Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Addresses Studio Closures

“The closure of any team is hard obviously on the individuals there, hard on the team,” Spencer said. "I haven’t been talking publicly about this, because right now is the time for us to focus on the team and the individuals. It’s obviously a decision that’s very hard on them, and I want to make sure through severance and other things that we’re doing the right thing for the individuals on the team. It’s not about my PR, it’s not about Xbox PR. It’s about those teams.

"In the end, I’ve said over and over, I have to run a sustainable business inside the company and grow, and that means sometimes I have to make hard decisions that frankly are not decisions I love, but decisions that somebody needs to go make.

“We will continue to go forward. We will continue to invest in what we’re trying to go do in Xbox and build the best business we can, which ensures we can continue to do shows like the one we just did.”

emerald,

“look, Activision wasn’t cheap. We’ve gotta keep the lights on here”

ReversalHatchery,

I’m sure you’re building the best business you can.

millie,

I’m not sure I’d call buying up and burning other companies like furniture in a fireplace ‘sustainable’.

lustyargonian,

tl;dr: it is what it is

BmeBenji,

“It’s not about PR, it’s about those teams… I have to run a sustainable business so they’re on their own because I say so.”

DMerald,

So from what I gather, most of these studios were doing fine before they were bought out and now they are all starting over from scratch cause any proprietary stuff they had is owned by Microsoft.

ReversalHatchery,

In the end their name, their achievements and their reputation has been transferred, and nothing else. I feel they (the studios’ teams) have been made use of to then deceive people who trust the names.

jmcs,

Some of them were still doing fine, just not triple the profits well.

Kissaki,

ensures we can continue to do shows like the one we just did.

Doing shows, not creating games /s(?)

brsrklf,

Well, I don’t think they’re putting up a very good show right now.

Godort,

You dont need to remind us to sympathize with the people you laid off, Phil. Thats the whole reason why your PR is bad right now.

cawifre,

That is a whole lot of talk about how much Xbox cares about its people and a whole lot of handwaving about why Xbox needed to decide to sacrifice its people in great swaths.

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