When Xbox’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, stepped into the sneakers once occupied by former chief/mascot Phil Spencer, she was greeted by raised eyebrows. Sure, there was the timing of it all, but her previous title, president of Microsoft’s CoreAI product, also warranted skepticism. At a company that’s proven determined to jam AI into every conceivable nook and cranny, common sense be damned, Sharma’s appointment seemed like the final nail in the coffin. In the long run, that may or may not end up being the case, but today she demonstrated that AI is not Xbox’s number one priority, at least for now.
On X, the everything app that curiously still does pretty much just one thing, Sharma announced that the Xbox version of Copilot is done for.
“Xbox needs to move faster, deepen our connection with the community, and address friction for both players and developers,” she wrote. “Today, we promoted leaders who helped build Xbox, while also bringing in new voices to help push us forward. This balance is important as we get the business back on track. As part of this shift, you’ll see us begin to retire features that don’t align with where we’re headed. We will begin winding down Copilot on mobile and will stop development of Copilot on console.”
Gaming Copilot on console was an AI-powered feature that would’ve effectively walked players through games step by step, steamrolling over design intended to teach and raising the question of why someone was even playing a game in the first place. Other questions lurked on the periphery: Where was Copilot pulling information from? Also, who was it even for? Sunsetting a solution in search of a problem is an admittedly easy layup, but from this version of Microsoft, it’s far from a given. Gotta give Sharma some small amount of credit for that. Beta versions of Gaming Copilot did, however, launch on PC and ROG Ally last year; their future remains up in the air.
Sharma has spent her time at the front of the Xbox pecking order trying to get the brand back on track. Ultimately she landed on pulling an HBO shortly after Microsoft threw former Spencer heir apparent, Sarah Bond, under the bus for her role in the disastrous “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign. Last month, Sharma’s resurgent Xbox division also announced a much-needed Game Pass price drop.
This is not to say that all is suddenly hunky dory in Xbox land. For one, BDS has designated Microsoft as “perhaps the most complicit tech company in Israel’s illegal occupation” and—alongside groups like No Games For Genocide—continues to urge those with the means and ability to boycott Xbox. For two, the leadership shakeup Sharma referenced in her post today saw several AI bigwigs get beamed up to the Xbox mothership; it is highly unlikely that they will make good decisions. For three, Sharma remains a natalist weirdo who believes AI can fix declining fertility rates. In other words, the vibes at Microsoft are still rancid.
But at least Copilot for Xbox is cooked, and while I’m well aware that AI as we know it is nothing more than a marketing buzzword and it will never achieve anything vaguely resembling sentience, I still hope Copilot feels pain on its way out.
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Luke Plunkett
