That’s one way to celebrate 25 years.
8 Likes
Its interesting I listened to the special headlines show on the drive home today and Jesse said Sarah seemingly quitting b/c she was not chosen as new CEO. Where is that information coming from?
Her note sounds like this transition has been in the works for a while and she didn’t plan on sticking around.
It doesn’t matter how good Asha’s intentions are or great her vision is, at the end of the day it will always come down to the amount of freedom she’s given by Satya and Amy Hood to execute her vision and from what we’ve seen from the recent past, it’s not a lot.
Even a longstanding veteran like Phil was forced into making hard decisions, cuts and studio shutdowns. I wish Phil all the best in retirement, no matter what people say about his time at Xbox, I will never doubt he had the best intentions for Xbox. Sarah was probably overlooked for the role of CEO and hence moved on, will be interesting to see what she does next.
I’m confident about the future console and path Phil has set Xbox on, hope Asha and co. go on and execute well.
9 Likes
That’s true, you don’t necessarily have to be a gamer to run the business. But I think back to something like the BC program in 2015. That to me is the quintessential example of something that was done for love of the medium and the players, not just for the bottom line. Does something like that happen without Phil Spencer at the helm?
3 Likes
Let’s be honest, those who draw the conclusion are the ones that read the headline and nothing more, especially when included former position that will rub some the wrong alas AI focus. After some time of reading and thought process, I can say this is not necessarily bad news, nor is it good. It’s wait and see.
When Jim Ryan retired, the memo from new CEO or one of read like a continuation and nothing else. Basically, it’s a corporate 101 writing. Asha’s memo is rather surprising but also weakens the fear for those who left with sheer concern. What also surprises me is her last two points, especially mock AI use for taking over art under which a company is still high on. She could have simply say she is going to resume Phil’s work and expand this and that. Instead, she went in like she is asking to vote for her for next president.
I’m intrigued to see what she is aiming for “return of Xbox,” including acknowledging the root of it alas the console itself. While Xbox Phil’s era isn’t perfect, it’s quite the choice of ambition. You would think Xbox became WCW 2000 (wrestling reference) or Wii U disaster even though what they really need is a far more attractive device. Saying it here is what appealed me. Again, this gives a sign of relief, not to overly doom ourselves. Now, the question is will this land?
We cannot draw any conclusion when she hasn’t started her regime, let alone Phil is still in charge for final weekend. People like to point out her history or lack of gaming history, but I should remind you that Jim Ryan, the very same Ryan with live service push, was with PS for a while before landing the big role. Where did that get them? Look at this week’s news. What if Phil was great of regaining relationship and/or create something gaming friendly, but too challenging to hold on through the troubling time, let alone during RAM issue. What if Asha is good at marketing and strengthening this weak point? What if she is a gamer and she is now expressing that side of her? We do not know, and honestly, I can understand the concern.
My advice will be don’t draw a conclusion from this announcement. Phil was going to retire one day; it’s just the timing was unexpected. Predictable but unexpected. What’s also predictable is unpredictability. Let’s support her, especially with her outlines that seem to be her driving force. We don’t know if she can carry forward, but we have to wait and see. Perhaps you can draw your conclusion in the Summer Showcase. If it reeks similar to live service SoP or Nintendo’s 2008 E3, then that’s your time to decide.
Whether you’re optimistic or worry, we’re in this for the ride. Happy gaming.
P.S. Won’t it be funny if return of Xbox is going back to exclusive. It won’t be but I am curious on where she wants to focus on. Time will tell.
8 Likes
From Klob. Nicely written article from him.
1 Like
The note wasn’t out yet. I was commenting on the fact that she did not have a statement ready. It was released well after the show aired.
