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Phil Spencer (or known by P3, his gamertag) is an American business executive and the CEO of Microsoft Gaming.[1] He is currently the head of the Xbox brand and leads the global creative and engineering teams responsible for gaming at Microsoft Gaming.

Personal life[]

Spencer attended Ridgefield High School in Ridgefield, Washington, and then earned a bachelor's degree in technical and scientific communication from the University of Washington.[2]

He serves on the boards of the First Tee of Greater Seattle and the Entertainment Software Association.[3]

Career[]

Spencer joined Microsoft in 1988 as an intern and has worked in a number of technical roles, leading the development of Microsoft's first CD-ROM-based titles (such as Encarta), development manager for Microsoft Money, and general manager of Microsoft's online and offline consumer productivity products including Microsoft Works and Microsoft Picture It![3][4] During his early time at Microsoft he was known by other employees to be an avid gamer, playing games such as Ultima Online in the office.[2]

With the launch of the Xbox in 2001, Spencer joined the Xbox team and served as general manager of Microsoft Game Studios EMEA, working with Microsoft's European developers and studios such as Lionhead Studios and Rare until 2008, when he became the general manager of Microsoft Studios, eventually becoming the studio's corporate vice president a year later.[4][5] He has participated in Microsoft's E3 conferences since 2010.[6][7][8][9]

In late March 2014, Satya Nadella announced in a corporate e-mail that Spencer was to "lead the Xbox, Xbox Live, Groove Music and Movies & TV teams, and Microsoft Studios" as part of the Windows and Devices division.[5][10]

In September 2017, Spencer was promoted to the Senior Leadership Team, gaining the title of Executive Vice President of Gaming and reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella.[11]

In 2018, Spencer delivered the keynote address at the 2018 DICE Summit[12] and spoke at the 2018 Game Awards.[13]

In January 2022, along with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard,[14] Spencer was promoted to the role of CEO of Microsoft Gaming.[15]

Since taking over both Xbox and the Gaming division, Spencer has advocated for cross-platform play, as well as launched key initiatives, such as reintroducing backward compatibility to the Xbox platform, the purchase of Mojang and Bethesda, the further development and support of Minecraft, the introduction of Xbox Game Pass, launching the Xbox Adaptive Controller, an increased focus on PC gaming, porting some Microsoft published games to other platforms including the Nintendo Switch, the launch of xCloud, and increasing the number of first-party development studios.[16]

Spencer received the Lifetime Achievement award at the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards on February 24, 2022.[17]

References[]

  1. "Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming". Xbox.com. 2022-01-18. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Tilley, Aaron (February 3, 2022). "Microsoft's Videogame Boss and the Long Battle to Reinvent the Company". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on February 2, 2022. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Phil Spencer". Xbox.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-21. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Kinect Accelerator Mentor: Phil Spencer". Microsoft. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "Welcome Phil Spencer, Microsoft's New Xbox-Everything Honcho". Time. 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  6. "E3 2010: Phil Spencer interview". The Telegraph. 2010-07-15. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  7. "Phil Spencer E3 2011 Interview". G4tv. 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  8. "E3 2012: Phil Spencer Post-Conference Interview". 2012-06-05. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  9. "E3 2013: Phil Spencer Talks Xbox One Lineup". GameTrailers. 2013-06-10. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  10. "Satya Nadella email to employees on tuning our organization". Microsoft. 2014-03-31. Retrieved 2014-04-06. 
  11. Weinberger, Matt. "Microsoft Xbox boss Phil Spencer just got a big promotion, and will now report directly to CEO Satya Nadella". Business Insider. Retrieved 19 September 2017. 
  12. Takahashi, Dean (February 23, 2018). "The DeanBeat: Microsoft's Phil Spencer steps up as a diversity leader". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 July 2018. 
  13. "Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo get up on stage at The Game Awards". December 7, 2018. 
  14. Warren, Tom (18 January 2022). "Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion" (in en). The Verge. Retrieved 20 January 2022. 
  15. Warren, Tom (18 January 2022). "Read Microsoft Gaming CEO's email to staff about the Activision Blizzard acquisition" (in en). The Verge. Retrieved 20 January 2022. 
  16. Parker, Laura (December 19, 2019). "Phil Spencer Is Exactly Who You Think He Is". GameSpot. Retrieved January 19, 2020. 
  17. Kim, Matt (February 2, 2022). "Phil Spencer to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at 25th Annual DICE Awards". IGN. Retrieved February 3, 2022. 

External links[]

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