"These changes are about strengthening our foundation." Image credit: Eurogamer / Xbox Microsoft's newly appointed gaming boss Asha Sharma has made more leadership changes at Xbox, this time hiring a handful of executives to help lead the company that include an industry analyst who said games were losing the attention war to gambling, porn and crypto . That analyst is Matthew Ball, who joins Xbox as chief strategy officer, The Game Business reports , and is reportedly tasked first and foremost with strengthening the console side of Xbox, especially in light of rising component costs. Ball worked previously as head of strategy at Amazon Studios and, more recently, as a venture capitalist and market advisor. He's the author of the book The Metaverse, which explains what the concept is and why it's important - not to be confused with Facebook owner Meta's expensive technological flop - and of the annual State of Video Gaming report .…