Xbox's New Leadership Charts a Bold Course: Affordability, Openness, and a Return to Core Fundamentals

April 25, 2026 - 03:39

In a memo to Microsoft's video game team yesterday, the company's new CEO of Xbox, Asha Sharma, alongside chief content officer Matt Booty, outlined an ambitious vision for the future of the gaming division. The Xbox platform "will be built to be affordable, personal, and open," they wrote, signaling a strategic shift that includes reverting the team's name back to "Xbox" after years of operating under the "Microsoft Gaming" moniker.

The leadership duo laid out several key priorities: fortifying Game Pass with "sustainable economics," strengthening the "5-year slate" of games, and stabilizing the Gen9 Xbox Series consoles as "a healthy and high-quality base." Perhaps most notably, the memo addressed one of the biggest questions hanging over Xbox since Sharma replaced Phil Spencer in February—whether to continue bringing Xbox and PC-centric games to rival PlayStation. The team "will reevaluate our approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, and share more as we learn and decide," they wrote.

In a 28-minute video interview following the memo, Sharma elaborated on fortifying Game Pass, explaining that "to grow a subscription business, you need more players who love the subscription, that are staying longer and that are happy." She pointed to Monday's announcement of a price reduction on Game Pass alongside the change that new Call of Duty games will now be excluded from the service for a year. "We think that this decision is going to give us all three of those," she said.

Booty described strengthening the five-year slate as building on fundamentals: "Predictable cadence, robust roadmap, aim for quality." When pressed on whether Microsoft was aiming to create more Game of the Year contenders, he said nailing those fundamentals could "create the conditions for the lightning in a bottle of winning Game of the Year."

Regarding stabilizing Gen9 consoles, Sharma acknowledged past underinvestment: "We have formed a team, we're investing in console features. We are standing up the muscle to make sure that all of our performance and reliability and quality is great." She teased more updates coming but declined to share specifics.

On the hot-button issue of exclusivity, Sharma offered no definitive answers. "We'll take a data-driven approach and a strategic-driven approach, and then we'll look at our principles and we'll make some calls," she said, adding that she was only 60 days into her role. "I want to make the right decision, not the fastest decision."

Sharma has moved quickly since taking the helm. On day 14, she announced Project Helix, the codename for Microsoft's next-gen console. By day 35, she retired the controversial "This is an Xbox" ad campaign. Day 59 brought the Game Pass price cut and Call of Duty removal from day-and-date offerings. The memo and interview came on day 62.

The memo acknowledges challenges: "Players are frustrated. Our presence on PC isn't strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with." It describes Xbox as a "challenger," recognizing that competitors hold the lead. When asked about declining console sales, Sharma said, "We are wanting to see Xbox return to growth next year, and so we've got work to do."

On affordability, Sharma noted that "historically, our pricing hasn't been as flexible. You saw that with Game Pass. It had become too expensive. So we took a step to address that." She emphasized the need to "innovate to offer more affordable devices and hardware and services."

Booty summed up the team's philosophy: "Our job is to build what the fans want to play and create places for them to play, and worlds to explore." Sharma's ultimate vision: "Xbox will be where the world plays. And we're going to do that across our full stack platform."