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Microsoft adds Phil Spencer to its 16 member Senior Leader Team
- Thread starter hanspampel
- Start date
Complicated
Banned
He's done a great job so far. Microsoft is leading the industry in backwards compatibility on consoles, cross-platform play, experimentation (and providing actual value) with subscription games services, the Xbox One is insanely capable with all its windows apps, they'll soon have the most powerful console on the market for the people who want that, they've brought the high-end controller market out of the dumps proving that people will pay for better controllers, and they're doing a great job attracting good games of all sizes to the platform often going so far as to help with development costs without requiring exclusivity. And they've allowed developers to retain IP rights on exclusive games as well.
I don't think cancelling a couple games with not-so-great outlooks from development and consumer interest perspectives even comes close to outweighing all those things.
No, I was just trying to work out in my head what Phil's philosophy was for his vision of what Xbox is about. Since taken over he has focused Xbox back to being all about gaming as it's core function versus Don Mattrick's philosophy of an all in one entertainment box. Which I think is a good thing. A lot of times people say well where are the exclusives if Phil is so focused on gaming which is a fair criticism, but I just think he is more focused on the gaming experience as a whole versus having exclusive games that you can't play anywhere else.
Goalus
Member
Nice to see gaming at MS get a seat at the big table again, with Spencer reporting directly to Nadella.
It will be interesting to see what direction Spencer goes with the division over the next couple of years. The Xbox One X, evolution of Live functionality, BC, and Play Anywhere were under his direction, so he did a great job in those areas. Now I'd like to see Xbox compete at a higher level in variety of software to complete the package.
It will be interesting to see what direction Spencer goes with the division over the next couple of years. The Xbox One X, evolution of Live functionality, BC, and Play Anywhere were under his direction, so he did a great job in those areas. Now I'd like to see Xbox compete at a higher level in variety of software to complete the package.
CalamityPixel
Member
LA LI LU LE LO
LA LI LU LE LO
Lmfaoooooooooooo
Lol
LA LI LU LE LO
Captain Tuttle
Member
Good stuff
Congrats Phil
Congrats Phil
tiredheadcrab
Member
So does he still report to Terry?
I wouldn't be so sure. It was inconceivable that a gaming executive accend to the top spot at Sony, low and behold, Kaz Harai is now the CEO of Sony. Think about it, a gaming centric executive running the whole show; Music, Movies, personal electronics and everything else under Sony's control. So yeah, I wouldn't shut the door on Phil just yet.
Gaming is the only thing doing well tho? Right?
hanspampel
Banned
It's not because of that, but rather Microsofts culture.
Microsoft had 3 CEOs in over 42 years of business operations.
The spot is just not up for grab often and any time soon.
Salty Rice
Member
Well deserved Phil.
I just hope he not gonna get enough power to cancel the entire Xbox brand.
I just hope he not gonna get enough power to cancel the entire Xbox brand.
Dee Dah Dave
Member
I wonder if he will elect a new head of Xbox.
No, that statement is old as hell. IIRC the movie division is Sony's biggest concern right now (don't know about TV's and smartphones).
Insurance also.
Those two are carrying the company ATM
momshotdad
Member
Awesome news. He has handled the Xbox brand wonderfully post Mattrick and made it one hell of a console. Microsoft must be happy with him too.
I don't get it?
MGS2
Oh I've only played some of 5.. explains why I didn't get it
hanspampel
Banned
Gaming is soon a $10bn+ business for Microsoft and the fourth biggest behind Office (including CRM / ERP / ETC), Cloud and Windows
If only they would use their might and develop some epic titles like Halo and Gears again, shit take really makes a splash.
Grumplestiltskin
Member
There are a lot of people making some big logical leaps in here. Dedication to gaming as a core part of their business does not mean they are dedicated to hardware platforms they just see it as an important facet of their business. And they're totally right. Gaming support is basically essential to their domination of the home user market. If competing operating systems started to receive the same level of game software support as windows you'd see an even more steep decline in their home user market share than what we are already seeing with Mac.
