XBOX is Shifting Its Strategy as Blizzard Reveals Big Plans for Diablo V and More

Asha Sharma’s leadership, Blizzard’s early game announcements, XBOX’s physical media plans, and criticism of Wolverine’s tracking system highlight major changes across the industry.

XBOX is going through another major period of change under CEO Asha Sharma, and some of her early decisions are already shaping how the company approaches its games, hardware, and relationship with players. 

A new Wall Street Journal profile has offered more insight into Sharma’s time at XBOX, including her focus on transparency, strategy, and stabilizing the business. At the same time, Microsoft is losing one of its most recognizable communications figures, while Blizzard has provided more information about why it is announcing games years before release.

Sharma’s approach to XBOX has reportedly centered heavily on being direct about the company’s situation. 

You have seen that in several areas, from announcements about XBOX’s health to the way Microsoft communicates major service outages. The company’s CTO has also been more willing to explain why certain outages happen, although Microsoft will still keep plenty of things private or simply hasn't figured them out yet. 

The Wall Street Journal profile describes Sharma as extremely intense and as someone who expects the people around her to work just as hard. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly asked her in late 2025 to consider taking over XBOX after company leaders saw how effectively she had positioned herself among AI developers despite not having experience in that field. 

One of the biggest questions surrounding Sharma when she took the position was whether she was a gamer. That does not necessarily mean she is unable to successfully run XBOX, however, because managing a gaming company and personally playing games are different. 

Her focus appears to be more heavily centered on understanding the business, listening to players, and improving XBOX’s overall strategy. While former XBOX boss Phil Spencer’s gaming background helped him connect with players, Sharma is taking a different approach by focusing on the brand's business problems.

That approach has already resulted in several changes. XBOX has continued rolling out console updates regularly, while Sharma has also placed greater emphasis on player feedback. She reportedly concluded that XBOX already had strong game development capabilities but needed better strategy and execution. 

That led to a focus on reducing output, concentrating on major franchises such as Halo and The Elder Scrolls, expanding user-generated content in Minecraft, and making XBOX a stronger distribution partner for independent developers.

Sharma has also reportedly spent time directly responding to customer support tickets every month. 

That might sound small compared with major game announcements or hardware decisions, but it gives her a firsthand look at the problems XBOX players are actually experiencing. Instead of relying entirely on reports from other executives, she can see how complicated even seemingly simple customer issues can become. 

Major challenges remain, especially around layoffs. Microsoft announced thousands of job cuts at XBOX, but many of those positions remain unfilled. That has understandably left employees dealing with continued uncertainty, although some reportedly appreciate that Sharma is taking the difficult steps she believes are necessary to stabilize the business. 

Meanwhile, XBOX is also losing Frank Shaw, its longtime communications leader, after nearly two decades with Microsoft. Shaw became well known for pushing back against stories and narratives surrounding the company, particularly on social media. 

Shaw was especially present when XBOX was getting flayed or when stories about its future were being printed. He frequently challenged information he believed to be false, including stories about Sharma and Microsoft’s gaming strategy. 

With XBOX increasingly relying on direct communication with its audience, having someone willing to respond publicly to questionable reports has become an important part of the company's messaging.

Blizzard, meanwhile, has been in the news after BlizzCon brought several major announcements, including a StarCraft shooter and the next Diablo game. The StarCraft project is reportedly targeting 2030, which means players still have a long wait before they can properly understand what Blizzard is building. 

According to Blizzard president Joanna Faries, the early announcements aimed to show confidence in the company's biggest upcoming projects. 

Blizzard wants players to know these games are actively being developed and that the company is committed to shipping them on time. In an industry where major games are routinely delayed, canceled, or stuck in development for years, giving players a target date far in advance is also a way for Blizzard to show its ability to deliver.

That brings us to Diablo 5, which was reportedly announced for spring 2029. Information from a Blizzard employee's LinkedIn profile reportedly suggests development began sometime between September 2023 and March 2024. If that timeline is accurate, Blizzard would be looking at roughly five to six years of development for the next major Diablo game. 

The relatively long development period reflects how ambitious modern AAA games have become, though ongoing expansions, seasonal content, and other monetization systems can give games like Diablo a longer lifespan while sequels are in development.

The next World of Warcraft announcement is also particularly noteworthy because Blizzard has started testing full controller support. The feature is still in the alpha stage and is being tested in a small portion of the game, with Blizzard asking players to provide feedback before rolling it out further. 

The timing is especially interesting given Microsoft's plans around its next-generation XBOX hardware and its reported PC-console hybrid approach. If World of Warcraft eventually reaches XBOX, controller support would make the transition considerably easier. 

Blizzard is also expanding its relationship with CD Projekt Red. 

Cyberpunk 2077 is reportedly coming to Battle.net later this year, while Overwatch is receiving an Edgerunners collaboration. Diablo is also getting a crossover with The Witcher, bringing Geralt of Rivia into Sanctuary for players who preorder the upcoming Songs of the Past expansion on Battle.net. 

XBOX is also sending another signal that physical games are not disappearing from its plans. A recent XBOX post celebrating multiple generations of gaming prominently featured physical game boxes, prompting speculation about the company's plans for its next-generation hardware. 

With Project Helix expected to mark Microsoft's next major hardware step, some players hope physical media will remain supported through either a built-in optical drive or an external option. Keeping that flexibility would also reassure players who have built large physical game libraries and do not want to see those purchases become difficult to use on future hardware.

That would be significant at a time when optical drives are becoming increasingly uncommon. XBOX has also been asking players for feedback on backward compatibility, making continued support for physical games an important part of the conversation surrounding its future hardware. 

Another major question surrounds Kojima Productions' Physint. XBOX reportedly plans to publish the game on XBOX and PC, with no mention of a PlayStation release in the current information. The arrangement is particularly interesting because the project reportedly sought funding before the XBOX deal came together. 

Finally, Marvel's Wolverine has become the center of an entirely different conversation following its reviews. 

The game currently sits around a 78 on Metacritic, which is respectable but below the expectations for such a major PlayStation project. One of the more unusual criticisms has to do with Wolverine’s tracking abilities. Some players have referred to it as “fart gas” because of the visible scent trail that guides Logan to objectives and collectibles.

Insomniac has explained that the scent trail is not always on and only appears when Wolverine is tracking specific scents, sounds, people, objects, or clues. The problem for some players is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to manually turn this feature on and off. 

The wider critique is that Wolverine seems designed to make the experience as accessible as possible, perhaps targeting players who don’t normally play games. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but players that have been around for a while and like to navigate their own way may find the amount of hand-holding frustrating. 

This ongoing debate about Wolverine’s tracking system is another example of how the different expectations of casual and experienced players can impact the design of big AAA games. It also shows how a feature intended to improve accessibility can become a point of criticism when players feel they are losing too much control over how they experience the game.