Asha Sharma

Asha Sharma is the chief executive officer of Xbox and an executive vice president at Microsoft, overseeing one of the world's largest entertainment enterprises. Xbox is home to globally recognized video game franchises including "Call of Duty," "Candy Crush," "Diablo," "Fallout," "Halo," "Minecraft," "The Elder Scrolls," and "Warcraft," many of which have expanded into film and television. Headquartered in Washington state, Xbox is the largest American employer of video game professionals and ranks among the world's leading game publishers.

Sharma's career in technology leadership includes roles building and scaling global platforms. As vice president of product at Meta, Sharma led communication products used by billions. She later served as chief operating officer at Instacart, guiding the company through its initial public offering and scaling the business to profitability. At Microsoft, Sharma became president of product in the CoreAI engineering group, working on "GitHub Copilot," "Visual Studio Code," and other developer tools. Before becoming CEO of Xbox, Sharma led Microsoft's platform through its transition to artificial intelligence, spanning Azure, GitHub, and Visual Studio Code, with products supporting more than 180 million developers and hundreds of thousands of enterprises building AI applications and agents worldwide.

Sharma was named executive vice president and CEO of Microsoft Gaming following the retirement of Phil Spencer. Her background in user acquisition contributed to her selection, as Xbox addressed challenges in console sales. Upon assuming leadership, Sharma outlined three priorities: prioritizing high-quality games, recommitting to Xbox's core console audience, and advancing the "future of play" through new business models and a collaborative platform for developers and players. She emphasized a commitment to innovation and revitalizing the company's iconic franchises.

As CEO, Sharma has brought executives from the CoreAI engineering group and a director from Instacart to Xbox, reflecting a focus on consumer and technical expertise. She has also implemented price reductions for Game Pass subscriptions, expanding access to a wide range of titles. In addition to her executive responsibilities, Sharma serves on the boards of The Home Depot, Coupang, and The Paley Center for Media, and co-chairs the Federal Reserve's Productivity and Jobs Task Force. Sharma's experience across artificial intelligence, consumer technology platforms, and commerce positions her as a cross-disciplinary leader in the video game industry.