Phil Spencer Announces That He's Retiring From Xbox

You could see when his soul died back when they closed down the backwards compatibility program.

At that point I feel they took away a lot of his say on Xbox. And essentially made him a Major Nelson-light.

Xbox needs Nadella gone to thrive.

Thanks for the decades of service to gaming, Phil. I hope he has a good retirement.

He's the only reason Xbox has survived as long as it has. With him leaving, and the condition the Xbox brand is in currently, I'm worried for the future of the brand.

Ugh, replaced by someone in AI. I am officially less enthused by Xbox's future.

I honestly feel this as sad news, and I know I’ve been very critical of Xbox as of late but it’s my understanding that recent pivots and decision making are coming from the very top of Microsoft, not Phil Spencer or anyone at Xbox for the matter.

I do believe that uncle Phil tried his best, and that he actually cared for the brand and its fans, sure he made mistakes of his own along the way (even someone as legendary as Iwata did) but you could feel his enthusiasm specially in the early days, I do wish him the best and thank him for the many good things he did for the brand.

However, with Phil and Sarah gone I think this officially marks the end of the transition period from the Xbox we knew and loved to a fully fledged Microsoft Gaming, I’m not saying that they’ll rebrand, stop making games or anything like that but clearly Microsoft has taken absolute control of the division and we see how their vision is based on AI, subscriptions and cloud instead of empowering its platform with exclusive games and building communities, that vision is truly gone now, and we can only wait to see how Microsoft’s vision for Xbox shapes out, if I’m being honest I personally have no optimism left whatsoever for Nadella’s Microsoft, but he won’t be CEO forever (right?).

Love him or hate him he was a gamer at heart and i honestly don't think Xbox would be a thing without him anymore. Concerning that some Ai folks are in charge now instead of Sarah Bond or other gaming folks.

Thanks for all the years and efforts
You will not be forgotten Phil .

Well there goes the last voice at Xbox that remembered that they served more than shareholders. Interesting times ahead and by interesting I mean more expensive (for consumers) ai driven 💩

YES! Sarah gone too!
Too bad just being replaced by an AI puppet for Satya.

Phil was amazing. He got a lot of bad press but he’s kept this garbage afloat for a long time. Xbox is now well and truly dead.

bad news 1234

Those in the UK
Gaming has turned into EastEnders and Corrie of late.
Well I can’t see the change bringing back Xbox consoles and exclusives.
So I guess it will be full swing as they are now but maybe quicker.

Console wise it’s gonna leave Sony and Nintendo at the helm now for sure.

I liked Phil in the early days with the Xbox one and the amazing Xbox one x.
The tomb raider and gears announcements etc.
He did back then seem to have genuine enthusiasm for the Xbox brand, console and momentum for the product.

I think Phil and Sarah just didn’t believe in the company’s direction and I wouldn’t have blamed them. Just have to grab onto something. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Putting the AI boss in charge of Xbox is the final nail in the coffin. The brand is dead. They will push that ai slop HARD when Magnus launches.

In the simplest of terms, later bro!

God speed Phil, I've only been with Xbox 4 years but it's been a hell of a ride 🤣

It’s nice to see at least some Phil appreciation here. Unlike Reddit which is in up in a vitriolic blaze right now. Some people really don’t realise how worse things can be and we’re about to find out.

I ain’t feeling good about the health of my game library right now. Brand is incinerated.

Now they have a chance to totally rebrand and thank the fans as they move to whatever new business model AI and MS has in store for us.

I liked Phil a lot and felt he was stepping away from being a big Xbox advocate the past couple of years. Wishing him luck and a good retirement ahead!

I already left the Xbox ecosystem when I started seeing greater value in Nintendo games, but I do want to thank Phil for his efforts on Windows and Xbox. Now that he's gone, rest assured that I will most likely never touch my Series X ever again, and I am switching to Linux when I get my own life.

I actually did not read she was head of CoreAI until I read the part before his quote 😂 I could just sense it!

Shocking news (but kinda predictable). Very sad and bad day for xbox. The guy literally resurrected xbox during xbox one era, he was pro-console and invented game pass. When he was acquiring bethesda he planned “Netflix” model with exclusives in GP. We also were seeing aggressive pricing, $1 deals and conversion for GP. And of course backwards compatibility.

