Oh boy, what a crazy Friday it was in the world of Microsoft.
From The Verge on Friday:
Xbox chief Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft after nearly 40 years at the software giant. Xbox president Sarah Bond is also leaving Microsoft, in what is a major shake-up to the management of Xbox and Microsoft’s gaming efforts. Asha Sharma, currently president of CoreAI product, is taking over as CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
Let’s give some context here.
Spencer had been one of the key people pushing (among other things) the shift to the subscription model with Xbox Game Pass, along with spearheading the acquisition of publishers like Bethesda Games (Fallout, Elder Scrolls) and Activision Blizzard (World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Overwatch).
Sarah Bond — his second in command, essentially — had been pushing that whole Everything Is An Xbox marketing idea, that you could sign up for Game Pass, and via the cloud, play games on your phone, your smart TV, pretty much anywhere.
How had the above worked out?
Not great!
New titles from their recently purchased studios like Starfield and Redfall were met with less than stellar receptions, the most recent Call of Duty did so poorly that there was almost an apology of sorts from the development team, they tried to pursue a higher $80 cost for games and then pulled back immediately, they raised prices for Game Pass giving you less for more, oh, and the price of the Xbox Series X and S, systems which are now over five years old increased, instead of decreased.
That last one I can give them some leeway on, given that its more due to all the current tariff nonsense, but it doesn’t change how poorly their systems have sold.
In turn…yeah, I get why exactly the people at the top have been canned. I mean, we’re at a point where to save face, they’re porting Halo to PlayStation. HALO! THE MICROSOFT FRANCHISE!
Enter new leader Asha Sharma.
New name, new face, should be good, yeah?
Well, she’s been the lead of Microsoft’s AI efforts the last two years.
So we can thank her for CoPilot, I guess. Already a glowing sign.
Now, what did she say to employees in her first memo?
I feel two things at once: humility and urgency.
Humility because this team has built something extraordinary over decades. Urgency because gaming is in a period of rapid change, and we need to move with clarity and conviction.
You can read the whole thing here, but I’ve never once seen “urgency” from a company equal something good for its employees. Given the terrible state of employment in the world of gaming, may I be very very wrong, and for the teams at Xbox, may this actually be the beginning of a turn around, as opposed to the start of the last chapter.