Phil Spencer

During the 2023 Comic Con Experience (November 30 - December 3) in São Paulo, Brazil, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spoke with Bloomberg's Rachel Gamarski to confirm the company's strategy to build an Xbox mobile store with the help of like-minded partners.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has hinted that Hellblade fans won't have to wait much longer for the next chapter of Senua's story.

Xbox is «actively working» on launching a mobile store that will compete with the likes of Apple and Google.

Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart has said Microsoft wants to get Game Pass and its first-party titles on «every screen that can play games» — including Switch and PlayStation — in what he calls «a bit of a change of strategy».

Xbox’s chief financial officer has said the company eventually wants to bring Game Pass to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.

Xbox’s chief financial officer, Tim Stuart, has been speaking about the company’s future goals, including its «mission» to eventually bring its subscription service, Xbox Game Pass, to “every screen that can play games.” That includes devices from rival companies, like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. 

«At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.'»

Microsoft’s Xbox division has been pushing towards a digital future with the Game Pass subscription service. It opens up a massive catalog of video game titles to enjoy. Likewise, you get all of Microsoft’s first-party video game titles. However, that doesn’t mean that Game Pass is as easily accessible as Microsoft would like. Currently, the Game Pass subscription service is rather widely available, but it’s not enough in Microsoft’s eyes. Recently, Xbox CFO Tim Stuart spoke about the move to bring Game Pass out to more platforms. 

Microsoft has once again reiterated that the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King was mostly about securing a foothold in the mobile market.

Sony has signed a “strategic global business partnership” with NCSoft, the South Korean company behind massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Guild Wars and Lineage.

Hideo Kojima’s Twitter activity indicates that he will be at The Game Awards. But will he actually be showing us a new game there?

A new Killer Instinct update (3.10) in five years has been deployed to celebrate the game's 10th anniversary.

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By David Pierce, editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.

Neil Druckmann is expected to appear live to receive the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 2024 New York Game Awards.

Naughty Dog's co-president and head of creative Neil Druckmann will receive the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 13th annual New York Game Awards.

This coming January, Naughty Dog co-president and head of creative Neil Druckmann will be honored by the New York Video Game Critics Circle with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at the 13th annual New York Game Awards.

Sega is targeting more acquisitions and not looking to sell up, despite interest from “many” companies.

Xbox Series X/S owners eager for a Baldur's Gate 3 release date announcement will have a little longer to wait; developer Larian Studios has confirmed it'll be sharing the news during this year's Geoff-Keighley-hosted The Game Awards on 8th December.

The Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 is currently on track to launch in December, as developer Larian Studios has now confirmed.

Larian Studios is set to make a big announcement for Baldur’s Gate 3 later this week.

The number of people playing Starfield on Steam has slipped under the concurrent player count for the 12-year-old Skyrim, just two months after Bethesda proclaimed the sci-fi exploration epic as their biggest game launch to date.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer recently told a reporter that he considers PlayStation 5 and Switch users as part of the Xbox community. He made this remark in reference to Activision Blizzard games on non-Microsoft platforms.

On the stage of BlizzCon 2023's opening ceremony, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra had the chance to welcome his former boss Phil Spencer, who made a surprise appearance.

«They want new stuff every day, every hour.»

Gaming peripheral manufacturer SteelSeries has announced a range of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 items, including an artisanal keycap costing £94.99.

Blizzcon 2023 showed us a whole new world of possibilities for Blizzard games; with a ton of new titles coming up, and the possibilities afforded by Microsoft's acquisition of the company, it seems as if we're entering into a new era — a breath of fresh air for many long-term players. 

Blizzard’s president has discussed the challenges involved in satisfying players “who want new content literally almost every single day”.

The Microsoft era of Blizzard has just begun, and it's not clear yet how the studio will change under the reign of Xbox head Phil Spencer. Maybe it'll mean more StarCraft, maybe not, but from the sounds of it we shouldn't expect a radically different approach from Blizzard: It's gonna keep running on the ol' live service treadmill.

