Phil Spencer, now head of all things gaming at Microsoft, was recently interviewed by Fortune Magazine. Over the long (40+ minutes) 1-to-1 video Q&A, Spencer frankly admitted the struggles that Microsoft head with their first party output in recent years and vowed to do better through a variety of improvements.
more at linkAnd I think the power of content, I see it every day, the things that people come to Xbox…very few people turn on their Xbox to stare at the dashboard. People turn on their Xbox to go play games, and I think us having a strong first party Xbox means when I think about Xbox, I'm going to think about quality games. We have work to do there. We haven't done our best work over the last few years with our first party output.
We made a conscious effort to invest in our first party. I think some of that is standing on stage and announcing the acquisition studios, some it's the hiring that we're doing at the studios that we already have. Some of it is ensuring that we have the right amount of time and we're able to focus. Some of that is just, you know, the autonomy that I have in running the games organization now under Satya that allows us to look at game development for what it is. It is this weird mix of technology and art as well. And it's not always easy to schedule those things and ensure we have the time to get things right. And that hasn't always been true in the organization, but I feel good about that. I know our fans want to see us do better and the teams are completely aligned behind that desire.