of successes like its subscription gaming service Game Pass, and a variety of high-profile acquisitions. (Including schlorping up World Of Warcraft and Diablo creator Activision Blizzard a couple of years again, a purchase order Bond was reportedly instrumental in.) The Xbox X/S consoles merely didn’t promote in addition to the rival PlayStation 5 or Nintendo’s Switches, and for all that Microsoft continues to insist that an “Xbox” is any gadget operating Microsoft-based gaming nowadays, the corporate has clearly been making main pivots in an effort to remain related. Both Spencer and Bond are supposedly staying on in advisory capacities to assist Sharma with the transition, however this can be a large change at one of many largest gaming issues on the planet, and at a time when the business is in an unimaginable quantity of turmoil.