Microsoft appoints Asha Sharma as CEO of Microsoft Gaming

New Delhi: Microsoft has appointed Indian-origin executive Asha Sharma as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Gaming, adding to the number of leaders of Indian descent heading global technology companies.

Announcing the appointment, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said Sharma had helped build and scale services reaching billions of people and supporting consumer and developer ecosystems over the last two years in her role at Microsoft and earlier as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and Vice President at Meta.

She brings “deep experience building and growing platforms, aligning business models to long-term value, and operating at global scale, which will be critical in leading our gaming business into its next era of growth,” Nadella said.

Sharma succeeds Phil Spencer and will report to Nadella.

“Gaming has been part of Microsoft from the start. Flight Simulator shipped before Windows, and you can practically ray-trace a line from DirectX in the ’90s to the accelerated compute era we’re in today,” Nadella said.

In her message, Sharma said she begins her role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming with “humility and urgency”.

“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,” she said.

“I am stepping into work shaped by generations of artists, engineers, designers, writers, musicians, operators and more who create worlds that have brought joy and deep personal meaning to hundreds of millions of players," she added.

She referred to the craft within Microsoft, amplified by Xbox, which she said was founded on the belief that games connect people and advance the industry. Sharma outlined three commitments guiding her work, great games, return of Xbox and future of play.

“We are witnessing the reinvention of play. To meet the moment, we will invent new business models and new ways to play by leaning into what we already have,” she said.

Addressing the role of monetisation and artificial intelligence, Sharma said, "We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us."

Before joining Microsoft, Sharma served as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart. At Meta, she oversaw Messenger, Instagram Direct, Messenger Kids, Remote Presence (calling and video) and company-wide platform services.

Sharma holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Her appointment adds to a growing list of Indian-origin executives leading global corporations, including Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc. and Google, Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, and Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks.