Helen Chiang had recently been named as Xbox’s first COO after helping head the Minecraft division for more than a decade.
Some may know Xbox’s Helen Chiang from her days working with the Minecraft team, which included an eight-year stint as the franchise’s studio head and more than six years as its corporate vice president. On Friday, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma sent a memo informing staff that Chiang is departing Xbox after working with Microsoft in some capacity for more than 21 years. However, the timing is curious, because Chiang had also been named Xbox’s first chief operating officer only three months ago.
Xbox COO Helen Chiang
Source: GI.biz
The news of Chiang’s departure comes from an Xbox memo spotted by The Verge. The memo from CEO Asha Sharma was a straightforward announcement of Chiang’s exit from Xbox and an expression of gratitude for her years with the company. However, no reason was given for Chiang’s sudden exit, as Sharma only noted that the future of the COO position would be announced at a later date.
Chiang had been assigned to the COO role back in July 2026 as part of Xbox’s massive restructuring. As part of the role, Chiang was set to oversee Xbox’s business and investment organization and report directly to Sharma. Sharma had said the following of Chiang at the time of her promotion:
Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.
This is the latest instance of Xbox making news and not always for positive reasons. In this week alone, details of an Xbox handheld were released along with a pricing structure for its next console that could surpass $1,200 USD, new Xbox Cloud Gaming rates starting at $3.99 USD for 10 hours were revealed, and there’s word that Xbox is ready to shut down Arkane Lyon if a new buyer isn’t found soon. This won’t be the last time we talk about Xbox at Shacknews, so keep it on the Xbox topic page for the latest stories.
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