I think he was pushed aside after ABK deal. MS simply cancelled his strategy and replaced with all this AI, PC, cloud, play anywhere BS. Youd could see how defeated he looked in feb 24 with “just 4 games” and on the following interviews. I am pretty sure he was against all that.
I dont want to paint him as saint as he did a lot of bad decisions and we have seen poor output of games during his time. But I believe if it was not for Phil, xbox would be dead during xbox one era.

I bet when time comes he will share a lot of interesting insights.

So.. there is going to be a LOT of Copilot/AI-slop in XBOX's future.

Phil is the man. Xbox won't be the same without him. Well earned retirement after a very successful run as head of xbox. He gets to ride off into the sunset after a great career.

Hopefully this new person has the same passion for the product and industry as Phil did.

Phil didn’t even want to stay on a few months longer for the 25th anniversary that they’ve been hyping up?

Sarah’s gone too.

Replaced by an AI executive who previously worked for Meta.

I have a bad feeling about this…

It’s going to go from BAD to WORSE!!

“I’m terrified for Xbox’s future” would be an understatement right now. Despite how the brand ebbed and flowed l over the past decade and cleaning up the scraps that Don Mattrick left behind, I still felt some sense of security under Phil’s tenure. This new lady doesn’t seem to have a lick of gaming knowledge or experience just based off for LinkedIn profile.

Phil was one of the few people that I deeply respected in the games industry. Beyond Kojima beyond Barlog beyond Druckman, Beyond so many others. Him and Shawn Layden….

Thank you for everything Phil. And Sarah. Xbox is alive because of you. Really hoping the next batch of execs doesn’t send the brand out to die or do a Xbox One generation all over again….

As i said on PQ i bet Sony are happy right now.

I would say good riddance but things will only get worse for Xbox because of this. The end is nigh. An AI bro taking over only spells bad things for Xbox. Anyone with sense should avoid the Next Xbox giving the dark future currently being painted for it.

@BacklogBrad Success? He done more damage then Mattrick did to the Xbox brand.

AI bro taking over?

We are cooked friends. It was fun while it lasted.

A few years ago I would have been surprised by this, now not so much.

@Cakefish You either die (leave) as a hero, or live long enough to be the villain.

I have a feeling that whatever slop Microsoft has in store both Phil and Sarah just said they don’t want their name tied to it, I completely understand and respect the decision, you can see his enthusiasm dwindle ever since that “only 4 games” podcast.

@Fiendish-Beaver I am 1000% agree and it definitely feels like what was Phil planning for years with Game pass and all these acquisitions simply got cut during ABK deal.
They just did not want this long-term slow process, dealing with consoles and GP. Probably ABK was an excuse to do this restructuring.
I am sure GP strategy with exclusives at a low price point was very viable and resembles the netflix model. Of course xbox anywhere and $30 tag burried GP as something viable.
Reportedly (rumours) he was against all these changes that came after feb 24…

Goodbye Big Phil, it's not been fun. You played a massive part in tanking the Xbox console business and brand so congrats on that. Plus much wider repurcussions in the gaming industry with your reckless purchasing of third party gaming publishers/developers.

Good riddance.

Though something tells me it's gonna get even worse for Xbox.

I've been very sour on him the last few years but I'm also shocked that he's retiring before the next console release. Or maybe he's doing it now so that whatever hardware may be coming won't be overshadowed by his exit.

I'm torn on xbox, but I still like them. So I hope whatever happens next is good, but... we will see.

I wasn’t Phil’s biggest fan but do realise he was between a rock and a hard place with nadella steering things.

He also had an almost impossible job after the nightmare he inherited from Mattrick.

Wish him a happy retirement and will be interesting to see where Xbox goes from here.

@DennisReynolds simply not true. Phil Spencer is by far the best leader xbox has ever had.

@OldGamer999 @Cakefish @Fiendish-Beaver I dont want to be part of xbox that is run by Satya and AI fanatics who dont care about games. They treat gaming as MS office or one drive - no thanks.
It feels like xbox soul is just dead. You know how companies like bungee is not the same anymore - its just a familiar name without a soul.
Same feeling with xbox

I will cherish my xbox series X as a last proper xbox console.

