Hello Hello!
Happy Monday, and welcome to this week’s edition of The Game Business Micro.
This week, we take a look back at Phil Spencer’s legacy as the head of Xbox, and discuss the wait for the next Pokémon generation.
Plus, we round-up the big news of the past week, including Netflix dropping out of the race to buy Warner Bros, the layoffs at Skate developer Full Circle, and Splash Damage’s new acquisition.
Let’s dive in!
What will be Phil Spencer’s video games legacy?
In Brief: This week, Phil Spencer has officially retired, 12 years after taking the top job at Xbox and 38 years since joining Microsoft. He’ll remain on as an advisor until the summer.
What You Need To Know:
Announced last week, Spencer’s departure has triggered a leadership shake-up, which has seen Asha Sharma take the big job and studios boss Matt Booty named chief content officer. Xbox president Sarah Bond has departed.
Spencer has been part of Microsoft since 1988. He joined as an intern on software projects such as Encarta.
He held senior roles with Microsoft’s gaming studios after the launch of Xbox, and was made head of studios in 2009. He was named the head of Xbox in 2014 after the troubled launch of Xbox One.
My Take:
Ahead of the launch of Xbox Series S and X, Phil Spencer made a prediction.
During a chat about the Xbox business, he said he expected Xbox would increase its market share at the expense of PlayStation during the next console generation.
That didn’t happen.
Yes, Phil Spencer had a profound impact upon this business and the individuals within it. But it’s hard to do a eulogy on Spencer’s career without acknowledging the fact that much of what he tried to do over the last 10 years didn’t work out. Not exactly.
Of course, it was always an uphill battle.
