Sushi_Combo
Member
He looked terrible, he needs to focus on his health first.
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Why was Spencer pushed?
- Thread starter Simply Sami
- Start date
Humdinger
Member
He wasn't pushed or forced out. As others have pointed out, he was talking to Satya about retiring last year. And he is staying in a consultant role through August. That doesn't generally happen when you are forced out.
I think Phil saw the writing on the wall, knew his time was done, and decided to retire. He may have moved his retirement date up to coincide with Satya's plans for the division, but he wasn't ejected.
I think Phil saw the writing on the wall, knew his time was done, and decided to retire. He may have moved his retirement date up to coincide with Satya's plans for the division, but he wasn't ejected.
![[Sigma]](/data/avatars/m/701/701747.jpg?1726376545){kind=avatar}
Plague Doctor
Member
I believe exactly what Microsoft is saying happened.
I also believe that multiple cameras in a maximum security prison can all go out at the same time because of a freak technical issue.
Questions are hard. I like easy.
I also believe that multiple cameras in a maximum security prison can all go out at the same time because of a freak technical issue.
Questions are hard. I like easy.
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lachesis
Member
My guess is Phil was pushed out, especially after last earning report came out. Sara Bond, probably was the next in line in terms of power, but since she lost her anchor - she had to leave.
Seen this type of power moves many times in my work... And these decisions sometimes happen overnight.
When a person follows wrong "line" of power - sometimes it means the entire branch of that "line" gets demoted or leave.
Seen this type of power moves many times in my work... And these decisions sometimes happen overnight.
When a person follows wrong "line" of power - sometimes it means the entire branch of that "line" gets demoted or leave.
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MayauMiao
Member
You take his word with absolute truth?
We all know what is really going on here. Taking account of Sarah Bond leaving out of nowhere, we can pretty much summarised what really happen.
Please feel free to swallow whatever Phil said.
Alan Wake
Member
Spencer retiring is not surprising. He's been at Microsoft since 1988, and was the Xbox boss and then Microsoft Gaming CEO for over a decade in total. Bond was obviously overlooked, I guess Nadella wanted someone who loves AI at Spencer's position.
For me this all means it's over. The old Xbox days are definitely over. Hryb is gone, Spencer's retiring. Is Greenberg still there? I still don't get why Booty is pushed up once again, but what do I know.
For me this all means it's over. The old Xbox days are definitely over. Hryb is gone, Spencer's retiring. Is Greenberg still there? I still don't get why Booty is pushed up once again, but what do I know.
Come On Tars
Member
I wonder if we're going to look back and miss Phil. He seemed to actually care
CityHunter1981
An Absolute Desaster
Pretty sure because he recently didn't had anything to say and other people made the decisions. I mean I am pretty sure he wanted to have exclusives and that is why he tried to soften the blow at the beginning by saying a handful of games. But it's clear that he was used only to defend the decisions other people made within Microsoft.
He definitely kinda got old looking real quick. It could be health related, you never know what's really happening in people's lives.
kiphalfton
Member
What's amazing is Spencer and Bond got away with wasting millions (if not billions) of dollars, didn't get fired, made millions upon millions of dollars, and probably still got a bonus at the end of the each year they were in their role.
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DeltaPolarBear
Member
He cares. it is also true that he is bad at the job. He was the only MS Suit who wanted Xbox to survive, but that does not mean he actually had a good plan.
balls of snow
Member
Personally, its the hail mary of cod in gamepass that barely changeed anything sealed the deal exit. Two cods are now gamepass launch title. There wont be a third.
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Yep, that sounds about right.
Cyberpunkd
Member
A common fallacy if you attribute stock gains to a single individual, also not giving credit to all the processes that were put in place before he took over.
He had nothing more to say really.
He obviously wasn't on board with what Nadella did to Xbox, he just had to execute a plan that wasn't his own while taking the heat at a PR level.
The latest financial results showing cracks in the COD machine they paid 70 billions probably accelerated things.
Nadella needed a new reliable person completely on board with his vision and AI focus for the future, showing enthusiasm for these ideas not reluctance.
Sarah Bond was basically completely in line with Spencer and probably not really appreciated by Nadella and when not chosen for the job she preferred to go away instead of getting humiliated.
He obviously wasn't on board with what Nadella did to Xbox, he just had to execute a plan that wasn't his own while taking the heat at a PR level.
The latest financial results showing cracks in the COD machine they paid 70 billions probably accelerated things.
