From Cutting Game Pass Prices And Shutting Down Gaming Copilot To Appointing Matthew Ball As Chief Strategy Officer: Sharma’s Bloomberg Tech Address Was The Most Candid Assessment Of Xbox’s Structural Problems Since Phil Spencer’s Retirement In February
According to GamesIndustry.biz, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma addressed her first 100 days at a Bloomberg Tech event, describing the division as not in “a healthy spot” and committing to a full business reset. Xbox reduced the price of Game Pass, discontinued Gaming Copilot, made key leadership changes including appointing veteran analyst Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer, and shared initial technical details of its next-generation console, Project Helix.
Microsoft’s Q3 results showed a 33% year-over-year decline in Xbox hardware sales. Unexpected hardware costs, driven by AI’s demand for memory, are a major challenge, with prices increasing by 50% in the last 100 days. Sharma said the next 100 days will focus on making Project Helix affordable.
On exclusivity, Sharma was deliberately measured. Xbox will not make all first-party games exclusive to its consoles. Sharma confirmed future decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis to balance publishing and platform goals. On AI, she drew a line between useful production tools and gimmicks, calling out neural rendering as promising while saying AI should solve real problems rather than replace AAA development.
Sharma aims to make Xbox “the number one gaming and entertainment company.” To check out our previous coverage on gaming strategy and the games industry, read our articles here.
