It’s the end of an era at Xbox as the face of Xbox is retiring.
It almost seems like Xbox and Phil Spencer was one entity at this point, but the face of Xbox has announced he is retiring and new leadership is coming in. Going out with him is Xbox President Sarah Bond, who you’ve most likely seen during Xbox showcases when they talk about their line up and new adventures, alongside Spencer on stage. She was clearly a good choice to take Spencer’s spot, so this shake up is rather shocking to many.
Phile Spencer is retiring on the 23rd, and Sarah Bond has stepped down, and new leadership by Asha Sharma will take over. Sharma is currently the President of CoreAI product at Microsoft, and was previously an executive at Instacart until leaving in 2024.
The shakeup doesn’t replace everyone though as Xbox Game Studios Head, Matt Booty, is being promoted to Chief Content Officer under Sharma.
Phil Spencer has become a household name for gamers by being rather active within gaming communities himself. He first started at Microsoft 38 years ago as an intern for Microsoft, before moving up leading the Xbox division 12 years ago. But it doesn’t seem the decision was as abrupt as the announcement, as rumors were circulating for months, and Phil himself stated the decision may have started last year.
“Last fall, I shared with Satya that I was thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life. From that moment, we aligned on approaching this transition with intention, ensuring stability, and strengthening the foundation we’ve built. Xbox has always been more than a business. It’s a vibrant community of players, creators, and teams who care deeply about what we build and how we build it. And it deserves a thoughtful, deliberate plan for the road ahead.”
Sharma had a lengthy statement about her commitment to telling stories and putting the focus back on Xbox as a console, but also tried to quiet some of the fears of the AI background she is bringing over.
“As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”
Spencer likely will be remembered for the acquisitions that condensed the gaming industry tremendously with both Bethesda and Activision being absorbed by Microsoft. However there were countless other studios that were acquired as well, and some shut down by Microsoft in sweeping money making moves. Phil Spencer had an uphill battle nearly the entire time he was head of Xbox however, as previous leadership had destroyed their market share with poor decisions and lost trust in gamers.
It will be interesting to see if this new focus will keep Xbox on a similar track currently with games releasing across platforms, and Gamepass being a major focus of the branch. Will Xbox continue to look to expand the “this is an Xbox” branding, and perhaps explore additional outlets for console centric devices?
