Microsoft’s new Xbox chief has had a busy couple of months after promising “the return of Xbox.” Asha Sharma met with publishers at the Game Developers Conference in March, and has also been on the road visiting Microsoft’s own game studios and product teams in recent weeks. Sharma, who used to work in Microsoft’s CoreAI division, is very much in learning mode and talking to as many people as she can before she makes strategic decisions on the future of Xbox.
Some of those decisions are about to be made very soon.
Sources at Xbox tell me Sharma has been looking closely at Game Pass pricing recently, with a view to offering a wider range of pricing models. Sharma admitted that “Game Pass has become too expensive for players,” in an internal memo sent earlier this week.
“Game Pass is central to gaming value on Xbox. It’s also clear that the current model isn’t the final one. Player behavior, content economics, and markets vary too much for a single approach to work everywhere,” said Sharma. “Short term, Game Pass has become too expensive for players, so we need a better value equation. Long term, we will evolve Game Pass into a more flexible system which will take time to test and learn around.”
I understand one potential option under consideration is a Game Pass subscription tier that only includes games from Microsoft’s own Xbox studios. This would fall under the more flexible system that Sharma hints at. Bundles could also help here. I reported in February that Microsoft is looking at ways to bundle third-party services with Game Pass subscriptions. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters told The Information last month that he and Sharma had “kicked around ideas” for partnering on subscription bundles.
While new Game Pass bundles could help grow subscription numbers and revenue in the future, Sharma is also promising to address the “value equation” of Game Pass. Rumors have suggested Microsoft could remove Call of Duty from Game Pass to help with subscription costs, but it’s unlikely that the company would remove existing games from subscribers. One potential option Microsoft is considering is not adding future Call of Duty titles to Game Pass. The debate over Call of Duty in Game Pass has been an intense one internally at Xbox for years, so Sharma will face a tough decision here that could expose some of the core issues of Microsoft’s previous Xbox strategy.
Speaking of previous strategies, Sharma also quickly reversed Microsoft’s “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign last month. I’m told the ads were deeply unpopular inside of Xbox, and outside of the company, hardcore fans hated them too. “Asha retired ‘This is an Xbox’ because it didn’t feel like Xbox,” said an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to Windows Central. “She is personally leading a reset of how we show up as a brand.”
Despite the marketing efforts and expansion to cloud and PC, how Xbox shows up as a brand is still predominantly through console hardware. In recent weeks, Sharma has switched the focus back to console. She instructed Xbox engineering teams to work on highly requested features in early March, including a cleaner Xbox guide and custom colors across the UI. This delighted fans that had been waiting years to disable Quick Resume on a per-game basis. The ability to ship these changes also delighted Xbox engineering lead Eden Marie, who posted on X in early March that “it’s been a long time since I’ve felt this energized at work.”
It’s no surprise that Xbox engineers love shipping features to millions of fans who will use them immediately, instead of having to work on an Xbox mobile store that never shipped.
Sharma looks set to continue making even bigger Xbox platform investments, with the next-gen Project Helix console on the horizon. In her internal memo this week, Sharma lays out what she’s learned about the Xbox platform:
It’s clear that our ambitions require deeper investment in the Xbox platform foundations than we’ve made before. Today we operate across dozens of surfaces, pipelines, and release models without a shared code repository or common data foundation. As a result, quality and speed too often depends on heroics instead of systems. We also lack consistent infrastructure for experimentation, attribution, and learning, making it harder to know what’s working and improve quickly. On the product side, our front end is a set of experiences built at different times, where discovery, relevance, and social are not first-class, and players have to work to find what to do next or who to play with.
The solution to these Xbox issues is a “deep” investment in engineering and data foundations, according to Sharma. I’d expect it also means a more unified Xbox UI across console, PC, and cloud. Xbox Cloud Gaming’s new design already includes plenty of new animations, and Sharma also wants to accelerate “a more connected PC experience with stronger discovery, relevance, and social so players can move across games, devices, and friends without friction.”
It will be interesting to see what impact Sharma has on Project Helix, Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox console. The next Xbox will play PC games and “lead in performance,” but it’s still a mystery how Microsoft will tackle the interface for Project Helix, especially if Windows is running at the core. If Microsoft is leaning toward its Xbox PC app to help with Project Helix, then it has a lot of work ahead to match the fluidity of its existing Xbox consoles.
The Xbox Ally handhelds shipped with an Xbox PC app that felt like a beta experience. While it has improved in recent months, it still feels like it was designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind rather than a controller. Former Xbox chief Phil Spencer admitted in 2018 that Microsoft had “a ton of work to do on Windows” for PC gamers, and I’d argue that eight years later that’s still the case. It’s now down to Sharma to figure out the next path for Xbox on PC.
Sharma’s internal memo also touches on accountability for when things go wrong at Xbox. A limited number of Xbox controllers shipped without batteries starting in December, and once Microsoft discovered the issue, it offered up a free rechargeable battery to say sorry. “The team owned it quickly. Resetting factory lines, updating retailer assortment, and standing up a support make-good with an apology all within a matter of days,” says Sharma. “It’s a reminder that we’re in the business of earning every hour with players, and our decisions must prioritize their experience.”
- Microsoft starts removing Copilot buttons from Windows 11 apps. In the latest version of the Notepad app for Windows Insiders, Microsoft has removed the Copilot button in favor of a “writing tools” menu. While the Copilot button has been removed from Notepad, the writing tools replacement still uses AI-powered features and looks like the identical menu of options that existed before. Removing the superfluous Copilot branding is a good first step, but does a lightweight Notepad app really need AI writing features?
