New Xbox CEO on Hardware: 'You Will Hear More About That Soon' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 24 February 2026 / 2,503 Views
New Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma and newly promoted Chief Content Officer Matt Booty in an interview with Windows Central teased the future of Xbox consoles, commitment to a wide range of first-party software, and a commitment to fans.
"Xbox players have thousands of dollars invested, in money and time too — it's incredibly important for me to understand that and protect that," said Sharma. "I am committed to 'returning to Xbox,' and that starts with console, that starts with hardware. You will hear more about that soon, we'll have some announcements coming up. You will see us collectively investing here.
"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. I need to learn more about what that can look like, what decisions were made, what we need to do going forward, and I want a little bit of time and space to do that."
Booty added, "Our studio system is fully built around being first-party. We're not built to just be a publisher. It is core to our partnership with the Microsoft platform, being involved in early hardware decisions — all the work we've done to get games like Gears of War running great on new devices like the Xbox Ally, and so on. It is embedded within our structure, we're not backing away from that. We're committed to being a first-party games publisher in partnership with our first-party platform team."
Sharma did admit there is a lot she needs to learn and why certain decisions in recent years were made that included releasing more games on rival platforms like the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch.
"Right now, I need to learn, candidly," she said. "About the 'why' of these decisions, what we were optimizing for, and what the data says about the Xbox strategy today. That's the honest answer. I'm looking at lifetime value, not just what happened in a previous moment, or in short term efficiencies and things like that. The plan's the plan until it's not the plan."
When asked about finding new users as the console core market has remained stagnant she doubled down on Xbox's core.
"The thing about other products that are taking off — they've built really great communities with their audiences," she said. "We're the stewards of a lot of communities and we have been for decades. The thing that makes a community a community, is that you build for that core. What I don't want to do is have any creator at Xbox dilute their focus to chase an emerging community," Sharma explained. "If we want to invest in a new community, we'll look at how to do that. But it's really important that people stay true to their core when they're building."
"The thing I've learned when building platforms over my career, there's kind of two things that really make a great platform — it's the quality of the product that you deliver for the core user, and its the integrity of the decisions that stand behind it. There's a big community at Xbox, and we'll look at the right way to serve that community."
One key sticking point is Sharma came over from Microsoft's CoreAI product and gamers are worried about AI slop entering the market.
"I think that with any new technology, it brings possibilities as a tool, but even more important, especially now — we need to draw lines on what we won't do," she explained. "That's what I attempted to do when I shared my opening letter. I will not flood our ecosystem with slop. We won't have careless output, we won't have derivative work. I deeply believe in the words that I shared previously there."
Booty added, "Just as a group, game developers are always eager to adopt new technology. When Photoshop showed up, it took about one month for it to appear in every game studio on the planet because it was so useful," Matt noted that Xbox's goal is for AI to be additive and supportive, rather than disruptive on its teams. "What I hear throughout our studios: it is the people, our artists, our coders, the writers — they're doing the creative work. In my experience, any time there's a new technology, what happens is there's a need for more specialists, new specialists. It raises the bar on what the expectations are for the quality of the games."
"We've got no pressure from Microsoft, there are no directives on AI coming down. Our teams are free to use any technologies that might be beneficial, whether it's helping write code or check for bugs — things more in the production pipeline. At the end of the day as Asha said, we're committed to art made by people. Technology is only in support of that."
The two were asked if Microsoft would double down on blockbusters and move away from more niche titles like Double Fine's Kiln and Keeper.
"The first conversations Asha and I had when we first met to do all of this, to her credit, she immediately emphasized supporting our studios and our games," said Booty. "Our ecosystem is built to be a portfolio of everything from small games, to ongoing franchises, to the big blockbusters. We're built at our core to build everything from Kiln to Call of Duty, everything from Minecraft to South of Midnight. That's core to how we're set up."
He added, "I think we've got one of the best portfolios out there, even in the entertainment industry more broadly in terms of that range. We're dedicated to it, and here's why: I believe that almost everything 'big' started as something small. We cannot lose the ability to have those places where little sparks can grow into something big. The creative environment that lets us take bets and creative risks has to be part of Xbox's culture. We're committed, our studio system is built for that.
"The best thing about my job is sitting in on meetings when they're just early ideas. You can imagine what it's like sitting in a room and someone says 'we're gonna make a game about a walking lighthouse and then I go from that to review the next three years of Call of Duty. It's been great to hear Asha state her commitment to that as well."
In closing out the interview Sharma said her current goal is "proof over promise" as fans remain skeptical as former CEO Phil Spencer was running Xbox since 2014.
"Phil Spencer is a remarkable human and a remarkable leader, and I think that when he took over in 2014 he changed the culture of Xbox to focus on player-driven and creator-driven decisions. I intend to honor and uphold that," she said.
"We know that the business has gone through some challenges. I'm going to use my expertise and the leaders that have the deep gaming depth around the table to help us grow the business, and make sure that we have an incredible next 25 years. I will listen, I will learn, I will communicate what we're seeing, and what we're doing. I think from here, the work is proof over promise. Matt and I are in it, every hour of every day of every night, I am fully in this thing. This team has brought it back before, and I'm here to help us do it again."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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She's saying all the right things. But my memory is not short enough to forget these guys are the kings of saying one thing, then doing another, like only 3 months later.
They are just in overdrive with the PR. It makes my head spin how the can structure sentences in ways that could mean anything. They are able to bloviate on and on for days without actually saying anything concrete. They can say one thing and undo it mid sentence. They may be third in consoles but they will always be first in PR. Undefeated.
They should just give it a rest.
Its clear as day that MS has given up on Xbox.
That is the only explanation behind putting someone who is in your company for little over 1 year and who dont know a single thing about gaming, in charge of whole division.
She is just there to make transition to AI.
The fact that some people actually believe in PR non sense she wrote is so strange to me.
People can learn newer things. That's how you grow as a person. Learning something you never know about is a challenge and it's a good challenge to take and learn and grow.
Yes, but that person should not be put in charge of people who have spent most of their lives in said area.
You are not putting someone who need to learn about your business in charge of something that is almost dead. You put someone who know what he/she doing if you want your brand to survive.
What I have gleaned from this is:
1) She doesn't know why Xbox stopped making exclusives.
2) There will be new hardware.
3) There is no push of A.I. from above, it's up to the developers.
4) She admits to needing to learn a lot.
Could be an interesting few years.
Proof over promise Well I like that.
I don't think she can say anything that will not cast doubt so yeah proof it and I will believe it...But how much time does she get from most gamers to proof it.
A few years, I'd say. Game and hardware development takes a long time. Everything that gamers see happening over the next couple of years was already put in place and shaped by previous leadership. Obviously she can stop things right away. But, she can't start anything, and have the public see it, for a few years.
AI, AI, AI and you will love it.
Prepare for the worst but pray for the best.
Well good luck to her. She has a hell of an uphill battle ahead of her.
She doesn't have to be a gamer . As long as she's s food decision maker and makes good decisions for Xbox that benefit us as gamers and help Xbox grow.
Phil was a great guy but he has made some bad decisions for Xbox over the years. .
I will give her the benefit of the doubt she can't be worse then mattrick
The AI blurb is interesting, considering Microsoft has reportedly told all their other teams that "using AI is no longer optional" and will be part of performance evaluations from now on.
