Xbox hires Matthew Ball and Scott Van Vliet in leadership team expansion

• Xbox has appointed Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer.
• Scott Van Vliet has been named chief technology officer.
• Ball will aim to strengthen Xbox's console business amid rising cost pressures.
• Van Vliet previously led Azure OpenAI and Microsoft Teams engineering.

Xbox has expanded its leadership team with the appointments of Matthew Ball as chief strategy officer and Scott Van Vliet as chief technology officer.

As reported by The Game Business, the moves come under Xbox CEO Asha Sharma as part of an ongoing effort to strengthen product development within the company.

Ball, a well-known industry analyst and author of The State of Video Gaming report and The Metaverse, will focus initially on strengthening Xbox’s console business amid rising pressure from increasing memory and storage costs.

He is currently Epyllion CEO and also works with Makers Fund and KKR & Co, as a venture partner and advisor respectively.

Meanwhile, Van Vliet is joining Xbox from Microsoft, where he led Azure OpenAI and AI Core infrastructure. He brings games experience from roles at Amazon, including work on Minecraft: Fire TV Edition, and earlier roles at Mattel across major entertainment brands.

His role will focus on improving product development speed and execution across Xbox teams.

Strategic moves

The latest changes at Xbox follow a series of recent hires and promotions, including leadership updates tied to Xbox's upcoming Project Helix console. Sharma herself was appointed CEO in February.

Xbox has also promoted Chris Schnakenberg to corporate vice president, partnerships & business development, overseeing relationships with third-party publishers and developers.

Last month, Microsoft confirmed that its planned Xbox mobile storefront is still in development, despite signs that the project has stalled in recent months.

The company first announced the Xbox mobile store in 2022, with an initial target launch set for July 2024. However, progress appears to have slowed, with its test website now offline and last updated nearly a year ago.

Photo credit: Gabor Jurina.