Helen Chiang left Microsoft on Friday, October 23, after 21 years at the company, just three months after becoming Xbox’s first chief operating officer (COO). The newly created position, announced in July 2026 as part of CEO Asha Sharma’s wider Xbox reset, gave Chiang responsibility for the division’s profit and loss.
An internal memo from Sharma, reviewed by The Verge, says other Xbox leaders will divide Chiang’s responsibilities until a successor is appointed. Sharma said the company would share more about COO leadership once its plans were finalized.
Chiang joined Microsoft in 2005 as a product manager for Streets & Trips, then moved to Xbox as a business manager in 2007. She joined the Minecraft team as a senior director in 2014 and became studio head and corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise in 2020.
Chiang’s departure comes as Xbox works through its wider reset, which has already led to hundreds of job losses and includes a plan to cut 3,200 positions by the end of Microsoft’s 2027 fiscal year. Xbox has not linked her departure to those cuts.
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