I am fully done with whatever they do next. PS + switch and maybe steamOS PC next gen

@space_g0blin Todays news feels like closure to me. I will keep playing on my SX but not renewing GP and next gen going with competition. I think its time for us to move on

I had a feeling Phil was going to retire sooner rather than later but I was not expecting Sarah Bond to leave (or get fired, not sure which.)

@Fiendish-Beaver The fact Halo is coming to PS5 says it all. The fact the Series gen is the worst gen ever for MS. The amount of studios that have been closed under Phil. The billion and billions spent on Activision. The fact Xbox is on the verge of not existing anymore.

People forget Phil was a Mattrick follower.

@DennisReynolds You are tripping ang just trying to trigger a response from people. You have no clue what you are talking about.

So this might not end up being a year of the xbox, brand has been stronger, and nextbox maybe ain't biggest technical leap in the history of console gaming?
On a serious note, never thought Phil was the most competent leader, he was often insincere and manipulative in public messaging.. but at least he had personality.

@BacklogBrad

He is leaving them with Xbox in the worst position it has ever been in and the console business clinging on to relevance.

Apart from that he was great....

I appreciate Phil's efforts especially in the back half of the Xbox One era salvaging the mess of the previous regime. Game Pass alone has made me love games more by helping me discover games I would have never otherwise have tried had they not been on the service.

Unfortunately, Phil's team was clearly hamstrung by the constant machinations of Nadella and higher management kowtowing to the almighty shareholders. We're looking at potentially more turbulent times for Xbox

@BacklogBrad The leader that sunk Xbox so hard Halo is coming to PS and thanks to him the console side of the business is all but dead. The early years of the 360 era were the golden age of Xbox.

@TrevorP86 I'm just stating facts dude.

@Cakefish Considering that Bond is also leaving I don’t think Phil had any say in the timing. He is essentially being fired.

Good luck to Phil.

You could see his presence vanishing over the last year or more.

I don’t know anything about the new lady, but as it’s from AI it doesn’t feel like the best appointment out there.

@OldGamer999 I got into xbox one x from ps4 because of Phil vision, game pass, backwards compatibility and other improvements. It felt like underdog fighting for consumer. Now they dont fight. They just milk us and dont care if we leave.
It was a good run and I consider series X and one X the best consoles from hardware standpoint/design.
But its time to openly admit no matter how hard I try I cant be their fan anymore.
I have 2 xbox series x, 4 controllers, xbox rog ally and game pass. And I am moving on to the competiton next gen

Is Sony management better? We saw with recent news - NO. However, they will have a monopoly in 5-7 years in the “stationary console under tv” space. Like it or not PS5 and PS6 will be de-facto consoles for players an devs. So the choice is now PC or PS with PC also might look into steamOS

so phil was fired they made it look like he decided to retire we know the deal long time coming..

@DennisReynolds oh no halo will sell more copies. Even more people get to experience the franchise. What a "failure"

You realize xbox had almost zero studios and relied almost entirely on 2nd and 3rd party games until Phil took over? Xbox is one of the best videogame publishers (if not the best) right now. Very few are competing with the AAA output of xbox studios right now. That could not be said at any point before Phil had his very successful reign as boss.

phil and sarah deserved to get pushed out.i cant believe people are defending them.. they destroyed xbox..

Even as a primary PS gamer ive always kind of liked Phil. This genuinely makes me sad.

according to that login jim ryan was not forced to go as well..

He had been practically missing for a long time. I don't know what has happened internally at Xbox over the last two years, but clearly nothing good. But looking at his career, I think he really loved Xbox and did everything he could to give us some really good years with Xbox One.

The fact he and Bond are going at the same time, AND they are being replaced by an AI exec can't be a good sign.

Dreamcast Guy will dine off this news for years.

Best wishes Phil.

@IOI Yeah, I think Phil has recently done a lot of things wrong but I still respect the guy. Maybe this is just me being naive, but it really did seem like he cared about video games, despite Xbox's shoddy performance under his tenure. He has also been around at Xbox since it's inception.

@SBandy1 as of early 2025 xbox has over 500 million active users, marking a significant increase over previous years.

