Asha Sharma says she wants Xbox to be ‘the number one gaming and entertainment company’ by 2030
The Xbox CEO says “we’re not in a healthy spot” but will “reset the business” over the next 100 days
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has stated her goal to make Xbox the “number one gaming and entertainment company” within 2030.
In an interview with Bloomberg Tech, Sharma stated on two separate occasions that her aim was to reach this goal, saying it’s her “mandate” to do so.
When asked about how much autonomy she has in making decisions for Xbox given that its revenues currently aren’t high, Sharma replied that her task wasn’t necessarily to achieve specific figures for Microsoft, but to establish it as a leader in the industry.
Sharma also pointed to Xbox’s recent investments as a sign that this goal is a long-term one that will take time to ultimately pay off.
“My mandate is not 30% accountability margin,” she explained. “It’s not enterprise software margins. It’s to be the number one gaming and entertainment company, and that’s what we’re going to go do.
“If you think about it, Microsoft has invested more aggressively than nearly anybody in this category over the last six years. We’ve bought Activision and Zenimax. We’ve invested in our core platform. We’ve invested in hardware cycles. We invest in subsidies even when we’re losing money because of memory and storage.
“So we’re long on gaming. We’re long on Xbox. We’ll keep investing. But we’ve got work to do. You shared the numbers, we’re not in a healthy spot, and so the next 100 days is going to be about resetting the business.”
Sharma was then asked if Microsoft’s decision to acquire Activision Blizzard King for $69 billion was the right one, given the mass layoffs, game cancellations and Game Pass price increases since that happened.
“You inherited this deal”, asked interviewer Emily Chang. “Is it paying off?”
“I mean, I don’t know anybody in entertainment who wouldn’t want Call of Duty, which is now grossing in more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” Sharma replied.
“Who wouldn’t want one of the top three apps in the world with Candy Crush? Who wouldn’t want World of Warcraft? And who wouldn’t want a team that for 20 years has been able to create predictable hits every single year? So I love Activision Blizzard King.
“Look, it was bought at a time before ChatGPT, was bought at a time when our strategy was predominantly on the the the core console, was at a time when we were right in the middle of Covid, so it’s hard to say how to think about those decisions, but I think these are incredible assets and we intend to continue to invest in them.”
At the end of the discussion, Sharma was asked what her goal was for Xbox by the time the 2030s arrive.
“So, it’s 2030,” interviewer Emily Chang said. “You’ve had four years to run Xbox. What does success look like? What is true about Xbox that isn’t true today?”
Sharma reiterated: “I’d love to see us be the number one gaming and entertainment company.”
