Microsoft’s new gaming CEO Asha Sharma was seen by many as the necessary ‘fresh start’ for the struggling giant. Even Thomas Mahler, Ori creator, drew comparisons to Steve Jobs — the kind of praise that sets expectations sky-high. She also openly said that Project Helix will be a ‘return’ of the studio. But just a few months into the role, that optimism might be starting to run out of steam as Xbox is doubling down on CoreAI talents.
In an internal memo shared by CNBC, Sharma made it clear that Xbox hasn’t been operating the way it should. “We need to evolve how we work and how we are organized across our platform,” she wrote. “We spend too much time inward instead of with the community, and we lack the depth we need in some of the fundamentals.”
The big underline here is, of course, the promise to reconnect with the gaming community. This is something Xbox has leaned on heavily in the past, especially during the Phil Spencer era. When Uncle Phil took over, Xbox was having a very rough transition period from the brand-damaging Xbox One to the Series X.
He rebuilt trust by talking directly to players, pushing Game Pass’ value, and framing Xbox as the more consumer-friendly alternative by ‘eliminating’ the console war. Even though many of his long-term bets struggled to turn the Green Ship around fully, that goodwill carried the brand through the turbulent era.
But here’s the funny twist. While talking about community, Sharma is filling up Xbox leadership with people from Microsoft’s CoreAI division — where she herself came from. She promised in the memo that these new leaders would bring ‘consumer and technical expertise’ that the studio supposedly lacks.
In practice, though, it looks suspiciously a lot more like an AI-focus overhaul rather than an attempt to refocus on hardcore gaming. The four key hires themselves are:
- Jared Palmer: Formerly, CoreAI VP of product and a senior vice president at GitHub, will join Xbox in a technical role focused on product, engineering, developer tools, and infrastructure. He previously served as VP at AI platform Vercel.
- Jonathan McKay: Former Meta director and the ChatGPT head of growth at OpenAI. Joining as the Xbox’s head of growth.
- Tim Allen: Formerly, CoreAI VP of design and GitHub’s senior vice president of design and research before leading the design on Xbox.
- Evan Chaki: Previously, a CoreAI general manager. Will be running a team of engineers to ‘simplify development’ and ‘end repetitive work.’
There’s also a notable changing of the guard happening. Two 24-year Microsoft veterans, Kevin Gammill and Roanne Sones, are stepping aside from their positions. The former, a longtime Xbox staff member, is departing the company; the latter will move into an advisory role following a leave of absence.
The timing of all this lands awkwardly against Microsoft’s round of layoffs, which continued into this year. Under an aggressive pivot toward AI, the company has reportedly trimmed over 15,000 employees between May 2025 and April 2026. At this point, it remains unclear whether this strategy will bring Xbox closer to its players or push it further toward becoming an AI-first platform rather than a game publisher.
