'Return To Our Roots' - Xbox CEO Reiterates Her Goals For The Future
Image: Opening Keynote | KEY01 (Microsoft)

This past Monday marked Asha Sharma's first day in the job as Microsoft Gaming CEO and overall Xbox boss, and she used the opportunity to reiterate her "goal" and "focus" points for the future.

She mentioned this as part of the response to IGN's Ryan McCaffrey about her gamertag activity, explaining that she doesn't pretend to be a massive gamer, and that's ultimately not where her "goal" lies.

Instead, she outlined four things that she wants to achieve in the role:

"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."

As we say, this is reiterating what Sharma mentioned in her initial statement when becoming Xbox boss, as she outlined three "commitments" at the time in more detail.

We've covered those elsewhere on Pure Xbox if you want to read the full details, but they were summed up as "great games", "the return of Xbox" and "future of play". Sharma explained how "we must have great games beloved by players before we do anything", that "we will recommit to our core Xbox fans and players", and that "we will invent new business models and new ways to play by leaning into what we already have".

A lot of people are focusing on her mention about "return[ing] to our roots", and this is something she also mentioned in that initial statement. She explained at the time that the brand will "celebrate our roots" with a "renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console", and that "Xbox should feel seamless, instant, and worthy of the communities we serve" when expanding across PC, mobile and cloud.

"We will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting with console which has shaped who we are. It connects us to the players and fans who invest in Xbox, and to the developers who build ambitious experiences for it. Gaming now lives across devices, not within the limits of any single piece of hardware. As we expand across PC, mobile, and cloud, Xbox should feel seamless, instant, and worthy of the communities we serve. We will break down barriers so developers can build once and reach players everywhere without compromise."

Of course, it's still very early days and it'll take time to see how the new Xbox boss puts all of this into action, but she's making a good first impression in terms of what she's saying at least.

The 25th anniversary of Xbox was always going to be a busy one, but it's suddenly looking like one of the most important years in the brand's history... who knows what'll happen over the next ten months!