Phil Spencer has confirmed that he is set to depart Xbox and step down from his position as the CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division. After spending nearly 40 years at the company, the executive is now set to move on, with Sarah Bond also joining him in departing Microsoft.
Although Phil Spencer’s retirement was inevitable, it does seem to have come out of nowhere, especially with Xbox being in the critical stage of transitioning to a new generation. Adding to this, the fact that Sarah Bond was expected to helm Xbox after Phil Spencer and is now leaving has raised a few eyebrows.
Discussing the situation, a prominent insider, who broke the news on Spencer’s retirement last year, says that the head of Xbox was forced out of the company sooner than he would have liked.
According to Ghost of Hope, Phil Spencer’s original plans included retirement after the launch of the next-generation Xbox hardware codenamed “Magnus.”
Because the Microsoft executive has led the vision for Xbox for over a decade at this point, he likely wanted to see it through to the release of the next console hardware as part of Microsoft’s ambitious “Everything is an Xbox” motto.
Ghost of Hope further noted that Sarah Bond originally planned to take over Spencer’s position following his retirement, but Microsoft has now named Asha Sharma the new Xbox CEO, who previously worked as part of Microsoft’s CoreAI Products team.
The insider notes that this sudden change likely came about as a result of Xbox’s poor performance over the last year or so. Even Activision’s magnum opus, Call of Duty, underdelivered last year due to the negativity surrounding Black Ops 7.
Moving forward, Microsoft’s gaming division will be led by Asha Sharma and Matt Booty, with both promising a fresh direction for the brand. As for Phil Spencer, the former CEO plans to continue supporting Microsoft in its future endeavors as he begins this new chapter of his life.
