Indian-origin Asha Sharma to lead Microsoft Gaming

Microsoft has appointed Indian-origin executive Asha Sharma as Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Gaming. She will succeed Phil Spencer and report to Satya Nadella. Sharma brings wide experience from Microsoft, Instacart, and Meta

New York: Technology giant Microsoft has named Indian-origin Asha Sharma as Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Gaming, joining a long and growing list of Indian-descent leaders at the helm of global companies.

In a message announcing the appointment, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said on Friday that Sharma has helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving 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.

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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 will succeed 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 are 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 highlighted the exceptional level of craft at Microsoft, which is “amplified by Xbox, which was founded in the belief that the power of games connects people and pushes the industry forward.” She outlined three commitments that will guide 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.

Sharma added that as monetisation and AI evolve and influence this future, “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.”

Prior to joining Microsoft, Sharma served as Chief Operating Officer of Instacart. Earlier, in her role as Vice President of Product 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 Carlson School of Management.

She joins a growing list of Indian-origin executives at the helm of global companies, including Nadella, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen and Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora.