Helen Chiang, Xbox’s first chief operating officer, is departing the company according to a memo acquired by The Verge. While Chiang had been at Microsoft for decades and there has been, quite obviously, a lot of restructuring in recent history, this hightail is peculiar. The role itself was only established just over three months ago as a means to assure long-term stability in an operation that looks like anything but.
“Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today,” reads the brief memo from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. “I’m grateful for her years of service and wish her well.”
Previously head of Mojang and corporate vice president of Microsoft, Chiang had been reassigned to chief operating officer back in July. It was amid a huge wave in a continuing tide of layoffs at Xbox. For those who’ve lost track, this was the round that let Double Fine off the leash and put Arkane in its current state of peril.
Chiang had been with the company for 21 years, part of the team that ushered in Xbox Live and XBLA. As Sharma let thousands of employees go, the most recent role created some semblance of a plan as many wonder how an operation as massive as this will function with such continuous bloodletting.
The reason for Chiang’s departure is unclear. Buzzed for an explanation, Xbox tells The Verge that “we don’t discuss individual personnel matters.” In Sharma’s memo, she says that more information on the next chief operating officer will be divulged “as plans are finalized.”
Xbox has been in disarray for some time, but the calamity came to a head this year. Sharma took her current post in February after Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond, similarly, vacated without much warning. In her short tenure, Sharma’s announced a new Xbox console, established Chiang’s role, a more dedicated cross-media department and fiddled with the brand’s style-guide. More prominently are the company’s woes, as layoffs intensify, game production budgets skyrocket, Game Pass falls short and price tags on the next generation will inevitably lock out swaths of their player base.
