CEO of Xbox Asha Sharma and COO Matt Booty unveil the future of Xbox in a new blog post on Microsoft’s website, days after reducing the price of Game Pass.
In a new blog post sent to all Xbox employees worldwide, Microsoft details their new strategies concerning their gaming brand. Written by new CEO of Xbox Asha Sharma and COO Matt Booty, they explain they want to move away from the team name “Microsoft Gaming”, as they believe it does not describe their ambitions properly.
Their new moniker “We are Xbox” will supposedly help them return to their roots, in the hopes of reigniting passion from new and old fans alike. They explain this cannot happen unless they are honest about Xbox’s current position in today’s gaming landscape: “We’re a challenger, and meeting this moment will require pace, energy, and a level of self-critique that should feel uncomfortable.”
They already outline some of this self-critique in the post: “Our presence on PC isn’t strong enough. Pricing is getting harder for people to keep up with. And core experiences like search, discovery, social and personalization still feel too fragmented.” They also acknowledge developers and publishers need help if they are to grow faster.
The post explains Xbox’s “new north star” will be their daily active players, and consoles need to be core to the experience: “We will build a global platform that connects players and creators everywhere. Console is at the foundation, delivering a premium experience, and cloud brings that experience to any device.”
To reach a large audience, they understand their brand needs to be affordable: “Xbox will be built to be affordable, personal and open. We will offer flexible pricing so it’s easy to get started and keep playing.” Sharma and Booty believe this will work if they prioritize hardware, content, experience, and services. And notably, the pair wants to reevaluate their approach to exclusivity, windowing, and AI, but they do not further comment on this.
This message was posted days after Microsoft slashed its Xbox Game Pass subscription prices. This model, often dubbed “the Netflix of gaming,” was first released in 2017 and was lauded for its great value proposition. At only $10 a month, it would grant you access to a catalog of 110 games, but its price steadily increased throughout the years to become $29.99 in October of 2025.
Upon replacing now-retired “CEO of Microsoft Gaming” Phil Spencer, Asha Sharma made it clear that reducing the price of Game Pass should be a priority. Two months after becoming CEO, she told her employees in an internal memo Game Pass was becoming too expensive: “Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around.” A few days later, Microsoft released a blog post announcing that Game Pass Ultimate would drop from $29.99 to $22.99 a month and PC Game Pass from $16.49 to $13.99 a month.