Yeah "worst position xbox has ever been in". Okay bud

@Fiendish-Beaver

Did he tell Spencer to get through an entire generation of the Xbox One with barely any first party titles? Did he tell Spencer to start the Game Pass service which was unsustainable and resulted in no one buying any games on Xbox? Did he force Spencer to buy Bethesda/Zenimax and Activision Blizzard? The direct result of which was Nadella then started putting pressure on Spencer because of the money sink hole Spencer created that has resulted in the Xbox console business barely clinging on to existence today.

Spencer, wasn't your mate, he wasn't a gamer, he was just another corporate snake who has left Xbox in a mess.

@BacklogBrad There's a reason Mario and God of War aren't appearing on other consoles. The reason Halo is coming to PS5 is because Xbox isn't making enough money, Gamepass is eating game sales and Phil thought spending 69B on Activision was a good idea. If Xbox Series was a success MS would not be porting anything. They're porting over because they have no choice. Like seriously were you not around for Dreamcast and the fall of Sega? Xbox is near death and that's under Phil and his former master Mattrick. Xbox is now going to be run by an AI bro that's a depressing future.

@BacklogBrad

Sure mate, sure.

It's gonna be weird not seeing Phil or Sarah in Xbox showcases anymore

@Fiendish-Beaver Daddy MS got involved because Phil's choices led them to it. If Phil had led to Xbox to great success things would be very different. Gamepass and 69B on Activision got daddy MS taking notice and that's on Phil. He sank Xbox harder then Mattrick because Xbox is all but dead under him. If not for an AI bro taking over i would be celebrating.

@DennisReynolds I remember the main complaint with xbox has always been they didnt have any games. Now that they produce a ton of games (thanks to the very successful Phil Spencer), the complaint is that non xbox users get to purchase and play them.

Why is god of war on pc? Its almost like Sony wants more sales or something....weird.

Best wishes to Spencer in the next stage chapter of his life.

I dont know how to feel about this. Some games were released, some canceled, and some studios closed. He championed backwards compatibility and cross-play, he ushered in the era of game pass(for better or worse). How would most grade his tenure?

@IOI yeah he did seem to lose his soul over the last few years. His heart didn’t seem in it anymore after the Activision buyout.

@Millionski yes this focus on AI is concerning. Xbox feels like a very different brand from when I bought my XSX in 2021, only 5 years ago.

@RBRTMNZ seems Sarah peaced out after getting snubbed from the top job by the AI drone. Choosing to give no public statement implies she’s got beef with how this all went down.

@Millionski
Don’t forget Nintendo and little switch 2.
But maybe you not into those game types.

@BacklogBrad Way to either ignore or not understand the context of what i'm saying.

@DennisReynolds no I understand. It was sony that said the profit margins on their huge AAA games was so thin that they needed to look at other markets. They then sabotaged their reputation as one of the best single player game makers to produce a bunch of live service crap that were lucky if it saw release. Now pc is expected for every release and switch and xbox are in play for a growing number of other games from them.

@Cakefish I knew she worked in AI but former Meta employee too.. ughhh

@Fiendish-Beaver

Bottom line is the Xbox console business is in the doldrums and has been for years.

If you honestly think Big Phil had nothing to do with it ending up like this then fine.

The worrying thing is I can see it only getting worse. This may very well be the last Xbox console generation.

Given the poor state of hardware manufacturing for every company right now (some analysts suggest it could last a decade or longer). The 'everything is an xbox' and the multiplatform releases look like a stroke of genius. Well done Phil!!!

@DennisReynolds Well, I think that even though we may not like it very much, Xbox is in a better position for what's coming than Sony or Nintendo. I'm not sure what this industry will look like in the coming years, but I do believe that in about 10 years or so, traditional consoles will no longer exist, and that's where I think Xbox and its team have done their homework better.

However, it's clear that Xbox hasn't achieved many of its goals despite spending large sums of money, and that has to make a lot of people nervous, probably more so than the poor sales figures for the latest COD, which must be weighing heavily on Xbox right now.

@BacklogBrad

Oh you're one of those.

Alright no point in engaging with you any further.

