In September 2017, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Phil Spencer was joining the Senior Leadership Team and serving as Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Gaming, reporting directly to Nadella. The announcement came fresh on the heels of a July memo sent by the CEO, indicating that the entire sales organization would be restructured to streamline focus on selling specific solutions for its customers. As such, the video games segment of the company was identified as a key segment which fit that core interest well, thus paving the way for Spencer coming on board a few months later.

The decision to bring video games back to the forefront of Microsoft’s focus came three and a half years after Nadella declared that, while important, video games were not the core of the company’s mission. Around this same period, less and less first-party exclusive titles were being seen from Microsoft on its Xbox console, which many viewed as surprising as well as disappointing, given the success that the original Xbox and Xbox 360 had seen with iconic exclusive franchises such as Halo and Gears of War. This all came to a head in 2016, when Microsoft shut down two of its companies that fell under the Microsoft Studios umbrella: Lionhead Studios, associated with the Fable franchise, and Press Play Studios, developer of Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and other titles.

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Via Metro

With Spencer’s hire, it appears that a renewed investment in video games are in fact again at the core of Microsoft’s mission. The fifteen-year-plus industry veteran is responsible for pushing the boundaries of creativity and technical innovation in an effort to meet Microsoft’s realigned gaming goals and spreading its impact throughout the gaming industry. But what exactly does that mean for Phil Spencer and the team that will help him meet and exceed the company’s goals?

Let’s first take a look at Phil Spencer and get a little more background on where he has come from and why he was brought on as Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Gaming. Spencer has maintained roles across the Microsoft company including Head of Xbox, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Studios, and General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios EMEA. He led the Xbox organization with the launches of the Xbox One S and Xbox One X. Spencer also spearheaded the acquisition of Minecraft in 2014, as well as the expansion of the cross-platform gaming capabilities of Xbox Live.

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As with most successful business executives and decision-makers, ideas and direction need to be viewed from all perspectives. As the individual responsible for overseeing the grand strategy for Microsoft and its games, this is where Spencer fits in perfectly. Ultimately, he is a big-idea guy with a sound perspective on business; connecting the dots in an effort to make everything work together in unison, however that may be. In his opinion, business model diversity within the video game industry is one of its greatest strengths.

For example, Spencer believes that there is no single recipe for making a successful game, nor is there any indication that what works well for a third-party title, will work just as well for a first-party title. In an interview with IGN, Spencer mentioned that there is more of a value for some games to be episodic, releasing a chapter or two at a time, but that certainly does not work for all games. Likewise, some games may be better suited on platforms such as Game Pass—another endeavor that Spencer helped lead—a subscription-based platform allowing for unlimited digital access to Xbox One and Xbox 360 games.

Via Geek.com

Ultimately, it is Spencer’s responsibility to lead Microsoft back to where it was when the company was releasing big-name exclusive titles. It is clear that this responsibility has been embraced, given the fact that Game Pass, still well under one year of being live, will see its first slew of first-party exclusives available through the service on the games’ days of release, including titles such as Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Crackdown 3. Additionally, since Spencer’s hiring, rumors of Fable 4 have been circulating, which would bring a well-known, big-name title to Microsoft’s much-needed catalog of exclusives.

Thus far, Spencer seems to be saying all of the right things and bringing an enthusiasm from a leadership perspective that should be refreshing for video game fans, and especially those within the dedicated Xbox community. It will take some time for Microsoft to get even close to catching up with Sony’s continued success with big-name exclusives. Hopefully, with the company's newly rediscovered investment in video games and Phil Spencer leading the way, Microsoft can move back into the conversation for great first-party exclusives that fans can be excited about. While it is early in that process, there is not yet a real reason to believe otherwise.

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