Does the Head of Xbox Need to Be a Gamer? - DTNS 5211
Daily Tech News Show
Tom Merritt
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2026
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We analyze the departure of Phil Spencer and his replacement, the person who helped Instacart IPO. Plus, a solid-state battery gets closer to safer 5-minute EV charging.
Starring Tom Merritt, Rob Dunewood, and Andy Beach.
Show notes can be found here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, February 23rd, 2026. We tell you what you need to know. |
| 0:09.7 | We gave you some important context and we try our darndest to help each other understand all this stuff. |
| 0:15.3 | Today, Andy Beach on OpenAI using ChatGBTBT for corporate counterintelligence and does Xbox need to be run by a gamer? |
| 0:23.1 | Don't answer too fast. I'm Tom Merritt. And I'm Rob Dunwood. Let's start with what you need to know with |
| 0:28.3 | the big story. Friday, Microsoft announced the departure of gaming CEO Phil Spencer and the promotion of |
| 0:40.8 | Asha Sharma into that role. Gaming president Sarah Bond will also leave. Gaming EVP, Matt Booty, |
| 0:49.0 | will become chief content officer reporting to Sharma. Spencer reportedly decided to step down last year and has |
| 0:56.0 | spent several months helping Microsoft plan the succession. The Verge reports that the announcements were |
| 1:01.2 | supposed to happen today on Monday, but IGN got wind of the story and was going to publish it on |
| 1:06.8 | Friday, so Microsoft just made the announcement on Friday. Sharma most recently was running |
| 1:11.6 | Core AI for Microsoft. That has caused a lot of people to have some concern about that. Her team |
| 1:18.0 | implemented DeepSeek on Azure within days last year after it broke through to the mainstream. |
| 1:23.8 | But previously, she worked as VP of product at MetA and the chief operating officer for Instacart, |
| 1:30.2 | where she helped the company IPO and focus on profitability. |
| 1:33.7 | Her reputation isn't as an AI person in particular. |
| 1:37.9 | Her reputation is you need a competent manager who can get a product launch |
| 1:41.6 | and convince users to use those products, bring in Asha. |
| 1:45.5 | It doesn't matter what the product is. She's good at managing teams and getting them to do things. |
| 1:50.9 | Now, it doesn't mean there's a lot of common concerns about a new person running Xbox. For example, |
| 1:58.3 | will Microsoft remain committed to the console? Sharma wrote of the return of Xbox in a |
| 2:05.0 | memo to employees, writing, we will celebrate our roots with a renewed commitment to Xbox starting |
| 2:11.1 | with console, which has shaped who we are. And then, of course, about those AI concerns, she wrote, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tom Merritt, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Tom Merritt and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.