Game Talk

Xbox's COO leaves after 3 months: a short explainer on why the role matters

Trying to give some context for people who don't follow corporate stuff. Helen Chiang became Xbox's first ever chief operating officer in July and has now left Microsoft, roughly three months in. Asha Sharma confirmed it in an internal memo.

Why it matters: according to Game Developer, the COO role was created during the layoffs and restructuring, and was responsible for end-to-end profit and loss. Sharma had said it would bring Xbox's businesses under one operating model. So it wasn't a minor job, it was central to the 'reset'.

Her duties are split among other leaders for now, and there's no named successor. No reason has been given, and Game Developer thinks the reasons won't become public. Chiang had 21 years at Microsoft, including leading Mojang and Minecraft.