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Why was Spencer pushed?

S

Simply Sami

Member
We all know Sarah Bond left because she was overlooked for the big job.

But what is the main reason that Spencer left? Something must have happened between him and Nadella for him to announce he is leaving randomly on a Monday. On 9/10 times, the CEO would give notice and leave a few months later. It's happened with nearly every big gaming CEO that I can remember. Even the disaster class that was Mattrick gave notice that he was leaving. Same with Bowser and Ryan in recent times.

I doubt Nadella cares that he messed up big franchises. Was it the poor performance from Activision? COD flopped compared to recent standards last year.

Kinda funny are saying Phil was pushed.
 
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It is also (unlikely) possible he is really retiring, could also be for health reasons. The guy worked there for 35 years, his net worth is in tens of millions of dollars.

Bond not leaving a farewell message might mean she was really fired without notice, which would be strange for such a high profile executive.
 
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Investors have new toy
AI
He spent his budget in acquiring comptetitors to kill Sony
He failed
He tried to reduce developement cost - games under his direction are generally mid or trash
He failed again
He went third party to reduce acquisitions impact
He failed for the last time
 
Cyberpunkd said:
It is also (unlikely) possible he is really retiring, could also be for health reasons. The guy worked there for 35 years, his net worth is in tens of millions of dollars.

Bond not leaving a farewell message might mean she was really fired without notice, which would be strange for such a high profile executive.
Click to expand...
I get that he is retiring. But in a normal scenario, he stays on for a few months especially in the 25th anniversary of Xbox.
 
He's spent decades at Microsoft and is unlikely to progress up the ladder anymore. He's also rich and pushing 60 and time is finite. He probably decided to bow out by himself.
 
Cyberpunkd said:
Bond not leaving a farewell message might mean she was really fired without notice, which would be strange for such a high profile executive.
Click to expand...

She did on LinkedIn:

Sharing with gratitude the note I sent to my team today. Grateful to our players, developers, partners, and team. Forever a fan of Xbox. đź’š

-----
Hi team,

I know there's a lot of news to take in today.

I'm incredibly proud of what we've built together over the past eight-plus years. PC and cloud gaming are growing faster than ever, our next console is well underway, and together we've helped lay the foundation for a more open gaming platform that spans devices and reaches players around the world.

When we announced our intention to acquire Activision Blizzard in 2022, I committed to helping lead Xbox through what would be a critical period of change. Over the past four years, we've navigated that moment together and positioned the business for what comes next. We took on some of the biggest challenges this organization has ever faced and did it as one team.

With that, I've decided this is the right time for me to take my next step, both personally and professionally. We're living through a transformative technological era that will shape the next generation of our industry, and I'm energized by what's ahead. This moment also presents a unique opportunity for fresh eyes and new leadership to guide the team into its next chapter. I've had the privilege of spending time with Asha over the last few weeks as we've planned for this transition, and I've seen firsthand her deep commitment to our players, developers, and brand. She brings deep technology and commerce experience, along with a strong track record of building and scaling platforms that the world uses. Xbox deserves this. I'm excited to see her lead this next chapter for our team. I'll remain on as a Special Advisor to Asha to help ensure a smooth transition and set the organization up for continued success.

I want to thank Phil for his mentorship and friendship over the years. He's been a consistent champion of this business and the people who make it what it is, and I've learned a great deal from the way he leads through both opportunity and challenge. I'm grateful for his trust and support throughout my time on the team. I also want to thank Satya for his sponsorship and support throughout my time at Microsoft.

As I prepare to sign off, I've been reflecting on three simple questions I've tried to use to guide my days:

Did I bring my best?
Did I help someone else succeed?
Did I do my best work?

I hope the answer has been yes for many of you. It's been a privilege to work alongside this team.

Always,
Sarah
Click to expand...

www.linkedin.com

Sharing with gratitude the note I sent to my team today. Grateful to our players, developers, partners, and team. Forever a fan of Xbox. 💚 ----- Hi team, I know there’s a lot of news to take in… | Sarah Bond | 150 comments

Sharing with gratitude the note I sent to my team today. Grateful to our players, developers, partners, and team. Forever a fan of Xbox. 💚 ----- Hi team, I know there’s a lot of news to take in today. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built together over the past eight-plus years. PC and...
www.linkedin.com www.linkedin.com
 
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Simply Sami said:
We all know Sarah Bond left because she was overlooked for the big job.

