Microsoft Gaming has a new CEO, with Asha Sharma taking over for Phil Spencer as the top boss for the company’s gaming team. The founder of Xbox, Seamus Blackley, has now weighed in with his thoughts on the news, saying Sharma becoming CEO makes “perfect sense” given Microsoft’s big AI push. At the same time, Blackley said a younger version of himself would have been very upset about Sharma getting the job, adding that Sharma has a challenging road ahead of her. Blackley also advised Sharma to leave the job today if she’s not genuinely passionate about games.
Speaking to GamesBeat, Blackley said pointed out that Microsoft’s massive bet on AI is “unprecedented” in terms of the money Microsoft is investing and the company’s vision for an AI-powered future.
“That’s not the same as Sega deciding how to gracefully go out of business. This is a company that’s trying to recontextualize the way we think about technology in its entirety. They’ve decided that the lever point that’s going to do that is generative AI models. They’re looking to fit everything into a generative AI model,” he said.
He added that Xbox is going to be “sunsetted” because it’s not core to Microsoft’s vision going forward, at least not in its current setup. “They don’t say that, but that’s what’s happening. I expect that the new CEO, Asha Sharma, her job is going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night.”
Blackley went on to say the situation is like when someone has a hammer and then everything looks like a nail. He said this is how Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is seeing the world these days given the company’s massive investment in AI, including with respect to gaming.
“Everything is a gen AI problem. Games, of course, are a gen AI problem. This is why I say this makes perfect sense. If you’re Satya, you have a hammer called gen AI and every single problem is a nail. Okay, so who do you put in charge of games? A games person? No, because in the world of Satya, everything is a gen AI problem, so you put a gen AI person in charge of games with a training model, with boot camps for her to train her like you train an AI model, to bring gen AI into a position to revolutionize games,” Blackley said.
Blackley further stated that the “old way of thinking about things” does not apply to Sharma getting the job of the top Xbox boss. The world has “completely changed” with regards to the mindset of people like Nadella and other decision-makers. Whether or not it’s possible that generative AI could help Xbox succeed is the same question about if Sharma can succeed as the new Xbox boss, Blackley believes.
“They are living in a world where generative AI is the solution to the problems, and so the application of generative AI is the only solution that they need to think about. Once they’ve done that, the generative AI will then take over the problem. Whether or not you believe in that, like I said, is the deciding factor in whether or not you believe this will be a successful strategy,” he said.
Microsoft got into games in the first place 20+ years ago because the company truly wanted to be in gaming, Blackley said–and he would know, because he was there. Today, however, Sharma is taking over for Spencer because Nadella believes “games are going to be driven by AI,” Blackley said.
“You can tell that they’re really serious about games being fixed by AI because madame doth protest so much about how they’re not going to make slop and it’s all human-controlled. For anyone over a certain age with a certain amount of business experience, you recognize those words for what they are,” he said.
Here, Blackley is referring to Sharma saying on multiple occasions that she is keen to avoid “soulless AI slop” and that she has “no tolerance for bad AI.”
Also in the interview, Blackley said Sharma is about to have a rude awakening with regards to interacting with gamers. He said gamers are impatient and intolerant, generally.
“That’s the wall she’s about to discover and hit. Like a lot of things in life, you can be told something is the way it is. And everyone new who comes in thinks they can handle it, but when they actually have to handle it they get crushed. Then you say to them, ‘I told you that you were going to have to handle this.’ Some people make it through and some people don’t,” he said.
Blackley also compared games to winemaking and beer brewing. Some people make alcohol for the “artisanal side” of the process, but in the end, the “addictive side to it” takes over. With winemaking, the idea is to allow the grapes to reach their maximum potential, and then the product is better. However, at the same time, the “business guys” will try to come in and sell more, which may in turn “lessen the quality of the product.”
“I think we see this in games. The big unknown in this, this addiction that all the big tech companies have about generative AI being a panacea,” he said.
Blackley also said a younger version of himself who was still at Xbox “would be screaming” about the recent changes at Xbox, and even today he said he would “probably still feel that way.” However, he understands why things have played out this way.
“But at the same time, I understand exactly why it is. I know that, again, Satya is holding a hammer and everything is a nail,” he said. “There’s a nail with an Xbox logo on it. He’s applying the AI person to it. He has to show shareholders and the press and the world that he is all in on this investment. He has to show them that he believes generative AI is going to fix games and make it profitable. He has to make this move. It doesn’t matter what you think about it. I don’t think he had any choice.”
Finally, Blackley offered up some words of advice to Sharma, beginning with a suggestion that if she should quit if she’s not all-in on games. “If I was talking to her I would say, look, if you’re not really passionate about games, or if you can’t develop a passion for games, then you should find a way to leave this job soon,” he said.
Secondly, Blackley said if she can gain the trust of the gaming community and also “build a real business,” then she could become “very powerful” at Microsoft. Blackley suggested that Sharma meet with former game industry veterans like Shuhei Yoshida and Phil Harrison from PlayStation, or Peter Moore from Xbox, or Reggie Fils-Aime from Nintendo.
“Go and talk to those leaders about how they succeeded and failed in the business. Learn from them. Don’t try to make it up on your own. Go get that data,” he said.
Today, February 23, is Sharma’s first day on the job at Microsoft Gaming CEO. As part of the shakeup, Xbox president Sarah Bond has left Microsoft, while Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty got promoted.
