First reported by IGN.com, Phil Spencer has confirmed on LinkedIn that he’s retiring after 38 years at Microsoft. His announcement also confirms Asha Sharma is stepping in as CEO of Microsoft Gaming and Matt Booty has been promoted to Chief Content Officer. Sarah Bond, who has turn into more of a presence for Xbox over the previous couple of years, has resigned. Many expected her to take over Spencer’s role, nevertheless it’s clear Microsoft executives had different plans and Bond didn’t agree with them.
While there’s no official press release on the changes, there are several posts on LinkedIn that detail all of the changes. Spencer simply said that he’s made the choice to retire to start the following chapter of his life. He began his profession at Microsoft as an intern in 1988 and has remained with the corporate since. That’s a protracted profession with a single company, and Spencer has played a serious role in shaping Xbox to what it’s today, for higher or worse. He’s a giant reason why the ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard King acquisitions happened, in addition to Game Pass as a service. It’ll be interesting to see if Xbox pivots on this ever-evolving world of gaming.
Meanwhile, the brand new CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Asha Sharma, has an uphill battle ahead of her. She has been at Microsoft for barely over two years, previously serving as President of CoreAI Product, which led the product portfolio for AI models, apps, agents, responsible AI, and developer tools for patrons worldwide. Prior to that, she was CVP, head of product for Microsoft’s AI platform. In other words, she’s mainly been involved with AI during her tenure at Microsoft.
Before joining Microsoft, she was COO of Instacart, VP Product & Engineering at Meta, and COO of Porch Group. She did have a previous stint at Microsoft from 2011-2013 in Marketing. Sharma can also be a board member at The Home Depot and Coupang. Given the overall distaste vocal gamers have toward AI use, it’ll be interesting to see how Sharma navigates those waters. Personally, I feel AI being involved with every part is an inevitability, and I’m not a giant surprise that Microsoft wants that influence inside its gaming division.
As for Matt Booty, he’s a known entity at this point with the Xbox brand. In his post on LinkedIn, Booty confirmed his focus is on supporting the teams and leaders Xbox has in place, and creating the conditions for them to do their best work. Booty’s current stint with Microsoft began in 2015, but prior to that, he also worked as GM, Redmond Game Studios and Platforms from 2010 to 2014. Before joining Microsoft, Booty’s experience was all the time throughout the gaming industry, including extensive runs with Midway Games, where he eventually served as president and CEO. From 2018 to 2023, Booty served as Head of Xbox Game Studios and is now officially EVP and Chief Content Officer, Microsoft Gaming.
Some will welcome a change in regime for the Xbox brand, while others will not be looking forward to the long run without Spencer running the ship. Only time will tell, however the Xbox brand is clearly at a crossroads without delay, and it is smart that now’s the time for a change in leadership.