Helen Chiang Named XBOX's First Chief Operating Officer (COO) Amid Historic Reset

XBOX Reset isn’t just about layoffs and studio shakeups. As the company announced historic restructuring, it also revealed one of the biggest leadership changes in XBOX’s history. As detailed in our earlier report on the XBOX Reset and 3,200 layoffs, Microsoft has now appointed Helen Chiang as XBOX’s first-ever Chief Operating Officer, creating an executive position the gaming division has never had before.

XBOX appoints its COO for the first time

The announcement was made by XBOX CEO Asha Sharma in an internal memo outlining the company’s restructuring plans. While much of the attention centered around layoffs, studio spin-offs, and management changes, Sharma also confirmed a completely new executive structure for XBOX.

“For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services,” Sharma wrote.

Chiang will report directly to Sharma and oversee virtually every major part of XBOX’s business. According to the memo, the goal is to bring the company’s gaming operations under a single operating model capable of making faster investment decisions, improving accountability, and helping XBOX operate more efficiently following the restructuring.

The appointment isn’t without experience. Chiang has spent nearly two decades at XBOX, helping build XBOX Live before later leading Mojang and overseeing the continued growth of the Minecraft franchise. Sharma credited her with helping build several of Xbox’s most important businesses and said she will now help unify the company’s content, hardware, platform, and services organizations.

The memo also confirmed that longtime XBOX executive Dave McCarthy is retiring after 17 years with the company. Sharma described McCarthy as one of the key figures behind the XBOX platform, thanking him for helping shape many of the service’s biggest milestones over the years.