Technology giant Microsoft (MSFT) has overhauled the management of its Xbox video game unit as sales continue to decline globally.
Microsoft Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told staff in a memo that she’s appointing new leaders, as the software company looks to return its video game unit to growth after years of weak sales.
Sharma moved to Xbox in February of this year when previous gaming chief Phil Spencer retired.
Last week, Microsoft reported its fourth gaming revenue decline in the past six quarters. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, said the company is trying to win back fans of the Xbox console.
Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Series S consoles posted poor sales that missed Wall Street’s targets in this year’s first quarter.
Recently, Microsoft cut prices for its Game Pass subscriptions service that gives gamers access to hundreds of online video game titles.
Now, the company has moved over several executives from its artificial intelligence (A.I.) group to the Xbox unit.
Jared Palmer, who had been vice president of A.I. products, will join Xbox as a member of technical staff to work on product engineering, developer tools, and infrastructure.
Tim Allen, another A.I. vice president of design, will lead design at Xbox. While Jonathan McKay, former head of growth at OpenAI, will be Xbox’s head of growth.
Evan Chaki, a general manager in the A.I. group previously, will run a team of forward-deployed engineers that will look to simplify development and end repetitive work.
MSFT stock has declined 13% so far this year to trade at $410.51 U.S. per share.
