An Open Letter to Phil Spencer

To Mr Spencer,

I am writing you this letter to express my thoughts and feelings regarding your role as CEO of Microsoft Gaming. I am doing it in this manner, so if the impossible happens and you actually see this, you can’t mistake it for simple Internet grumblings on social media, another mad fan with a keyboard. I want you to know that everything I say here has been well considered and well thought out, unlike, dare I say, the AI-created slop you fed the press and your staff over the last 24 hours. 

Your tenure as CEO of Microsoft Gaming has been nothing short of a disaster for the industry you are so happy to tell everyone that you love. This is on you, not industry trends, not cost of living, just you. Your time started with such promise, and I have to admit, I admired how you seemed to fight to get out of the hole that Xbox found itself in after the disastrous launch of the Xbox One. I even, for a brief moment, hoped that despite the monopolistic implications of the Activision/Blizzard Purchase, Microsoft would be able to help those employees who found themselves stuck in the toxic work environment that Bobby Kotick and his pals created. But alas, it didn’t take long for you to rid me of that hopeful, yet clearly naive, dream. 

Because today you proved that you are one of two things. The first, and I concede most likely, is a spineless leader who, under instruction from Shareholders and your ultimate CEO Satya Nadella, have been told to recoup the 69 billion dollar purchase of Activision/Blizzard ASAP and the only way you can see to do that is by sacking scores of workers, the very talent you purchased to improve Xbox’s struggling games portfolio in the first place. If this is the case, I call you spineless because you failed to stand up to shareholders, you failed to stand up to Nadella. Why? because you don’t want to face the repercussions of doing so. You don’t want to risk getting fired yourself. Well, when your reported net worth is something in the ballpark of 25 million, you getting fired is hardly something to be worried about, is it? Surely your personal financial situation gives you the ability to be a man of principle, someone who doesn’t have to worry about where his next pay cheque is coming from. But no, you are too scared, so to save yourself, you sacrifice thousands of others. 

The second thing you could be is the true architect of these sackings. You could be behind it all. It could have been your idea. If this is the case, then talking to you and expecting humanity is pointless because that makes you a monster. It means you see people as numbers on a budget’s spreadsheet, that they are expendable assets, not humans who pour their souls into what they do. If this is the case, if this is how you view the world, I am not only appalled, but scared. Despite Microsoft reporting over $20 billion in profit from its gaming division in this quarter alone, you still decided to sack thousands of workers. Workers who now have to worry about where their rent cheque is coming from, how they are going to feed their families and, in your warped country at least, how they will be able to afford basic medical care. That is just the monetary side of things, the mental health anguish is immeasurable and something that undoubtedly leads vulnerable people into depression and possibly even self-harm. 

In my opinion, you don’t see that. In my opinion you are so far removed from humanity that you can no longer see what real people live like. All you see is rich shareholders getting richer and your own bank balance getting fatter. I am also not so ignorant as to think you are the only person behind this. The blame is more than likely earned by the entire C-suite at Microsoft, but you made yourself the face of the company. You came out and said to all of us, “Hey, I am a cool gamer too, I am like you.” So when we call you out on that lie, you get to face that wrath. 

So I am writing this letter despite the very real chance that someone from Xbox PR will read this and immediately blacklist us, which would do very real harm to our ability to cover games considering your company is now the largest games publisher on the planet by a long way. I am writing it because I care, I care about this industry so very much. The people, the creativity, the passion. It is an industry that can bring joy, hope, laughter and most importantly in this day and age, fun to millions. It can bring out the best in people, and you have an opportunity to bring that to the forefront of your business. You have the power to make all these wonderful parts of the industry the focus, but you won’t do that. You will, as you have always done, put shareholders’ desire for endless profit over both your staff and your customers. 

I also want you to know that, should the worst happen and Player 2 does end up on a PR blacklist, I will still continue to cover your games as best as I can.  I will do this because I care about the creators, the designers, the programmers and the artists. I care about the products they make, I want their successes to be spread, and I want their games to be enjoyed. Those people, those talented, talented people, deserve to be celebrated and congratulated, something that their employers seem incapable of doing. I will continue to use my very small corner of the internet to help people see that games are so much more than money-hungry executives like yourself. 

I just have one more thing to say. Phil, you have the ability, the power and the clout to make real change in this industry. You could make it sustainable, you could celebrate creativity in a world that is looking to drown it. You could truly make a difference to millions of gamers and thousands of employees. You could do all of that, but history says you won’t. History says you will bleed this industry dry and sail off into the sunset with more money in your wallet than most people would see if they lived five lifetimes. 

I hope, I really hope I am wrong. 

I don’t think I am.

Faithfully

Matt Hewson

Editor – Player2.net.au