So to those claiming this disproves the doubters or what have you it absolutely does not. Everything people have been saying about their presence in the dedicated hardware business has been and remains true. This changes none of that.
So to those claiming this disproves the doubters or what have you it absolutely does not. Everything people have been saying about their presence in the dedicated hardware business has been and remains true. This changes none of that.
LA LI LU LE LO
Everyone LMAOing this and I dont get it haha. Please explain XD
uncledonnie
Banned
Your opinion. Spencer has all aspects of MS gaming but his focus has clearly been on XBOX and it's not a stretch to assume that this indicates a stronger dedication by the company to that platform.
Not sure. I know Notch came to them and it was an easy decision because they used overseas money to buy it.
Yearsoflurking
Member
Satya was in charge at the time
No. Reports to Satya now.
HeisenbergWW62
Banned
Good for him, but how will this affect his role as head of Xbox? Will he still have time to go to Japan and get games to come to Xbox? Or sign 22 more exclusives to have ready for next E3?
Same job as before I assume, he just attends new meetings and helps advise the CEO.
Uno Venova
Banned
The patriots of mgs
2+2 is 4 minus 1 is 3. QUICK MATHS
(Seriously though...Patriots of Metal Gear Solid...I just found it funny because of how it sounded in my head)
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OT:
It basically solidifies that gaming is an important factor for Microsoft as a whole going forward. That means PC, Console, Mobile, Mixed Reality (AR/VR), etc... I wouldn't expect anything big soon but I would expect to see MS show off their own games during hardware reveals for Surface, and what devs can do at //build/ (though they already do that with Forza...sooooo...lol).
You could see this happening once Satya mentioned that on mobile people game more than any other thing. It's important to be in that facet of a users life, and for them to be in your ecosystem. I do see more cross platform development tools for gaming probably being in the pipeline (I wouldn't be surprised at a purchase of Unity...though I have been saying that for the past 3 years...lol...may be cheaper to keep them where they are) and more of a presence on Android and iOS (get that MAU).
There is a MR event at the beginning of October I believe. Wouldn't be surprised to see some game demos there. There was mention of a Halo experience I believe.
Yea, October 3rd. Having a Halo experience would probably very smart on their part.
The event won't be live streamed so I wouldn't expect much news, just their overview of their VR / AR plans and hands on demos. I'd say major 1st party content targeting MR is 2019. That is when Hololens 2 is rumored, and Phil Spencer mentioned Xbox is a few years away from getting these headsets, waiting for wireless for the living room.
Oh, interesting, did not realize it wasn't going to be streamed.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-hold-mixed-reality-showcase-event-october-3/
they will probably show off VR, AR, PC meeting collaboration software that they have been hinting at.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxCUyhjwHW0
lifeexpectancy
Member
But but.. I thought Microsoft was going to sell off thr Xbox division and abandon gaming after Og Xbox, 360, Xbox One, Xbox One X, etc.
/s
Not surprised by this news in the least.
Microsoft should give their division more than a shoe string budget then. They used it all on the X.
Grumplestiltskin
Member
I mean if you look at the various policy decisions and changes that he has been making I'd argue its hard to say that his focus is strictly on HW. Many of the changes hes overseen are among the reasons why people see them shifting into a focus on a platform agnostic service as opposed to a dedicated platform. The business as a whole is shifting away from devices and the decisions and moves around the Xbox brand go hand in hand with that shift.
sleepnaught
Member
Totally deserved, congrats
NippleViking
Banned
Hardly a shoe-string budget - developing the X would have been crazy expensive. They have a set budget, and X would have sucked that dry. Resources (probably $100-$200 million) normally attributed to 2-4 'items'/games on their list would have been sunk into it instead.
He's righted a billion dollar brand, has it performing healthily, and has begun driving it in the direction that Satya and MS have been pursuing company-wide, with relative success. It's not hard to see why as a business they'd be pleased with his performance.
SmoothRunningGun
Member
Great for him but what has he done really? They're still getting pounded by Sony and now Nintendo. I mean yeah he's better than the last guy but that's not saying much.
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