Asha Sharma runs Xbox after Satya Nadella named her CEO in February 2026, succeeding Phil Spencer. Fortune's Sebastian Herrera profiled her on October 20, describing a division with deep financial problems and a leader with no prior video game experience.
The situation she inherited
Fortune describes Xbox as a $21 billion business spanning hardware, studios and thousands of titles. Its profit margin is around 3%, a third to a tenth of competitors' levels, and current-generation consoles have sold just over a third as many units as PlayStation 5 according to third-party estimates. Console hardware accounts for about 80% of the business, and memory chip shortages are raising hardware costs. Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023, and Game Pass has cannibalized sales of higher-priced titles. Xbox has about 100 million daily active users against a long-term goal of 1 billion. Of a planned reduction of 3,200 people, 1,868 have been cut, with more layoffs planned for November and January.
The plan
Sharma intends to overhaul Game Pass into tiered, a la carte features, release a next-generation handheld by the 2027 holiday season and a console by the 2028 holidays, and concentrate resources on major franchises including Minecraft and Blizzard titles while reducing funding for smaller studios. The Helix console is projected to cost $1,200 to $1,800 unless Microsoft subsidizes it, and she acknowledged: “We can't build Helix on our own.” She expects financial improvements to appear in fiscal 2027.
Her approach to AI
Sharma, who previously led product for the team behind Microsoft's AI Foundry platform and worked on GitHub Copilot products, says she will not pursue AI for AI's sake. She treats it as a tool for specific engineering and performance problems, such as developer workflows. Some sources told Fortune that Project Helix deadlines were moved up, pressuring teams to work faster, including with AI.
Leadership and open questions
Sharma told Fortune: “It's hard to be a first-time CEO… where everybody sees everything you do.” Microsoft commercial chief Judson Althoff said she is “one of the best leaders we have at the whole company.” Current and former staff believe Xbox may be prepared for a sale, spinoff or outside investment, which the article does not confirm. Althoff said Microsoft would not have put Sharma on a business it intends to sell.
Source: Fortune. This is an AI Business Watch summary of the original profile.