Xbox appoints Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer and Scott Van Vliet CTO

Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has appointed two new executives to the platform's leadership team, continuing a series of organizational changes since she took the helm earlier this year. Industry analyst Matthew Ball has been hired as chief strategy officer, while Scott Van Vliet joins as chief technology officer.

The appointments were announced in an internal memo to staff. Ball is widely recognized for publishing an annual report on the state of the video game industry. Sharma described him as widely respected across gaming, media, and technology. According to the memo, Ball has already been advising on strategy and will officially begin his role this month, reporting directly to the CEO. His initial focus will be on the console business.

Scott Van Vliet, who recently led engineering for Azure AI infrastructure at Microsoft, will oversee technology and product development. Sharma noted his long-standing connection to the platform, stating he has been part of the Xbox community since the original Xbox Live beta in 2002. His prior experience includes roles at Amazon, where he led product teams for games on platforms like Alexa and Fire TV.

In addition to the external hires, Chris...