Microsoft promotes Xbox chief in sign games are big deal again
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[SEATTLE] Microsoft's head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, got a promotion and a spot on chief executive officer Satya Nadella's senior leadership team in a nod to the renewed importance of gaming at the software giant.
Mr Spencer, now an executive vice president, previously reported to Windows division head Terry Myerson, who has a seat on Mr Nadella's council of chiefs.
The group meets weekly and is comprised of the tier of executives directly below the CEO.
It's a change in focus from earlier in Mr Nadella's tenure.
In 2014, in his first big companywide strategy memo, Mr Nadella defined gaming as outside Microsoft's core businesses, but still a very important "other business in which we can have fundamental impact".
At the time, the business had just gone through a lackluster release of the overpriced Xbox One and some investors were calling for Mr Nadella to get out of gaming entirely.
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Since then, Mr Spencer has cut prices and introduced new models, stabilising Xbox sales which topped US$9 billion last year. Microsoft's purchase of the wildly popular Minecraft video game three years ago has also proven to be a success.
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