Fans uncover Xbox CEO's gaming profile and it's leaving people divided

It's the dawn of a new era for gaming, with a changing of the guard over at Microsoft, and Sony announcing it's moving away from physical game releases in January 2028.

Neither has gone down too well, with Xbox boss Asha Sharma and PlayStation CEO and President Hideaki Nishino becoming hate figures among the ever-grouchy fandom.

Nothing lasts forever, and after an impressive tenure, Asha Sharma replaced Phil Spencer as the Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Gaming in February 2026.

With a background in AI, Sharma raised a few eyebrows considering her role before leaping to her new position was as President of CoreAI Product at Microsoft.

A rough start to Asha Sharma's Xbox leadership

Microsoft was already under fire for announcing a slew of layoffs after also confirming an $80 billion investment in AI, although this was just the tip of the iceberg. Sharma has now confirmed 'painful' changes as 4,800 jobs are to be cut (3,200 tied to Xbox), and a number of major gaming studios are forced to find a new home.

While she was initially praised for her bold vision and for actually bringing down the price of Game Pass, Sharma more recently warned that we're facing an affordability crisis that could soon price casual gamers out of enjoying their favorite titles.

She’s since fallen out of favor again due to the sweeping cuts, with her harshest critics turning her into an internet meme of the Grim Reaper...complete with scythe.

Even before this, skeptics claimed Sharma wasn't equipped to lead Xbox due to her lack of gaming experience. Many were determined to prove she’s 'wrong' for the role, leading to her sharing her gamertag in hopes of showing she's down with the kids.

Sharma was lambasted by IGN journalist Ryan McCaffrey, who suggested a more experienced player was helping her sound like a real gamer.

Responding to McCaffrey, Sharma agreed it would be wrong for her to try and 'fake' her gaming credentials, adding: "I don’t pretend to be the best gamer and even though I’m playing, that’s still not my goal. My focus is to make Xbox the best place to play, return to our roots, ship great things, and become stronger for the future."

What games does Asha Sharma like to play?

A look at Sharma's AMRAHSAHSA profile shows she unlocked her first achievement on January 15, 2026, when playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and since then, she's dabbled in some weird and wonderful games.

As of July 2026, Sharma's current catalog shows she owns 45 games and has completed two, having logged 190 hours of cumulative gameplay. She clearly wasn't a fan of Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem, having played for just 40 minutes on April 25, which is the same day she tried 18 minutes of Gears of War 4. Things have been a little quieter recently, although we imagine she's been a little busy bracing for layoffs. Sharma's AMRAHSAHSA profile lists her last gameplay session as Forza Horizon 6 on June 25.

In terms of her favorites, the Ball x Pit roguelike has logged nearly 43 hours of play, Forza Horizon 5 has 26 hours, and she's blasted 21 hours into Halo Infinite.

More than just dipping her toe into the world of actually playing video games, Sharma at least seems determined to try and turn things around. In a lengthy interview with Windows Central, Sharma vowed to avoid flooding the Xbox ecosystem with 'slop' and added: "I want to make sure everybody knows I'm committed to Xbox, starting with the console. We're going to keep meeting players where they are – the world continues to evolve and change."

Promising to listen to your concerns, the new company bigwig concluded: "I will learn, I will communicate what we're seeing, and what we're doing. I think from here, the work is proof over promise.

“Matt and I are in it, every hour of every day of every night, I am fully in this thing. This team has brought it back before, and I'm here to help us do it again."

That was before the Green Team confirmed the layoff rumors, and it's fair to say Sharma isn't exactly popular right now.