New Xbox head says fan feedback should be 'foundational element'

New head of Xbox Phil Spencer is has taken to an internal interview with Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) to signal a more personable face of Xbox, with an emphasis on listening to fans and pressing games as the primary focus.

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Phil Spencer was recently named the new head of Microsoft's Xbox division, and already he's trying to signal a change of tone in his area of the company. After a somewhat rocky launch and some acknowledged mistakes, he says he wants fan feedback to serve as a "foundational element" during his tenure.

"There’s a lot of learning that I did as a leader in the organization—when I just heard how our message resonated with people, some of the decisions that we made that were actually the wrong decisions, and we had to revisit those decisions," Spencer said in an internal interview with Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson). "I learn a ton from listening to feedback, reading ideas. That two-way dialogue will be important as we drive this product forward, I think it will be a foundational element."

Hryb specifically mentioned some of the more common fan suggestions--namely a lower price point and revisions to the Games with Gold line-up--but Spencer didn't make any official announcement on either front. Still, a price drop being brought up during a promotional interview shows they've heard the requests, and Spencer was talking about improving its Gold offerings even before he was named for the new position.

For the time being, Spencer says he's focused on the immediate future: launching in more territories, monthly updates, and perfecting their E3 presentation. On that last point, he said this year's conference will be similar to last year's. "We’re going to push games," he said. "I thought we did a good job last year in announcing a lot of new games, and having games, games, games be the focus of the show. I want to do the same thing again this year, not a lot of executive, middle-management up on stage. Just make sure we have creators up there, we’ve got great games that we’re showing."

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  • reply
    April 4, 2014 10:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, New Xbox head says fan feedback should be 'foundational element'.

    New head of Xbox Phil Spencer is has taken to an internal interview with Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) to signal a more personable face of Xbox, with an emphasis on listening to fans and pressing games as the primary focus.

    • reply
      April 4, 2014 10:09 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        April 4, 2014 11:04 AM

        You're thinking too small.
        *cough*
        <in my best Executive Advertising Mad Men-style voice- yeah right>
        In a world, where your entertainment console is capable of understanding you; reading your emotions, using advance digital imagining technology to read your thoughts on your voice; imagine NOT being bombarded with advertising you couldn't care less about. Instead, our new hyper-advanced targeting marketing engine does away with all of that. The new MTK9000 only delivers ads when it knows what you're thinking *sex* about *p0rn*. Never again, *that one scene of that one money with that hot girl* will you have to *candy bar* look at ads that *cold beer* aren't relevant to what *new socks* you're in the market for *that rare SW action figure you never collected as a kid*. In that instant *flowers because you screwed up last night* the system will deliver *sex* a highly targeted *sex* ad *sex* right when it *sex* you're in *cookies!* the market *PS4*cough* for a specific *car wash with the top down* product *beer*. You'll never see *shacknews* an ad *that ginsu knife thing* for something you wouldn't really *p0rn* buy *fabreeze*. Our new *Son of Batman blu-ray* focus ad *pizza* keeps a stream of ads until you've made the decision *that other movie with that other hot girl* to make a purchase. *?* You can make your purchase, removing the ad so you can simply wait for your order to arrive *hulk gloves and jello*. Now, you're happier *p0rn* because you'd made a timely *tacos* purchase and can enjoy your entertainment *sync cable*.


        blah... that was WAAY funnier in my head. sorry.

    • reply
      April 5, 2014 9:11 AM

      to late is still to late.

      maybe on xbox 720 ... er xbox two.

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