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Feb. 20 (UPI) — Microsoft Gaming Chief Executive Officer Phil Spencer is retiring after 38 years at the tech giant and is being replaced by Asha Sharma, whom Microsoft hired from Instacart in 2024.

Sharma will become Microsoft’s executive vice president for gaming and report to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.

Nadella said Spencer last year announced his decision to retire, and the company officials announced the pending change to staff on Friday.

Sharma will move from Microsoft’s CoreAI wing, where he was the company’s president of product development. He formerly was Instacart’s chief operating officer and before that was Meta’s vice president of product development.

Spencer is leaving the tech giant after former business development head Chris Young and Thomas Dohmke, former GitHub chief executive, departed last year.

Microsoft’s security systems head Charlie Bell also changed his role with the company but continues working in an individual capacity.

Microsoft’s video gaming revenues declined by 10% from December 2024 to December 2025, which exceeded the company’s expectations, according to CNBC.

Despite the tech firm’s reduced gaming revenue, it posted a 17% gain in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier.

Microsoft in 2023 bought Activision Blizzard and made its Call of Duty gaming titles available on its cloud service.

Competition for Sony’s proprietary gaming system has impacted Microsoft’s gaming revenues due to its Xbox system not matching Sony’s PlayStation or Nintendo’s Switch in popularity.

Microsoft has closed its gaming development studios that developed new titles.

Wales have appointed Paul James to replace scrum coach Duncan Jones who suffered a ‘freak injury’ in training.

Jones, 47, has had surgery after injuring both knees following an accidental collision during a live training session last week.

His fellow Ospreys coach James, 43, will step into the role for the rest of the Six Nations, following the opening 48-7 defeat against England.

James, who won 66 caps, has been coaching with the Ospreys since December 2018 and was scrum and set-piece coach for Wales Under-20 in 2021.

“It’s great to add Paul to the coaching team and my thanks to the Ospreys for enabling this opportunity at short notice,” said Wales head coach Steve Tandy.

“We’re all disappointed for Duncan with his injury. He’s been a huge part of the environment will be missed around the group and we wish him all the best with his recovery.”

Fans of Strictly Come Dancing and classic episodes of the Great British Bake Off may have reason to celebrate as a former star of the cooking sow is tipped to take over as a host on the BBC show

A new name has risen like a proverbial soufflé in the ongoing search for a replacement host of Strictly Come Dancing. Last year, fans of the BBC show were shocked when long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman abruptly quit the show after years of service.

And now a former Bake Off star has been thrown into the mix of names tipped to replace the stars. Comedian Mel Giedroyc, who co-hosted the Channel 4 show back when it aired on the BBC from 2010 until 2016, is being touted as a new star of the dance show.

The 57-year-old TV star was herself a contestant on the 2021 Christmas Special of Strictly, where she was paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. And now it is being suggested she could take over from Claudia, 54, when Strictly returns to screens later this year.

READ MORE: Man who struggled to lose weight sheds 7 stone and gets abs after spotting Instagram ad READ MORE: Strictly Come Dancing’s Johannes Radebe finally addresses ‘quitting’ speculation

A source told The Sun: “The Clauditorium is the section where the dancers go to receive their scores from the judges and decompress after their routines. So it needs to be hosted by someone with a gentle touch, who can use humour to relieve the tension.

“Mel is seen as a great swap for Claudia as they’re both smart, funny, and have a reputation within the TV world for being easy to work with. They’re both highly professional, well-liked by the public, and boast just the right balance of confidence and self-deprecation.” The Mirror has contacted representatives of Mel and the BBC for comment.

While Mel is a new name to emerge in the race to become a new Strictly host, many fans are expecting Zoe Ball to take over hosting from the ballroom floor. The 55-year-old presenter was a contestant on Strictly in 2005 and hosted spin-off show It Takes Two from 2011 until 2020.

Late last year, her father, Johnny Ball, 87, shared insight on the likelihood his radio host daughter will take the reins. Opening up to the Express, Johnny said last December: “Nothing’s going to be decided until after Easter, but she’s in the mix, and people are coming to her, but it’s too early to say… I think she would love it, I think she would love the job because she took over from Claudia on It Takes Two, and if anything, she did a better job than Claudia.”

And just last month, Zoe herself teased that she may indeed be the new presenter. Opening up to The Sunday Times Style Magazine, she gushed: “Obviously there’s part of me that would love to do it. I love that show. I loved performing on it with Ian Waite, who is one of my best buddies. It’s so joyful.”

However, she did add: “It’s live telly, which is another thing that people don’t give the girls enough credit for. That show is a beast. Whoever gets to do it has a tough act to follow.”

Fans were blindsided when Tess and Claudia made the unusual decision to quit the series – announcing the news in the midst of the 2025 season. They issued a statement at the time, declaring that they simply felt that the time had come for them to waltz away from the scandal-hit show.

In a joint statement at the time, the pair wrote: “We have loved working as a duo and hosting Strictly has been an absolute dream. We were always going to leave together and now feels like the right time.

“We will have the greatest rest of this amazing series and we just want to say an enormous thank you to the BBC and to every single person who works on the show. They’re the most brilliant team and we’ll miss them every day. We will cry when we say the last “keep dancing” but we will continue to say it to each other. Just possibly in tracksuit bottoms at home while holding some pizza.”

While Claudia added in a follow up statement: “It’s very difficult to put into words exactly what Strictly has meant to me. It’s been the greatest relationship of my career. From working on It Takes Two in 2004 until now it has been my everything, the show I will be eternally grateful for.”

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