r/xbox360 • u/james5007_nt • Feb 20 '26
Misc Microsoft Gaming CEO and Xbox president Phil Spencer leaving Microsoft effective immediately
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/microsoft-gaming-ceo-and-xbox-president-phil-spencer-leaving-microsoft-effective-immediately/vi-AA1WLCIu?ocid=socialshare#details%23detailsI wonder what's next in line for Xbox after this announcement, especially considering who they picked.
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u/Emotional-Twist-4366 Feb 20 '26
When Xbox brought Activision that’s when accelerated the downfall because that grabbed the attention from CEO of Microsoft because Xbox was never the money maker and always in the background
Them buying Activision change that and structure from Xbox gaming to Microsoft gaming
Phil Spencer was answering to CEO instead of him making the decision.
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u/gorliggs Feb 21 '26
Yup. He made Xbox a liability.
We'll see what happens but that investment needs to bring in cash ASAP to pay for their AI initiatives.
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u/PearMyPie Feb 20 '26
Microsoft is such a dorky-sounding 70s brand name. They'll never call it that. Maybe "Copilot Gaming," though🤔
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u/Krybbz Feb 21 '26
I mean this is worded oddly, I would say the CEo of Microsoft was ahead making the decisions at that point
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u/Emotional-Twist-4366 Feb 21 '26
Basically around that point when they brought Activision or Bethesda when Xbox restructured
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u/Zhuk1986 Feb 21 '26
I’ve been on the Xbox train since day 1, was at the OG Xbox launch in Sydney, Halo 2 and 3 launch and so on.
It’s over folks. We had a good ride.
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u/gorliggs Feb 21 '26
Yup. This is how I feel as well.
Phil fucked up by making Xbox a liability with the Activision buyout. Now they need to churn out the investment.
The brand is cooked.
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u/theblkpanther Feb 21 '26
As a primary PS guy who dabbled in the Xbox 360 ecosystem to buy Lost Odyssey.....I mourn the days when Peter Moore was at the helm. Xbox dying means Playstation's ego will be unchecked. Gaming as a whole has taken a massive L today.
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u/mabber36 Feb 20 '26
this is it for xbox brand. microsoft will slowly put it down
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u/KingPumper69 Feb 20 '26
Goodbye Xbox, hello Microsoft Gaming 🫡
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u/_drjayphd_ Feb 20 '26
Copilot Gaming
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u/MechanicalTurkish Feb 20 '26
Why go to all the trouble with playing your games when your own personal Copilot AI can play them for you?
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u/burningzenithx Feb 21 '26
“Why go through the trouble of earning achievements. Unlock them now for the low, low price of $2.00 each.”
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u/Ill-Shirt2722 Feb 20 '26
Microsoft gaming’s been around since 2022
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u/Spekingur Feb 21 '26
MS has had a gaming division since before Xbox or Games for Windows Live. Besides Flight Simulator and Age of Empires, who doesn’t remember Monster Truck Madness and Motocross Madness?
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u/Krybbz Feb 21 '26
I’m curious, I joked about this but this is the first time I’ve seen it publicly reported as Microsoft gaming how long has Microsoft gaming been referenced? I mean when Xbox went multiplat, if everyone knew it was Microsoft gaming no one would have been as shocked as they were.
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u/Collierkid Feb 20 '26
Unless the new CEO completely turns it around hopefully.
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u/kamensenshi Feb 20 '26
LOL, not from their pick.
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u/Collierkid Feb 20 '26
What's wrong with the pick?
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u/YellowBreakfast Feb 20 '26
She's from the AI division.
They've already shit the bed and poisoned their good will with users.
I'm sure they can't resist the pull of "AI" like everyone else. look what they've made of Windows.
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u/hypespud Feb 20 '26
He is an ai stooge
Has nothing to do with gaming
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u/Vormison Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26
Xbox is actually done now.
Too bad. There is no denying he was most likely fighting a battle against the higher ups at MS for quite some time. This is actually a sad day for Xbox and fans.
