• Microsoft Executive Vice President for Gaming Phil Spencer announced he will retire after 38 years at Microsoft and 12 years leading the company’s video game efforts. • Asha Sharma, an executive currently in charge of Microsoft’s CoreAI division, will take his place. • Xbox President Sarah Bond, who many assumed was being groomed as Spencer’s eventual replacement, is also resigning from the company. • Current Xbox Studios Head Matt Booty, meanwhile, is being promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer and will work closely with Sharma. • Inhis departure note, Spencer said he told Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last fall that he was “thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life.” Spencer will remain at Microsoft “in an advisory role” through the summer to help Sharma during the transition, he wrote. • Spencer, who got his start at Microsoft as an intern in 1988, served as a manager and executive at Microsoft Game Studios in 2003.
Article Summaries:
- Microsoft’s long‑time gaming chief, Phil Spencer, announced his retirement after 38 years with the company and 12 years at the helm of Xbox. Asha Sharma, currently head of Microsoft’s CoreAI division, will replace him as Executive Vice President of Gaming. Xbox President Sarah Bond is also leaving, while Matt Booty, head of Xbox Studios, is promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer to work closely with Sharma. Spencer will stay in an advisory capacity through the summer to aid the transition. The change follows Spencer’s role in steering Xbox through the Kinect‑One launch, the Bethesda acquisition, and the Activision Blizzard merger.
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