Xbox is officially losing its very first Chief Operating Officer. Helen Chiang’s departure from Xbox was announced via an internal memo penned by the company’s CEO, Asha Sharma.
Beginning at the company all the way back in August 2005, Helen Chiang dedicated 21 years of her life to working at Microsoft. While Chiang started at Microsoft as a Product Manager, she quickly transitioned into managerial positions, becoming the Group Business Manager of Subscriptions in 2008, then the Xbox Live Business Strategy Director in 2009, and the Microsoft Studios Chief of Staff in 2011. Chiang’s rise through the ranks continued throughout the 2010s, with the decade ending with her becoming the Studio Head of the Minecraft franchise. Following the announcement of Xbox’s plans to lay off 3,200 employees in July, Chiang was given the role of Xbox’s first ever Chief Operating Officer.
Xbox Chief Operating Officer Leaves Under Mysterious Circumstances
Just three months after her appointment as Xbox’s first Chief Operating Officer, Helen Chiang has left the company. In an internal memo sent out to Xbox employees (and obtained by The Verge), Xbox CEO Asha Sharma officially announced the departure of Chiang, saying that she’s “grateful for her years of service and wish[es] her well.” Sharma’s memo also states that the company will “share more on COO leadership as plans are finalized.”
There’s currently no official word on why Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft after 21 years. Eurogamer reached out to Xbox for comment, to which they provided the following statement: “We don’t discuss individual personnel matters. We’re grateful for Helen’s years of service and wish her well.” According to a verified source that spoke with Eurogamer, Chiang has been “terminated for policy violations.” The Verge’s Tom Warren corroborated that claim on Twitter, stating that his sources have also said that Chiang was dismissed for a “policy violation.” It’s currently unknown what policy violation Chiang has allegedly committed.
This is just the latest in a recent wave of appointments and sudden departures at Xbox. Of course, February saw the departure of former Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond. A month later, Corporate Vice President Lori Wright and the General Manager of Gaming AI Haiyan Zhang both left Xbox. In June, the Head of Xbox Studios, Craig Duncan, left the company alongside Louise O’Connor, Xbox’s Chief of Staff. Then in July, Xbox’s newly appointed Vice President of Engineering, Jared Palmer, left the company after just three months in the role.
All of these leadership changes come in the midst of Xbox’s ongoing “reset,” which will see a total of 3,200 employees losing their jobs by the end of the fiscal year. 1,600 of these employees were let go the day of Xbox’s layoff announcements on July 6, and another 268 were laid off last month when multiple first-party studios were consolidated.
