Helen Chiang, the Microsoft veteran and former Xbox COO who left the company in October, is pushing back on reports claiming she was fired for violating company policy.
In an impassioned rebuttal posted on LinkedIn, Chiang directly refutes a recent report from Eurogamer that claimed she had been fired from Microsoft for policy violations. "That’s not accurate and while I won’t turn this into a play-by-play, silence should not be mistaken for agreement," says Chiang.
"What has been said about my departure, and what has been left unsaid, has created a picture of me that I hardly recognize. It’s important to me to set the record straight."
Refuting claims point by point, Chiang says she didn't leak confidential information to the press, she didn't leave Xbox to join a competitor, "did not engage in discrimination, bullying, harassment, insider trading, embezzlement, or other fraudulent activity," and didn't leave because she was passed up for a bigger role. The reason for Chiang's departure hasn't been made clear, neither by Chiang nor Microsoft. At the time of the departure, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma said she was "grateful for her years of service" and wished Chiang well in a surprisingly brief message to employees.
"I believe in fairness, accountability, and holding ourselves to the standards we expect of others," she says. "Those standards only mean something when they’re applied consistently. I have serious concerns about how they were applied in my case, and I believe those concerns deserve to be taken seriously.
"I share this because I don’t want my departure reduced to an inaccurate story about incompetence, ambition for the next big job, or a Nelson-level scandal. My story is about staying true to your core values, especially when it is hard. That’s the legacy I hope to leave behind."
The full details of Chiang's departure might never come into view, but the abrupt removal of a 21-year veteran is noteworthy. Chiang joined Microsoft in 2005 as product manager and worked her way up to studio head and then corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise in 2020. Sharma was appointed as Xbox's first COO by Sharma in July as part of the company's big "reset".
