Phil Spencer at this month's DICE Awards for Lifetime Achievement Award
The 25th annual DICE Awards will take place later this month, and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced that Xbox Head Phil Spencer will be receiving the prestigious AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award.
Presenting the award to Spencer is Todd Howard, an industry celebrity and fellow Microsoft alumni who joined the company in 2019 through the acquisition of Spencer-led Bethesda Game Studios and its parent company ZeniMax Media. In the announcement of the winners, AIAS summarized Phil’s history in the gaming industry, including the new role of Microsoft Gaming CEO and the many studios he brought to the Xbox family.
“Phil Spencer was appointed CEO of Microsoft Gaming in January 2022 and has spent more than 30 years in technology and entertainment leading global business, creative and engineering teams. Since joining Microsoft as an intern in 1988, Spencer has been Senior Vice President of Gaming. , including the head of Xbox, corporate vice president of Microsoft Studios, and general manager of EMEA at Microsoft Game Studios.
In his role at Microsoft, Spencer has led the Xbox organization through several console releases including the Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox One S All Digital Edition, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. multiple acquisitions including Mojang (parent of Minecraft), Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Compulsion Games, Obsidian Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and ZeniMax Media (parent of Bethesda Softworks); Influenced global entertainment franchises including Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and Xbox Game Studios Publishing. He also led the expansion of cross-platform gaming through the Xbox Network, investment in a subscription business model through Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft’s adoption of Xbox Cloud Gaming. With his team and colleagues, Spencer continues to push the boundaries of creativity, innovation and fun across genres, audiences and devices.”
The list of achievements is long and most of it has been done over the past few years. AIAS describes the Lifetime Achievement Award as “an award given to an individual who has achieved a wide range of achievements over a long career in the industry” and does not necessarily require an individual to be directly involved in development. With a strong focus on console hardware, a flexible ecosystem that spans Xbox, PC and mobile, and popular services like Xbox Game Pass, Phil Spencer can be said to have been very influential in the direction Xbox is leading this generation.
“Phil Spencer has demonstrated both passion and leadership throughout his career at Microsoft,” said Meggan Scavio, AIAS President. He is responsible for numerous influential and pivotal initiatives that have resonated throughout the gaming industry.” This award was previously awarded to Minoru Arakawa, Howard Lincoln, Ken Kutaragi, Doug Lowenstein, Ving Gordon, Satoru Iwata and Kenyo Takeda. There is a bar.
The 25th DICE Awards will be held on February 24th at 8pm.
