It’s been a wild month of shake-ups at Microsoft, with Xbox figurehead Phil Spencer announcing his retirement and Xbox president Sarah Bond leaving. However, two more senior members have since departed – Lori Wright, who served as corporate VP of partnerships, business development, and marketing, and Haiyan Zhang, Xbox’s general manager of gaming AI.
Wright, who has spent a decade at the company, hasn’t outlined what’s to come, simply “hoping for a lot of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and discovering what lies in the space in between.” The Verge’s Tom Warren reported that she was a “direct report” to Bond, and one has to wonder how much of her departure has to do with the latter.
However, Zhang, another long-time executive, confirmed that she will be joining Netflix to “empower their journey in gaming.” In response to Warren tweeting about her departure, she responded, “It’s just a new job, dude. Apparently, people do that.” She also responded, “Sometimes it’s just all about ME and nobody else,” when another user mentioned “rats leaving a ship.”
With Asha Sharma taking over as Microsoft Gaming CEO, there have been some sizable moves made by Xbox. “This is an Xbox,” a marketing campaign that Bond seemingly spearheaded, has quietly disappeared. The company also revealed the next-generation Xbox, codenamed Project Helix. Little is officially known about its performance or other features (unofficially, it’s different story), but Sharma confirmed that it would play Xbox and PC games. Alpha dev kits will also begin shipping next year.
There’s no word yet on a release date, but reports claim that the company is aiming for a 2027 launch if its Windows integration goes well. In the meantime, Microsoft is bringing its Gaming Copilot to Xbox Series X/S this year and Xbox Mode to Windows 11 in April.