Bethesda boss Todd Howard has commented on the departure of Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, saying in an interview he was “really, really sorry” to see his good friend Spencer retire.
Spencer worked at Microsoft for 38 years before he announced his retirement from the company earlier this year. He’s staying on the through the summer to help with the handover to new CEO Asha Sharma.
According to GamesRadar, Sharma hasn’t visited Bethesda Game Studios as of yet, but Howard said “everybody has talked virtually” already. Discussing the new CEO, Howard said Sharma is “great” and that, for now, people are feeling “really optimistic” about her taking over for Spencer.
Sharma comes from an AI background and more AI features are coming to Xbox under her watch. Howard previously talked enthusiastically about AI as well, confirming that Bethesda uses the technology in its workflows. More recently, Howard spoke very enthusiastically about the newly announced Nvidia DLSS 5, aspects of which have been the subject of public ire.
In other Bethesda news, the company just recently announced that Starfield is coming to PS5 on April 7 alongside major updates that make it the “most complete” version of the game to date.
In addition to the new Starfield updates, Bethesda continues to update and evolve Fallout 76 and the team is working on The Elder Scrolls VI. The company has said Fallout 5 is coming as well, but one former developer believes Bethesda might outsource it.