Xbox’s first chief operating officer Helen Chiang was gone from Microsoft by Oct. 23, fewer than four months after her appointment, and now disputes a report that she was fired for a policy violation.
Xbox announced the new role on July 6 as part of a wider business reset. Chiang was responsible for the financial performance of content, hardware, platform and services, and reported directly to Xbox CEO Asha Sharma. Xbox said the job would help coordinate those operations. The company also cited Chiang’s experience spanning almost two decades, including work on Xbox Live and leadership roles at Mojang and Minecraft.
In a staff memo dated Oct. 23, Sharma told employees Chiang was leaving Microsoft that day, The Verge reported. Other Xbox leaders would take on Chiang’s immediate duties while the company finalized its plans for COO leadership. The memo gave no timetable for those plans.
Eurogamer reported that one person familiar with the matter said Chiang had been terminated for policy violations. The outlet said it could not independently verify the claim and did not identify a policy. In a LinkedIn post, Chiang said the firing claim was “not accurate.” She denied leaking confidential information to the press, leaving for a competitor, engaging in misconduct or departing because she had been passed over for a larger role. She wrote that she had “serious concerns about how they were applied in my case,” but did not explain what led to her departure.
Microsoft has not publicly explained the circumstances. Xbox Vice President of Communications Kari Perez told The Verge, “We don’t discuss individual personnel matters.” Sharma’s memo said Chiang was leaving but did not state whether she had resigned or been dismissed.
Xbox said the reset responded to coordination problems as the business grew, with teams operating separately and decision-making becoming harder. Sharma said Xbox’s investments in Game Pass, multiplatform releases and a broader content portfolio had created value but grown more slowly than expected. She also put Xbox’s operating margins at three to 10 times below those of comparable platform and publishing businesses, and cited rising costs and a hardware crisis.
The July reset included plans to reduce Xbox’s workforce by about 3,200 during fiscal 2027, including about 1,600 role eliminations on July 6, 2026. Xbox has not publicly linked those business pressures or the restructuring to Chiang’s departure. The memo did not give a date for a decision on COO leadership.
