Microsoft Shakes Up Xbox Marketing as Key Exec Departs for Roblox

Microsoft is facing yet another significant shift in its Xbox division. Jerret West, the Xbox Chief Marketing Officer, will be leaving Microsoft at the end of the month to join Roblox as their new CMO and head of market expansion. This news was confirmed by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an internal memo to Xbox employees, obtained by The Verge.

A Storied Career at Microsoft and Beyond

Jerret West has had a notable career at Microsoft, spanning two significant stints. After spending eight years on the Xbox marketing side, he left in 2011, eventually joining Netflix as head of marketing for seven years. West returned to Microsoft in late 2019, just in time to lead the marketing efforts for the launch of the Xbox Series S and X consoles. Under his leadership, Xbox saw the expansion of Game Pass to over 80 countries and grew its social universe to 120 million followers.

Major Marketing Restructuring at Xbox

West’s departure has triggered a major reshuffle within Microsoft’s marketing teams. The company is moving to place marketing closer to the businesses they support. This reorganization will result in a new expanded central gaming marketing team under Kirsten Ward, VP of Xbox integrated marketing.

Here’s a breakdown of the new structure:

• Games Marketing will now sit inside the game content and studios division, led by Matt Booty.

• Xbox Marketing will move to the Xbox organization, reporting to Xbox president Sarah Bond.

• International Marketing will be part of the Consumer Sales Organization, under Ami Silverman.

Phil Spencer noted, “We’re fortunate to have a deep bench of talent and experience, and I’m excited to see how our marketing will evolve under their leadership.”

The Broader Context of Changes

This is the second significant Xbox executive resignation this year. In early April, Kareem Choudhry, former head of Xbox emerging tech, left Microsoft. His departure also resulted in a shake-up, with his team moving to the Xbox hardware side and the creation of a new Xbox experiences and platforms team.

These changes come just eight months after a significant overhaul of Xbox leadership. Microsoft promoted Sarah Bond to Xbox president, overseeing all Xbox platform and hardware work, and Matt Booty to president of game content and studios, including oversight of Bethesda and ZeniMax studios.

Phil Spencer’s Memo to Xbox Employees

Here is the full memo from Phil Spencer:

I have some news to share with all of you: Jerret West, who has served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Xbox for four and a half years, will be leaving Microsoft to join Roblox as their new CMO and Head of Market Expansion. His last day will be June 30th.

On behalf of Team Xbox, I’d like to thank Jerret for everything he accomplished. During his time here, Jerret was instrumental in launching and growing communities like our Xbox social universe to 120M followers strong, and product expansion like Game Pass which is now available in more than 80 countries worldwide. He oversaw the creation and delivery of global marketing campaigns for numerous games, platforms (console, PC, cloud) and brand moments such as this year’s momentous Xbox Games Showcase. Roblox is an important partner for Xbox, and we look forward to working with Jerret and the Roblox team to connect more people around the world through the power of play.

As a team we are committed to growing the strong marketing capability in Gaming. Going forward, the Gaming Leadership Team and I have decided to place marketing closer to the businesses they support. Games marketing will sit inside of Studios, Xbox marketing will sit inside the Xbox team, international marketing will sit inside of the Consumer Sales Org, and our centralized marketing team will report to me. The following organizational changes will be effective on July 1st:

• The Integrated Marketing team led by Kirsten Ward and the Programming and Events team led by Tina Summerford will come together as an expanded Central Gaming Marketing team under Kirsten, who will report to me as a member of the Gaming Executive Leadership Team. Chief of staff Pav Bhardwaj and executive assistant Kim Nold will report to Kirsten.

• The Bethesda Publishing Marketing team, led by Erin Losi, will move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt Booty.

• The 1P Games Marketing Team including Xbox Game Studios and Mojang, led by Aaron Greenberg, will also move to Game Content and Studios, reporting to Matt.

• The Xbox Marketing team, led by Chris Lee, will move to the Xbox Org, reporting to Sarah Bond.

• The International Marketing team, led by Jim McMullin and Florian Liewer, will move to the Consumer Sales Org, reporting to Ami Silverman.

• The Bethesda International Marketing team, led by Adam Carter, will also move to the Consumer Sales Org. Adam will be taking on a new role leading Business Operations at Bethesda, reporting to Jill Braff. The Consumer Sales Org will work on backfilling his role and share more at a later date.

We’re fortunate to have a deep bench of talent and experience, and I’m excited to see how our marketing will evolve under their leadership.

What’s Next for Xbox?

With these changes, Microsoft aims to streamline its marketing efforts and ensure they are more closely aligned with their respective business units. This strategic move may help Xbox maintain its competitive edge in a rapidly evolving gaming landscape.

Stay tuned to Kushal Bharat Tech News for more updates on this developing story and other significant shifts in the tech world.