- Microsoft finally lets Windows 11 testers unlock experimental features without ViVeTool. Plenty of people have signed up to a Windows Insider version of Windows 11 to get a feature early, only to discover it’s not available due to Microsoft’s A/B testing. Microsoft is now addressing this with a new Feature Flags page in the Settings app for new features that have been officially announced. This won’t stop enthusiasts from enabling secret unannounced features, but it makes it a lot easier for everyone else to get new features already announced. Microsoft is also simplifying the Windows Insider channels, moving to a new Experimental Channel alongside a refresh of the existing Beta Channel.
- Microsoft’s new Xbox Gamepad Cursor adds a virtual mouse to handhelds. Microsoft has started testing its own virtual mouse cursor inside its Xbox mode for Windows-based handhelds. The new Gamepad Cursor option provides a quick way to turn the left stick of a handheld like the Xbox Ally X into a virtual mouse. While Asus has a similar cursor as part of its Armory Crate, Microsoft’s version lives inside its own Xbox mode and is easy to activate and use as a mouse for precise control, or for apps that aren’t designed for controllers.
- Microsoft is testing OpenClaw-like AI bots for Copilot. Microsoft is experimenting with ways to integrate OpenClaw-style features into its Microsoft 365 Copilot assistant. The use of OpenClaw tech in an enterprise environment could allow agents to “run autonomously around the clock” while completing tasks on behalf of users. Microsoft will reportedly show off some of these new features during its Build conference in early June.
- RAMageddon has come for Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Microsoft has raised the prices of its 13-inch Surface Pro 11 and 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 by $500 more than their original starting price. Microsoft stopped selling the $999 versions of the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 last year, and it looked like that was due to the smaller 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop. Both of these models are also getting price hikes, with the starting price for the 12-inch Surface Pro jumping from $799 to $1,049, while the 13-inch Surface Laptop is up to $1,199 from $899.
- Microsoft’s Outlook Lite app is shutting down next month. Microsoft first launched Outlook Lite as a smaller app for Android devices in 2022, at the height of an industry focus on lightweight mobile apps. It was designed to be faster, use less battery, and work well across 2G and 3G networks. Microsoft now says it will fully retire Outlook Lite on May 25th, disabling mailbox access but still allowing the app to launch.
- Google’s Spotlight-like desktop search bar for Windows is available for everyone. Google now has a desktop app for Windows that looks a lot like Spotlight on macOS. It includes an Alt + Space keyboard shortcut that activates a search box for both web and local files. The Google App uses AI mode by default, but it’s easy to disable and use regular Google search if you prefer. It looks like Microsoft’s Command Palette now has even bigger competition.
- Microsoft’s finally giving up on its massive Surface Hub touchscreen displays. Microsoft is ending production of its Surface Hub 3 collaborative office display and canceling plans for a Surface Hub 4. The 50- and 85-inch digital whiteboards were launched in an era before the pandemic and an increase in hybrid workspaces and remote working. I’m not surprised Microsoft is giving up on this particular niche product, but I do miss the times when Surface used to do truly innovative hardware.
- Microsoft developer brings a macOS favorite feature to Windows. Scott Hanselman is the VP of technical staff for CoreAI, GitHub, and Windows at Microsoft, but he’s also a developer who just brought a macOS Sonoma feature to Windows. PeekDesktop is a small system tray utility that lets you click an empty wallpaper to minimize open apps and interact with the desktop and restore everything with a click. You can kind of do this with Windows key + D, but Hanselman’s tool feels a lot more like macOS.
- Microsoft faces fresh Windows Recall security concerns. When Microsoft first unveiled Recall, it was branded a “disaster” for cybersecurity and a “privacy nightmare.” The backlash forced Microsoft to delay Recall — which takes screenshots of most of what you do on your PC — by a year to redesign it and secure it properly. Now, a security researcher is highlighting fresh concerns about latent malware being able to “ride along” and steal Recall data. Microsoft has dismissed the concerns saying there is no vulnerability. Nevertheless, since Recall stores the history of text that has appeared on your screen — messages, emails, documents, browsing history — there are calls for Microsoft to do more to live up to its promise of preventing infostealing malware from accessing its secure vault.
- Microsoft counters the MacBook Neo with freebies for students. Microsoft always does back-to-school deals over the summer, but never this early. A new “Microsoft College Offer” launched this week that bundles 12 months of free Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with select Windows 11 PCs that have also been discounted. It feels like a direct counter to Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo, which is actually $499 for students. The catch is that the 12-month subscriptions are only for new subscribers, which feels like a pretty big catch if you’re already a young Windows user that has probably dabbled with Game Pass or an Office subscription in the past.
- Another veteran Microsoft executive departs. It feels like not a week goes by without a longtime Microsoft executive retiring or leaving for pastures new. After more than 28 years at Microsoft, Joy Chik, president of identity and network access, is leaving in July. Chik first joined Microsoft in 1998 and worked on the Windows Remote Desktop protocol, before working in several Windows and cloud-related engineering roles. “In the months ahead, I’ll be turning my focus to what comes next,” says Chik in a LinkedIn post. “I’m excited to expand my public company board work while also building new muscles in the startup, angel investing, and venture capital spaces…”
I’m always keen to hear from readers, so please drop a comment here, or you can reach me at notepad@theverge.com if you want to discuss anything else. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret projects, you can reach me via email at notepad@theverge.com or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.
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