New Delhi: Microsoft Gaming’s new Indian-origin CEO Asha Sharma has won hearts after giving away free Xbox Series X25 consoles to everyone at the FanFest event in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Sharma, 36, took charge as Executive Vice President and CEO of Microsoft Gaming in February this year, succeeding Phil Spencer, who was associated with the company for 38 years.
At the 2026 LA FanFest, she and Matt Booty, Xbox Chief Content Officer, announced that every person with a ‘fan’ badge who showed up at the event would get a green green 25th anniversary limited-edition Xbox.
A video from the event has gone viral on social media, showing the crowd applauding, whistling, and cheering after the announcement. Many on X see the giveaway as a strategic marketing move that may help Xbox build customer loyalty.
Who is Asha Sharma?
Before assuming office as Xbox CEO, Sharma first served in a marketing role at Microsoft from 2011 to 2013. She then worked at Porch Group as COO, VP (Product and Engineering) at Meta, and COO at Instacart, before joining Microsoft again in 2024 as President, CoreAI Product.
Announcing her appointment as Xbox CEO, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said that Sharma “has helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving consumer and developer ecosystems.”
Sharma obtained a bachelor of science in business degree from the Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota.
Backlash and praise
Given her AI and non-gaming background, many on social media questioned if Sharma was the right fit for the role of Xbox CEO. Soon after her appointment, she also faced trolling over her ethnicity.
Some also alleged that Sharma only recently created her Xbox account and that she was using AI to write her tweets to pretend to be a “gamer”.
Addressing the allegations, Sharma, in a post on X on 24 Feb, had said that being a gamer was not her goal and that she was focussed on growing Xbox.
“I don’t pretend to be the best gamer and even though I’m playing, that’s still not my goal. My focus is to make Xbox the best place to play, return to our roots, ship great things, and become stronger for the future,” Sharma wrote, adding “And yes, I’m writing my own posts”.
Lately, especially after the Xbox giveaway, Sharma has also been praised for leading the gaming giant.
“I don’t think there’s anyone better to lead Xbox than Asha Sharma. She’s incredibly consumer-centric and has definitely made me a fan. Also, she made the Xbox logo cool again,” wrote a person on X.
Another said, “Asha Sharma faced the noise, the racism, the endless bad faith criticism and kept building”.