Helen Chiang, the first chief operating officer of Xbox, has departed Microsoft after holding the position for three months. Her exit was confirmed in an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, who noted that Chiang had been with the company for approximately 21 years.
Chiang joined Microsoft in 2005 and transitioned to the Xbox division in 2007. During her tenure, she contributed to the development of Xbox Live and later served as the corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise starting in 2020.
The COO role was established by Sharma in July as part of a broader organizational reset at Xbox. The position carried responsibility for profit and loss across hardware, content, services, and platforms. Currently, no successor has been named, and her duties will be distributed among other leaders.
The ongoing restructuring at Xbox includes plans for approximately 3,200 job cuts by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, with hundreds of positions already eliminated. This leadership change follows other recent departures, including the retirement of Phil Spencer and the exit of Xbox president Sarah Bond in February.
