Xbox chief predicts small teams will build huge games
Asha Sharma wrote it in her message for Xbox's 25th anniversary. The text never mentions artificial intelligence; that reading comes from commenters.
A handful of people with a good idea will build worlds that cost hundreds of millions of dollars today, Xbox chief Asha Sharma wrote in her "25 YEARS OF XBOX" message on X on Thursday, three days before the brand's anniversary.
Her starting point is a diagnosis. Modern games showcase the best of human craft, but they cost more, consume more resources and carry more risk than ever, so, she writes, "too many ideas never become games." Then: "We must change this."
A single person will soon be able to tap capabilities that once belonged only to entire nations. A small team will be able to build worlds that today need hundreds of developers and hundreds of millions of dollars.
The biggest studios, she adds, will be able to chase ambitions as far beyond today's games as *Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024* is from its first version, in 1982. The original took up 160 KB and offered 20 airports in 2D and 16 colors. The 2024 edition handles more than 2.5 petabytes of data and reproduces almost every city on the planet.
There is not a word about artificial intelligence, and the message says nothing about tools, timelines or layoffs. Some commenters read it as a bet on AI, but that is their interpretation, not something Sharma wrote. What she does say is that the future of video games will echo their beginnings, when a small group with a big idea could change how the world plays.
The post drew more than 460,000 views on X. The same day, Sharma announced 25 free games for Xbox's 25 years, including Halo, Skyrim and Gears of War, tied to new Windows 11 PCs this holiday season. The video says the offer is valid in the U.S. through Dec. 31.
Xbox turns 25 on Sunday, Nov. 15.
