The Xbox division at Microsoft was caught in a flux after Don Mattrick, the previous head, left the company for Zynga. Julie-Larson Greene then took over along with other hardware divisions like Surface until she was reassigned to user experience recently. And then Marc Whitten, who was all set to become the head of Xbox, left the company for Sonos, so now, the baton has been passed on to the head of Microsoft Studios, Phil Spencer. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, announced this and other changes over a company-wide email, welcoming all the new heads into the senior leadership team. Phil Spencer will be leading the Xbox team responsible for Xbox – the console, Xbox Music & Video and Microsoft Studios.
Phil Spencer was previously the Microsoft Studios leader, the division which handles first party Xbox games. So, Phil is more of a gaming guy than any one else, and is also known to be closer to the gaming community. Before that, he used to work on the Encarta Encyclopedia, remember that? But of course, Microsoft Studios has been the highlight of his career because –
Microsoft Studios has been instrumental in building a community of 76 million Xbox 360 owners and 48 million Xbox LIVE members through blockbuster game franchises such as Halo, Kinect Sports, Fable, Forza Motorsport and industry leading interactive entertainment. Spencer and team led the development of brand new entertainment offerings including a landmark partnership with the NFL and collaborating with industry luminary Steven Spielberg to bring a new Halo live action TV series to life.
Pretty significant achievements we would say. But now that he heads Xbox, he has vowed to renew the whole division’s focus on gaming and more gaming, on all of Microsoft’s platforms. Talking to Engadget, he said –
I’m gonna lead with a gaming focus and making sure that’s where we’re led. That’s the North Star for the organization. The Xbox team, the Xbox leader (me) sitting at the same leadership table as Terry (the Windows team leader, the Windows Phone OS team leader) really helps us look at gaming as that first-class citizen across all Microsoft platforms.
This is what Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella says about Phil Spencer –
I have asked Phil Spencer to take on a new role leading Xbox, combining the Xbox and Xbox Live development teams with the Microsoft Studios team. Phil will report to Terry Myerson, allowing us to keep gaming close to the group developing operating systems across devices. In this new job, Phil will lead the Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music and Xbox Video teams, and Microsoft Studios. Combining all our software, gaming and content assets across the Xbox team under a single leader and aligning with the OSG team will help ensure we continue to do great work across the Xbox business, and bring more of the magic of Xbox to all form factors, including tablets, PCs and phones. Phil will continue his close partnership with Yusuf Mehdi, who leads business strategy and marketing for Xbox, George Peckham, who heads up third-party partnerships and Mike Angiulo, who will continue leading Xbox hardware. Over the years, Phil’s team at Microsoft Studios has helped build a community of more than 80 million Xbox owners and 48 million Xbox Live members through blockbuster game franchises such as “Halo,” “Gears of War,” “Kinect Sports,” “Fable,” “Forza Motorsport” and many others. He’s helped drive the development of brand-new entertainment offerings like the partnership with the NFL and the formation of Xbox Entertainment Studios. I love the way the Xbox team is focused on great games and gaming experiences (go, “Titanfall”!), connects with its fans, pushes the boundary of entertainment and has embraced the power of the cloud in such interesting and impactful ways. Phil is the right person to lead Xbox forward.
From what we can see from outside, Phil Spencer seems like the right choice for the Xbox team, and with him on board the senior leadership team, there could be quite a few changes that could be under going in the next few months. Microsoft’s next E3 keynote should be interesting.