Phil Spencer: Xbox One Launch Was A 'Seminal Moment' For Us, 'A Real Cold Dose Of Reality'
Image: Microsoft

You've probably seen that we've been highlighting some of Phil Spencer's comments he made as part of IGN Unlocked 500 yesterday, and something he called back to during the discussion was the infamous Xbox One launch.

Spencer picked out the 2013 launch as a particularly memorable moment for him, not because it was a positive memory, but because the Xbox team used it as a massive learning experience that resulted in the Xbox of today.

"It was such a seminal moment for the team in really checking, what did we stand for? What did we want to be as we went forward? How did we want to bet on each other? Obviously for the brand it was a challenging year, there was a lot for us to learn."

"The things that I see in the team now - listening to the community, challenging ourselves, not staying in the bubble that we're in but trying to innovate and evolve what this is about - I think so much of what we are today is really from that first launch year of Xbox One where we got a real cold dose of reality in terms of focusing not on what the customers wanted, but maybe what we thought we needed. [It] didn't work."

As you probably know, Spencer wasn't the head of Xbox at the time of the Xbox One's launch (that was Don Mattrick), but he ended up taking the reigns a few months later in early 2014, and has proved highly popular ever since.

It was definitely a tough time for the Xbox brand back then, but with the likes of backwards compatibility, Xbox Game Pass, the Xbox Series X and S, and now Xbox Cloud Gaming, Spencer's team have really turned things around.

What are your memories of the Xbox One launch back in 2013? Tell us down in the comments below.

[source youtube.com]