Today, Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella and members of the management team shared the following communication with employees:
Satya Nadella’s message
Games have been part of Microsoft from the beginning. Flight Simulator shipped before Windows and can virtually raytrace from DirectX in the ’90s to today’s accelerated computing era.
Celebrating Xbox 25th Anniversaryth This year, the opportunities and innovation challenges before us are expanding. Today, we have over 500 million monthly active users, are a leading publisher across all platforms, and continue to innovate across gaming hardware, content, and communities to serve creators and players around the world.
I’ve had a long-standing interest in games and their role at the heart of consumer ambition, and as I look to the future, I’m pleased to announce that Asha Sharma has joined Microsoft Gaming as Executive Vice President and CEO, reporting to me. Over the past two years at Microsoft, Asha served as Chief Operating Officer of Instacart and Vice President of Meta, where she helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and help the consumer and developer ecosystems thrive. She brings deep experience building and growing platforms, aligning business models for long-term value, and operating on a global scale. This is critical as we lead our gaming business into the next era of growth.
Matt Booty will become executive vice president and chief content officer, reporting to Asha. Matt’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to games and their developers. Under his leadership, Microsoft Gaming has grown to span nearly 40 studios across Xbox, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and King, which are home to popular series such as Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crush, and Fallout.
Together, Asha and Matt bring the right combination of consumer products leadership and gaming depth to advance the platform’s innovation and content pipeline. Last year, Phil Spencer decided to leave the company and we have been discussing succession planning ever since. I would like to thank Phil for his exceptional leadership and partnership. Phil spent 38 years at Microsoft, including 12 years leading the games industry, helping transform what the company does and how it does it. He expanded our reach across PC, mobile and cloud. The size of our business has almost tripled. He helped shape our strategy through the acquisitions of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Minecraft. and strengthened our culture across studios and platforms. I have long admired Phil’s unwavering commitment to our players, creators and team, and I am personally grateful for his leadership and advice. He will continue to work closely with Asha to ensure a smooth transition.
We have extraordinary creative talent across our studios and a global platform second to none. We’re excited to be able to capture future opportunities and define what comes next, with a strong focus on what players and creators value.
Please join me in congratulating Asha and Matt on their new roles and thanking Phil for all he has done for Microsoft and our industry.
Phil Spencer’s message
When I walked through the doors of Microsoft as an intern in June 1988, I could never have imagined the products I would help develop, the players and customers I would serve, or the amazing team I would be lucky enough to join. It was an epic drive and truly the privilege of a lifetime.
Last fall, I shared with Satya that I was considering taking a step back and starting the next chapter of my life. From that moment on, we approached this transition with intention, aligned to ensure stability and strengthen the foundation we had built. Xbox has always been more than just a business. This is a vibrant community of players, creators, and teams who care deeply about what we build and how we build it. And it’s worth making some thoughtful and careful plans for the road ahead.
Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Microsoft Gaming as Asha Sharma joins us as CEO. I would like to be the first to welcome her to this wonderful team. Working with her over the past few months has given me a lot of confidence. She brings true curiosity, clarity, and a deep commitment to understanding players, creators, and the decisions that will shape our future. We know this is an important moment for our fans, partners and teams, and we are committed to responding appropriately. Throughout the summer, I will continue to serve as an advisor to support a smooth transition.
I also appreciate the strength of our studio organization. Matt Booty and our studio team continue to build an impressive portfolio and I have full confidence in the leadership and creative drive across the global studio. I’d like to congratulate Matt on his promotion to EVP and Chief Content Officer.
As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to start a new chapter. Sarah was instrumental at Xbox’s defining moments, shaping its platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding it through some of the most important moments in its history. I am grateful for her partnership and the impact she has had and wish her all the best in the future.
Most of all, I’d like to say “thank you” to everyone at Microsoft Gaming. I’ve learned so much from this team and community, grown with you, and continue to be inspired by the creativity, courage, and compassion you bring to players, creators, and each other every day.
