Helen Chiang, Former Minecraft Head, Xbox Veteran and COO, 'Fired' for 'Policy Violation'

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It was revealed Friday evening that former Minecraft head Helen Chiang was leaving Microsoft, which was shared by CEO Asha Sharma in an internal email.

Helen Chiang led Xbox as its first-ever COO and had only been in the role for a few months. As such, the departure immediately raised eyebrows.

“Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft today. I am grateful for her years of service and wish her well,” Asha Sharma said in an internal email shared by The Verge. Sharma noted that an update on the COO position would come later. Indeed, it doesn’t appear that the COO position will disappear, suggesting that this was not a redundant departure. People immediately began speculating that Chiang had been removed from office following a clash or disagreement.

In a statement to Windows Central, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “We do not discuss individual personnel matters. We are grateful for Helen’s years of service and wish her well.” echoing statements made to other media outlets.

We now have more details on what may have emerged from Eurogamer, which suggests that Chiang was “fired for policy violations”, via one of its sources, although it said it was unable to obtain other corroborating sources.

Minecraft Heroes

Helen Chiang was instrumental in growing Minecraft into the revenue powerhouse it is today. (Image credit: Mojang Studios)

Chiang had a long and storied career at Microsoft. She joined Minecraft in 2005 working on mapping software, then began moving up the ranks at Xbox in 2007. She has worked on Minecraft since 2014 and has led the game’s expansion across consoles, mobile devices, education, merchandising, and, most recently, film and other transmedia opportunities.

Chiang is incredibly well-liked and well-liked within Microsoft by every employee I’ve spoken to. She is known for being supportive and helpful, and has described to me as going above and beyond for employees at all levels.

She is one of Xbox’s longest-serving executives and her promotion to COO was celebrated. His alleged dismissal immediately struck me as strange, and it wasn’t really something that would have been done lightly.

I suspect this isn’t the last we hear of this story, and certainly not the last we hear of Chiang, who by all accounts was excellent in her role.

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