Phil Spencer won’t be retiring from his position at Xbox “anytime soon”.
Yesterday, Microsoft announced swathes of layoffs across the entire company, including its gaming division. The likes of Everwild, Perfect Dark and a new Zenimax MMORPG have been cancelled in the process.
However, Spencer – Microsoft Gaming CEO – will remain at the company for now. In a statement to The Verge, head of Xbox communications Kari Perez said: “Phil is not retiring anytime soon.”
The news followed a rumour on social media suggesting Spencer would be retiring after the launch of the next generation Xbox, with Xbox president Sarah Bond set to take over. This is now confirmed to be false.
Spencer has led Xbox since 2014, and was promoted to Microsoft Gaming CEO in 2022. As such, he’s overseen the company from the Xbox One years, including its acquisition of Activision Blizzard and numerous rounds of layoffs.
“I recognise that these changes come at a time when we have more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before,” wrote Spencer in a statement confirming the layoffs yesterday.
“Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger. The success we’re seeing currently is based on tough decisions we’ve made previously. We must make choices now for continued success in future years and a key part of that strategy is the discipline to prioritise the strongest opportunities. We will protect what is thriving and concentrate effort on areas with the greatest potential, while delivering on the expectations the company has for our business. This focused approach means we can deliver exceptional games and experiences for players for generations to come.”
Earlier this year, Spencer discussed the decision to publish Xbox games on competitor systems. “I’m not trying to move them all over to Xbox anymore,” he said at the time. “We’re all so invested in where our games are, let’s just allow more people to play. And yes, the 70 percent that we make on games on other platforms is helpful to us being able to build great portfolios, like we showed at Developer Direct, and I hope this will continue to show through the rest of the year.”
Last year in an interview, Spencer joked he’d made “some of the worst game-choice decisions”, in terms of turning down some successful projects such as Destiny and Guitar Hero.
“I’m not a regrets-type person,” Spencer said. “Maybe that’s a fault of mine, but I passed on so many games. I could look back and say-,” he clenches his fist, “-but no, I try to look forward and be positive about the things that we are doing.”