Adjacent to MSN Music, was a small team in the next hallway. They were working on a gaming platform which was launching later that year called Xbox. One of my first experiences with video games was with a Sears Video Arcade, a rebranded Atari 2600, that my Mom bought us. From the moment I saw those blocky pixels on the screen and the 8-bit beeps and bloops I became an avid gamer. So, being at Microsoft while this new platform was being created so close by was fascinating. I would hear snippets about Xbox: A game demo, a hardware schematic or logos. I wanted to be part of the team that launched this product. It felt like everything I had worked on, everything I believed in, everything had come together to bring me to that moment in time.
As I think about the past twenty years (which went so fast!), I have to say this: This version of the company is the best one I've seen. It's incredible. Last month, in my conversation with Phil Spencer, he spoke about where we are going in the years ahead. I know some details about some of these projects and, well, I am wildly excited about the future of Xbox.
So, here we are.
Twenty years. I remember the first day my wife and I moved into our home in Washington. I came home from work to an empty house that still smelled like paint. We had moved 2,954 miles away and the moving truck hadn't arrived yet. We were eating Chinese take-out. I looked at my wife sitting cross-legged on the floor across from me and asked, "Well, what do you think? Did we make a good decision?" She smiled and said, "I think the best things we've ever done are going to happen here."
Twenty years at Microsoft, three gaming platforms and one three year-old daughter later, she was absolutely right.
As usual.
Joined MS in 2001 (MSN Music), joined Xbox in 2003.
