Microsoft Gaming CEO Cancels Copilot For Xbox

Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma has said the company will be scrapping plans for Copilot integration on Xbox, as part of the next strategic step for the brand. 

In a tweet today, she announced that the company was "bringing in new voices" to "address friction for both players and developers".

"As part of this shift, you’ll see us begin to retire features that don’t align with where we’re headed. We will begin winding down Copilot on mobile and will stop development of Copilot on console", she says. 

The Fear Of Xbox Copilot

AI has been a divisive feature in the games industry, mostly between C-suite executives evangelizing it versus developers, creatives and consumers who don't want it. 

Microsoft in particular had been at the forefront of pushing it- last year internal emails revealed using AI was "no longer optional" for employees at one division at the company. 

While some developers admit to using it in the concept stages of games, a consumer-facing use case has yet to be found for the technology, outside of cheaping out on voice actors and artists. 

Ideas like an assistant that pulls up helpful information is often touted as a console-level use case, though its biggest criticism comes from no technology being able to do that without first stealing from hundreds of pre-written guides.