A new report from Windows Central alleges longtime Xbox executive Kareem Choudhry is leaving Microsoft after today, April 8.
It's alleged that his leave was both amicable and unrelated to and layoffs or restructuring efforts from months earlier. His leave seems to have triggered a major leadership shuffle at Microsoft meant to streamline Xbox's future console and Game Pass plans.
Choudry's best known for operating as Xbox's corporate VP. Along with Project xCloud, he was key to Xbox's backwards compatibility efforts, and famously promised the Xbox Series X would "eat monsters (read: the Xbox One X) for breakfast."
Xbox prepares for the future, again
In the wake of his exit, Microsoft is moving his Emerging Tech (XEmTech) team to the general hardware division. XEmTech was first revealed last week in a report detailing how its AI chatbot will be the first step in a larger AI push at Xbox.
Led by Roanne Sones, the hardware team will use XEmTech to "accelerate innovation" in its hardware ecosystem. Additionally, Kevin Gammill and Ashley McKissick will lead a new Experiences and Platforms team to improve the Xbox experience on consoles and PC.
Finally, Catherine Gluckenstein is tapped to lead the Strategy & Regulatory team, while Jennifer Creegan will oversee analytics for Xbox Gaming.
In the past year, Xbox has consistently changed up its leadership staff. Last year, ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard leaders were brought into the hierarchy of its own executive team.
Windows Central claims these changes are being made to prepare for Xbox's next mainline console. Last year, internal documents leaked by Microsoft revealed it was eyeing a 2028 launch for the system, which will reportedly be a cloud hybrid console.
Game Developer has reached out to Xbox for comment, and will update when a statement is given.