Helen Chiang, the Minecraft veteran Microsoft named as Xbox’s first-ever chief operating officer in July, left the company on Friday, October 23, about three and a half months into the job. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced the exit in a short internal memo first reported by The Verge, and Microsoft has not said why she is going.
The departure matters because the Xbox COO role was meant to be the operational engine of Sharma’s restructuring of the business. Losing the person in that seat this early, with the reset still in progress, raises questions about who now runs day-to-day decisions across Xbox’s games, hardware and services.
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What the Xbox memo says about Helen Chiang
According to The Verge, which saw the memo, Sharma kept it to a few lines: “Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today. I’m grateful for her years of service and wish her well.” Chiang’s immediate responsibilities are being split among other Xbox leaders for now, and Sharma added: “We’ll share more on COO leadership as plans are finalized.” That wording suggests the COO job itself is staying, even though nobody has been named to fill it.
When The Verge asked for comment, Xbox vice president of communications Kari Perez said “We don’t discuss individual personnel matters,” and repeated the thanks for Chiang’s service. GamesBeat and other outlets have since reported the exit, all citing the same memo. No reason has been given.
- Who: Helen Chiang, Xbox chief operating officer, 21 years at Microsoft
- When: October 23, 2026, effective the same day
- Appointed COO: July 6, 2026
- Interim plan: duties split among other Xbox leaders; no successor named
Xbox Wire's header art for Sharma's July 6 "Resetting XBOX" memo, which created the COO role. Image: Microsoft
Why Xbox created the COO role in the first place
Sharma announced the job in her July 6 memo, “Resetting XBOX”, which Microsoft published on Xbox Wire. It called the restructure the most significant in Xbox history: about 3,200 roles cut across fiscal year 2027, roughly 1,600 of them that day, and four studios leaving Xbox. Sharma wrote that the business was “not healthy”, running at margins three to ten times lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses.
In that same memo, she described the new post as “a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services”, reporting directly to her. Chiang’s task was to “bring our businesses together under one operating model” and to make sure Xbox makes clear investment decisions and holds itself accountable for results. Before the promotion, Chiang had led Mojang and the Minecraft franchise, and Sharma credited her with helping build Xbox Live.
Before becoming COO, Chiang led Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. AI-generated illustration
What this means for Xbox right now
The reset is far from finished. A September 22 update cut another 268 roles, said Xbox was about three-quarters of the way through the announced restructuring, and confirmed that consultation with Arkane would run through the end of the year (we covered the latest report that Arkane Lyon has until November 13 to find a buyer). In October, Sharma also appointed Maria Angelidou-Smith as CEO of Mojang and Minecraft, reporting to Sharma, so Chiang’s old studio already has its own new leadership.
The Verge also reports rumors that Xbox is preparing more layoffs in October, November and January. Microsoft has not confirmed them, so treat them as unverified. The exit also comes while Xbox works on its next hardware; see everything Microsoft has confirmed about Project Helix and Fortune’s report on next-gen Xbox pricing. For players, there is no announced change to games or services: Sharma’s July memo said none of Xbox’s publicly announced first-party games or projects were cancelled in the cuts, and nothing in the memo touches Game Pass or Xbox Cloud Gaming’s standalone plans.
What’s next
Sharma’s memo promises more on “COO leadership as plans are finalized”, so watch for a successor or a reshuffle of Chiang’s duties in the coming weeks. We’ll update this story if Xbox names a new COO.
Sources: The Verge, GamesBeat, Xbox Wire: Resetting XBOX, Xbox Wire: Continuing Our Reset, Xbox Wire: New Leadership Appointments.
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
