Phil Spencer is retiring from Xbox, Sarah Bond is out, and Asha Sharma will take over

Xbox is headed for a big leadership shakeup. According to an IGN report, longtime Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer is retiring, and Xbox president Sarah Bond is leaving the company. Phil Spencer himself confirmed the announcement in a post on X.

The report says Spencer will be replaced by Asha Sharma, who joined Microsoft in 2024 as president of its CoreAI product. Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is also reportedly being promoted to chief content officer, working alongside Sharma.

In an email to staff cited in the report, Spencer said he’d told Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last fall that he was thinking about stepping back. Spencer also said he’ll stay on in an advisory role through the summer to help with the transition.

Bond joined Xbox in 2017 overseeing partnerships and became Xbox president in 2023. She’d become one of the most visible executives for the brand in recent years, including during Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition, but IGN reports she has resigned rather than moving into the top job.

Spencer, meanwhile, has been at Microsoft since the early days of Xbox, eventually becoming head of Xbox in 2014 after the Xbox One’s rough launch period. Over the last decade he’s been closely tied to Xbox’s shift toward services and a much bigger first-party portfolio, following major acquisitions including Bethesda and Activision Blizzard.

On a related note, I predict that Microsoft will announce massive writedowns on their Xbox gaming division. Simply put, they overpaid for the Activision Blizzard acquisition as well as most of their other purchases.