“Xbox is dead!” the headlines and pundits cry, but if you actually play on Xbox, you’ll know that’s not the case. In a new interview with Fortune Magazine, Ruth Umoh talks with Xbox President Sarah Bond, in an conversation spanning her career journey and of course, Xbox. One segment that caught my ear is when asked about the changes going on in the industry – and at Xbox – Sarah Bond acknowledges ‘Changing is hard‘ for Xbox fans.
It’s a wide-ranging interview that covers plenty of Xbox President Sarah Bond’s early days at McKinsey and T-Mobile, why she worked in consulting and how she ended up at Xbox.
When asked by Ruth about the ‘resistance’ that comes along with these new changes, Sarah shared some additional thoughts, saying – “One of the things that is so true about Xbox is it’s a brand that people have counted on now for almost 25 years. We’re coming up to the 25-year anniversary. And people who play Xbox love Xbox. Our players deeply care about what Xbox is. It has a ton of meaning for them. And so changing it is hard, where you know that there are things that are coming in the future that you need to invest in that help ensure the long-term health and growth of the brand.
She continued, “But you also know that there are players who really love what it is right now. And the number one way that we talk about this as a team, you say, recognize that people love what we do, and that’s why you get so much passion. That’s why we get so much feedback. And then listen to that feedback and continually incorporate it into what we’re doing so that we’re sure that we’re investing in the things that people love now, but also that we know that people are gonna love in the future. And then relentlessly look at the core metrics of the health of the business – How many people are playing? What are our hours of play? What are people buying? What are people subscribing to?” And so listening to both what people say, but also what they do and how they behave, because we’re continuously making the change, and then adjust and learn along the way.
How do you feel about the changes Xbox fans have gone through as Xbox evolved the business? Do you agree with Sarah’s thoughts here?
Let us know in the XboxEra Forums or make some noise in the lively XboxEra Community Discord Server. If you’re looking to be a bigger part of an amazing community, then either choice is a good one!
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