Microsoft Loses Two More Senior Xbox Leaders as Leadership Shake-Up Continues

Microsoft is going through yet another wave of leadership changes at Xbox, with two long-serving senior executives announcing their departures this week.

Lori Wright, Corporate Vice President of Partnerships, Business Development, and Marketing, and Haiyan Zhang, General Manager of Gaming AI at Xbox, have both confirmed they are leaving the company.

Both shared the news through posts on LinkedIn, wrapping up tenures that spanned well over a decade each.

Wright reflected warmly on her time at the company, describing it as "an incredible decade" and thanking the colleagues, partners, and friends who "shaped [her] journey."

She kept things vague about what comes next, saying she is "hoping for a lot of beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and discovering what lies in the space in between."

Zhang, on the other hand, has a clear destination. She confirmed she is heading to Netflix's gaming team, describing her decision as stepping "into the next phase of [her] career, which will take [her] on a new adventure beyond Microsoft."

When The Verge's Tom Warren broke the news on X, Zhang was quick to keep things in perspective. "It's just a new job, dude. Apparently [people] do that :)", she replied. When another user compared her exit to "rats leaving a ship," she did not mince words either. "Sometimes it's just all about ME and nobody else," she responded.

Despite the lighthearted tone, Zhang did speak genuinely about her time at Microsoft. "At Microsoft, I felt I had truly found my people: a place where I could belong," she wrote, adding that she hopes to carry forward "some small piece of the culture we built together: one of curiosity, acceptance, and inclusion."

These exits add to a growing list of high-profile departures from Xbox. They follow the retirement of longtime Xbox CEO Phil Spencer and the exit of Sarah Bond, who was widely seen as a likely successor to Spencer. Taking the reins as the new gaming CEO is Asha Sharma, who stepped in following what many described as the shock announcement of Spencer's retirement after nearly 40 years with Microsoft.

Sharma has already started making her presence felt. Earlier this month, Xbox shared details about its next-generation console, codenamed Project Helix. According to Sharma, the new hardware will support both PC and Xbox games and will "lead in performance," signaling that Microsoft is still serious about competing at the highest level in gaming hardware.

References: Eurogamer