XBOX hires new executives as company continues to undergo major transition period

XBOX has hired industry analyst Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer and former Azure OpenAI executive Scott Van Vliet as chief technology officer as new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma reshapes leadership to strengthen the console brand.

The details:

• Ball, known for his annual “State of Video Gaming” report and book The Metaverse, will focus first on reinforcing Xbox’s console business, which is under pressure from rising hardware costs, and will report directly to Sharma.
• Van Vliet, who previously led Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure at Microsoft and oversaw Microsoft Teams engineering during the pandemic, is tasked with improving how Xbox builds technology and products so teams can “move faster and deliver stronger results.”
• Xbox has also promoted former Activision Blizzard executive Chris Schnakenberg to corporate vice president of partnerships and business development, where he’ll focus on relationships with third‑party publishers and developers.
• In an internal memo, Sharma told staff these changes are about “strengthening our foundation by creating more clarity and improving execution" and form part of a broader leadership overhaul after the former Microsoft AI exec took over the division from Phil Spencer earlier this year.