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It could have been Microsoft’s last gaming console if things had turned out a little differently at the company in early 2014.
Today, Microsoft is celebrating the start of its fourth (or fifth?) Generation of video game console hardware with the launch of the Xbox Series X / S. But Microsoft Xbox chief Phil Spencer said the efforts games had hardly reached that stage, and that Microsoft was considering ditching the console space right after the Xbox One launched in 2013. In a lengthy interview with Shacknews, Spencer takes a bit of a look back at the uproar within Microsoft in general (and the Xbox division in particular) that led to the rollout of the Xbox One. The retirement of Xbox President Don Mattrick in July 2013, just after Xbox One’s rocky debut at E3, left the planning for the Xbox One launch “distributed within the company. ‘in a way that I would say wasn’t really feasible for the Xbox, “Spencer says.
Within months of launch, when Mattrick left, control of the Xbox brand was split between three teams: a platform team led by Marc Whitten; a first-party team led by Spencer in “another” part of the business; and a separate marketing team that had been “moved” from the rest of the Xbox planning. “I don’t think this is the best decision for the stability of our launch,” Spencer recalls.
While the split team managed to launch the Xbox One “mostly on time” this holiday season, as Spencer put it, that lack of leadership meant that there were “some of the parts of the platform that weren’t completely finished when we launched. “
Former Xbox executives also reflected on the issues during the Xbox One pre-launch period, particularly the rollout and subsequent reversal of digital licensing policies that would have allowed game publishers to restrict sales of game discs. physical used. “Certainly our message was horrible,” former Microsoft director of product planning Albert Penello told Ars in an interview at the time. “While the intention was good… we didn’t deliver what our fans wanted,” former Microsoft corporate vice president for Windows and devices Yusuf Mehdi said in a LinkedIn post for years. later.
Are we continuing?
In early 2014, a few months after the Xbox One launch, Whitten had left for Sonos, and Spencer was the only one to pitch the value of the games division to new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “So the question is, are we going ahead with the Xbox?” Spencer said. “Because we’re really overwhelmed by PlayStation in the market at this point. Are we staying invested in it? Or are we making a different decision?”
Although Spencer said he knew he was going to stay in the video game business, he believed at the time that it was far from clear whether there would be room for him to do so. at Microsoft. “I think the question was, is the company going to stay in this space?” he said. “And then, if so, you know, what is my role?”
Microsoft, Xbox manager Phil Spencer, explains how the launch of the Xbox One nearly killed the Xbox brand.
Spencer said that at the time Nadella “didn’t quite understand [the gaming division] Still, not from an intelligence standpoint, but he just hadn’t been close. “Nonetheless, Nadella decided to give the division her continued support, leaving Spencer to lead a reunited Xbox team.” I think the reason I ended up in the job, frankly, was that the other leaders were gone, “he said.” I tease myself that I was the last person left at the table, and there is some truth to it. I want to make sure I keep my ego in check. “
The full interview contains much more detail about Spencer’s history at Microsoft and the philosophy behind the S / X series and Microsoft’s focus on Game Pass subscription plans for access to games. It is worth reading if you have the time.
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