I’m Committed to Xbox Starting With the Console Xbox’s New CEO Promises Return to Xbox and New Hardware Info Soon

Xbox has entered a new leadership chapter, and the messaging is already crystal clear: the console is staying at the center of the strategy. Following Phil Spencer’s retirement announcement on February 20, 2026, Microsoft has installed Asha Sharma as the new chief executive leading Xbox, with her tenure starting February 25, 2026. Her opening tone is built around a rallying phrase, Return to Xbox, and in a new interview with Windows Central, Sharma anchors that idea to what long time players actually care about most: hardware, identity, and trust.

Sharma describes Return to Xbox as a cultural reset, not a nostalgia play. In her words, it is about returning to the original spirit Xbox was founded on, the surprise factor, the willingness to build what others would not, and a creative edge that fans have historically described as renegade, rebellion, and fun. It is a smart framing choice because it targets the brand’s emotional equity instead of leading with spreadsheets, subscriptions, or abstract platform language.

The most headline worthy line is also the most direct. Sharma tells players she is committed to Xbox, starting with the console, acknowledging that many fans have thousands of dollars and 25 years invested into the ecosystem. That is a high stakes statement because it is aimed at the exact anxiety that has been growing in the community as Xbox expanded its publishing footprint and pushed harder toward playing on every device. Sharma does not walk back that broader strategy either. She repeats that Xbox will continue meeting players where they are, and she emphasizes reducing the artificial divide between devices, which keeps the door wide open for cross device distribution and a platform layer that prioritizes accessibility.

Hardware fans are going to fixate on one key word from the interview: soon. Sharma says players will hear more about hardware plans soon and that announcements are coming up. It is intentionally non specific, but it is also a deliberate signal that Microsoft wants the conversation to pivot back toward tangible product direction. In corporate terms, this is a confidence marker that the hardware roadmap remains funded and visible internally, even if the company is not ready to share details publicly yet.

On the content side, Sharma’s comments suggest that Xbox’s current multiplatform posture is not changing in the short term. She explicitly states she wants to deliver great games to players who are not on Xbox hardware too, and she wants time to learn what decisions were made and what needs to happen going forward. That is a steady state answer, not a reversal. If you were hoping for a hard pivot back to strict exclusives, this reads more like continuity with selective timing advantages rather than a closed ecosystem approach.

Matt Booty, now chief content officer, reinforced the identity piece from the publishing angle. He stressed that the studios are built around being first party and not simply operating as a publisher. That phrasing matters because it addresses the perception risk that Xbox might drift into being a third party supplier while console hardware becomes secondary. Booty’s positioning is that first party content and first party platform must stay tightly coupled, which aligns with Sharma’s hardware first statement and suggests internal alignment on what Xbox needs to look like in the next cycle.

The interview ends on the most important line for skeptical players: proof over promise. Sharma openly acknowledges that words are not enough and that execution is the only thing that will validate her leadership. In a moment where Xbox is being pulled between platform ambition and brand clarity, that is the right message, but it sets a high bar. The next critical milestone is simple: deliver real hardware information and pair it with a coherent first party roadmap that makes the console feel like the best place to play, not just one of many places.

When Xbox says Return to Xbox and starts with the console, what would rebuild your confidence faster, a clear next gen hardware reveal, a stronger exclusive pipeline, or a major upgrade to the Xbox ecosystem experience?