This has been one of the wildest weeks for the gaming industry so far, and we’re not even halfway through 2026. We all saw about Bungie’s latest delay, Sony sending Bluepoint Games to the chopping block, and instead of letting us recover from these things, Phil Spencer has announced his retirement. But that’s not the shocking part. Sarah Bond, who was expected to take over, is also leaving, so the torch will now pass over to Asha Sharma, better known as the President of Microsoft CoreAI, which, yes, might be as alarming as it sounds.
Asha Sharma to Take Over Once Phil Spencer Retires
This news has shaken the entire gaming community, as it isn’t only one person leaving Microsoft/Xbox; there are two individuals saying goodbye.
Today, Phil Spencer announced that he will be retiring as CEO of the Microsoft Gaming division. Naturally, many would think Sarah Bond would take over, but guess what? She’s also leaving the company.
In their place, Asha Sharma will take over as CEO. If his name doesn’t ring a bell, we don’t blame you, as Sharma is currently associated with one department working on the thing we gamers dread the most: AI.
Asha Sharma, the former president of Microsoft CoreAI, will now take the helm of Microsoft Gaming as CEO, and so far, players have not taken the news well.
As we all know, the gaming department at Microsoft has been a bit stale, with just a couple of releases here and there and some publishing deals that, while great, haven’t been as big as those of the competition. Now, the fact that someone whose primary job was to push for AI is taking the lead of the gaming division is making everyone extremely nervous.
At the time of writing, reactions are all over the place, with many afraid of what the future of Xbox might look like. A few are lamenting Phil Spencer’s departure, as some claim he was the one who revived Xbox after the shaky Xbox One era. Others believe that the real shock is Sarah Bond’s departure, too, as it seems a bit shady that she won’t take over after Spencer leaves.
Yet, many gamers agree that having someone who has focused completely on AI lead the gaming division might only lead to bad things, but that’s something we won’t know for a while.
Right now, all we can do is wait to see what Microsoft Gaming does, but the future is looking more uncertain with each passing day. On top of that, this company owns some of the most iconic gaming studios out there, so we can only hope that the next Elder Scrolls isn’t an AI-riddled mess.
