Microsoft’s new gaming CEO vows not to flood the ecosystem with ‘endless AI slop’
Microsoft announced a major gaming shakeup on Friday, with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer leaving the company, along with Xbox President Sarah Bond.
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, these moves suggest that Microsoft could be doubling down on bringing AI to video games.
The company had already experimented with ways to combine AI and gaming, such as developing an AI gaming companion and releasing an AI-generated level with bugs from ‘Quake II’.
In an internal memo indeed published by The VergeSharma wrote that Microsoft will “invent new business models and new ways to play” and said that “monetization and AI” will both “evolve and influence this future.” At the same time, she said the company “will not pursue short-term efficiencies or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop.”
“Games are and always will be art, created by people and created with the most innovative technology provided by us,” Sharma added.
That’s just one of three “commitments” Sharma made in her memo. The others involve building “great games that players love” and prioritizing Xbox.
