{"id":481114,"date":"2026-02-21T03:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481114\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T03:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T03:20:08","slug":"asha-sharma-on-great-games-ai-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/481114\/","title":{"rendered":"Asha Sharma on Great Games, AI Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIt\u2019s the dawn of a new era for Xbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Friday, Microsoft Gaming<\/a> announced longtime leader Phil Spencer would be retiring as CEO<\/a> and that Asha Sharma<\/a>, Microsoft CoreAI\u2019s head of product development, had been named his successor. <\/p>\n

\n\tWith Spencer having been a staple in the gaming community for decades, Sharma knows she has some big shoes to fill, telling Variety in an interview she has \u201cdeep respect\u201d for Spencer\u2019s leadership and the legacy he\u2019s leaving behind to her and now-chief content officer Matt Booty.<\/p>\n

\n\tSharma was quick in laying out her top priorities for Microsoft Gaming in an internal memo announcing her promotion, noting \u201cgreat games,\u201d \u201cthe return of Xbox\u201d and the \u201cfuture of play\u201d as her three main commitments to the gaming community.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo first, what makes a great game for Sharma, whose roles prior to CoreAI include top positions at Instacart and Meta? The new Microsoft Gaming CEO tells Variety it\u2019s all about games with \u201cdeep emotional resonance\u201d and \u201ca distinct point of view.\u201d She wants to develop stories that make players \u201cfeel something,\u201d like the kind of feelings Campo Santo\u2019s 2016 first-person mystery \u201cFirewatch\u201d elicited in her.<\/p>\n

\n\tSharma takes on the mantle as head of the leading competitor to Sony\u2019s PlayStation and Nintendo knowing full well she\u2019s entering the role as an outsider to the larger gaming community and has \u201ca lot to learn\u201d still. But Sharma says she\u2019s got a commitment to \u201cbeing grounded in what the community is telling us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m coming into gaming as a platform builder,\u201d Sharma said, adding that her goal is to \u201cearn the right to be trusted by players and developers\u201d and show the fanbase that \u201cconsistency\u201d over time.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn her interview with Variety, Sharma acknowledged the tumultuous state of the gaming industry, referencing Matthew Ball\u2019s recent State of Video Gaming in 2026 report as evidence that the larger \u201ctransformation\u201d of the sector is \u201cprotecting what we believe in while remaining open\u2011minded about the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDue to her strong background in AI, initial reactions to Sharma\u2019s appointment have raised concerns about what her specific views are on the use of generative AI in game development. Sharma says her stance is simple: she has \u201cno tolerance for bad AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be,\u201d Sharma said, noting that gaming needs new \u201cgrowth engines,\u201d but that \u201cgreat stories are created by humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpencer\u2019s exit comes as Microsoft Gaming is approaching its 25th anniversary this fall, an event Sharma is looking forward to ushering in as she sets the stage for the company\u2019s future. Sharma sees it as \u201ca moment to honor the past while setting direction for the next chapter,\u201d which will include big updates out of the upcoming GDC Festival of Gaming next March and even some larger announcements ahead of Xbox\u2019s next Games Showcase presentation this spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the dawn of a new era for Xbox. On Friday, Microsoft Gaming announced longtime leader Phil Spencer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[221891,221928,136626,74,1298],"class_list":{"0":"post-481114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-asha-sharma","9":"tag-microsoft-gaming","10":"tag-phil-spencer","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-xbox"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}