Xbox CEO Asha Sharma expresses confidence that Xbox will be back on track and growing by next year, despite recent reports suggesting revenue for the gaming brand is down. The report comes as Sharma nears the end of her first six months as head of Xbox.
The Microsoft gaming brand has seen major changes throughout 2026, with a change of leadership at the highest level. Fan-favorite Xbox CEO Phil Spencer confirmed he would retire from his position at Microsoft Gaming after 38 years with the company, handing the reins to Microsoft’s CoreAI president Asha Sharma. Xbox President and Chief Content Officer Sarah Bond also announced that she would be leaving Microsoft at the same time, with Matt Booty taking over as CCO. Now, despite recent struggles at Xbox, Asha Sharma is sharing a positive outlook for the future of the Microsoft gaming brand.
Asha Sharma Confident Xbox Will Bounce Back from Recent Decline
Asha Sharma recently spoke about the position of Xbox and its future on her official Twitter account. Sharma confirmed that, despite more than 200 million new players coming to Xbox during the 2026 fiscal year, the “business did not grow” with its increased audience. Asha Sharma stressed that the company needs to “invest in what players value” as one of the biggest ways to turn the Xbox brand around, and she expressed confidence that Xbox will “return to growth” by the end of the next fiscal year. Recent quarterly reports from Microsoft also showed that, while revenue and operating income grew by up to 18% across the company, Xbox showed financial declines from the previous year for the second quarter in a row.
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The recent financial struggles with Xbox could be the result of a variety of different factors, including the release cadence for its major releases. Xbox only had one major first-party release during the final quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, with Forza Horizon 6 debuting in May 2026. Fable was delayed to 2027, and Gears of War: E-Day isn’t launching until October.
Asha Sharma has already promised big changes at Xbox within the first few months of her taking over as CEO. Microsoft reduced the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in April, dropping the subscription from $29.99 to $22.99, which reportedly led to an uptick in subscriptions to the service. Sharma has also acknowledged growing demands for Microsoft to return to first-party exclusives following several major Xbox franchises appearing on other platforms, with CCO Matt Booty confirming that future potential exclusives would be decided on a “case-by-case basis.”
The coming fiscal year will likely be a pivotal year for Xbox, with several big-name releases on the way. Alongside the previously-mentioned Halo: Campaign Evolved and Gears of War: E-Day, the start of 2027 will bring the revival of a beloved Xbox franchise with the release of the Fable reboot. The second half of 2026 will also bring a major multiplatform release in Grand Theft Auto 6, even if early reports suggest that GTA 6‘s PS5 pre-orders are outpacing Xbox by a wide margin. Fans can only hope that Asha Sharma’s changes can help Xbox get back on the right track.
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