Microsoft’s new Xbox chief starts making her mark

Key Points:

• Asha Sharma, Microsoft's new Xbox chief, is actively assessing Game Pass pricing and plans to introduce more flexible subscription models, including a potential tier featuring only Microsoft-owned games, aiming to improve value for players.
• Sharma has reversed the unpopular "This is an Xbox" marketing campaign and shifted focus back to console hardware, pushing for user-requested features like a cleaner Xbox guide and customizable UI colors to enhance player experience.
• Significant investments are planned in Xbox platform engineering and data infrastructure to unify the user interface across console, PC, and cloud, improve discovery, social features, and enable faster product iteration.
• Microsoft is exploring future strategies for Project Helix, its next-gen Xbox console expected to lead in performance and support PC games, while also addressing challenges in integrating Xbox UI with Windows PC environments.
• Additional Microsoft news includes the removal of Copilot buttons in Windows 11 apps, price hikes for Surface devices, the shutdown of Outlook Lite, and the end of Surface Hub production, alongside new AI enhancements and security concerns around Windows Recall.