Xbox boss Phil Spencer got pretty candid at the Paley International Council Summit in California, saying that protecting creativity is important to the gaming giant but that it hasn't been the best at doing that as of late.
During the moderated discussion with Double Fine head Tim Schafer (via PC Gamer), Spencer expressed how valuable it is for not just game companies but the media industry writ large to shield the creative teams that pour their hearts and souls into the work they produce.
"The creativity of the teams is, in my mind, the most important thing and the thing that we need to protect and foster," Spencer said.
Not long after saying this, Spencer noted that Xbox hasn't always safeguarded the creative talent behind its biggest and best games. The sentiment was expressed in the context of internet criticism, but Spencer still admitted that Xbox--and maybe the whole media industry--doesn't protect its workers when it should.
"I think it's the most brave thing a team can do, whether you're making a movie or a television show, to go and put something out for the internet to evaluate, judge and comment on," Spencer said. "Sometimes I scratch my head on why anybody wants to go do that, because the internet's not always a nice place for the discourse around things that have been created, but nurturing and protecting creative teams that want to go take risks. We don't always succeed at that, but I think it is kind of the root of any media industry, the creative nugget."
This is true if you look at the recent evidence. In January 2024, Xbox eliminated about 1,900 jobs following the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Over a year later, in May 2025, the company laid off roughly 7,000 people in response to the "dynamic marketplace." And in July 2025, Xbox cut some 9,000 people, canceling a slew of games and closing an assortment of studios. Despite these slashes to its workforce, the company still reached a $4 trillion valuation at the end of July. An October 2025 Bloomberg report suggested that the mountainous profit goals Xbox has for itself are doing far more harm than good, and I suppose that makes sense when you cut nearly 18,000 of your workers within the year.
Still, Schafer explained that, after Xbox bought Double Fine in 2019, the California studio has maintained its creative independence because of that Xbox money.
"When we talked about becoming acquired, it was a big thing for me, like, 'How do we keep our culture intact?'" Schafer said. "And everyone was like, 'No, we really want you to stay who you are.' And that's been true all these years … You know, creatively, we can be like, 'Hey, we want to make this game about a walking lighthouse,' and [Xbox is] like, 'Cool. Sounds cool.'"
That game, Keeper, is doing pretty well critically for both Double Fine and Xbox. We awarded it a 9/10 in our Keeper review, with critic Steve Watts calling it "a visual feast, a tone poem, an exploration of movement mechanics, [and] a fable about the world and what we owe to it."
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During the moderated discussion with Double Fine head Tim Schafer (via PC Gamer), Spencer expressed how valuable it is for not just game companies but the media industry writ large to shield the creative teams that pour their hearts and souls into the work they produce.
"The creativity of the teams is, in my mind, the most important thing and the thing that we need to protect and foster," Spencer said.
Not long after saying this, Spencer noted that Xbox hasn't always safeguarded the creative talent behind its biggest and best games. The sentiment was expressed in the context of internet criticism, but Spencer still admitted that Xbox--and maybe the whole media industry--doesn't protect its workers when it should.
"I think it's the most brave thing a team can do, whether you're making a movie or a television show, to go and put something out for the internet to evaluate, judge and comment on," Spencer said. "Sometimes I scratch my head on why anybody wants to go do that, because the internet's not always a nice place for the discourse around things that have been created, but nurturing and protecting creative teams that want to go take risks. We don't always succeed at that, but I think it is kind of the root of any media industry, the creative nugget."
This is true if you look at the recent evidence. In January 2024, Xbox eliminated about 1,900 jobs following the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Over a year later, in May 2025, the company laid off roughly 7,000 people in response to the "dynamic marketplace." And in July 2025, Xbox cut some 9,000 people, canceling a slew of games and closing an assortment of studios. Despite these slashes to its workforce, the company still reached a $4 trillion valuation at the end of July. An October 2025 Bloomberg report suggested that the mountainous profit goals Xbox has for itself are doing far more harm than good, and I suppose that makes sense when you cut nearly 18,000 of your workers within the year.
Still, Schafer explained that, after Xbox bought Double Fine in 2019, the California studio has maintained its creative independence because of that Xbox money.
"When we talked about becoming acquired, it was a big thing for me, like, 'How do we keep our culture intact?'" Schafer said. "And everyone was like, 'No, we really want you to stay who you are.' And that's been true all these years … You know, creatively, we can be like, 'Hey, we want to make this game about a walking lighthouse,' and [Xbox is] like, 'Cool. Sounds cool.'"
That game, Keeper, is doing pretty well critically for both Double Fine and Xbox. We awarded it a 9/10 in our Keeper review, with critic Steve Watts calling it "a visual feast, a tone poem, an exploration of movement mechanics, [and] a fable about the world and what we owe to it."
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