From left: Tim Stuart, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s Xbox; Phil Spencer, chief executive officer of Microsoft’s gaming business; and Amy Hood, chief financial officer of Microsoft, arrive in a San Francisco courtroom on June 29, 2023 .
David Paul Morris | David Paul Morris Bloomberg | Getty Images
microsoft Treasurer advised staff not to “build golden toilets” at a meeting in 2018, according to emails about the software maker’s plans that emerged during a federal court hearing last month Activision Blizzard get.
This quip might reference a 2016 social media saying (snoops proved wrong) Former President Donald Trump owns a solid gold toilet. Rapper MC Hammer It is said did too. Whatever its inspiration, this reference seems to emphasize the potential of highly valued tech companies simply because they can build products, ignoring the possibility that they won’t resonate with many customers.
“What Amy said at the fall meeting still rings in my ears – ‘Don’t build a golden toilet,'” VP Catherine Gluckstein sent Microsoft Gaming CEO Filipino in February 2019. in an email from Phil Spencer. Gluckstein works in advertising and a cloud-based game streaming service (formerly known as xCloud).
A Microsoft spokesman declined to elaborate on Hood’s remarks.
Just before the toilet comments, Gluckstein mentioned Microsoft’s plans to test xCloud with consumers. She noted that it’s not clear to her what Microsoft is trying to determine through testing, and how the feature fits with Xbox’s go-to-market strategy.
“I’ve made this mistake in far too many products, and I’m sure others have, because we’ve built features before answering the core question,” Gluckstein wrote.
In his reply, Spencer wrote that mobile gamers don’t necessarily want to play hardcore games like Halo on their phones while using an Xbox controller via Bluetooth.
“This is creating golden seats for our existing TAMs,” Spencer wrote. “It doesn’t help us grow.”
Spencer added that maybe Microsoft should stop what it’s doing and start acquiring intellectual property and publishing mobile games, or it could buy mobile game publishers like Nexon.
When Gluckstein responded, she wondered if Microsoft could explore smaller forms of internal development.
“It strikes me that we probably should have done multiple experiments with ‘ceramic toilets’ (on a smaller scale and more scrappy), but instead we’re trying to run one perfect experiment,” Gluckstein writes. “Is this the A better way to get rid of the ‘guessing’? Are we forcing ourselves to understand the customer’s why fast enough?”
Microsoft advanced xCloud Beta testing in late 2019. But during five days of court hearings in June, Microsoft executives testified that xCloud (now known as Xbox Cloud Gaming) had failed to become a viable alternative to PCs or Microsoft’s Xbox consoles because the games needed to be played on PCs or Microsoft Xbox consoles. On board. Can be run locally.earlier this year Google Shut down Stadia, its game streaming service.
Microsoft hasn’t given up on cloud gaming. But it has also chosen to grow through deals. Last year, the company announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard, maker of the hit mobile game Candy Crush Saga, for $68.7 billion. A federal judge will decide whether Microsoft can complete the deal despite the FTC’s objections. British regulators are also trying to block it.
Read Spencer and Gluckstein’s email about Hood’s “Golden Toilet” review.
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