Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer is retiring, replaced by an AI exec who promises no "soulless AI slop"

Ah, it’s a Friday night, time to rela-

Wait a minute, long-time Microsoft gaming CEO Phil Spencer’s retiring, his assumed replacement and Xbox president Sarah Bond has resigned, and the suit now being tapped to take over Spenny’s gig currently has the following job title: president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product. Right, guess I’m writing a news.

This shakeup was first reported by the Ian Games Network. There are big, long corporate email memos and everything. Close

According to the reports, big Phillip will step down as Microsoft Gaming CEO on Monday, February 23rd. Though, he’ll be staying around in “an advisory role through the summer” to help the leadership switch go smoothly. Taking his place will be Asha Sharma, the aforementioned current president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product. With Spencer gone and Bond resigned, the third member of Microsoft’s main gaming leadership trio over the past few years, Matt Booty, is getting a promotion to chief content officer and will work alongside Sharma.

“Together, Asha and Matt have the right combination of consumer product leadership and gaming depth to push our platform innovation and content pipeline forward,” Microsoft big boss Satya Nadella wrote in one of those big, long corporate email memos. “Last year, Phil Spencer made the decision to retire from the company, and since then we’ve been talking about succession planning. I want to thank Phil for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. Over 38 years at Microsoft, including 12 years leading Gaming, Phil helped transform what we do and how we do it.”

“As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to begin a new chapter,” Spencer added in his own email. “Sarah has been instrumental during a defining period for Xbox, shaping our platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding some of the most significant moments in our history. I’m grateful for her partnership and the impact she’s had, and I wish her the very best in what comes next…to everyone in Microsoft Gaming, I want to say ’thank you’. I’ve learned so much from this team and community, grown alongside you, and been continually inspired by the creativity, courage, and care you bring to players, creators, and to one another every day.”

New boss Sharma’s penned an email too (told you there were many), with the former chief operating officer of grocery delivery firm Instacart and vice president at Mark Zuckerberg-helmed tech/metaverse bollocks company Meta using part of it to lay out her three-pronged vision for the future. “We must have great games beloved by players before we do anything,” she wrote. “Unforgettable characters, stories that make us feel, innovative game play, and creative excellence. We will empower our studios, invest in iconic franchises, and back bold new ideas. We will take risks. We will enter new categories and markets where we can add real value, grounded in what players care about most.”

Her second goal is to bring about a multiplatform “return of Xbox”. Her third point makes for the most intriguing read out of the trio. “To meet the moment, we will invent new business models and new ways to play by leaning into what we already have: iconic teams, characters, and worlds that people love,” she wrote. “But we will not treat those worlds as static IP to milk and monetise. We will build a shared platform and tools that empower developers and players to create and share their own stories.

“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.”

Now, all of that’s fine to say in an overly long corporate email, but actually doing it’s another thing. As it’s a Friday night, I don’t have any advanced thoughts on this corporate shakeup beyond mourning the fact I may soon never again have an excuse to whip out this image I slapped together while at VG247, dubbed ’the three faces of Philly’, and found far too funny. The three faces of Xbox’s Phil Spencer. Image credit: Microsoft / Rock Paper Shotgun

If you want the context this comes in for Microsoft and Xbox, we’ve covered all of the PC-relevant goings on surrounding them over the last little while, so have a leaf through our archive. Or don’t because, you know, it’s Friday.