A sharp-eyed LinkedIn user has spotted an interesting change in Microsoft’s Xbox leadership that for some reason seems to have gone mostly unnoticed.
Back in December 2019, Microsoft quietly rehired its former marketing director Jerret West, this time to fill the role of Chief Marketing Officer. During the days of the Xbox 360, West quickly worked his way up the ranks at Microsoft, where he began as Lead Marketing Manager for the Xbox, moved on to the position of Global Product Manager, and finally served as Director of Marketing for nearly three years. In that role, West handled the creation and execution of the Xbox 360’s global marketing strategy for Xbox LIVE subscriptions.
In 2011, after successfully helping to grow the subscriber base and establish the service in 26 countries, West left Microsoft, moved on to a brief stint at American Express, and ultimately ended up working at Netflix for seven years as Head of Marketing for various regions around the world.
Now Jerret has returned to Microsoft in a new role that encompasses all marketing activity for the company. In other words, he oversees the team that develops marketing strategies for all Xbox games, consoles, accessories, and services like Xbox Game Pass and Xbox LIVE. This move will hopefully only bring positive things for Microsoft and the Xbox Series X in the years to come. Many consumers have found Microsoft’s marketing strategies for the past several years to pale when compared to Sony’s promotion of the PS4.
Gamers are already discussing the news on Reddit and speculating about what it could mean for the Xbox Series X. Some are hoping West’s return to Microsoft as head of marketing will result in a focus on more exclusive titles for the upcoming console, which many people have seen as a shortcoming of the Xbox One since its launch. Others are hoping West will bring some of his experience from Netflix and introduce innovative features to the Xbox Series X, such as screen sharing for a select audience rather than having to publicly stream on Mixer.
West’s return to the company seems to coincide with Microsoft’s apparent determination to ensure that the Xbox Series X has both a successful launch and life cycle. The company seems focused on emphasizing cross-platform integration with its Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, offering backward compatibility even for original Xbox games, and focusing on subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, which is essentially Netflix for video games.
Source: LinkedIn