During BlizzCon's opening ceremony, Blizzard celebrated its games with a cinematic that focussed on the here and now, with nods to World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Hearthstone and the developer's latest game: Warcraft Rumble. With this focus on the present, one of its most important series went ignored, much as it has been for years. StarCraft didn't get a look in. 

StarCraft could be making a comeback and possibly in an entirely different genre.

Baldur's Gate 3 has already received many updates and improvements since its early August launch, thanks to four major patches and several smaller hotfixes.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed in an interview with Japanese publication Famitsu that he believes PS5 and Nintendo Switch players to also be part of the Xbox family, alongside Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC players.

Former Embracer Group chief operating officer Egil Strunke announced on LinkedIn today that he has formally resigned as the company's chief operating officer—essentially, Embracer's number-two guy—and that he's now launching an all-new game company of his own.

This is a multi-year partnership.

Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has talked up the positive impact of Microsoft acquiring the studio.

Xbox has had a busy year which involved the release of Starfield and the finalization of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Xbox head Phil Spencer considers PS5 and Nintendo Switch users part of the overarching Xbox community.

With Activision Blizzard now officially owned by Microsoft, some pretty major franchises have come under Xbox ownership, and though Call of Duty is obviously getting a great deal of attention in those conversations, one cannot downplay the significance of Xbox now owning major Blizzard properties like Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch, and Diablo.

Phil Spencer may have shown up at the BlizzCon 2023 opening ceremony to proclaim that "the future of Blizzard is brighter than ever", but the CEO of Microsoft Gaming isn't quite ready to get into the details. The ink has barely dried on the Xbox acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and there's no doubt plenty to be worked out behind the scenes. But that isn't to say that key developers at Blizzard aren't excited about the possibilities. 

For years, Microsoft employees have enjoyed a perk that gives them free subscriptions to Game Pass Ultimate, and that benefit was on track to be discontinued until Xbox boss Phil Spencer stepped in and saved the day.

Serious question here: With all of the games that came out in October (seriously, it felt like we had at least a dozen major games releases), was it actually possible for anyone to have played all of them? That’s a question that can easily apply to the whole year, as well — could anyone actually play all (or even most) of the amazing games that came out this year? I mean, the obvious answer is no, unless they’re paid to, but that’s my point. With so many games that came out this year, even a gamer that is excited for and would like to play all of them will have to prioritize certain titles over others, as a form of triage. The reason that’s important is because I fear that some great or even good games haven’t received the fair shake that they should have this year.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, appeared at BlizzCon on Friday to address fans following the completion of its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2023 has just begun, and we're liveblogging all of the most interesting highlights! Come join us in watching all the highlights and reveals! The opening ceremony has now included, but you can check out our recap below.

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Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer popped onto the stage during today's BlizzCon 2023 Opening Ceremony to greet the fans of his latest conquest. After clearing considerable regulatory resistance, Microsoft closed its landmark acquisition of Activision Blizzard last month. 

BlizzCon 2023 has officially kicked off and its opening ceremony is currently underway. This first presentation is promised to be filled with the "biggest reveals, Diablo announcements, and panel discussions from Warcraft and Overwatch."

Hearthstone took the stage at BlizzCon 2023 today with a major announcement: Hearthstone: Showdown in the Badlands is the game's next big expansion, and it takes place in Azeroth's wild west.

Weapon Tuning has been removed from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

Xbox users are criticizing Microsoft and Activision for the new full-screen Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 advertisement on the startup screen.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer wasn't aware of the changes and is now looking into it.

Most Microsoft employees will soon lose access to a perk of the job that offers them a free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Xbox served North American Xbox users with a full-screen Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 pop-up ad on Thursday, to mark the start of the game’s campaign early access period.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 early access unlocks very soon — but footage from the game's campaign is already online.

Microsoft now owns Call of Duty, but don't expect MW3 on Game Pass until 2024 at the soonest.

This Week in Business is our more-or-less weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check every Friday for a new entry.

