Xbox’s New CEO Announces More Leadership Changes

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has announced additional leadership changes to bolster the company’s foundation. Sharma revealed the appointment of Matthew Ball as Chief Strategy Officer and Scott Van Vliet as Chief Technology Officer in an internal email to employees. Ball, a prominent video games industry analyst and former Amazon executive, will focus on strengthening Xbox’s console division, aligning with Sharma’s earlier emphasis on the segment. Van Vliet, previously Microsoft’s CVP of Azure OpenAI and AI Infrastructure, will improve product development efficiency and execution speed. Chris Schnakenberg, currently Vice President of Partnerships & Business Development at Xbox, has been promoted to Corporate Vice President for the same role. Schnakenberg brings over a decade of experience from Activision Blizzard before joining Microsoft in 2024. Sharma stated the changes aim to enhance clarity and execution as Xbox prepares for its upcoming Showcase event and future growth. The leadership reshuffles follow Sharma’s earlier recruitment of four executives from Microsoft’s CoreAI engineering group earlier this month. Industry observers, including Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, have praised the moves, noting the assembly of a ‘world-class team’ dedicated to gaming across Windows, Xbox, and Microsoft’s portfolio, including franchises like Minecraft and Call of Duty. Meanwhile, Xbox is undergoing a rebranding effort, transitioning from ‘Xbox’ to ‘XBOX’ in all caps. Sharma decided on the change after a public poll on X, where 64.8% of nearly 20,000 participants favored the all-caps version. The rebranding is still in progress and not yet fully implemented across all platforms.