Late final week, Xbox introduced that longtime CEO and face of the corporate, Phil Spencer, is leaving after 25 years with the staff. His substitute, Asha Sharma, is the present president of Microsoft CoreAI.
The announcement instantly drew scrutiny as followers queried what that will imply for the platform as a complete, with the regarding use of AI turning into extra commonplace, however Sharma has additionally come beneath hearth for her seemingly transient gaming historical past.
In a dialog on X with a skeptical Xbox participant, Sharma revealed her gamertag. Gamers instantly clocked that the primary achievement on the profile she shared is just from Jan. 15, 2026 — round 5 weeks in the past.
To her credit score, she’s spent the final month or so taking part in some glorious video games. Halo: The Grasp Chief Assortment was up first (she could not take the position with out being a minimum of considerably conversant in Xbox’s lead mascot, proper?), alongside Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, and Fallout 76. She additionally seems to get pleasure from critically acclaimed shorter indie video games, as she’s 100% accomplished Firewatch, she’s just one achievement away in What Stays of Edith Finch, and he or she’s simply lacking three from A Brief Hike.
Apparently, final yr’s underrated roguelike hit, Ball X Pit, seems to be her favourite. She’s solely lacking one achievement, regardless of having performed simply 42 hours over the span of eight days. It looks as if Sharma was afforded a substantial period of time between jobs to get some analysis finished.
Sharma’s fast immersion in Xbox gaming has led some to query whether or not she’s taking part in the video games herself. Far too many ladies in video games have needed to endure this sort of gatekeeping for us to not give her the advantage of the doubt. Possibly she simply wasn’t an Xbox gamer beforehand, and perhaps she simply received hooked on Ball X Pit (and who might blame her).
It is an open query whether or not Sharma must be a gaming professional to steer operations at Xbox, however residing as much as Phil Spencer — a person who bled inexperienced and has a gamerscore of over 120,000 — was at all times going to be a troublesome process.
Skepticism about Sharma amongst Xbox followers is so intense that some are speculating that her posts on X are AI-generated. After which there’s the rumor that Spencer’s retirement was extra of a firing in disguise: “I have been handed one thing that reiterates to me that this was not deliberate,” Greg Miller stated on the Kinda Humorous Video games podcast. This may not assist her legitimacy within the eyes of Xbox followers.
Establishing belief with players shall be an uphill battle for Sharma, and her robust begin within the new job is not helped by the truth that Xbox’s latest monitor document has been doubtful at greatest. Fable and Forza Horizon 6 are two extremely anticipated Xbox video games due this yr, however the inexperienced aspect of the console conflict hasn’t had a lot to jot down dwelling about not too long ago.
There is not any purpose to consider Sharma’s want to attach with Xbox gamers on X this previous weekend wasn’t real, even when she betrayed some inexperience with the Xbox tradition. However the group doesn’t look like prepared to present her the advantage of the doubt. Solely time will inform if she is as much as the duty of operating Xbox.