Nadella needed a new reliable person completely on board with his vision and AI focus for the future, showing enthusiasm for these ideas not reluctance.
Sarah Bond was basically completely in line with Spencer and probably not really appreciated by Nadella and when not chosen for the job she preferred to go away instead of getting humiliated.
MidGenRefresh
*Refreshes biennially
Other than Copilot, which is basically a worse version of ChatGPT, I can't think of a single brand new "product" introduced under Nadella.
Just out and out racism. Many examples in the thread.
Given how every public speaking of hers somehow triggered flashbacks of 2013, I think it's one of those things MS gaming needed to do for self preservation.
Vyse
Gold Member
This makes sense to me. Bonus and evaluations are usually done around now. For someone at his position, the timing works. Also, we haven't really seen much of him in a long time. Guy made his money, time to focus on himself and his family. Going to be very interesting to watch the next Xbox launch. Most of the heavy decisions have already been made. New person comes in and needs to play it out. This isn't turn key stuff.
Unfortunatecookie
Member
Dude...
Phil Spencer was given access to the 'Microsoft War chest' and he failed to utilize it to success.
I don't think people fully realize how much of a failure Spencer was. He was given close to one hundred billion dollars and he failed to use that money to save Xbox. Like... that's an F- performance.
Jesb
Member
You can't really deny that them hiring their own is very common. I'm not saying this is happening here, but they do it everywhere.
Hudo
Member
A combination of Xbox probably not growing as fast as internal projections would have liked it to + the usual corporate backstabbing that upper management spends 90% of its time on. Sarah Bond was collateral since she was tied to Phil. It's nothing unusual, this shit happens a lot in big corporations. Especially very dysfunctional ones like Microsoft. Look at Microsoft's stack ranking system during the Bill Gates era and how long it took the company to realize how retarded that bullshit was.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
Their next pivot is to a PC/Console hybrid with a huge SoC that was pushing the limits of acceptable price-point BEFORE the AI bubble launched the price of memory and storage chips into the stratosphere!
Also they were hoping to mitigate risk by allowing third parties to license and manufacture hardware, another thing the AI chip bubble is going to put in jeopardy!
And the worst part is, on a hardware front they really have no choice but to forge ahead with a new offer as they've let Series X/S rot for for the past 18 months, they can't even boost production because they've been leaning (pun intended) on JIT procurement for their production pipelines, so they'd need to eat bubble prices or jack up RRP's on their existing line-up.
Its beyond fucked.
Also they were hoping to mitigate risk by allowing third parties to license and manufacture hardware, another thing the AI chip bubble is going to put in jeopardy!
And the worst part is, on a hardware front they really have no choice but to forge ahead with a new offer as they've let Series X/S rot for for the past 18 months, they can't even boost production because they've been leaning (pun intended) on JIT procurement for their production pipelines, so they'd need to eat bubble prices or jack up RRP's on their existing line-up.
Its beyond fucked.
Donald mac Ronald
Member
viveks86
Member
Have you seen what a leaving CEO does when they are staying on as an advisor/consultant?
Unless you are in the UK the email literally says he is staying on as an Advisor/Consultant through the summer.
They respond to emails, take calls, help resolve issues that may arise that only they have a better history/knowledge of and provide guidance when needed. Primarily, they are on stand by and getting paid for it. Nobody reports to them at that point and they have zero authority on anything.
Every departing CEO will usually take this up, as it's essentially free money for barely any work, unless there is some burning emergency. It has nothing to do with the nature of their departure. They are all professionals after all. Something absolutely egregious needs to transpire for them to just leave without facilitating a transition, which clearly isn't the case here. But beyond that, we have no idea except what insiders or journalists may hear through the grapevine. Even if his retirement was on the cards for a while, the timing and pace at which it is being done is unusual. He could have chosen to retire, forced to retire, or anything in between. So if there are multiple people potentially in the know claiming one thing, it's worth considering.
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Humdinger
Member
Because Satya wanted to take the Xbox division in a different direction. He trusted Phil with an 80 billion "vision" that did not materialize. He knows that Phil failed in his task.
Satya is also all-in on AI, and he wants to move hard in that direction. He knew Phil wasn't going to be the guy to spearhead something like that.
They are also under pressure from stockholders and Amy Hood to get that profit margin up. Phil has been ineffective at that.
In a nutshell, I think that's why he was pushed out early. Satya knew Phil had failed, wanted to move toward AI and big profits, and he knew Phil wasn't the guy for the job. He also knew Phil was on his way out anyway (had been talking retirement), so why not give him a little shove.
