Phil Spencer is out. Team Xbox will never be the same. The media, including this very site, has been talking about it all weekend. Ever since the news broke on Friday morning, there’s been so much to say. Whether about Spencer’s retirement, or Sarah Bond’s shared abrupt departure, or new Head of Xbox Asha Sharma, it’s been the talk of trade beat town.
Now, a bit of a wrinkle: Greg Miller at Kinda Funny Games claims Spencer wasn’t planning on this. At minimum, it happened earlier than intended. Either way, it casts some real questions on a matter that’s already rife with them.
Exiting The Stage
“If [Phil Spencer] had left once the next generation, that would have made sense,” Kinda Funny and Gamertag Radio guru Parris Lilly said during a call-in on Kinda Funny Games Daily. “But I almost feel like the job wasn’t 100% finished. And now he’s not there to see it through.” Greg Miller chimed in to say “1000%.” This is all in relation to growing concerns over whether Xbox will, in fact, deliver another console. When might that happen? 2027, quite possibly. Except… is still on the table? What does it look like now? If Phil Spencer left ahead of launch, have there been such meteoric shake-ups at Microsoft’s gaming division as to potentially nix the project in the bud?
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Phil Spencer is set to retire.
To be clear, Greg Miller isn’t saying that’s definitely going to happen. He’s not even saying it might. But I have to think that, perhaps, he’s wondering the same things. After all, he’s agreeing with Lilly… whilst dropping one heck of a bombshell:
“Yeah, and I don’t think they know what that vision is. And I think that’s the problem with that. And I think it’s because this was not planned. I don’t think this was—I’ve been passed—like, back to me. This is the newsroom. We’re getting phone calls. People are moving off. I’ve been passed something that, again, reiterates to me […] that oh. No. This was not planned.” -Greg Miller
“Chat if you trust us, what I’m seeing, I’m saying, ‘this was not planned.'” Miller is, in a word, bullish. He’s convinced, through channels he will understandably not share with the public, that Phil Spencer leaving in February 2026 was not on the agenda. Until it was. In case you’re unaware, he’s essentially out already; he leaves Monday. As of this writing, Monday is tomorrow. By the time you read this, he may well have cleared his desk. (If he’s not already done so.)
And Sarah Bond? She’s gone, too. Asha Sharma’s rapid ascendancy? Who’s to say? Maybe she and Matt Booty were already fixing to take over, and perhaps Spencer was well aware. Or even approved of it. But at minimum, it sounds like Team Xbox’s most familiar face did not intend to exit stage right quite so soon. On Xbox’s 25th anniversary year? And before its next-gen ambitions are revealed? I don’t like penning doom-style articles, but let’s be real: now more than ever, Xbox-loving fans have a ton of reasons to worry.
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Well, there you go.
