Reading of confidential email exchange reveals the reality of Microsoft’s plans and conversations between its executives.
This week, Microsoft is facing a massive leak of confidential documents. On the evening of September 19-20, it was discovered that the error really came from Microsoft: the company mistakenly posted secret, uncensored documents on the court website as part of its lawsuit with the FTC for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
This is how we discovered Microsoft’s plans to market an Xbox Series of Xbox which will face the PlayStation 6. What we also discovered is the reality of the exchanges between executives who, sometimes, navigate by sight.
Who is the real Phil Spencer?
When we comment on the actions of companies, we can easily dehumanize employees. In other words, forget that behind what may seem to us an incredible success or a bitter failure, there are always humans who do their best within their scope. Phil Spencer, the boss of Microsoft Gaming, is already a very public figure and very popular with gamers. The man often manages to transcribe a certain transparency in interviews with the press, and an ability to give the impression of being ” a player like the others “. But any interview or public speech must be taken with a dose of expected skepticism: at his level of hierarchy, he is necessarily very trained to respond properly to questions from the press to give the best possible image of himself. and its brand.
What we discovered throughout the trial with the FTC, and which was reinforced by the publication of the confidential emails, is the closeness between the Phil Spencer in public and the Phil Spencer in private.
When Phil Spencer discovers the PS5
A good example to understand what we are talking about is perhaps this email exchange between Phil Spencer, Satya Nadella (the boss of Microsoft) and Elizabeth Hamren, then responsible for the design of the new Xboxes, dated March 19, 2020. It immediately follows Mark Cerny’s first presentation of the PS5 architecture.
We can read Phil Spencer confident of having a console, the Xbox Series X, more powerful on paper than the PlayStation 5. A good reason to be “ proud of our team “. He says Microsoft’s board of directors pointed out to him that he was probably too confident, but while apologizing, he makes it clear that there are reasons here to be confident.
We didn’t win anything. And I know we have difficult discussions about pricing, profit and loss, investments, etc. This letter is not intended to undermine all of this, these discussions are really important. But we can have confidence in the truth of our product and I think any conversation needs to start with that belief. It was a good day for Xbox.
Thank you for giving me your attention,
Phil
It would be easy to mock this confidence a posteriori so the same man will have to admit failure three years later, but that is precisely the whole truth of the thing. People who work for big brands, even at these levels of responsibility, are obviously fallible. Above all, we can draw from it the palpable excitement and passion of a person a few months before the launch of a product that took several years of development.
The “disaster” of 2022
You might think that being enthusiastic in private and in public is easy. Another exchange highlights a Phil Spencer who is more worried about the situation. It is dated May 2022, when Microsoft understands that this end-of-year calendar will be desperately empty: Starfield will not be able to go out, Redfall And Stalker 2 are not ready. For Phil Spencer, “ This is truly a dire situation for us, considering how much we’ve invested in content across the studios in our Game Pass content fund. We must learn lessons and develop an action plan “.
The boss of Microsoft Gaming continues by explaining that it is a real failure of planning on their part and that they must now manage to manage the release of new games, even if it means having to postpone some to ensure a more regular schedule. Phil Spencer is as little fooled as the players in front of a conference: he specifies that he is not talking about “additional content” or “new seasons” for existing games, but rather about launching new titles regularly.
Faced with this difficult situation “ that we cannot afford », he gives a speech seeking to motivate his colleagues at the management of Xbox: “ let’s roll up our sleeves “.
We have faced difficult situations before, we will do so again. I’m frustrated with the situation we find ourselves in, but we will get through this. The most important thing is to build a winning plan. This is what we must work towards.
It is also in this exchange of letters that the team works to secure contracts around Xbox Game Pass to complete this empty calendar with exclusive releases. This is where Microsoft is putting aside future big titles like Baldur’s Gate 3. The success of the latter was a surprise to the whole world. They agree to think about asking for Gotham Knights, which will soon arrive in Game Pass and Assassin’s Creed Rift which will become Assassin’s Creed Mirage and will miss its release at the end of 2022. Phil Spencer suggests adding the Dark Souls games to try to riding on the success of Elden Ring. A hypothesis that will not come to fruition, the From Software games have not arrived in the service.
In a final exchange to highlight, Phil Spencer hits the nail on the head when asked how a studio owned by Xbox can now assess its value: since it’s no longer really game sales that are important in the eyes of the manufacturer, but also Game Pass subscriptions. The boss of Microsoft Gaming clearly answers that he does not have the answer to the question and that it is generally a combination of the games’ ability to attract to Game Pass or keep people subscribed to the service.
From the dozens of confidential emails that we have read, we understand that Phil Spencer is a person who seems to have a head on his shoulders, a clear vision of the video game market and its trends, a good understanding of the expectations of players and fans of her brand. He doesn’t always have the answer to everything, and he, like his team, can royally screw up certain strategic choices, but that’s the whole idea: to err is human.
Honest emails?
Let us temper our remarks all the same. When you write an email as part of your work, you once again display a social mask, even if the setting is more private than in a statement to the press. We must therefore keep this in mind when reading the exchanges. The fact remains that in a semi-private sphere, we read a Phil Spencer who makes comments consistent with his own responses in public. His answers gave an impression of transparency, now we can verify their content.