Microsoft’s new gaming boss has vowed not to flood the ecosystem with ‘endless AI slop’

Microsoft announced a major gaming shakeup on Friday, with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer leaving the company, along with Xbox President Sarah Bond.

Spencer will be replaced by Instacart and Meta CEO Asha Sharma. With Sharma’s latest role as president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, these moves show that Microsoft may be doubling down on bringing AI into video games.

The company has already tested ways to combine AI with games, for example creating an AI game partner and releasing the cart, an AI-generated level from “Quake II.”

Indeed, in an internal memo published by The VergeSharma wrote that Microsoft will “create new ways of doing business and new ways of playing” and said that “making money with AI” will both “change and affect this future.” At the same time, he said the company “will not rush the short-term performance or flood our ecosystems with soulless AI slop.”

“Games are and will always be creative, human-made, and made with the most advanced technology provided by us,” added Sharma.

This is one of the three things that Sharma has done in his writings. Some include making “big games that gamers love” and putting Xbox first.