6 Likes
Especially after Bond’s note (a shame she won’t be here for first light jokes 
), I’m just getting mixed signals. On one side it sounds like this was THE plan and both Sarah and Matt are happily leaving after defining the last era of Xbox and creating a new status quo where Xbox has massively grown in sheer size and reach. The language Sarah is using sounds like they are excitedly departing with Xbox moving forward into a new era and evolution. That gets me feeling more hopeful. But then we turn back around and a lot of the buzz online is that with Sarah NOT taking over there’s a major internal shakeup and this represents a huge shift that threatens the stability of Xbox. Then there’s Sharma’s comments and she points in the opposite direction of Bond’s comments and says she wants to bring about “the return of Xbox” and appeal to core fans. A comment which also indirectly states that Phil and Sarah had lost Xbox, or under their leadership Xbox had lost its way, and abandoned core fans. To me this kinda just feeds into the internet hate and makes things sound more dire than they ever were. It also just… doesn’t super track with Microsoft as a company? Like she specifically called it “AI Slop”. I swear I saw an article like a week or two ago (maybe January) about Satya Nadella having a minor crash out over people calling generative AI “slop”. And are you telling me Microsoft wants to appeal to the manchildren that insist Xbox can only be for them (I’m not even trying to be insulting, we ARE manchildren. The console market is majority middle aged men and these core fans aren’t bringing in new gamers… I guess maybe this could be a nod towards appealing to more affluent aging customers? Idk). I mean, I just keep going in circles to say I’m confuzzled. Not really negative or positive at this point. I just don’t understand.
2 Likes
A big reset!
All the assumptions and patterns now does not hold anything.
Totally new Era.
Good thing is we won’t be missing Phil, cause he will be around as a gamer.
5 Likes
You mite say it’s about to be an Xbox era 
in all seriousness I’m pretty excited to see what happens and somehow I feel better about thier future
1 Like
Look, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I wasn’t shocked by the news but as things start to get soaked in this where I’m currently at:
A lot of the reactions you’re all seeing online are mostly from people who don’t even play in this ecosystem and have been screaming about how they hated Phil and Sarah for killing Xbox
But remember, they have a vested interest in making fans like us of the brand feel like “its over” after saying Xbox is dead for years now because it keeps the lights on.
Right now, my feelings are we should be cautious about her selection because of her ai background but at the same time we have no indication whether she’ll be good or bad and people should just give her a chance.
7 Likes
What I’m just not super understanding is the belief that Xbox has lost its way. The idea that we need a “return of Xbox” because all that stuff has only ever seemed like Xbox facing the brunt of negativity online and people not liking the change of no more exclusives.
Otherwise Xbox hasn’t pulled back on the features and innovations people loved like Xbox Play Anywhere. The content stream has been better than ever and the platform has felt really consistent with its showing. I’m not sure… what do you really change about that? People talk about the 360 glory days and I’m kinda just always confused. There’s nothing I miss from the 360 days that I can’t access now or doesn’t feel better now.
The post talks about how since the “just four games” in 2024 it’s felt like Xbox hasn’t been hiding the fact that it’s a business but like…is that bad? The things people don’t like didn’t come from Phil and Sarah (as far as we know), but Microsoft itself. We can point to the layoffs and studio closures, but Xbox has had less of that than most companies in the industry and we know that the last big round especially came from the top (Microsoft). The only difference Sharma can bring to that is that she’s been at Microsoft at a lot, LOT less longer and she has way less internal clout and just experience navigating the internal politics.
I can’t really subscribe to the idea that this is hopeful or negative having looked over everything and digested about. It only really feels weird, and it certainly felt shocking (like I didn’t believe it at first; this is such crazy news for a February right after the 25th anniversary started with the dev direct). I am curious what the “return of Xbox” means to Sharma because I really don’t know that it went anywhere. And I don’t expect her to suddenly lower prices or make everything exclusive just to please the rage baiters online. If you ask me what I’d change about the past 6 years of Xbox, then I don’t really have an answer. I think it’s been great. I’m very thankful for how Xbox has handled this industry the past half a decade especially when I compare them to how I’d be treated as a Playstation or Nintendo customer or when I look at any other publisher.
3 Likes
That actually is low key wholesome as is his comments of being around as a fan. I’d love seeing the random articles and reddit posts of him just popping into people’s games.
1 Like
I figured Spencer would retire before the next gen started, likely around the 25th anniversary. If he felt like he accomplished what he set out to do, even if not everything went exactly to plan, then it makes sense for him to feel good about stepping out now.
I’m a little surprised that Bond didn’t get the role, but it’s also possible she was ready to move on. She joined back in 2017 when Xbox was going through a completely new era in terms of growth in cloud, subscriptions, studios, and more. It could be that the next stage is more about optimizing the business, versus building it out aggressively. This was back when Phil was doing interviews with Variety and WSJ about reaching billions of gamers, explicitly saying there’s no way to do that with a console. If she’s a builder, she might want to go build up something else. She joined the board of Tyson Foods back in August, so maybe she was planning for a different trajectory in her career months ago.
