Phil Spencer came on an interview with Major Nelson to talk about his new role on Microsoft as Xbox’s head honcho. We go through the biggest takeaways below.
First and foremost, Phil describes his role as someone who pushes a consistent product vision, and that vision puts gaming first, while acknowledging the entertainment features of their products.
Regarding all the fan feedback, which has reached fever pitch at this point, Phil says he has learned a lot, and he values the two way dialogue they have with the fans now, many of whom, he points out, have been with them from the start. Phil goes so far as to say that it will be a foundational element to their culture.
Thankfully, now that we have one of the actual Team Xbox guys in charge of the team, Phil does not mince words about the last year. He acknowledged that they made a lot of wrong decisions, namely alluding to Xbox One's DRM and always online policies, among others. Phil also says that they had to revisit them.
Phil also stresses that Team Xbox was able to accomplish many things, including shipping a great product, with great games, and using its many services. He also brings up the upcoming work they still have, in terms of the continuing rollout to other markets, the service updates, and so forth.
Looking forward to E3, Phil says that they are going to push games this year, perhaps in a better way than they did last time. It is his immediate focus going in, and in that capacity he is not just preparing their presentations, but talking to developers and their own people on what they will presumably reveal on the floor.
Phil also discusses meeting Microsoft’s first CEO, Satya Nadella, as well as the respective heads of Windows and Windows Phone, Terry Myerson and Stephen Elop. He stressed to Satya how important Xbox was to Microsoft’s success. He pushed to them all the idea of making gaming something that will permeate every consumer product that they build.
Finally, and just to drive this point home, Phil talks about the feeling of responsibility he and the team has for their consumers who invested a lot of money in Xbox One, and he wants to reassure them they will fulfill their promise of great games for the platform at the event.
We know we want to hear more about Xbox One's games above all else. Heck, we want to know what long-kept secret plans they have to bring back Windows gaming will be like too. Simply put, we look forward to Phil and Microsoft making the fans happy again this coming E3.
You can check out Phil's interview in full here.
