Tidligere i år overtok Microsoft-veteranen Phil Spencer jobben som øverste sjef for selskapets Xbox-avdelingen, og skal vi tro Nathan Vella, som er sjef for Capybara Games (Super Time Force, Below), var Spencer utvilsomt den beste kandidaten for jobben.
Det kommer frem av et intervju hos Gamesindustry International, der Vella snakker veldig varmt om Spencer:
- Phil is the best case scenario for Xbox, by a f***ing million miles. To me it's inconceivable that he wasn't doing it before. I have a lot of respect for the guy and he's been a huge supporter of the studio, kommenterer Vella.
Spencer tok over skuta i blanding av motvind og medvind, da Xbox One har måttet gå gjennom mange endringer som følge av kritikk mot funksjonaliteten konsollen opprinnelig hadde da den ble annonsert i fjor. Samtidig har den nye konsollen solgt veldig bra, selv om den ikke har klart å holde følge med Playstation 4:
- He's a guy who will actually listen to people who tweet at him or message him on Xbox Live. He'll actually read it, and that's not that normal. But now it is normal for both Microsoft and Sony. And I think that's very interesting. That's them working in the present, living in the time we're working in. And I think that's going to be nothing but positive for both platforms... Both platforms have done way better than anybody expected. Part of that reason is because people are excited about new games, but the other part of it is that there are reasons for them to be excited. There are things they asked for that are in there, changes that got made when they asked them to be made, fortsetter Vella.
Til og med avgjørelsen om å droppe Kinect etter så langt tid stiller han seg bak:
- Anything that gets more people playing Xbox One is great. There's a lot of power in the hands of players. And in some cases, you've got to listen to what they want. Even if you're only listening to the most vocal 20 percent or whatever, that's still a huge audience of people. And those people wanted a Kinect-less Xbox One.
Tror du Spencer vil lede Xbox til nye høyder, eller savner du Don Mattrick og de glinsende dressjakkene hans?