Who is Asha Sharma, the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming?

Tech giant Microsoft has named Asha Sharma its executive vice president and CEO of gaming, adding to the growing list of Indian-origin leaders at the helm of American technology companies. These include Sundar Pichai at Alphabet and Google, Shantanu Narayen at Adobe, Nikesh Arora at Palo Alto Networks, and Satya Nadella (Microsoft), among others.

She succeeds Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who has been with the company for four decades, and will report directly to CEO Nadella and take charge of the Xbox console business, Game Pass, cloud gaming, and Microsoft’s broader gaming portfolio.

A builder and scaler


Announcing the appointment, Nadella said Sharma has helped “build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving consumer and developer ecosystems” in her role at Microsoft over the last two years, and previously as chief operating officer at Instacart and vice president at Meta.

He said she brings deep experience in building and growing platforms, aligning business models to long-term value and operating at global scale, which he called “critical in leading our gaming business into its next era of growth”. Nadella also said gaming was core to Microsoft’s identity.

Vision for Xbox and AI

In her first message to employees in the new role, Sharma said she begins as CEO of Microsoft Gaming with “humility and urgency”. “Humility, because this team has built something extraordinary over decades. Urgency because gaming is in a period of rapid change, and we need to move with clarity and conviction,” she said.

“I am stepping into work shaped by generations of artists, engineers, designers, writers, musicians, operators, and more, who create worlds that have brought joy and deep personal meaning to hundreds of millions of players," she added.

She highlighted the exceptional level of craft at Microsoft that’s "amplified by Xbox, which was founded in the belief that the power of games connects people and pushes the industry forward.”

She outlined three commitments that will guide her work — great games, return of Xbox, and future of play.

Sharma argued that “we are witnessing the reinvention of play,” and said that Microsoft will invent new business models and ways to play by leaning into its existing strengths. She added that as monetisation and AI evolve and influence this future, "we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."

Background

At Instacart, Sharma helped scale the grocery delivery platform and oversaw key functions, including product and operations. She also served in top level roles at Meta, where she oversaw Messenger, Instagram Direct, Messenger Kids, Remote Presence (calling and video), and company-wide platform services.