As for looking forward, Asha said all the right things. She has a blank slate. Given the current climate in the gaming industry, I have a hard time reconciling her sentiment with what we know about Hood’s push for improved margins. I am so interested in what Asha’s Xbox showcase in a few months and then the 25th anniversary a little later.
The shocker for me was Matt Booty’s promotion. Congrats to him and all, but I feel like multiple games failed to make it to market under his watch or sunk studios due to poor quality.
5 Likes
Damn, finishing it with the franchise that started it all for Xbox 
4 Likes
I haven’t read through all the posts here but it’s pretty evident to me the giant elephant in the room is the Xbox business situation. I mean come on guys, this thing is selling terribly. Console, games and services, you name it. Xbox is in a bad place as a brand. The Series generation is simply not selling or connecting. Now yeah we can talk about whatever has caused all that but the way I see it is there’s no CEO on earth who’s immune when things tank so hard. Bond was a part of that downturn as well from 2017 onwards (& the Gamepass push never really broke the glass ceiling and stagnated). So the changes do not surprise me.
The pessimist in me says if all else fails (& it continues tanking) they’ll somehow merge all this (our libraries included) into some sort of giant AI division and be done with it.
Me: “Hello Copilot, I’d like to access my copy of Mass Effect so I can have alien sex”. Copilot: “let me stop you right there. Whilst I can absolutely search through your library of games, I cannot facilitate any engagement in sexual content”
It’s all well and good blaming them, but you’re forgetting the Xbox killer event happened before that with the One launch.
What could they have done differently, with everyone already entrenched? Studio closures were likely forced on them by Microsoft, and yes they may have made a few mistakes but overall I think they did everything they could.
When Phil arrived he delivered the Xbox One X to counter the “weak Xbox One” narrative, used Game Pass to get Microsoft but-in and bring gamers in (my friends had got me playing more on PS4 and it’s one of the consumer friendly things that brought me back to Xbox first) and tried to expand the user base through the cheaper Series S and cloud gaming, plus seeing that PC gaming was going to take off so going day and date there too.
Exclusives going to PlayStation too is more a symptom of the cost of making games and Microsoft wanting margin - plus the obvious fact console gamers rarely move in this age of digital libraries and large friend lists.
At another time when component prices continued to go down and Sony didn’t have an Apple-like cult, the ABK play might have ended very differently with it being cheaper to pick up an Xbox to play CoD than buy them on PS.
The hybrid Xbox also has been in the works for years with Play Anywhere etc and answers many of the issues Xbox has around PlayStation fans not moving and exclusives skipping Xbox, potentially bringing in many new faces who’d normally look to be PC gamers - particularly given it’ll give them a way to play GTA6.
Apart from the few fumbles or things clearly coming from on high, sacrificed to ensure numbers always go up and AI can get even more funds, I haven’t seen any realistic plans beyond “be more like the 360 generation” which wouldn’t work now and wouldn’t be supported by Microsoft really - and the one lesson from that (go a year or so before the market leader) it seems they are doing next gen…
3 Likes
Think it’s a surprise for Xbox employees too, this is the social media manager:
1 Like
Xbox also isn’t doing like independently bad. They’re in third place so they are hit the hardest, but the industry in general is in turmoil. Hardware is doing bad across the board and the console market especially is dealing with stagnant growth. Still financially Xbox is stronger than ever and they’ve already hit their stride with game cadence. The platform experience is has been the most consumer friendly since 2016 and those features have just grown.
I’m more onboard with the transition under the idea that Phil and Sarah have finished their era and genuinely want new leadership to usher in Xbox’s next era following whatever evolution that’s been coming for a while now. It’s crazy to me to suggest that Phil and Sarah haven’t really built Xbox up to something amazing (something of a gaming empire). The difference is truly night and day. Under Mattrick Xbox was on the chopping block. Xbox game studios didn’t exist until like 2018/2019. Now Xbox is growing as a major player on cloud and PC. Console hardware isn’t great, but engagement is still really strong and even conservative estimates are like what 40 million after 5/6 years? That’s not exactly WiiU numbers. Xbox as a publisher has grown from barley any studios to they said 40. That’s a lot. The layoffs all came from the top and compared to the rest of the industry Xbox hasn’t had that many studio closures.
I really hope Phil and Sarah’s tenure as leadership is looked back on with at least some admiration. I mean really I’m not sure I think of a greater success story. Xbox went from flatlining to owning several of the most popular games on multiple gaming platforms.
7 Likes
Despite it all, those replies are sending me.
1 Like