New Xbox CEO explains suspicious Gamerscore and talks future plans, hardware announcements, and more

The recent changes at Xbox have raised a lot of questions, not just about Phil Spencer’s sudden retirement, but also the hiring of a new “not-real gamer” CEO. Asha Sharma was appointed as the EVP and CEO of Xbox Gaming who previously held the position of CoreAI Product president at Microsoft. Naturally, that raised a lot of eyebrows, which was made worse by Sharma’s Xbox gamertag. Now, the CEO has shared clarifications and answered some of the internet’s questions, along with sharing plans for the company as the new leader.

Starting with the gamertag, soon after her appointment and public reveal of her Xbox profile, it was found that her profile was created only a month prior, but it had a Gamerscore of over 10,000, along with major achievements in a lot of games, something that wouldn’t be possible in such a short time. Replying to IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey on X about a post questioning her gamertag, Sharma explained that she did create her gamertag recently, but the account is shared by her family across devices.

There were polarizing comments to her response, with some claiming that her inexperience in gaming is a bad direction for Xbox. Some others stated that a CEO of a gaming company doesn’t necessarily have to be an avid gamer, and can lead the company with strategy and feedback.

As for future plans as CEO, Sharma spoke with Jez Corden from Windows Central and said she wants to bring about a return to Xbox, meaning “returning to the spirit that the team was founded on.” She went on to say, “It's that spirit of surprise, it's the spirit of building something nobody else was willing to try — I've heard 'renegade,' 'rebellion,' and 'fun.' used. That's what I was thinking about when I wrote that.”

The future of Xbox

Talking about her plans, Sharma stated that she wants to make sure everybody knows that she’s committed to Xbox, starting with the console. “We want to invest in reducing the artificial divide between different types of devices that they want to use with us. I think that's going to mean a lot more investment in breaking down the barriers, in helping developers build once and show up across different hardware experiences. For me, I believe Xbox starts with its fans, and we'll grow from there.”

While she did not share any timelines or concrete details about the next Xbox, Sharma said there will be some announcements about hardware coming up soon. “We also know that there are a lot of players who aren't on console or our hardware, and I want to deliver great games to them too,” she added.

For now, the new CEO is familiarizing herself with the data, current company strategy, and the ‘why’ of these decisions. She was also joined by the newly promoted Chief Content Officer Matt Booty who is understanding the reigns as well.

Sharma wants the community to know that she intends to honor the culture of Xbox that was cultivated during Phul Spencer’s leadership and that despite the challenges, the Xbox team will come back, like it has before.