Microsoft announced a major gaming shakeup on Friday as Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer and Xbox President Sarah Bond left the company.
Spencer will be replaced by former Instacart and Meta executive Asha Sharma. With Sharma’s most recent role as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, the moves suggest that Microsoft could be doubling down on bringing artificial intelligence to video games.
The company has already experimented with ways to combine AI and gameplay, such as developing an in-game AI companion and releasing a buggy, AI-generated level from “Quake II”.
Indeed, in an internal memo published by The Verge, Sharma wrote that Microsoft will “invent new business models and new ways to play,” saying that “monetization and AI” will “evolve and influence this future.” At the same time, she said the company “will not pursue short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with mindless AI.”
“Games are and always will be art, created by people and created with the most innovative technology we provide,” Sharma added.
That’s just one of three “commitments” Sharma made in her memo. Others include making “great games loved by gamers” and favoring Xbox.