Phil Spencer discusses lay-offs, confidence in Activision acquisition and more

Phil Spencer is not one to shy away from the limelight, being one of the more vocal executives in the industry, partaking in interviews while being relatively candid at the same time. As part of a new interview, the head of Xbox discussed all manner of topics, ranging from the company’s recent string of layoffs to the struggling Activision-Blizzard acquisition.

Taking part in an interview conducted by IGN, Phil Spencer addressed many hot topics currently surrounding Microsoft and Xbox. One of the biggest gaming stories in years has been regarding the company’s attempts to acquire publishing giant Activision Blizzard – and the great deal of scrutiny surrounding this. Speaking on the situation, Spencer claimed that “I'm more confident now than I was a year ago, simply based on the information I have and the discussions that we've been having” – suggesting that after a long fought battle, it seems as though the deal will eventually go through.

Recent rumours claimed that 343 Industries would have the flagship Halo franchise taken away from their grasp, instead relying on partnerships to keep the struggling series afloat. According to Spencer this isn’t actually the case, though he does admit that Halo Infinite’s post-launch support has been less-than-stellar saying:

“When we launched that game, we know we needed to make some commitments to people about the content updates and our timing on those and the quality, and we didn't hit our own bar for doing that.”

Spencer continued, “What we're doing now is we want to make sure that leadership team is set up with the flexibility to build the plan that they need to go build. And Halo will remain critically important to what Xbox is doing, and 343 is critically important to the success of Halo. In terms of support studios and other things, that's just part of development and having other partners help us. But the heart and soul of Halo is with 343 and the team that's there, and I have the utmost confidence in the team that's there and leading and the plan that they have going forward.”

As mentioned, the interview covers all manner of topics including the 10,000 Microsoft employees who had been recently laid-off; the slowing growth of Xbox Game Pass; as well as the surprise success of Hi-Fi Rush’s shadowdrop – all of which can be found HERE.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of Spencer’s statements? What would you ask the Xbox head? Let us know down below.

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