The former Minecraft boss leaves Microsoft after 21 years. Asha Sharma says her duties are being split up for now and more on COO leadership is coming.
Helen Chiang, the first chief operating officer in Xbox history, has left Microsoft. The Verge broke the news on October 23 after seeing an internal memo from Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
The memo was short. “Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today. I’m grateful for her years of service and wish her well,” Sharma wrote. Chiang’s immediate responsibilities are being split between other Xbox leaders for now, and Sharma added, “We’ll share more on COO leadership as plans are finalized.” That suggests the COO job itself isn’t going anywhere.
Chiang spent 21 years at Microsoft. Per GamesRadar+, she joined in 2005, moved to Xbox in 2007, joined the Minecraft team in 2014 and became corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise in 2020. Sharma named her Xbox’s first COO in July as part of the Xbox reset, with what Sharma called “end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services.”
Xbox isn’t saying why she left. “We don’t discuss individual personnel matters,” Xbox VP of communications Kari Perez told The Verge. “We’re grateful for Helen’s years of service and wish her well.” Windows Central points to a Eurogamer source who says Chiang was “terminated for policy violations,” but Eurogamer could not get a second source to back that up, and no details have been shared.
Let’s keep it real: losing your brand new COO after three months is not a good look, and Chiang put in two decades of work, including helping run Minecraft, one of the biggest games ever. But read that memo again. Sharma didn’t stall, didn’t leave anything hanging, and made it clear the role stays. That’s a CEO who knows exactly what she wants from her leadership team and isn’t waiting around. Asha’s plan has Xbox playing offense with exclusives, Project Helix and the 25th anniversary, and that plan doesn’t change because one seat is empty. We want to see who steps in, because whoever gets that chair runs the money side of the Xbox comeback.
Sources
- The Verge: Xbox’s first chief operating officer is out after just a few months
- GamesRadar+: Xbox COO and ex-Minecraft boss leaves Microsoft after just 3 months in the role
- Windows Central: Former Minecraft lead, Xbox veteran and COO Helen Chiang “fired” for “policy violations”
- Insider Gaming: XBOX COO Helen Chiang Departs Microsoft After 21 Years
Image: Xbox Wire
