Xbox manager discusses AI in games

A senior Xbox manager, Brandon Stirrup, claimed the video game industry is avoiding discussions about artificial intelligence, according to reports. Stirrup, a senior director of commercial strategy at Xbox, posted messages on X stating that the company is using AI and was willing to "take the hit" if it allowed "hundreds" of colleagues to stop pretending.

Stirrup's weekend AI experiment

Stirrup described a weekend project where he "vibe-coded" a game that was "bad but improvable" in two days with approximately three hours of active work. Vibe coding involves describing in everyday language what one wants from an AI, which then writes the code on one's behalf. He concluded that "anyone can create a game."

Escalating tone and industry critique

The tone of his messages escalated, with Stirrup stating, "If I am fired tomorrow, it will be because I told you the truth that no one wants you to know." He claimed a single prompt is sufficient to obtain custom-made games, "for better or for worse." According to Stirrup, the video game industry is the only industry dragging its feet, as players have a negative view of AI.

AI use and transparency in gaming

For the player, this AI used behind the scenes remains invisible. Since updating its rules in January 2026, Steam no longer requires studios to report code assistants and other productivity tools. Only the content generated that the player sees or hears (images, voices, texts, music) must be declared on the game's page.

Stirrup's statements and Microsoft's position

However, Stirrup's statements only concern him. He works on commercial strategy, had never developed a game before this weekend, and was not speaking on behalf of Microsoft. The "hundreds" of employees who would be using AI without saying so are based solely on his messages. Xbox has never hidden its interest in AI, but Microsoft does not hide its experiments.

Other companies and cautious approaches

Other publishers are also advancing cautiously. In June, Capcom promised not to use generative AI in its games, while acknowledging its use during development. In September 2025, Phil Rogers, CEO of the Swedish group Embracer, admitted that AI risked producing "soulless" side quests. AI is also disrupting amateur projects. In July, Meta launched Pocket, an application that creates mini-games from a single sentence, still unavailable in France.

Xbox's AI initiatives and leadership

Xbox has launched several AI-related initiatives. In February 2025, Xbox presented Muse, an AI model capable of generating visuals and gameplay. Two months later, for the company's 50th anniversary, Microsoft demonstrated an AI-generated game demo, with a disastrous result. Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox and former AI executive at Microsoft, launched Xbox Labs on October 13. This small team is meant to explore new ways to port, remix, and create games, following several weeks of mods made with AI, including a Call of Duty that ran in a web browser.

Controversy and internal response

Stirrup, however, did not wait for the controversy to grow. A source at Xbox explained to PC Gamer that he had himself disabled his X account due to the number of responses received. No official sanctions have been made public so far.