Satya is also all-in on AI, and he wants to move hard in that direction. He knew Phil wasn't going to be the guy to spearhead something like that.
They are also under pressure from stockholders and Amy Hood to get that profit margin up. Phil has been ineffective at that.
In a nutshell, I think that's why he was pushed out early. Satya knew Phil had failed, wanted to move toward AI and big profits, and he knew Phil wasn't the guy for the job. He also knew Phil was on his way out anyway (had been talking retirement), so why not give him a little shove.
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yurinka
Member
No, he said some months ago that didn't plan to retine anytime soon, but now a Friday says that on Monday will be out (but will continue as consultant until Summer):
There were many more acquisitions since Minecraft, they may have spent almost $100B since then. Plus on top of that, the gaming division had billions of loses every generation, particularly during the "day one on GP" times.
Satya very likely wanted to kill the MS made Xbox hardware, focus on full exclusive and to stop giving away MS AAA games day one on GP to turn their gaming division into a profitable business, and also to increas the AI and cloud usage in the division where possible.
Phil very likely didn't want to implement these things and to be remembered as the one who killed the Xbox consoles. So Nutella replaced him with a shawarma that doesn't care about Xbox hardware, exclusivities or gamepass but knows about scaling digital business and particularly AI.
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JohnnyFootball
GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I've also found far more value in waiting for sales. I just bought Black Ops 6 for $28 on Steam, which is cheaper than 1 month of GPU. I buy many games for less than $30. I will pay for games I am super excited for, just because I want to support developers.
Rocco Schiavone
Member
I find it quite fascinating that it took so long to "fire" someone who consistently came in third and desperately chased the competition. The only thing I would truly consider a success was the Xbox 360 era, and even then, the hardware quality was abysmal thanks to ROD.
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Arsic
Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Humdinger
Member
But Execs don't announce their retirement before they want to. Before they want to announce it, they will of course deny that they are retiring -- because of public perception, and because they don't want to be "outed" by a nosy journalist, and mostly because they want to preserve their freedom to choose their exit date (which Phil didn't actually do, heh, but never mind that).
To believe that Phil wasn't considering retirement, you have to ignore too many factors -- lots of rumors to that effect, his own statements that he talked to Satya about it late last year, the dismal results of his tenure at Xbox, Satya taking over the reigns, the embarrassing shift to multiplats, and the death of his Vision. It doesn't make sense (to me) to ignore all that, brush it all aside in favor of one press release.
Phil was nothing if not a PR guy. We've seen how often what he said turned out to be bullshit.
True.
I don't think Satya wanted to focus on exclusives. Satya was part of the push behind making everything mutliplat. As you say, he's all about profit, and you can't get profit if you only publish on Xbox.
Agree about the AI push. Not sure about hardware.
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yurinka
Member
If he would have been planning retirement wouldn't have said that sentence, plain and simple. Would have dodged the question with some PR twist or ambiguity or would have asked to don't include it in the article instead.
Because having said so now it's clear than a few months ago he didn't plan to retire. Which means he has been fired or that Satya imposed him something that made him think it's better to retire now than to wait 2 or 3 years.
Humdinger
Member
Ok, you're free to believe what you like, of course. It just doesn't stack up to me. As I said, you have to ignore way too many factors on the other side of the equation, including Phil's own statements to the contrary.
I do think Satya forced him to retire earlier than he planned. Phil was probably aiming to retire in a year or two, but Satya forcefully moved the retirement date up for him.
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semiconscious
Member
agreed. either Xbox as 3rd-party developer/publisher of relatively cheap ai-created games, or selling off & bailing on the whole 'game' thing...
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Hawking Radiation
Wants to watch an Event Horizon porno
I'm gona miss him just like I miss House, Tretton, Reggie , Kutaragi, Moore and heck even Layden 
No heart for Mattrick. He can forever piss off.
No heart for Mattrick. He can forever piss off.
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gamerEMdoc
Member
Probably bc gamepass as an economic model isn't working. They spent a fortune buying studios and those studios games barely sell on xbox. But it's going to be hard to go back to a more profitable model of no day one releases on gamepass. But that's what they need to do. Just mirror sony, have a catalogue of games for a subscription fee that's older games, but keep day 1 releases off the service for a year. And then keep those exclusives exclusive to xbox. If the only way people can play fallout 5 is on an xbox or PC, xbox's will sell.