Asha Sharma was appointed head of Xbox earlier this year and has been on the job for six months. During this time, Microsoft’s gaming direction has changed a lot, and Xbox is now in a “restart” state, which was announced in July. Asha Sharma was interviewed by the publication as part of Gamescom British Broadcasting Corporationin which she discusses various issues in the gaming industry, specifically those within the Xbox. Here are the funniest moments from the interview.
About Xbox Discs and Digital Copies
In the context of announcing plans to convert optical discs to digital media, Asha Sharma said she was aware of gamers’ love for physical media.
Asha Sharma
Xbox Head
[…] There are tons of games on everyone’s shelf. We’re announcing the ability for players to digitally license thousands of games released on physical discs.
[…] We’ve long been a pioneer in backward compatibility, and you’ll continue to see this trend in our next generations.
Asha Sharma did not specify whether the next Project Helix console will have a disc drive.
About the cost of the Helix project
Asha Sharma also commented on the price of future Project Helix consoles and the issue of the affordable cost of consoles.
Asha Sharma
Xbox Head
In the next generation, we need to think about efficiency and accessibility as well as effectiveness. As an industry, we are in the midst of what is called the RAMpocathesis. The entire industry must start looking for innovative solutions. We didn’t have to do this before. But given the current hardware and component crisis, it’s definitely something we all need to think about, find new solutions, and give people more choices in how they play their consoles and how they buy them.
About the use of artificial intelligence
Many attribute Asha Sharma’s arrival to Microsoft’s desire to bring more artificial intelligence into the gaming industry. At the same time, it hasn’t taken any steps in that direction, even shutting down some of the past AI initiatives at the top of Xbox. According to Asha Sharma, artificial intelligence is changing a lot, and Xbox plans to take this into account.
Asha Sharma
Xbox Head
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing many things. As Xbox continues to move toward the next generation, it’s our job to consider what’s going on in the world and create the best experience for our players.
She also noted that Xbox needs to be taken into consideration “Hardware efficiency in terms of storage and memory usage, equipment costs, components, etc.”.
About the Xbox reorganization
In early July, the “Xbox Reboot” began, and Asha Sharma once again elaborated on its goals:
Asha Sharma
Xbox Head
The purpose of the reset is to help us ensure that we can survive the next 25 years and continue to achieve our goals. We’re in the middle of a new generation of audiences who want to play games in different ways, and new technologies are emerging all the time. We’re not a healthy organization at Xbox.
Sharma says the next few years will be “challenging” and the gaming industry is on the brink of collapse “Becoming the most important form of entertainment in the next century”.