New Microsoft gaming chief has “no tolerance for bad AI”

A gaming training

Unlike Spencer, who spent years at Microsoft Game Studios earlier than heading Microsoft’s gaming division, Sharma has no skilled expertise within the online game trade. And her private expertise with Xbox additionally appears considerably restricted; after sharing her Gamertag on social media over the weekend, curious avid gamers discovered that her Xbox play history dates back roughly one month. That’s additionally in stark distinction to Spencer, who has amassed a score of over 121,000 throughout many years of play.

In her interview with Variety, Sharma cited 2016’s Firewatch for example of the sorts of video games with “deep emotional resonance” and “a distinct point of view” that she’s searching for from Microsoft. And on social media, Sharma shared her list of the three best video games ever: “Halo, Valheim, Goldeneye,” for what it’s price. Sharma additionally appears to be taking suggestions for video games to compensate for; after saying on social media that she would strive Borderlands 2, the sport appeared in her recently played games over the weekend.

Being a private fan of video video games isn’t essentially required to achieve working a gaming firm. Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi famously didn’t care for video games at the same time as he launched the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System to worldwide success within the Nineteen Eighties. Still, the shortage of direct expertise with the gaming world marks a pointy change after Spencer’s lengthy tenure at a time when Microsoft is struggling to redefine the Xbox model amid cratering {hardware} gross sales, a pivot away from software exclusives, and a transfer to increase the Xbox model to many various gadgets.

Xbox President and COO Sarah Bond, who by all accounts was being set as much as succeed Spencer, additionally introduced her departure from Microsoft on Friday, ending a virtually nine-year stint as a public face for the corporate’s gaming efforts. The Verge reports that Bond induced a number of friction inside the Xbox crew when she championed the “Xbox Everywhere” technique and “This is an Xbox” advertising marketing campaign, which centered on streaming Xbox video games to {hardware} like cellphones and tablets, in keeping with nameless sources. Shortly earlier than the launch of that marketing campaign in 2024, Microsoft misplaced advertising executives Jerrett West and Kareem Choudry, resulting in vital inside reorganization.

Longtime Xbox Game Studios government Matt Booty, whose historical past within the sport trade dates again to working for Williams Electronics within the ’90s, has been promoted to government vp and chief content material officer for Xbox and “will continue working closely with [Sharma] to ensure a smooth transition,” Microsoft mentioned in its announcement Friday.