As the dust settles on Microsoft’s dramatic changes at the top of its gaming team, fans are digesting the shock resignation of Xbox President Sarah Bond, after nearly a decade working on the console brand.
Yesterday, IGN exclusively reported that Bond had resigned from her post, despite long being considered to be outgoing Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer’s heir apparent. Instead, that job went to Asha Sharma, previously Microsoft’s CoreAI product president.
In the hours since, fans have been quick to read between the lines of what has been said — and not said — about Bond’s departure, including the belated posting of her own exit note to employees, which arrived some hours after formal statements from Microsoft boss Satya Nadella, Spencer, Sharma and the newly-promoted Matt Booty.
Indeed, Bond’s departure was left to be announced by Microsoft within Spencer’s own statement — several paragraphs below the big news that he was handing over the baton to Sharma. Here’s exactly what Spencer wrote:
“As part of this transition, Sarah Bond has decided to leave Microsoft to begin a new chapter. Sarah has been instrumental during a defining period for Xbox, shaping our platform strategy, expanding Game Pass and cloud gaming, supporting new hardware launches, and guiding some of the most significant moments in our history. I’m grateful for her partnership and the impact she’s had, and I wish her the very best in what comes next.”
No mention is made of Bond in statements from Nadella, Sharma or Booty, who do not reference her departure at all.
On social media, veteran Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg marked yesterday’s events with a flurry of lengthy posts, sharing his excitement for Sharma’s posting and a long message of thanks to Spencer on his retirement, following years as colleagues. But Greenberg makes no mention of Bond or her departure, either.
Hours later, Bond did publicly release her own farewell message — though this time via LinkedIn. Bond’s lengthy statement references the fact that it was she who “decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally,” though there’s little more explanation as to why.
Bond joined Xbox in 2017 as Xbox’s corporate VP of bizdev and partnerships. She became corporate VP of game creator experience and ecosystem after that before being named President of Xbox in 2022.
Her full note on her departure is below:
IGN has much more on this story, including the many farewells from veteran developers to Phil Spencer, Spencer’s personal words to the Xbox community following his departure, 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 [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