But what is the main reason that Spencer left? Something must have happened between him and Nadella for him to announce he is leaving randomly on a Monday. On 9/10 times, the CEO would give notice and leave a few months later. It's happened with nearly every big gaming CEO that I can remember. Even the disaster class that was Mattrick gave notice that he was leaving. Same with Bowser and Ryan in recent times.

I doubt Nadella cares that he messed up big franchises. Was it the poor performance from Activision? COD flopped compared to recent standards last year.

Kinda funny are saying Phil was pushed.
Click to expand...


He is 58.
He announced his retirement to Satya last year.
Hes staying on till atleast August.
If he was pushed he would have been gone gone.

This is the leaked internal email that was sent to staff.
Its been known for a while internally to people who needed to know atleast that he was going.

RCzzNhx.png
 
Black_Stride said:
He is 58.
He announced his retirement to Satya last year.
Hes staying on till atleast August.
If he was pushed he would have been gone gone.

This is the leaked internal email that was sent to staff.
Its been known for a while internally to people who needed to know atleast that he was going.

RCzzNhx.png
Click to expand...
He's not staying on until August. He's leaving on Monday.
 
Because of losing dozens of billions during decades.

And he's 58, so very likely he prefered to retire now, before publicly executing his plan (and Satya's) of killing Xbox traditional consoles to replace them with (mostly manufactured by 3rd parties) consolized PCs running Windows and to start releasing all their games day one on PlayStation.

He'll prefer to have fans screaming at somebody else and saying 'we were better with Phil!' when Ashawarma will be simply executing Phil's (and Satya) strategy.

Cyberpunkd said:
It is also (unlikely) possible he is really retiring, could also be for health reasons. The guy worked there for 35 years, his net worth is in tens of millions of dollars.

Bond not leaving a farewell message might mean she was really fired without notice, which would be strange for such a high profile executive.
Click to expand...
His division is about to make a couple very important changes that will be hated by their fans. There's the memory cost increases, AI removing investment out of gaming, some idiots trying to cause the WWIII in Iran, Fable is about to be released...

He's 58, rich and can't be promoted beyond his current position. So for him is better to leave now before all the shitstorm gets revealed. People will cheer him, they'll buy him some lifetime awards more and people will clap.

Then fanboys and rest of journalist will blame Ashawarma for the shitstorm and will say things were better with Phil.
 
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Simply Sami said:
I can't read the email, and I don't buy the retiring nonsense either. It's clear that he was fired.
Click to expand...
I dont try convince conspiracy theorist against their "beliefs" I simply present what I have and move on.
If you beleive he was fired.......good for you
If you believe the statements are bullshit......good for you.

Simply Sami said:
Click to expand...


You wont believe the internal emails but youll believe some random game journalists?
Okay.
 
ValiantInstance said:
Game Pass isn't growing and the long list of unprofitable releases keeps growing. It's not rocket science,
Click to expand...
Okay but how can the new person change that? In the X posts she says the focus is the exact same things.

"
1/ GREAT games
2/ Return of Xbox Xbox
3/ Future of play
"

Sounds exactly like Sarah Bond, which in turn is what Phil has said too.

I take it they just want a new face. Or Sarah and Phil got tired if being ridiculed 24/7 online.

Either way I'm interested to see what she can do. She mentioned the blades so she have some understanding of the greatness of the past at least.
 
Fess said:
Okay but how can the new person change that? In the X posts she says the focus is the exact same things.

"
1/ GREAT games
2/ Return of Xbox Xbox
3/ Future of play
"

Sounds exactly like Sarah Bond, which in turn is what Phil has said too.

I take it they just want a new face. Or Sarah and Phil got tired if being ridiculed 24/7 online.

Either way I'm interested to see what she can do. She mentioned the blades so she have some understanding of the greatness of the past at least.
Click to expand...
She's got no understanding.

Her team literally wrote this email for her. That's how this shit works at this level, I've seen it first hand in large corps.
 
Fess said:
Okay but how can the new person change that? In the X posts she says the focus is the exact same things.

"
1/ GREAT games
2/ Return of Xbox Xbox
3/ Future of play
"

Sounds exactly like Sarah Bond, which in turn is what Phil has said too.

