New Xbox CEO doesn't deny not being a gamer, comments on background

Last week Xbox announced the head of Xbox Phil Spencer was going to be departing from his position as the face of Xbox after spending 25 years with the team. The company also revealed Spencer's replacement, Asha Sharma, the current president of Microsoft CoreAI.

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Given Sharma's current position and how the gaming community treats AI as a hot button topic, the announcement sparked quite a lot of attention, with some diving into Sharma's background to see how she would fit the Spencer shaped hole at Xbox, and what the future plans for Xbox as a whole.

However, Sharma has found herself under quite a bit of scrutiny as she revealed her gamertag in a recent X post, which gamers quickly searched through and discovered Sharma's first achievement was awarded to the gamertag on January 15, 2026. The discovery and lack of long-time activity on the account resulted in gamers accusing Sharma of having very little gaming experience, insinuating she may not fit the position as the head of Xbox.

Sharma has since responded to the criticisms in an X post where she stated, "I also didn't expect my gamertag to blow up and the reality is more boring. I created it recently to learn and understand this world. I've played with my family, and it's a shared home account across devices (which you can see in the range of games /achievements). Fixed that this weekend and everyone is only playing on their own GTs.

But I get where this is coming from. I don't pretend to be the best gamer and even though I'm playing, that's still not my goal. My focus is to make Xbox the best place to play, return to our roots, ship great things, and become stronger for the future."