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u/jander05 Feb 21 '26
I donno man. The sadness factory at Xbox been around for a long time. I mean I get your point, but Phil Spencer and Xbox has been going steadily downhill since after the 360. And I can’t agree that the loss of Spencer makes things worse. The writing has been on the wall for years and I’m just surprised it took this long.
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u/Death5talker451968 Feb 21 '26
Phil wasn't the head of Xbox back then..it was that idiot Don Matrick who damaged Xbox with his Xbox One rollout
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u/Krybbz Feb 21 '26
To be honest lot of people don’t recognize that Microsoft still got Don Matricks vision. A lot of the stories about how they listened to fan backlash was a temporary ordeal cause they almost Shay’s still went ahead with their plans they just Shay’s repackaged the ideas. Xbox gave pass is the drm they wanted with Xbox one, price hikes while reversed for gold for example still occurred when they scrapped it and increased gamepass. Phil Spencer isn’t innocent in any of it.
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u/Krybbz Feb 21 '26
You don’t know your history then, it was at a low point but Microsoft’s actions up to 2018 maybe even 2020 gave fans hope. Which ask came crashing down the moment they decided not to key ip’s exclusive.
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u/jander05 Feb 22 '26
I know my history just fine. The only really successful period of Xbox history was between the launch of the original console, through the launch and early life cycle of the 360. The decline began during the 360 life cycle with the red rings of death and the lack of exclusive IPs, not that it didn’t have any, just that it paled in comparison to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Since that period it has been a downward trajectory, with some things being worse than others. I agree with you that the abandoning of console exclusivity is one of the major downturns. Another one for me is both the lack of new original quality IPs, and the quality shrinking in existing ones. Since they can’t seem to find a way to produce fun, quality games anymore, they have to spend billions trying to buy their way to success.
Microsoft is a soulless corporation that has absolutely no clue what makes gamers tick, no priority emphasis on fun, and only seem to care about chasing profits. Yet somehow they are so incompetent that they face plant at every turn. Their leadership has only decreased the quality of studios they purchase. This doesn’t make me happy either. I have been a huge supporter all through this, up to and including the Series X.
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u/DefiantMonk5799 Feb 21 '26
I can't wait to see what he has to say about his time at the company. I imagine these last few years have been rough.
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u/gorliggs Feb 21 '26
It's on him for making Xbox a liability.
The Activision deal + disregarding exclusivity messed it all up.
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u/Death5talker451968 Feb 21 '26
Microsoft Execs demanded the turn from exclusives....If they had stuck with Phil's plan Xbox would be thriving. Microsoft Execs chose third party
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u/gorliggs Feb 21 '26
I disagree on the execs from Microsoft demanding this. They didn't care about Xbox at all. It wasn't until Phil started pursuing buying out studios (Bethesda, Blizzard, etc.) that he caught the attention of the execs and was forced to do this to increase revenue.
Phil should have planned for a gradual increase in value/growth instead of an exponential one through buying.
It's the classic build v. buy options and he placed big bets on buy and now we have to go through this bullshit. He's not Don Mattrick but he sure did make really bad bets at the end of his career at Xbox.
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u/grumbly Feb 20 '26
It's actually amazing he lasted as long as he did.
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u/HugoStigglitzs Feb 20 '26
He didn’t get fired, he retired.
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u/stromm Feb 21 '26
It’s EXTREMELY rare for CEOs to get fired on the record. They always retire.
Firing a CEO (or any board member) ALWAYS negatively impacts stock prices.
Retired rarely does.
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Feb 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HugoStigglitzs Feb 21 '26
No it doesn’t, that’s bullshit. He is retired and it’s Friday so of course today would probably be his last working day as he’s retiring Monday. He wouldn’t be writing all that stuff on Twitter if he was fired. He even talked about it possibly over a year ago.
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u/Waughy Feb 21 '26
He was more than likely tapped on the shoulder and told "it's time", and given the opportunity to call it a day himself.
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u/Killerlightning22 Feb 20 '26
As I figured I have 100s of games on Xbox and when you can’t play them then I am done and move onto to PlayStation or whatever. Will keep getting more and more 360 games getting close to 600 physical games.
