Link: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/02/new-microsoft-gaming-chief-has-no-tolerance-for-bad-ai/

Last week’s surprise departure of Phil Spencer from Microsoft led to the promotion of Asha Sharma, who comes to head Microsoft’s gaming division after two years as president of the company’s CoreAI Product group. Despite that recent history, Sharma says in a new interview that she has “no tolerance for bad AI” in game development.

...

Meanwhile the head of another Soulless Tech Corporation Hellbent On Dehumanizing Game Development In Every Sense Of The Word "Dehumanize" Possible reminds us...

CEO Tim Sweeney says requiring developers to disclose their use of AI tools is as relevant as disclosing “what shampoo brand the developer uses,”

It was nice knowing Xbox while they lasted…

Speaking with Variety, Sharma noted that “AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be,” before adding that “great stories are created by humans.” The interview comes after Sharma promised in an introductory memo: “We will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop. Games are and always will be art, crafted by humans, and created with the most innovative technology provided by us.”

Shocking take from a microsoft employee making a public statement. I had thought their leadership were all aboard the moron express to slopville.

Edit: I'm not saying I believe her. I think it's surprising that, even if lying through their teeth, any MS employee would say this publicly given that it runs directly counter to MS's messaging on AI.

Being a personal fan of video games isn’t necessarily required to succeed in running a gaming company.

What the F***, yes it is.

(that's arstechnica saying that though, not the new xbox boss person)

Ever since the XB1, Microsoft's gaming division has been everything but games.

True. Its been the Aquisitions Team.

Behind closed doors and away from the press they are going to be all in on the AI slop.

Hiroshi Yamauchi wasn't much of a gamer, but he made Nintendo a gaming juggernaut.

There are exceptions to this. There are wonderful game designers that personally don't play video games.

I really doubt this woman is an exception though

It sucks to say, but I'd actually wager there's more game developers and designers that don't play games regularly than ones that do. The time and mental investment necessary to create games doesn't tend to leave much room for enjoying them.

But probably really should at least consider yourself a fan of games in the industry, even if you can't keep up playing the latest and greatest.

Microsoft's really been on that "I'll do everything in my power to make number go up that isn't making a better product" grind for a long time now yea

The whole reason we’re in this mess with AAA is solely because of suits with no gaming interest whatsoever making all the decisions to please shareholders

“AI has long been part of gaming and will continue to be,”

This is such bullshit. AI has only really invaded gaming in the past couple of years, but she makes it sounds like AI (in its current iterations) has been around been around forever.

Someone needs to make an ex-Xbox for exes of Xbox.

looks down at Steam Deck in lap

I'll get a sharpie.

I think they're using AI as the umbrella term there, rather than referring to LLMs and generative slop. The term has been used to mean many different things over the years, including the decision trees that drive npc movement and action.

He also had honor and dignity. Rare attributes in company leadership these days.

I'd go further and compare this to actors who many times will never watch the finished product. IIRC, John de Lancie voiced Discord in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic but never watched any of the episodes until the fandom really took off. He was surprised this small role he forgot he even did gained such popularity! I'm sure he's seen a number of episodes by now, especially since he later reprised his role

It's like when new logitech ceo (ex-unilever, non-tech) comes up with the idea of subscription mouse.

Except shampoo brands don’t invalidate copyright protections for their games.

If you use ai to create any part of a game, that part doesn’t have copyright/IP protections. If you don’t know what parts that is, the entire thing loses said protections.

Details.

Weird, her former division was in charge of exactly that.

Wait wait but what if we made fps games like casinos?

And, stay with me now - manipulate children to create generational gambling addicts - ooohohoo think of all the easy money flowing in!

You can be into games without playing them and I'd argue you're likely into them if your making them

This quote reminds me of the owner of this one TTRPG and card shop in my area. If you try to talk to him about literally anything he sells he will straight tell you he does not care about anything he sells. All the nerdy shit under one roof and his ass is there because nerds will pay through the nose for it.

Needless to say I shop at the store where the owner participates on FNM every week and runs D&D campaigns.

i guess you dont if you know exactly what gamers want and youre a marketing genius. but i doubt thats the case and being into gaming would certainly help

That's a bit different, because he's selling finished products. He can just check all the boxes from star wars over dnd to collectible card games and order the value pack from a middle man and then it's all about the location of the shop and the competition in the area.

You don't have to understand why a specific product works if what you're doing is essentially providing a mixed physical storefront for a bunch of corporations.

But this lady is now going to have to make important strategic decisions, about which games to give funding, which ones to cancel, what kind of hardware to even envision.

Compare it to valve, who sat down and build their own controller and handheld, because they looked at 20 years of market and product development and thought they could do better and delivered. You have to know a lot about why you want hardware for what purpose and what makes it better or worse for that purpose to do that.

XBOX, theoretically, same as any other big name in media, could be the place where a new media franchise is born that dominates the next 50 years of pop culture. THAT is the kind of position this is.

That they won't because they can't "build the next skyrim / WoW" is kind of the problem.

They just made a small typo, it can happen to everyone.

isn’t necessarily required to succeed in ruining a gaming company

As long as they're at least playing their own games then that's fine

It is not a requirement, but is a fucking insane bonus if CEO is into gaming.

I've always held the opinion that Microsoft has no place in gaming.

Like, at all. It just isn't their lane.

They did a pretty good job in that lane during the xbox/360 era.

Except for the whole 100% console failure rate and hiding and lying about it to everyone TO THIS VERY DAY.

And introducing and standardizing subscription online services in an otherwise previously free and good-will culture.

And predatory, hostile payment behaviors and many other awful dark patterns.

Microsoft joining gaming might be the singular worst thing to ever happen to gaming.

To this day, they're destroying everything they touch, and in case you forgot, the AI boom that Microsoft is funding and pushing is the reason nobody can get hardware and is actively making other platforms worse and holding back steam hardware.

Games for Windows live.

Also, anything remotely good they've "done" has also been an acquisition and has ultimately rotted under them.

MS throwing everything at the wall so hard there’s hardly any wall left at this point. Keep at it!

That's a fucking sad, low bar.

But I bet the actors that are great who don't watch the finished product DO love to act and the art of acting in general.

Talent loving their art and having creative freedoms are NOT the same as management who love to please investors by following trends.

100% Bullshit

Yeah, that's dishonest and malevolent or straight up negligent and ignorant

You think she currently works in the walking programming dept of Microsoft?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation

It absolutely was not.

I have fond memories of the og Xbox and the 360, guess I can’t really speak past that for enjoying them since that’s the last Xbox i owned

after two years as president of the company’s CoreAI Product group. Despite that recent history, Sharma says in a new interview that she has “no tolerance for bad AI” in game development.

I guess she had enough, she won't last long with that shift in attitude though.

Don't misunderstand me- I fucking hate LLMs and generative slop. I'm not commenting on whether the statement was made in good faith (I doubt it was), I'm just pointing out that we've been using the term "AI" as a descriptor of npc behavior for decades and it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

Sure, but I'm still surprised a microsoft employee would say something like this publicly given the company's apparent need to shove LLMs and generative slop into every nook and cranny in their products.

I have no tolerance for these LLMs that some people think is AI.

...and then the "kiss of death" to studios team.

Fine, not ideal. I'm just speaking from experience with devs that don't play enough of their own stuff.

Absolutely.

This whole article is gold mine of very, very terrible quotes