Asha Sharma Appointed As Microsoft Gaming CEO

India-West News Desk

SEATTLE, WA – Microsoft has named Asha Sharma Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Gaming, the company announced in messages to employees on February 19. Sharma will report to Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.

The appointment follows the decision by Phil Spencer to retire after 38 years at Microsoft, including 12 years leading its gaming business. Spencer said he informed Nadella last fall of his intention to step back and will remain in an advisory role through the summer to support the leadership transition.

In his message to employees, Nadella said gaming has been central to Microsoft since its earliest days and remains core to the company’s consumer strategy. He said Sharma brings “deep experience building and growing platforms, aligning business models to long-term value, and operating at global scale,” qualities he described as critical to leading Microsoft Gaming into its next phase.

Sharma joined Microsoft two years ago and previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and as a Vice President at Meta. Nadella said her work has included building and scaling services that reach billions of users while supporting large consumer and developer ecosystems.

In her first message as CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Sharma told employees she was approaching the role with “humility and urgency,” citing rapid change across the gaming industry. She outlined three priorities: delivering great games, recommitting to core Xbox players and developers, and building new models for the future of play. Sharma said the company would continue to expand gaming across console, PC, mobile and cloud while keeping player and creator needs at the center, adding that games “are and always will be art, crafted by humans.”

Nadella said Microsoft Gaming currently reaches more than 500 million monthly active users and expressed confidence that Sharma and Booty together would lead the organization’s next chapter while remaining grounded in what players and creators value.