Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.A Rising Star at Microsoft Promises a Restored Xbox—and No ‘Soulless AI Slop’
Asha Sharma, the new head of Microsoft's gaming business, faces a tough assignment in a industry that has long frustrated the company.
On a brisk, sunny San Francisco day last week, Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft’s $24 billion gaming business, had a very packed schedule.
The videogame industry had gathered for the Game Developers Conference at the venerable Moscone Center downtown, and Sharma had meetings with the heads of several multibillion-dollar game publishers that make the biggest and most popular games. They included Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson and Strauss Zelnick, who runs Take-Two Interactive Software, maker of Grand Theft Auto, according to people with knowledge of her schedule.
Her staff also assembled a group of a dozen or so indie game developers to speak with her. Some of the attendees doubted whether she’d actually come: They figured she’d probably blow them off for more face time with the bigwigs, according to one person involved in planning the meeting. But Sharma surprised many of them by turning up and peppering them with questions about their projects and asking how Microsoft could better convince them to distribute games on Game Pass, the company’s subscription game service.