Asha Sharma and Matt Booty Reinforce Xbox’s Course: Community, Integrity and Games Created by People

The Xbox leadership insists on prioritizing the community and maintaining the first-party DNA.

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In a new part of the interview given to Windows Central, Asha Sharma and Matt Booty have delved into how they envision the future of Xbox. The message once again revolves around a central idea: community and identity cannot be diluted.

Sharma emphasized that successful platforms thrive because they build strong communities around their core audience. According to her, Xbox is responsible for communities that have been growing for decades, and the priority should be to continue building for that core, not chasing fleeting trends.

Strong Community, Decisions with Integrity, and a Focus on First-Party

• Building for the Core Community
  Sharma made it clear that she doesn’t want creative teams to dilute their focus by trying to attract emerging audiences at the cost of losing identity.

• Quality and Integrity as Pillars of the Platform
  For her, a great platform is sustained by two factors: quality for the primary user and integrity in strategic decisions.

• Clear Boundaries with Technology and AI
  She acknowledged that new technologies offer useful tools, but insisted that red lines must be drawn. She ensured that they won’t flood the ecosystem with careless or derivative content.

• Commitment to Human-Crafted Art
  Matt Booty added that there is no pressure from Microsoft to impose AI on creative development. Technology can help with technical processes, but the goal remains to create games made by people.

• Studio System Focused on First-Party
  Booty emphasized that the studio model is designed as a first-party publisher, in direct collaboration with the platform and hardware.

• Encouraging Creative Risk
  Both agreed that Xbox should continue to be a space where small ideas can grow into large projects.

Sharma also reaffirmed her intention to honor the legacy of Phil Spencer and maintain a culture centered on players and creators. She acknowledged that the brand has faced recent challenges, but ensured that the team has experience in regaining momentum and that their goal is to secure the next 25 years of Xbox.