Microsoft has appointed Indian-origin executive Asha Sharma as Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Gaming. She will report directly to Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, joining the growing cohort of Indian-descent leaders heading global corporations.
Announcing the leadership change, Nadella noted that Sharma has, over the past two years at Microsoft, helped build and scale services that reach billions of users while fostering strong consumer and developer ecosystems. Before her current appointment, Sharma served as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and earlier as a Vice President at Meta.
As part of the transition, Matt Booty will assume the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, reporting to Sharma. Under his leadership, Microsoft Gaming has expanded to nearly 40 studios across Xbox, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and King. These studios are behind globally popular franchises such as Halo, The Elder Scrolls, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crush, and Fallout.
On the announcement, Nadella said: Together, Asha and Matt have the right combination of consumer product leadership and gaming depth to push our platform innovation and content pipeline forward. Last year, Phil Spencer made the decision to retire from the company, and since then we’ve been talking about succession planning. I want to thank Phil for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. Over 38 years at Microsoft, including 12 years leading Gaming, Phil helped transform what we do and how we do it. He expanded our reach across PC, mobile, and cloud; nearly tripled the size of the business; helped shape our strategy through the acquisitions of Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax Media, and Minecraft; and strengthened our culture across our studios and platforms. I’ve long admired Phil’s unwavering commitment to players, creators, and his team, and I am personally grateful for his leadership and counsel. He will continue working closely with Asha to ensure a smooth transition.
Sharing her thoughts on the new role, Sharma said: “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 … Thank you to Phil for his leadership, and to every studio, platform, and operations team that built this foundation. We are stewards of some of the most loved stories and characters in entertainment and bring players and creators together around the fun and community of gaming in entirely new ways … My first job is simple: understand what makes this work and protect it.”