I understand if some people were left with a bad image of Phil, but we just can’t remain oblivious to what he did for the brand:

• He literally saved Xbox back in 2014, Satya was just about to close the Xbox division and Phil Spencer convinced him otherwise.
• Gave Xbox One a chance by removing all controversial “features” Mattrick pursued including Kinect and price pairing with PS4, otherwise it wouldn’t have sold half of what it did.
• Hardware under him was legitimately impressive, One S was a good redesign, One X an amazing console and both Series consoles are excellent hardware-wise.
• Brought back backwards compatibility with 360 when it was a dead project at Microsoft (probably my favorite moment of him on stage).
• He built multiple partnerships with third-party developers and basically brought indies to Xbox.
• Game Pass was such a good deal for a long time until last year, and as customers we were greatly benefited from it for a long time even if now it’s not worth it anymore.
• He had the initiative to own studios and produce first-party content, however between the pandemic and Microsoft’s own pressures, it could never get fleshed out the way he wanted.
• Cross-platform efforts were commendable to say the least, he pushed Play Anywhere, advocated publicly for cross-play with PC and other competing console (even when they didn’t wanted or wanted to charge for it ahem Sony).

It wasn’t perfect but I’m damn certain that if he hadn’t become head of Xbox back in 2013 we wouldn’t have an Xbox at all nowadays, and if you resent him for launching Xbox games on PS5 that’s simply not on him, it’s on Amy Hood and Satya Nadella, and it’s the way Microsoft is moving forward with the brand whether we like it or not (I don’t).

@BacklogBrad Yet Sony and Nintendo are still growing strong and Xbox is near being put down. Do you think God of War and Mario will be on Xbox? That's the difference here. Sony is happy for PC releases and putting live services elsewhere but i doubt Wolverine will leave PS/PC.

@Gabrie What's coming exactly that only Xbox players can see? The PS5 and Switch 2 are printing money. The reason MS is pivoting to a PCXbox is because its a last hail mary. Its not MS seeing the future its MS hoping this one last chance might work. Giving the Ram situation right now if anything MS is more doomed then ever as they need it more then Sony and Nintendo do.

RIP Xbox... Plan on the next "console" to simply be a glorified model of a PC. Xbox will likely become more of an Epic Games/Steam competitor as a game/game pass service provider and no longer a console company. Gaming technology is being repurposed for AI as companies are seeing it as a huge cash cow.

I don’t know what Phil Spencer was truly like as a person, but at the very least, I believe he understood gamers’ feelings to some extent. He had to make many tough decisions, likely influenced by declining sales and the judgments of Satya Nadella and the rest of Microsoft’s leadership.

What concerns me now is that his successor comes from the AI division and has no experience in the gaming industry. I’m worried that, in the name of cutting costs through AI‑driven game development, Xbox may undergo drastic changes.
There may already be very few people left at Xbox who can create truly imaginative games, but I still hope they can once again make titles with the brilliance they used to have…

@Fiendish-Beaver For him to have already appointed someone means that this decision was not made after Phil retired. This was planned. Sarah may not have known until today but I doubt it.

If she did find out today, quitting on the spot without taking time to weight her options and plan her next steps feels like a bad call. It’s not the type of emotional reaction I would expect from a black woman who was able to get this far in gaming. And if she did know in advance then this her timing would be weird to do it today.

And the last actual gamer is gone at xbox.

Ive loved the brand until this past year or two, but its been pretty rough. The xbox ally x is the highlight, but it can operate without xbox to be honest.

I have very little faith in the head if ai running xbox. I usually embrace change, but this one is a bit of a hit.

Sounds like Xbox is winding down before Microsoft exits the market. Probably a good time for him to leave so he doesn’t have to do any more embarrassing, soul destroying PR like waffling on about AI being the future etc. good luck to him.

@RBRTMNZ I was an exec in a company a while back and my boss retired, I found out who the next person was and resigned on the spot. Was the best choice I could have made.

Im not a black woman, but its not hard for educated people with a good track to wait out opportunities and improve your life. She will do great Im sure and land something great very quickly.

@DennisReynolds yes I do think god of war will be playable on xbox. It has been all but confirmed that the next xbox will be pc based.

Wolverine (and spiderman) actually have a decent chance of getting official xbox ports since Disney owns the rights and could do what MLB did and force an xbox version.

