To say that it's been a wild week for Microsoft and Xbox would be an understatement; last Friday, the firm announced that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is retiring, with CoreAI Product president Asha Sharma stepping into his role, Matt Booty moving up to EVP and Chief Content Officer, and Xbox president Sarah Bond leaving the company.
It's a huge leadership shakeup for Xbox, and one that many are apprehensive about, even after Sharma vowed to focus on "great games," the "return of Xbox," and "the future of play" — and also assured fans the last thing she wants to do is "chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop."
Most fears about what Sharma's direction for Xbox might look like stem from her communications and AI background, with many concerned that she doesn't have experience in the gaming industry. One ex-Microsoft gaming lead, though, believes that's not something players should inherently worry about.
That take comes from Ed Fries, a former vice president of game publishing at Microsoft that left the firm in 2004 after helping it launch the original Xbox and some of its biggest games, including the iconic 2001 FPS Halo: Combat Evolved the console shipped with. Speaking with GamesBeat in a new interview, Fries explained why he think Sharma's lack of gaming background "can work fine."
"First of all, the relationship between Matt [Booty] and Asha Sharma — it reminds me a bit of the relationship between Robbie [Bach, former president of entertainment and devices] and [I]. I was mostly looking down, trying to build the content, build the games, and Robbie was managing Bill and Steve, sales and marketing, stuff like that. For the most part, that worked pretty well. I see it as getting back to that kind of structure, which I think could be good," he said.
Fries went on to talk about how it's ultimately okay that Sharma doesn't have gaming experience, because Matt Booty does, and will be working closely with Sharma while she focuses on the business side of things. "As long as each person respects what the other person is good at," he asserts, "that can work fine."
"Matt is really good at what he does. Comes from the games business, super focused on games, been there a long time. Asha doesn’t seem to have any real game experience, but that was true when I worked for Robbie, too. Robbie didn’t come with any game experience. As long as each person respects what the other person is good at, that can work fine," he said. "There’s a lot of work to do at Microsoft to just deal with the company, keep the company out of your way, and fit what you’re doing at Xbox into the bigger company structure."
"I’m not worried that Asha doesn’t come with game experience. I think that’s going to be okay. Maybe that’s a concern some people have had. I heard a little about her. She was described to me as bright and capable," he added. "I heard an anecdote about her when she was an intern working for someone, a while ago. People at the company all decided they were going to work for her someday. She was that good."
It's an argument that echoes a point my colleague and Windows Central executive editor Jez Corden recently made while discussing his thoughts on the leadership change, which is that Sharma's area of expertise — building scalable social systems such as Facebook Messenger, which she had a huge hand in — is arguably what Xbox needs to grow as a brand. Gaming-specific guidance can ultimately come from Booty.
In the end, only time will tell how successful Sharma and Booty will be in charting a course for Xbox's future (our exclusive interview with both is a good read; they talk about some of what to expect moving forward if you're an Xbox fan). But I do find myself agreeing with Fries that Sharma's lack of gaming experience isn't necessarily a bad sign when you don't view it in a vacuum.
Do you agree with Ed Fries? Sound off!
Do you find yourself in agreement with Ed Fries that it's okay that Asha Sharma doesn't have gaming experience even though she's now the new Xbox CEO? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments.
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