The double leadership change at Microsoft Gaming and Xbox is causing great concern among some fans—including one of the former bosses. Seamus Blackley makes no secret of his fears.
Xbox is his baby – one that others have been taking care of for a long time. As co-founder in 2001, Seamus Blackley was instrumental in the design and release of the very first edition of the console. Just one year later, he left Microsoft to co-found Capital Entertainment Group (CAA). But Blackley never lost sight of Xbox.
So it’s not surprising that the former boss spoke out about the double leadership change at Microsoft Gaming and Xbox. In an interview with online magazine GamesBeat, he doesn’t hold back with his fears about the role of new CEO and Phil Spencer’s successor, Asha Sharma.
Blackley fears AI takeover
“I assume she will take on the role of a palliative care doctor, gently accompanying Xbox into the night,” says Blackley. The game and console designer is particularly skeptical due to Sharma’s previous professional experience. She is moving from Microsoft’s CoreAI department to the gaming segment – presumably without much prior knowledge.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has “invested an incredible amount of money and credibility in the transformation model of the AI future.” According to Blackley, Xbox would be “shut down like many other companies that are not part of the core AI business.” Sooner or later, the tech giant’s gaming division would be “taken over by AI.”
Blackley does not trust Sharma’s announcement that she will focus her work on “great games”: “Everyone who has ever come to video games from other industries has said that when they were hired.” That does not necessarily mean that this leap in content cannot succeed – there are also positive examples.
However, Blackley does not believe in a golden future for games at Xbox. Sharma’s lack of video game experience is a thorn in his side: “I wonder if it would make sense to put a major film studio in the hands of someone who doesn’t like movies. Or a major record label in the hands of someone who has never seen a live show.”
It is not known whether Sharma dislikes video games, as Blackley’s first example suggests. However, it is known that she is not a gaming enthusiast and has had little contact with the industry to date.
But there are also other voices from the gaming scene. “Does a CEO in the gaming industry have to be a gamer themselves? Not necessarily,“ says GOALS CEO Andreas Thorstensson on X: ”I would always prefer a strong, strategic leader to a gamer without leadership skills.“
For Thorstensson, ”building and scaling“ are the top priorities. However, he also admitted that ”of course“ it would be best to ”be both. A deep understanding of gamers and strong operational execution are the keys to long-term success.”
Kicking ex-president Bond when she’s down?
Apart from the change from Spencer to Sharma, former Xbox president Sarah Bond has also stepped down, while Matt Booty has been promoted to chief content officer.
He is expected to serve as the interface to the many studios that develop video games for Xbox. According to a report by The Verge, parts of the workforce were reportedly unhappy with the direction Bond had taken the company – keyword “Everything is an Xbox.” Some employees are said to be glad that she has left the company.
However, Bond had only been Xbox president since fall 2023. Spencer had already communicated this approach years before she took over. It would therefore be too simplistic to attribute the philosophy of universal distribution of Xbox titles solely to Bond.