Take-Two boss declines to advise new Microsoft Gaming chief

Asha Sharma's elevation to CEO of Microsoft Gaming after Phil Spencer's surprise retirement unsettled some gamers because she is not a gamer. Sharma joined Microsoft in 2024 as president of its CoreAI product; before that she was chief operating officer at Instacart and a vice president of product and engineering at Meta, a sharp contrast with Spencer, who often spoke about the games he loved when Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.

Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said he has no advice to offer her. "I don't think the newly appointed head of Xbox needs any advice from me," he said. "She’s a highly accomplished executive who’s done just great without ever having met me. I’m going to bet on her continuing to do great.

Moreover, I have to focus on myself doing better, before I talk about other CEOs." Zelnick added a broader point about the industry: "But the truth is that hits cure all ills. In the absence of making hits, you won’t have a successful entertainment business.

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