It seems misplaced to blame Phil Spencer for these horrific Microsoft layoffs when it looks a lot more like all the resources he spent a decade fighting for getting yanked away from Xbox so Nadella can throw it all at chasing AI. The guy's not perfect but this certainly isn't what he wanted.
I think people should be *angrier* at Nadella than at Spencer, and almost everyone is getting that backwards. That being said, they should still be angry at Spencer: if he really, truly, morally disagreed with what's happening, he would have left the company by now.
Like I said, he's no saint. You're completely right that he almost definitely has enough money at this point where he could take his ball and go home. That wouldn't change or accomplish anything, though.
that's business, like it or not we live in a capitalist society. I've been there, as the guy being laid off, and the guy having his budget yanked. It's happening everywhere, but the sheer scale of MS makes it all the more mind boggling
He convinced leadership to buy Bethesda and AB of course it is his fault! His choices to buy large scale publishers like that directly led to the bloodbath we see today. Of course Nadella and his search for AI waifus makes things worse but we should be clear eyed about how we got here
Microsoft would've pivoted toward AI with or without those purchases. He wouldn't have been doing his job if he weren't at least trying to make big moves to build Xbox up.
Yeah but my friends at ZeniMax would’ve had a higher chance of keeping their jobs if Microsoft didn’t own them. Same with people from Raven, High Moon, Sledgehammer, and others. His “big moves” should’ve included him and other execs taking pay cuts to save people’s livelihoods
Would they? ZeniMax was trying to sell so it wouldn't have remained independent. If it hadn't been Microsoft buying them, where would they have been safe? Amazon? Google? Meta? I do agree wholeheartedly that they should all take big pay cuts rather than lay anybody off, in every industry.
If zenimax hadn’t have been bought the majority of it would have been sold for scrap years ago. It was already starting.
He’s the brainless suit that spent $70 bil on acquisitions
His job was to grow the Xbox brand. That's what he did. His bosses - who signed off on his plan - then decided to pull the rug out from under him. Is that *his* fault? He's not a saint by any means but it seems like he did what he was asked to do.
The console sales are staggeringly bad and they stopped reporting Gamepass subs a year ago because of the pathetic growth rate.
So he should have done nothing at all. Got it.
Keep caping for the empty suit
He is almost solely responsible for yesterday.
Not saying he did everything right. But outside of pulling rabbits out of his hat (magically create new games without acquiring established talent?) I’m not sure what you’d have had him do. One thing’s for sure: Managers don’t make great games (they don’t make games at all). But they can help.
He should have lost his job. Thats it.
…and you’d have replaced him with who, exactly? Because they have what crystal ball that he didn’t have? You have not thought this through at all.
I’m sorry that I’m not an expert on the up and coming games executives