Asha Sharma is changing Xbox, and fans are loving it

Microsoft's Xbox brand was struggling, sales were down, and users were not happy. Then in February this year, Asha Sharma took up the role of Xbox CEO. And within months, she has changed almost everything. Xbox fans are now going bonkers.

In Short

• Indian-origin Asha Sharma became Xbox CEO in February 2026
• In two months, Sharma has switched focus back to consoles, reduced prices
• Internet is praising her for making Xbox relevant again

If I ask you to imagine a gaming console, most of you may think of a PlayStation, perhaps even Nintendo comes to your mind. But in 2026, Xbox likely won't ring a bell instantly. Microsoft’s Xbox brand seemed to have been fading away for quite some time now. Sales of the Xbox Series X and Series S, two consoles that competed against Sony’s PS5, were so bad that Microsoft stopped releasing sales figures. The Xbox Game Pass, a Netflix-like subscription service, also had a price hike that only made matters worse. And this was what Asha Sharma inherited as the new president of Microsoft Gaming when she took the reigns in February this year. And within two months, Sharma seems to have flipped the situation upside down.

When Microsoft CEO Saya Nadella appointed its former AI chief to head a struggling gaming division, the future seemed grim for Xbox. Asha Sharma had no prior experience in leading a gaming team, and she was replacing veteran Phil Spencer. It seemed that Xbox may die a quiet death, akin to Windows Mobile a decade ago. But Asha Sharma had something else in mind, something that even fans did not expect.

Going back to basics

At the time of her appointment, Sharma made it clear that she was going to bring Xbox back into its heyday. She stated that her focus will be on the next-generation console with the aim to "recommit to our core Xbox fans and players."

In recent years, Microsoft has diversified the Xbox brand. It was no longer centred around a console. You had cloud gaming, Game Pass, and perhaps the most controversial of them all, the “This is an Xbox” campaign. As part of this campaign, Microsoft teased that even your smartphone could be an Xbox thanks to the cloud. Asha Sharma shut down this campaign swiftly after she took over.

While cloud gaming remains a key area for Xbox’s future, the company is bringing back its focus onto the console, which made Xbox famous in the first place. Asha Sharma revealed that the next-gen Xbox is codenamed Project Helix. In the announcement, she wrote, “Project Helix will lead in performance and play your Xbox and PC games.”

She also dropped the prices of Xbox Game Pass, claiming that it had become too costly for many players. It is not everyday when you see a subscription price drop instead of getting increased.

We are Xbox

After Microsoft acquired “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion in 2023, the company rebranded its gaming division from Xbox to Microsoft Gaming, something that earned mixed reactions from fans.

And now, Asha Sharma is getting the attention back to Xbox. An internal memo sent by Asha and Xbox content chief Matt Booty, read, “‘Microsoft Gaming’ describes our structure, but it does not describe our ambition. So, we are going back to where we started and changing our team’s name. We are Xbox.”

In the same message, the Xbox chiefs embraced the underdog status of the company against the more successful Sony PlayStation. The memo added, “We’re a challenger, and meeting this moment will require pace, energy, and a level of self-critique that should feel uncomfortable.”

And in the same lines, the company launched a new logo, a bright green one, likely embracing the Xbox identity.

Embracing social media

Xbox was not known to be a brand that would be quite active on social media, at least when it comes to addressing rumours or engaging with fans. In recent years, it felt that Xbox was simply fading away even when it comes to social media chatter.

When a report surfaced online that Asha Sharma was shutting down plans for an Xbox games store on mobile, people likely thought that this would never be addressed directly by Microsoft and this would be buried down the depths of the internet.

But Sharma did something surprising. She replied to the story on X, stating, “Three weeks ago, we filed an amicus because mobile competition still matters and we believe the future of play should be more open. She added, “While I am still learning, the idea of an Xbox mobile store is not dead.”

And if you look at her X profile now, you see that she is even replying to comments of fans who are buying an Xbox. This level of accessibility feels unheard of when it comes to Xbox.

And fans are loving it

The fans who were criticising Asha’s appointment as the Xbox CEO are now praising her, a complete 180 in just two months. Some are sharing memes, some are posting videos. And fans are here for it. One person said on X, “She’s slayingbusiness savvy and customer savvyXbox might come back from the gutter it was left in."

Another user wrote, “It took an Indian woman to revive a sinking titanic like Xbox.” Mind you, Asha also faced racist comments when she became the new Xbox chief. But that seems to have disappeared now. One user wrote, “We are so back!!! Xbox ki Asha.” For context, “Asha" means hope in Hindi.

Some are even saying that they are starting to be a fan of this new CEO. One person said, “I don't understand how a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company is starting to grow on me.”

It is still early days for an Xbox comeback. The next-gen console is expected to launch not before 2027. And the future of Game Pass remains unclear as the reduced prices also remove Call of Duty day one access. But at this moment, it seems that Asha Sharma may have made just the right calls to do something even gaming veterans failed, making Xbox relevant again.

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