Microsoft’s new gaming boss Asha Sharma has responded to further scrutiny of her Xbox play history, and explained that her account had been shared among others at home.
Responding on social media to IGN’s own Ryan McCaffrey, Sharma said she had not been “faking” her play history so it looked like she had more gaming experience. Instead, her account had previously been shared with others at home — something that is no longer the case, with her gamertag now set up for use by her only.
“Faking would be a terrible idea and wouldn’t work,” Sharma wrote, going on to reiterate that she would never “pretend to be the best gamer” anyway, as it’s not her goal.
“I agree,” Sharma wrote, in response to the suggestion that trying to bluff gamer knowledge would be a bad move. “Faking would be a terrible idea and wouldn’t work. I also didn’t expect my gamertag to blowup and the reality is more boring.
“I created it recently to learn and understand this world,” Sharma continued. “I’ve played with my family, and it’s a shared home account across devices (which you can see in the range of games/achievements). Fixed that this weekend and everyone is only playing on their own GTs.
“But I get where this is coming from,” she added. “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.”
Sharma shared her Xbox gamertag — AMRAHSAHSA — publicly via social media over the weekend. Fittiingly, her first achievement unlock appears to have been ‘Your Journey Begins’ from Halo: The Master Chief Collection on January 15 of this year. Since then, the account has been used to play 30 titles — and unlock almost all of the achievements in brick-breaking roguelite BALL x PIT.
Early response to Sharma’s appointment was mixed, with questions around her lack of gaming industry experience coupled with the fact she has most recently worked on Microsoft’s AI efforts. But Sharma had an amusing response to one fan when they suggested she was also now using AI to craft her social media posts: “Beep Boop Beep Boop.”
“And yes, I’m writing my own posts :)” Sharma wrote on social media last night.
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Xbox Games Series Tier List
Still, scepticism of Sharma’s true job purpose remains — particularly from Xbox co-founder Seamus Blackley, who said her appointment was quietly a sign the gaming brand would be “sunsetted.” In an interview with GamesBeat, the former Microsoft veteran said he expected Sharma’s role was “going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night.”
IGN has much more on Sharma’s arrival and the departure of Phil Spencer including the many farewells to him from veteran developers, Spencer’s personal words to the Xbox community following his departure, details of former Xbox president Sarah Bond’s shock resignation and Sharma’s own responses to initial concerns around her recent AI work and lack of gaming industry job experience.
Image credit: Microsoft.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