I am extremely proud of what we have built together over the past 25 years and have complete confidence in you and the opportunities ahead. As Xbox’s proudest fan and player, I’m rooting for you in your next chapter.
fill
XBL:P3
Asha Sharma’s message
Dear team,
Today I begin my role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
I feel both humility and urgency at the same time.
Humble because this team has built great things over the decades. Urgency is needed because the game is in a period of rapid change and we need to act with clarity and conviction.
I am stepping into work that has been shaped by generations of artists, engineers, designers, writers, musicians, operators, and more. They create worlds that have brought joy and deep personal meaning to hundreds of millions of players. The level of technology here is extraordinary, and it’s further amplified by Xbox, which was founded on the belief that the power of games can bring people together and move industries forward.
We would like to thank Phil for his leadership and all the studios, platforms, and operations teams that built this foundation. We are the custodians of entertainment’s most beloved stories and characters, connecting players and creators around the fun and community of gaming in entirely new ways.
My first task is simple. It’s about understanding why this works and protecting it.
It starts with three promises.
First of all, it’s a great game.
It all starts here. Before we do anything else, we have to make a great game that players will love. Unforgettable characters, moving stories, innovative gameplay, and creative excellence. We empower studios, invest in iconic franchises and champion bold new ideas. we take risks. We will continue to enter new categories and markets where we can add real value based on what players care about most.
I’m honoring this effort by promoting Matt Booty. He understands the techniques and challenges of building great games and has led teams that have delivered award-winning work and earned the trust of game developers across the industry.
The second is the return of Xbox.
We remain committed to our core Xbox fans and players, to those who have invested in us over the past 25 years, and to our developers who are building expansive universes and experiences that players around the world will embrace.
We’re celebrating our roots with a new commitment to Xbox, starting with the consoles that shaped us. It connects us with the players and fans who invest in Xbox, and the developers who build ambitious experiences for Xbox.
Games are now being played across a variety of devices rather than within the limitations of a single piece of hardware. As we expand into PC, mobile, and cloud, Xbox needs to feel seamless, immediate, and relevant to the communities we serve. We remove barriers and enable developers to build once and reach players anywhere without compromise.
Third, the future of play.
We are witnessing a reinvention of play.
To meet this moment, we’re leveraging what we already have: iconic teams, characters, and worlds that people love to invent new business models and new ways to play. But we’re not going to treat those worlds as static IPs to exploit and monetize. We build sharing platforms and tools that allow developers and players to create and share their own stories.
As monetization and AI evolve and impact this future, we will not pursue short-term efficiencies or flood the ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are, and always will be, art created by humans and using the most innovative technology we have to offer.
The next 25 years belong to teams who dare to build something amazing that no one else has dared to do and have the perseverance to see it through. We’ve done this before and we’re here to help you do it again. I want to go back to the rebel spirit that first built Xbox. It requires the courage to relentlessly question everything, rethink processes, protect what works, and change what doesn’t.
Thank you for having me on this journey.
Asha
matt booty message
I read Phil’s notes with great appreciation. He has been a steadfast advocate for game creators and our studio team, and I have learned a lot from his leadership over the years. All our games benefit from his foundational support. We are also grateful to Satya for continuing to work on the game and have a vision of how it can be connected to a large company.
I look forward to partnering with Asha as our next CEO. Our first conversation focused on her commitment to making great games and the role she plays in our overall success. She asks questions, seeks clarity, and wants choices based on player and developer needs. That mindset is important as the industry around us changes rapidly. How players engage, how games are created, and how business models and platforms evolve.
We have every reason to believe what is about to happen. This organization and its franchise have weathered change over the decades. Our strength comes from a team that knows how to adapt and continue to deliver results. That confidence is based on a strong pipeline of established franchises, new bets we believe in, and clear player demand for what we are building.
My focus is to support teams and leaders and create the conditions for them to do their best work. To be clear, there have been no organizational changes in our studio.
Thank you to our players for everything you do for each other.
mat