Image: Lori Wright (Official Xbox Podcast)
We’ve got a couple more departures to share from Team Xbox, as it’s been announced this week that Lori Wright and Haiyan Zhang will be leaving Microsoft soon, with both having spent around a decade each at the company.
Lori Wright was the Corporate Vice President of Partnerships, Business Development & Marketing at Xbox, in which her role involved “publishing and platform partnerships, content licensing, developer programs, and market expansion.”
Wright took to LinkedIn two days ago to share thanks and “overwhelming gratitude” for her experience at Microsoft:
Lori Wright is leaving Xbox / Microsoft “in the coming weeks.” Wright was a direct report to former Xbox president Sarah Bond, working as CVP of gaming partnerships and business development pic.twitter.com/N8iGLKLTJ3— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) March 20, 2026
Haiyan Zhang was the General Manager & Partner of Gaming AI at Microsoft Gaming / Xbox, and had previously worked as Chief of Staff and even as Innovation Director at Xbox Studios all the way back in 2013.
Zhang described leaving Microsoft as “the hardest decision of my life” in a social media post, but also explained that she’s “always said I want to go on many adventures”. Her new adventure will be as part of the gaming team at Netflix.
“At Microsoft, I felt I had truly found my people: a place where I could belong. I hope I carry forward some small piece of the culture we built together: one of curiosity, acceptance, and inclusion. Thank you all for walking this journey with me, from my early days in Xbox Game Studios, to Microsoft Research, to serving as Gaming Chief of Staff, and more recently working together on this AI revolution. I’ve loved the adventure.
My next step will be at Netflix, where I’ll be joining the team to help empower their journey in gaming. I’ll also continue pursuing my passion for advancing AI for social impact through my nonprofit, Thriven Foundation.”
Since @tomwarren screenshotted my LinkedIn post and some folks are conspiracy theorying it (wtf). Posting here my farewell love letter to Microsoft. Today was my last day on campus, and after spending 13 years in this place, choosing to leave this company and these amazing people… pic.twitter.com/h46dnMjOgz— haiyan zhang (@haiyan) March 21, 2026
As you can see, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood here whatsoever, and these two executives are simply taking the opportunity to try something different and pursue new opportunities outside of Microsoft.
We wish all the best to both Lori Wright and Haiyan Zhang with everything they go on to do next!
Fraser is the News Editor at Pure Xbox, where he spends his time reporting on the biggest stories in the world of Xbox and beyond.