[UPDATE - February 24, 2026] The new Xbox CEO has now answered the allegations with the following tweet:
Faking would be a terrible idea and wouldn’t work. I also didn't expect my gamertag to blowup and the reality is more boring. I created it recently to learn and understand this world. I’ve played with my family, and it’s a shared home account across devices (which you can see in the range of games /achievements). Fixed that this weekend and everyone is only playing on their own GTs.
But I get where this is coming from. I don’t pretend to be the best gamer and even though I’m playing, that’s still not my goal. My focus is to make Xbox the best place to play, return to our roots, ship great things, and become stronger for the future. And yes, I’m writing my own posts 🙂
Meanwhile, though, Xbox founder and creator Seamus Blackley shared his opinion on Sharma's true mandate: gently sunsetting the Xbox division into the night as Microsoft focuses entirely on AI.
[ORIGINAL STORY] The turbulence at Microsoft's Xbox division continued on Friday, when the company suddenly announced that long-time CEO Phil Spencer and current president Sarah Bond were both leaving (the former is retiring, while the latter is pursuing other career opportunities outside Microsoft).
The new CEO of Microsoft Gaming is Asha Sharma, whose appointment is, however, already being questioned by gamers. The 36-year-old executive has no prior experience in the gaming industry; browsing her career, this is actually the second time she's been at Microsoft. She first joined Microsoft in 2011 and worked in the Marketing department for two years, then left to become COO of Porch Group (an insurance platform for homes), then returned to the tech industry by joining Meta as Head of Product across Messenger + Instagram Direct and GM of calling, video, and kids experiences.
In 2021, she changed companies again, joining the leading grocery technology company Instacart as its COO. After three years, she returned to Microsoft as president of the CoreAI product, leading the portfolio of AI models, apps, agents, responsible AI, and developer tools for customers.
It's not so much her lack of industry experience that worries gamers, but rather her previous work in Microsoft's AI division. Probably aware of this in advance, Sharma included this reassuring bit in her prepared statement:
We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop.
However, she didn't quite get off to the right start with that. Throughout the weekend, her X account replied to several gamers in an attempt to connect with the Xbox community, but fans are already pointing out that her answers might actually be crafted by an AI bot. Here's an example:
Great list. I did my top 3 in another reply. Halo, Valheim, 007. It's been a long time since I played Chrono Trigger. Have you done every ending? Thanks for all the detail. I appreciate it a ton.
Furthermore, the new Xbox CEO has shared her Gamertag publicly, and fans quickly noticed a couple of things: it was created last month and already has quite a bit of playtime. She later confirmed in a tweet that she's "no Phil Spencer", hinting at the previous CEO's renowned gaming habits.
Of course, it's not mandatory for a gaming executive to be a gamer. However, between that, her lack of experience in the industry, and the aforementioned AI skepticism, Asha Sharma might already have a bit of an uphill battle when it comes to winning over the already downbeat Xbox fans.
Ultimately, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. If Xbox can output great hardware and software, all this stuff will be quickly forgotten. The lineup for this year (which marks the 25th anniversary of Xbox) is very solid: Fable, Forza Horizon 6, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E-Day, though of course, it was inherited from the previous leadership.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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