@DennisReynolds I think we are facing a scenario similar to that of Nokia before iOS and Android arrived. I would say that it is going to be increasingly difficult to convince developers to make so many versions of their games, some of which only work on a specific device. I think it will make more sense to develop games for Android, Windows, or SteamOS and use these as the basis for a multitude of devices. I don't have a crystal ball, but I think this is going to happen.

The other compelling reason is that it seems that the younger generations are not interested in consoles. Sales of PlayStation and Xbox are focused on an audience between the ages of 25 and 40, an audience that will gradually decline.

For the record, I don't like this xD I've been playing on consoles my whole life and that's what I like, but this is what I see among those younger than me, all with PCs, phones, or tablets, and no interest in consoles.

I always defended Xbox… but I don’t think it survives this.

Welp, so much for the Nintendo "partnership." (I'm visiting from Nintendo Life, hi!) Also, if Microsoft is promoting the current head of their AI division, I feel like we can all see where this is going. :/

@BacklogBrad Why would Disney force them? Also i expect Sony has a deal in place to protect them from that. The next Xbox if you can call a more limited PC a real Xbox might play GoW but it might face issues running it if Sony don't verify it "Xbox compatible". By the time Wolverine comes out on PC the PCXbox might have had the plug pulled by then who knows.

@Gabrie You say that but the PS5 is nearing the 100M mark and the Switch 2 is crushing it. The whole "consoles are doomed" thing has been said for nearly 20 years now. Its worth noting saying it are the ones who would profit from it hence why they say it.

I personally don’t like the guy. He has always struck me as a used car salesman type who won people over because “look he’s a gamer like us.” I do however massively respect how he worked his way to the top and think a lot of recent decisions have been out of his hands. He’s much less of a knob than Mattrick and I would put money on him being better than the AI puppet taking over. On the plus side the cult of Phil Spencer is over and there wont be 500 different articles across gaming media dissecting his every vapid word everytime he does an interview.

@GeeEssEff
I think Spencer did what needed to be done at XB. You can argue against many of the decisions, but gaming as a business at Microsoft is more solid then it has ever been. And personally I didn't see him as charasmatic, but I did like a lot of the decisions, some others not so much.

This was also a good time for a change in leadership. They are starting to prepare for a new generation and they have made all the most controversial changes. Going forward the team has a clean slate to build and grow momentum in what they are doing (whatever that is).

The biggest issue I have with this whole thing was the loss of Bond. I do think they made the right decisions, but Bond probably felt left out so I can also understand why she left. She will go somewhere else and be successful.

people do not plan to retire and leave immediately he was forced out along with sarah when jim ryan retired that process took months..

He has done a lot of great things for Xbox, especially considering the person that rules Microsoft. He'll be missed.

I'm sorry.

It really SHOULD BEEN nadella. The guy needs to go. Like yesterday.

Truth be told, nadella probably forced him out like nadella probably did with panos panay. Nadella is a complete and total disaster.

@InheritNegative the problem with digital right there 💁. Never EVER make you’re entire library digital people but I guess it’s too late for many

@DennisReynolds I think you've misunderstood what I said, or I didn't explain myself well. I don't think consoles are "doomed", but inevitably times change, generations change, and especially the world of technology changes.

Gaming devices are going to change a lot in the coming years, just as devices for listening to music or watching movies have changed. I don't know if consoles will simply disappear or if they will evolve. I can't know that, but I think Xbox is much better prepared than Sony or Nintendo. I think we have to give them credit for that, at least.

I rocked with Phil like I did Reggie fils-aime, he did a lot for the brand. Sarah bond such a beautiful woman hate to see her go. The new Asha sharma is also beautiful but I gotta see the work. All this doom a gloom a lot of yall are spewing is beyond me, and I’m a 40 year old gamer lol just yesterday Sony was dead joe here we go again lol

He tried his best, and he was probably the last obstacle standing between Nadella and the Xbox brand imploding.

@The_Nintendo_Expat Unfortunately, Nintendo became a greedy, ruthless and cruel company after Iwata and Reggie. I don't even recognise my childhood's favourite company anymore. A new AI-expert boss for Xbox sounds like a joke. There were more options, I'm sure, even that Nintendo's woman that died against the first Goomba in the New Super Mario Bros. Wii presentation and that left Nintendo afterwards?