Sony announced a slimmer, lighter refresh of the PlayStation 5 last month, bringing new design changes that help the console shed its bulky signature. The PS5 slim, which now comes with redesigned side panels that allow you to add a detachable external Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive to the digital edition of the console, is set to release this month. While Sony has not announced an official release date, both disc and digital editions of the new PS5 slim will reportedly go on sale November 10 in the US and could arrive in a Marvel's Spider-Man 2 bundle. Now, the PS5 slim disc edition is seemingly getting bundled with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, too. According to a Call of Duty news portal, the upcoming shooter from Activision is set to be bundled for free with the console.

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox release is still on schedule to take place before the end of 2023, Larian boss Swen Vincke has said in a quick update on game’s development progress.

The Gears of War franchise was among the biggest and most popular properties in gaming in the Xbox 360 era, back when Epic Games delivered an excellent trilogy of revolution third person shooters that spawned an army of games trying to emulate its success with cover-based shooting mechanics, and though the series is obviously still a successful one, it’s fair to say that it’s lost some of the luster it once had.

While PC and PlayStation 5 owners are off adventuring, there’s a large faction of players still awaiting the Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox Series X|S release. Larian Studios previously stated that it should be rolling out this year, but we’ve yet to hear anything definitive.

Larian Studios’ CEO, Swen Vincke, has confirmed that the Xbox Series X|S version of Baldur’s Gate 3 is still on track to launch before the end of the year. 

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox release is still on schedule to take place before the end of 2023, Larian boss Swen Vincke has said in a quick update on game’s development progress.

Cliff Bleszinski, the creator behind the Gears of War series, has suggested the games get a God of War-style reboot. Oh, and that Xbox just needs to give him a call.

The shape of Microsoft’s gaming efforts is obviously going to change in significant ways in the coming months and years courtesy of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and part of that is already being put in motion, starting with the company having reorganized its Xbox leadership team, as reported by The Verge.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Stop for a second and picture your favorite video game developer or publisher. It doesn’t matter their “scale” as long as they’re prominent. More than likely, you can name-drop at least one or two people who are the “faces” of that company. For example, Nintendo has Eiji Aonuma, Shigeru Miyamoto, Doug Bowser, etc. Microsoft has Phil Spencer, Sony has/had Jim Ryan, and on it goes. For Bethesda, they have/had many people who have helped define them over the years for one reason or another. Easily, the one that most people know is Todd Howard. He’s the guy who honestly makes the biggest announcements for the company and helps crank out their best games.

Xbox has changed its leadership structure, announcing the promotion of four executives and one departure.

There's been a bit of a reorganisation at the top of Microsoft's games business.

A free trial period for the PC version of Diablo 4 has just started.

Microsoft has announced they are doing a major shakeup to management in their gaming divisions.

Over two years after acquiring ZeniMax and Bethesda, Microsoft has now incorporated some of the developer's management into its own leadership team. Internal emails obtained by The Verge reveal a reorganization that further integrates the two companies and "sustains the momentum" of Microsoft's recent Activision Blizzard acquisition.

More than a year after Blizzard did an Old Yeller to Heroes of the Storm—«the only good MOBA» in the eyes of our weekend editor Jody Macgregor—a new patch has appeared on the public test realm, and it's got some fans hopeful for more to come.

Just a couple of weeks after finishing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is making some changes to its Xbox studio structure. In an internal memo acquired by The Verge, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty is being promoted to president of game content and studios, a role that will put him in charge of ZeniMax and its subsidiary studios, including Bethesda Softworks.

Hot off the heels of officially acquiring Activision Blizzard earlier this month for a colossal $69 billion, Microsoft is reorganizing some of its top leadership in its gaming division. This news comes from a new report at The Verge, which writes that Microsoft head of studios and corporate vice president Matt Booty has been promoted to president of game content and studios, and that Microsoft corporate vice president Sarah Bond has been promoted to Xbox president. She will oversee all Xbox platform responsibilities. 

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

Microsoft has announced a reorganisation of its Xbox leadership team, bringing closer integration with Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax.