Microsoft and Nexon Put Faith in Leading Innovation in Innovation in Different Domains

The winter season is almost over and as such many changes are occurring in the natural world and in the gaming industry as spring inches ever closer.

Late February and early March will see many sporting milestones being reached, such as the 30th anniversary Resident Evil again Pokemon and the launch of highly anticipated games from the likes of Bungie Marathon reboot.

However, there is a lot going on behind the scenes of the game industry as the founder and CEO of ARC raiders‘ Embark Studios, Patrick Soderlund, has recently been appointed as the executive chairman of Nexon, while the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, has recently announced the retirement and succession of Asha Sharma.

While both of these executives have a history with the gaming industry, their backgrounds are very different and could point to an exciting future for Nexon, Embark Studios, and Xbox as a whole.

Work by Patrick Soderlund and Asha Sharma

Patrick Soderlund may be best known to current players today for his work on hit extraction shots ARC raidersbut he’s actually played a major role in some of the biggest and most successful publishers and development studios over the past few decades.

In 2013, Soderlund was appointed senior vice president of Electronic Arts’ Worldwide Studios, where he oversaw the PC and comfort development of many titles, including. Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Need for Speed, Dragon Age: Inquisitionmany more.

Long before this role, Soderlynd was the founder of DICE and later served as its CEO until the Swedish developer was bought by EA in 2006, but he continued to work in prominent roles in many areas. The battlefield games, like Battlefield: Wrong Company, Battlefield 1again Battlefield Vbefore leaving EA in 2018.

In the same year, Soderlund and several other former DICE employees founded Embark Studios, but by 202,1 the new studio had been acquired by the South Korean game publisher Nexon with the aim of the publisher trying to find a place in the western game markets.

Since then, Soderlund and Embark have released two highly successful multiplayer-focused games in 2023. The final and 2025 ARC raiderswith recent success leading Nexon to appoint Soderlund as their executive chairman to oversee the publisher’s creative direction and strategy.

Sharma’s appointment as CEO of Microsoft Gaming

Image via Microsoft

In comparison, Asha Sharma’s work is very low level in terms of games expertise and development, she has more experience with the business side of planning, marketing, and research.

Sharma’s history with Microsoft can be traced back to 2011, when he worked for the company before moving on in 2013 to serve as Chief Innovation Officer of software and insurance platform Porch Group, as COO of Instacart, and as Vice President of Product and Engineering for Meta.

It was only in 2024 that Sharma returned to Microsoft as its President of the CoreAI Product of the software company, where he oversaw the development of artificial intelligence technology and services such as Azure AI before he was recently appointed as CEO of Microsoft Gaming with the blessing of Phil Spencer.

The future of Nexon and Xbox

Based on Soderlund’s history overseeing the development of a number of multiplayer-focused games and the details behind Nexon’s acquisition of Embark, it seems likely that Nexon will be heavily involved in western multiplayer game development.

ARC Raiders will likely see long-term support, while Embark itself could receive additional support and funding to develop more games to deal with other shooter titles such as. The battlefield, Marathonagain Call of Dutywith two unannounced Embark projects likely to be revealed or at least further explained in an upcoming Nexon Capital Markets announcement.

In contrast, Xbox may face a bit of a struggle with this management change as Sharma has little experience with game development and even game marketing, although he will be supported by a veteran game developer, former Head of Xbox Game Studios, and recently appointed Microsoft Gaming COO Matt Booty.

Despite this lack of experience and anti-AI history, Sharma wrote that he is committed to developing great games, returning the Xbox to its former glory, and inventing new ways to play in a rapidly changing gaming landscape, even saying, “…we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI.”

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Released

October 30, 2025

The ESRB

Youth / Violence, Blood

Engineer(s).

Launch Studios

Publisher

Launch Studios