Bethesda's Todd Howard Comments on Recent Xbox Leadership Changes

The leadership shuffle at Xbox has caught the attention of Todd Howard, director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios and one of the most well-recognized faces in the video game industry. Bethesda and Xbox have a strong history of working together on high-profile gaming projects, especially after the latter acquired the former, and while Howard is sad to see some of the old faces go, he’s also looking forward to the two companies’ future plans together.

Former Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer retired from his role on February 23 after a tenure of nearly 40 years with the company, announcing his retirement just a few days ahead of it taking effect. This move followed just a few days after Sarah Bond, who had seemingly been poised to succeed Spencer as the head of Microsoft’s gaming division, unexpectedly resigned from her role as president of Xbox. Instead, Asha Sharma, who worked in Microsoft’s marketing division for a couple of years starting in 2011 before returning to Microsoft in 2024 to head up its CoreAI division, has assumed Spencer’s old role. The shake-up has turned a lot of heads in the gaming industry, and it seems Howard is one of them.

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Todd Howard is Still Looking Forward to Xbox’s Future After Phil Spencer

Howard and Spencer have had a close working relationship spanning over the years, which came to a head after Microsoft acquired Bethesda in 2021. But even before that acquisition, Bethesda’s leadership had often viewed Xbox as its primary platform for launching its games. Speaking recently with IGN, Howard seemed sad to learn of Spencer’s retirement from the industry, expressing a degree of fondness for him and remarking on the professional bond they had built together. “He’s a good friend, he’s one of the key reasons that we’ve been a large part of Xbox, not just after them acquiring us,” he noted during that interview.

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One of the key factors behind their collaborative success, according to Bethesda’s director, has been the willingness of Spencer to allow game creators a large enough degree of freedom that lets their games reach audiences with the creative vision still intact, and to plot courses to turn those visions into success stories. Howard also attributed these qualities to new Xbox Chief Content Officer Matt Booty, whom Howard has also worked with closely in the past and who has recently been elevated into a higher role amid the leadership reshuffle. “And I’ve seen them do that behind closed doors so many times and I don’t think they get the credit that they deserve for it,” Howard commented.

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While the leadership changes at Xbox have left Howard with mixed emotions, mainly tied to his personal and professional dealings with Spencer, he’s also excited to see how gamers will react to what Xbox has in store for the future. Howard admits to having long held insider knowledge of a lot of Xbox’s plans, including what’s going to happen in terms of its future hardware. He noted that “everybody” thinks highly of Sharma and indicated he is anticipating great things from her following Spencer’s departure. In addition to her roles with Microsoft, Sharma’s other professional experience includes serving on the executive boards of The Home Depot and South Korean e-commerce company Coupang, as well as a past stint as vice president of product and engineering at Meta.

Howard’s comments come just as one of Xbox’s formerly hottest console-exclusive properties has been confirmed for a launch on a non-Xbox product. Bethesda has now officially announced that Starfield will be coming to PlayStation 5 on April 7, confirming a wave of rumors that started in early February. That PS5 launch date will coincide with the arrival of the Free Lanes free update and the Terran Armada DLC expansion, which will bring new story content, a cruise-style flight mode, and much more to the space exploration action-RPG.