Kareem Choudhry is Leaving Microsoft Following New Xbox Reorg

Kareem Choudhry, a 26 years Microsoft veteran who is currently working as CVP of Xbox Emerging Technologies is leaving Microsoft, according to a report from Windows Central. Choudhry is the Xbox executive who introduced Project xCloud back in October 2018, and his departure is reportedly tied to an internal reorg at Microsoft.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Choudhry has been “leading a team of innovators exploring and advancing Gaming AI” for the past two years. In an internal Microsoft memo seen by Windows Central, the company explained that this AI team will now be moved into the general Xbox hardware organization overseen by Roanne Sones, CVP of Xbox Devices and Ecosystem. The company also explained in this memo that this new organization should help to accelerate innovation in the AI space.

The report also mentions other leadership changes in Microsoft’s Xbox division: The new Xbox Experiences and Platforms teams led by Ashley McKissick and Kevin Gammill will be focusing on improving the Xbox experience on console and PC, and there’s also a new leader for the Xbox Strategy and Regulatory team with Catherine Gluckstein, currently VP of Xbox.

This latest internal reorg follows a previous reshuffle that followed Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard in October. We’ve seen the three main faces of Xbox during the company’s recent “Xbox business update” in February, where the company took Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Head of Xbox Games Studios Matt Booty discuss their plans to release four Xbox exclusive games on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.

While we don’t know where Choudhry will go next, the Xbox exec contributed to big Xbox platform changes such as the launch of Project xCloud and the Xbox backwards compatibility program. And the Xbox Emerging Tech team Choudhry has been leading for the past two years should continue to play an important role in the design of the next generation of Xbox consoles, which Microsoft said will deliver “largest technical leap we’ve ever seen in a hardware generation.”