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# Why Do Mainstream Publications Keep Trying To Help Xbox Rehabilitate Its Image?
- URL: https://aftermath.site/podcasts/aftermath-hours-podcast-xbox-asha-sharma-fortune-nyt/
- Published: 2026-10-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T15:00:00.000Z
- Description: "Come on, at least don't do the work for her"
- Author: Nathan Grayson
- Tags: Podcasts, podcast, xbox, microsoft, games journalism, asha sharma, #top-story

New Xbox head Asha Sharma might be laying waste to studios with decades of institutional knowledge under their belts, but don’t you want to know what kinds of jackets and sneakers she wears? That’s been the main thrust of recent pieces from [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/tech/xbox-microsoft-asha-sharma-videogame-03eb23ba?ref=aftermath.site), [Entertainment Weekly](https://aftermath.site/xbox-interview-entertainment-weekly/), [The New York Times](https://aftermath.site/xbox-asha-sharma-interview-new-york-times), and as of this week, [Fortune](https://www.verticalslice.news/opinion-xbox-already-has-a-marketing-team-and-unless-im-mistaken-journalists-are-not-on-its-payroll/?ref=aftermath.site), which lauded her for being “a decisive boardroom boss” with “swagger” and “a remarkable knack for marketing,” among other things. Why do legacy publications keep doing this with Sharma in particular? On the latest Aftermath Hours, we ponder the possibilities. 

This time around, we’re joined by [Chris Kerr](https://bsky.app/profile/kerrblimey.bsky.social?ref=aftermath.site), formerly of [Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/?ref=aftermath.site)—the publication, not the concept—who’s now heading up newly launched site [Vertical Slice](https://www.verticalslice.news/?ref=aftermath.site). We discuss why he decided to leave a relatively stable gig of nearly a decade for the choppy waters of independence, as well as the challenges of producing capital-J journalism while wearing a plethora of other hats (definitely not something we can relate to). We also reminisce about how Game Developer, one of the industry’s biggest trade publications, used to be called Gamasutra—a pun based on history’s most famous sex book. 

Then we discuss a couple pieces of pertinent news: Fortune recently became the latest mainstream publication to print thousands of fawning words about how Asha Sharma is running Xbox, conveniently omitting the “into the ground” part. Why do journalists at places like Fortune, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal keep trying to help Microsoft rehabilitate its image? And who is any of this actually for? Next, we scrutinize the actual news buried in Fortune’s piece: The next Xbox [might cost between $1,200 and $1,800](https://aftermath.site/xbox-helix-next-console-1200-1800-dollar-price/). Again, who is any of this *for*? 

(Note: The news that [EA is closing BioWare](https://aftermath.site/electronic-arts-closing-bioware-laying-off-hundreds/) dropped literally just as we were wrapping up recording this episode. Otherwise we absolutely would've discussed it.)

You can find this week's episode below and on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/7qtlX6MNeEoyNuHBU0chUJ?si=a2f12b75911f43cb&ref=aftermath.site), [Apple](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aftermath-hours/id1727407094?ref=aftermath.site), or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. You can also watch it on [our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@Aftermath%5Fsite?ref=aftermath.site). If you like what you hear, leave a review so that we can someday grow so large and entrenched that bloodless robo-CEOs will offer interviews to us when they desperately want the public’s approval for whatever sad reason (ideally, we will not go easy on them, but you never know; money and podcast reviews change people).

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

**Nathan:** The Fortune piece opens on “Asha Sharma returns from one of her walking meetings around Microsoft’s sprawling campus in Redmond, Wash., to her relatively new office in the Xbox building, reached via a 1,100-foot-long bridge from the main offices. It’s a brisk early September afternoon, and Sharma is wading through the next series of changes she’ll make at the legacy gaming business. There are more layoffs to complete and more studios to consolidate.”

Like, what?

**Chris:** Who writes that and thinks “That’s a solid opener”? Acting like the layoffs are some sort of inconvenience to her, as if she’s not the one making them as well? The framing is all so strange.

**Riley**: It’s hard to see \[these pieces\] as anything other than a press tour by her. On one hand, it’s her right; I get what she’s doing and why she’s doing it, and I get why the company would want her to do it. Fair enough. But we as journalists don’t have to help her do that.

**Nathan:** You look at some of these pieces, and it calls to mind the long history of journalists taking some of these very powerful figures and handling them with kid gloves. This goes back to how Elon Musk was treated when he was first coming up as a public figure—before everyone figured out that he’s a fucking monster—where they were like “Whoa, he’s real-life Tony Stark.”

It feels like the legacy press loves to do this thing with these people who step into new positions of power. They’re like “We’re gonna do this glitzy, glamorous profile of them and make them into this new and novel character” because actual reality is far less sexy. The reality is that a bunch of workers are being mistreated, and it sucks and is depressing to report on. 

**Chris:** I think you aren't wrong in saying people obviously probably get a little bit fed up reading about the doom and gloom. I get fed up sometimes reporting on it. It's difficult. It's difficult to wake up at 9 AM and think, “Great, more layoffs to report on.” Obviously that's nothing compared to \[what\] the people who have been laid off \[are going through\].

But if Xbox or any company had something positive to announce, then at least have some substance behind it. … It's just companies trying to have their cake and eat it, right? They want positive press, but they aren't willing to do the legwork to accrue positive press. Is there a world in which Sharma in ten years maybe is seen as the person who saved Xbox? Maybe. I don't know. But at least let her earn it. At least let her earn the praise.

We shouldn’t \[heap praise on her for no reason\]. Because if she falls, what will she get? Presumably some sort of golden parachute.

**Nathan:** Right, she’ll be more than fine.

**Chris:** What does failure mean to her? A payout. What does failure mean for people who are underneath her? It means potentially more job losses. It means potentially the sale of Xbox based on reports we’re hearing. Does Xbox exist if she doesn't succeed? So her employees have a lot more riding on her success than she does.

And I think that's why I find it so maddening. It's just infuriating to read, isn't it? Like you say, particularly in the games industry when it's so difficult to get access to these execs now to even ask one difficult question, that when someone is given access to the point where they're trailing her around Redmond or ZeniMax, it's like, come on, at least don't do the work for her.

**Nathan:** Right, ask the difficult question so she can be like “I can't answer that right now. I have another layoff to contemplate.”

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