A former Xbox co-founder predicts the brand won’t survive long-term under its new leadership. Phil Spencer, who led Xbox for many years, recently retired and was replaced by Asha Sharma. Although Sharma hasn’t made any significant changes so far, the original Xbox creator doesn’t foresee a positive future for the company.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Xbox co-founder Seamus Blackley predicted a gradual decline for the Xbox brand under current leadership. While Xbox won’t disappear entirely, Blackley believes Microsoft will prioritize AI development, diminishing the importance of Xbox over time. He foresees a future where AI plays a significant role in the Xbox business, ultimately leading to the end of Xbox as we know it after 25 years.
According to J. Allen Blackley, Xbox, similar to many companies outside the main artificial intelligence sector, is being phased out. While Microsoft isn’t publicly stating this, Blackley believes it’s happening. He anticipates that the new CEO, Asha Sharma, will be tasked with gradually winding down the Xbox business.
Basically, what’s happening is Microsoft is trying to slowly introduce all its different teams to this new world of AI. I get it – they’re pushing AI everywhere, and whether or not that’s a good thing, or even if AI can do what they hope, is a whole other debate. But it wasn’t surprising to me at all that they didn’t put someone who really gets games – someone who loves how games are made and driven by creative people – in a key position. That would’ve clashed with everything else they’re doing. Microsoft is all about letting their customers do more with AI, and that just doesn’t really fit with the idea of a single creative ‘auteur’ being in charge, especially when it comes to something like games.
What Could Xbox Look Like in the Future?
Although Jeremy Blackley is just offering his personal view, it’s difficult to argue with his points. Xbox hasn’t been performing well lately, especially in terms of console sales. Microsoft is currently planning a next-generation Xbox Series X and S, but there’s no certainty that another console will follow after that.
Xbox might eventually move away from making consoles altogether. If that happens, the Xbox name could disappear, allowing Microsoft to concentrate more on artificial intelligence. However, the game development studios Microsoft owns would likely remain, simply operating as a standard game publisher like many others.
It’s still uncertain how things will unfold, but Sharma has stated that a key priority as CEO is restoring Xbox to its former popularity. The specifics of her plan to achieve this are currently unknown.
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2026-02-24 20:17