This past month, long-time Microsoft veteran and Xbox lead Phil Spencer retired, giving the floor to incoming CEO Asha Sharma. Xbox stands at a bit of a cross roads. The Xbox brand has been under strain to some degree, owing to the decision to divest Xbox of its exclusive content to PlayStation, chiefly icons like Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and soon Fable. The decision has left people wondering if Microsoft is actually truly interested in maintaining Xbox as a brand long term, myself included, since without exclusive content it doesn't seem like Xbox has a unique selling point required for its long term future. Microsoft responded with a big partnership with AMD for an Xbox-Windows hybrid console, that will play not only Xbox console games but also full PC games from the open Windows marketplace. Xbox's Project Helix is on the horizon, and from speaking to various staffers, the general mood at Xbox couldn't be more energizing. This past week, incoming CEO Asha Sharma was joined by Microsoft top CEO Satya Nadella in an internal Q&A to discuss Microsoft's top-down vision for gaming. Donned with an Xbox hoodie, it was honestly refreshing to hear Satya Nadella speak so positively on the Xbox division. We verified the transcript of the Q&A with multiple sources. Here's what was said.
