Microsoft Appoints Phil Spencer As New Xbox Chief

New Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced some leadership changes at the company this morning, and the Xbox area has a new chief in Phil Spencer. Spencer was formerly head of Microsoft Studios, and he’ll maintain that role and subsume the responsibilities of leading the whole Xbox crew--including the Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox Music, and Xbox Video teams.

Spencer will report to Terry Myerson, the executive VP of operating systems, and thus Microsoft is keeping Xbox development and OS development cozy. “Combining all our software, gaming and content assets across the Xbox team under a single leader and aligning with the OSG team will help ensure we continue to do great work across the Xbox business, and bring more of the magic of Xbox to all form factors, including tablets, PCs and phones,” wrote Nadella.

Microsoft's Phil Spencer

Microsoft also promoted Scott Guthrie to a permanent role heading up the Cloud and Enterprise division of the company, and as part of the Microsoft-Nokia buy, former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop is now Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, Microsoft Devices Group.