I take it they just want a new face. Or Sarah and Phil got tired if being ridiculed 24/7 online.

Either way I'm interested to see what she can do. She mentioned the blades so she have some understanding of the greatness of the past at least.
Click to expand...
They can change that by putting someone in charge who knows what a good/bad game looks like. Xbox is a resturant serving food made by chefs who don't have any sense of taste at all.
Good studios die, bad studios kept going... where is Killer Instinct 2?
 
Black_Stride said:
I dont try convince conspiracy theorist against their "beliefs" I simply present what I have and move on.
If you beleive he was fired.......good for you
If you believe the statements are bullshit......good for you.



You wont believe the internal emails but youll believe some random game journalists?
Okay.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because Nadella is really going to tell the whole world in an email that Spencer was doing a bad job. This is how executives are shown the door in the real world. Wake up. They thank the person leaving and move on.
 
Simply Sami said:
We all know Sarah Bond left because she was overlooked for the big job.

But what is the main reason that Spencer left? Something must have happened between him and Nadella for him to announce he is leaving randomly on a Monday. On 9/10 times, the CEO would give notice and leave a few months later. It's happened with nearly every big gaming CEO that I can remember. Even the disaster class that was Mattrick gave notice that he was leaving. Same with Bowser and Ryan in recent times.

I doubt Nadella cares that he messed up big franchises. Was it the poor performance from Activision? COD flopped compared to recent standards last year.

Kinda funny are saying Phil was pushed.
Click to expand...
What exactly you missed about the whole situation? I'm more surprised is happened so late.
 
Not expecting positive changes. We got great BC, the One X, the Series X and a ton of support from Japanese Third Parties under Phil. So I will at least give him that.
 
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Fess said:
Okay but how can the new person change that? In the X posts she says the focus is the exact same things.

"
1/ GREAT games
2/ Return of Xbox Xbox
3/ Future of play
"

Sounds exactly like Sarah Bond, which in turn is what Phil has said too.

I take it they just want a new face. Or Sarah and Phil got tired if being ridiculed 24/7 online.

Either way I'm interested to see what she can do. She mentioned the blades so she have some understanding of the greatness of the past at least.
Click to expand...
I never suggested this woman has the answers, just why Spencer was let go.
 
Easy... NO initialize pushed by Spencer worked. Or it was less important as they thought (backwards compat) or simply is not commercially viable (Gamepass) or simply did not work (Zenimax + ActiBlizzard).
 
Eventually even the top dogs stopped beliebing his lies, the used care salesmen routine no longer worked.

They probably also thought, it couldn't get much worse - lets try something new with someone who hates games but might actually be a good manager?
 
I think most leadership responsible for pushing the safety obsessed phase will be steadily ushered out.

The business ideas were solid, the reality has been genuinely acidic to properties.

He did a lot of cool shit but I think this might have been the primary reason.

I believe the big dogs pay attention to people like Laura Fryer now.

Deal with this reality or don't, who gives a fuck.
 
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From the other thread
Three said:
So does anybody think that the disastrous Xbox quarterly results put some huge outside pressure on xbox for heads to roll? I think it may have.
Click to expand...

I think some investors saw the poor quarterly results and the poor projections and started asking questions.
 
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Simply Sami said:
We all know Sarah Bond left because she was overlooked for the big job.

But what is the main reason that Spencer left? Something must have happened between him and Nadella for him to announce he is leaving randomly on a Monday. On 9/10 times, the CEO would give notice and leave a few months later. It's happened with nearly every big gaming CEO that I can remember. Even the disaster class that was Mattrick gave notice that he was leaving. Same with Bowser and Ryan in recent times.

I doubt Nadella cares that he messed up big franchises. Was it the poor performance from Activision? COD flopped compared to recent standards last year.

Kinda funny are saying Phil was pushed.
Click to expand...
I hope that I'm wrong but it sounds like Halo, Gamepass and ABK deal or something in between like some franchises just can't be made today as they were back in 7th gen. It's the entire industry who're at fault. He's joining Major Nelson and Ryan McCaffrey boat who favor the 360.
 
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Microsoft often make sweeping changes at the beginning of each year. That "just four games", was also February and it wasn't Spencers idea.

They completely fumbled the last quarter, failing every single metric they had and Amy Hood (who's in Finance) called them out as below expectations.

Changes had to be made.
 
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