What you need to know
- Xbox CVP Karim Chaudhary will leave Microsoft effective today.
- Chaudhary has worked on some of Microsoft’s newest gaming technologies, from Xbox cloud gaming to its latest AI efforts.
- Chaudhary’s departure comes ahead of a larger reorganization of Xbox leadership, with some team members being promoted and new employees hired.
- The broader leadership change is intended to streamline operations and help Microsoft accelerate growth plans for Xbox Game Pass, Xbox consoles and more.
- Windows Central understands Karim’s departure was amicable and purely coincidental and not part of a wider restructuring.
Microsoft’s gaming arm has become one of the largest contributors to Microsoft’s overall revenue, with Xbox now surpassing Windows as the biggest revenue driver. That’s thanks in large part to Activision and Blizzard’s acquisitions, including Candy Crush Saga, World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, which are worth billions of dollars to the gaming company.
To that end, Microsoft is rapidly developing the approach to gaming today and the future of Xbox. It also means some changes in leadership.
After 26 years at Microsoft, our sources say Karim Chaudhary will be leaving the company. Chaudhary is perhaps best known to Xbox fans for saying “he eats monsters for breakfast” in reference to the Xbox series. Microsoft’s recent projects include the development of Xbox’s backwards compatibility layer, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Microsoft’s new gaming AI division, known as Internally as XEmTech or Xbox’s Emerging Tech Team. According to related sources, Chowdhury’s last day at Microsoft today.
The XEmTech organization will be transformed into the entire Xbox organization under the leadership of Roanne Sones Sones is best known for his work as an OEM specialist in the Windows division, helping companies like Dell and HP get the most out of Windows in their PC builds. I spoke with Sons last year at Gamescom, where Microsoft made no secret of its interest in portable gaming consoles. While I’m here, Jason Ronald remains a technical advisor within the Xbox division, as I’ve seen reports in certain places that he’s no longer involved in Xbox hardware leadership — he is!
In an internal memo we obtained, Microsoft noted that moving the AI team within the hardware ecosystem will accelerate innovation in this area. Microsoft is said to be working on machine learning technology to improve graphics with DirectSR, as well as an Xbox AI chatbot tool to help users resolve support questions externally and internally.
Ashley McKissick and Kevin Gammill are leading a newly formed organization called the Xbox Experiences and Platforms Teams, which I believe will reinvigorate investment in improving the overall Xbox experience on Windows and Xbox consoles. Catherine Gluckstein will now lead the Xbox strategy and regulatory team, as her experience and success helped Microsoft navigate the regulatory nightmare that was the acquisition of Activision and Blizzard, representing the EU, UK CMA and US Federal Trade Commission. Additionally, Jennifer Kerrigan is moving from Microsoft’s broader advertising organization to lead analytics and business planning for the Microsoft gaming team.
Set up your Xbox for success
The loss of Karim Chaudhary is an incredible shame considering Chaudhary’s incredible contribution to Xbox and innovation in gaming. Chaudhary contributed to the Xbox Backward Compatibility Program, which remains the best game preserver of any game this side of Windows. He was also instrumental in creating Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is a significant growth driver for Microsoft in certain markets and will help Microsoft gain an edge in growing markets. Karim has also helped shape Microsoft’s growing AI efforts, which are largely focused on accelerating game development, with an equal emphasis on ensuring certain ethical fences. Chowdhury’s passion for Xbox, technology and gaming in general was always evident whenever I had the chance to speak with him. As far as I know, and although I still don’t know the exact reasons, Chowdhury’s departure is a side effect and not part of Microsoft’s broader restructuring that began late last year.
Related: Xbox’s growing pains and its strange future.
Microsoft is launching several initiatives internally to address some of the vulnerabilities described in the recently linked article about Xbox strategy. That includes hardware innovation, exploring how Xbox can expand into new markets, and increasing marketing and investment in Xbox Game Pass — rather than reducing it, some reports say. Microsoft is working hard to advance the Activision-Blizzard integration. This includes integrating some of Activision’s most popular game catalog into Xbox Game Pass, most recently starting with Diablo IV.