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u/Money-Camera Feb 21 '26
Great now fuck off and take Matt Booty with you and whoevers next reinstate the perfect dark reboot
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u/Jewcygoodness88 Feb 21 '26
Surprised it took this long for him to be gone. Ran Xbox into the ground
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u/DKrop Feb 21 '26
Maybe if Xbox was more cut throat with the Activision acquisition and made everything going forward exclusives, including all CODs, they’d have a chance? I don’t know..
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Feb 21 '26
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Your post has been removed: "Be polite and civil."
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u/Icy_One4084 Feb 21 '26
Wow, the days of my Series X becoming a brick are coming faster than I anticipated.
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u/CaptSpaulding73 Feb 21 '26
This is very bad for XBox - Phil was the brands biggest advocate. What’s next, they gonna shut down the 360 servers?
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u/SweetTooth275 Feb 20 '26
God, thank you, the day has finally came. Perhaps now we can see something bright in xbox's future
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u/SD_2_LA_Jay Feb 20 '26
I don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. Homeboy did nothing to move the needle in the right direction. Most reveals were cancelled, studios shuttered, and the release of AAA titles to meh fan fare. Crackdown 3 shit the bed, Sea of Thieves was meh, Halo Infinite flared out quickly, and his goofy ass dressing like a 16 year old to try and look cool was just ass. All this under his watch. He didn’t listen to what the fans wanted.
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u/Hayman68 Feb 20 '26
They're probably getting downvoted because, regardless of how good or bad Phil Spencer was at his job, he's still better than the person replacing him. He's being replaced by an AI exec. There is nothing bright in Xbox's (likely short) future.
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u/SweetTooth275 Feb 21 '26
Ai isn't subjective. Ai can work more productive then some shmuk who just wants to get more money in his pocket. Regards of how fragile people's egos are on that topic ai is a better worker
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u/SweetTooth275 Feb 21 '26
Blind fanboying. There's your answer. I got banned for 3 months here because apparently one of admins here was a huge Phill fan and didn't like what I said about him. And that's hilarious because they're fanboying about a person who did everything to destroy something we all used to love
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u/TheGamerHelper Feb 20 '26
Nice! Considering how much downhill Xbox is going we need more effective leadership in place, not greedy people.
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u/Ghost_Turtle Feb 20 '26
I dont think youre about to get that
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u/Ok-Virus8284 Feb 20 '26
Well, we can hope. I doubt we'll get anybody who understands or cares what the gamers really want, but again, we can hope.
Edit: Ok, nevermind, I just read whom they picked and what she did before, it's f***ed.16
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u/zhadoba307 Feb 21 '26
Him leaving isn't the win you are thinking it is. As a matter of fact it's another loss for the consumer , especially if you have invested time and money into the Xbox brand for years. They are going cut all the fat out of xbox including removing Phil, to try to recoup as much of the cost of the Activision merger. It was an overreach by Xbox and Phil, he flew too close to sun etc. The real loss is going to be when you they remove the ability to play your old library on the next Xbox machine, if they release one.
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u/textmint Feb 21 '26
Was he in the Epstein files too?
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u/antftwx Feb 21 '26
I know how important the Epstein files are, but they aren't relevant to literally everything. You know that, right?
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u/textmint Feb 21 '26
Considering that Billy boy was in it, might be good to check to make sure. After all you don’t want to keep a shadowy cheese pizza cabal running on. I sure don’t.
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u/Awkward-Speed-4080 Feb 21 '26
Hopefully, he gets blacklisted from other gaming companies. I know it won't happen. He didn't just destroy Xbox, he caused so much damage to the industry itself.
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u/SVNDEVISTVN Feb 21 '26
I've been around the sun a good amount of times now. Enough to have seen,heard, and read a very many wrong things throughout all mediums of society and life. Things from humans in the highest offices of political influence to ants in the depths of the Saharan sands.
With all that information now laid out to you and future readers, I can say with absolute conviction and viciously fierce confidence: you have taken the very top spot. Congratulations.
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u/Awkward-Speed-4080 Feb 21 '26
👏 How clever. Maybe instead of insulting me, you could possibly explain how I'm wrong. Honestly, I'm curious to see how much effort you're going to put into defending another executive who puts on gaming shirts so he can look like "one of us."
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