Xbox One DRM/online controversy "hurt me personally" says Phil Spencer

Last summer's Xbox One DRM/online controversy "hurt me personally," new Head of Xbox Phil Spencer told Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb during his latest podcast. The reason why he was so intimately affected was because he said he knows Microsoft builds products "for the right reasons" and Microsoft could have done more to better communicate this last year.

"I believe in why this company builds products. It's one of the reasons why the whole thing around last summer with Xbox kind of hurt me personally so much," Spencer said. "Because I know we build Xbox for the right reasons. We didn't completely communicate it the right way; some of the decisions maybe didn't land or weren't the right decisions and we changed some of those. But this a company that has the resources to really do things that change the world."

Spencer has since acknowledged that some of the Xbox One policy decisions announced last summer (and later reversed) were "wrong." Microsoft drew significant debate for its controversial 24-hour check-in system and used-game stance.

Spencer's comments came in response to a question regarding why he has stayed with Microsoft for so long. He said he's energized by working at Microsoft because the company has "both the resources and the ambition to change the world." Spencer joined Microsoft as an intern out of college and has worked at Microsoft for the past 26 years.

Also during the podcast, Spencer teased that Microsoft has major plans for PC gaming in the future.

"On the PC space specifically right now, we're doing some PC-specific work that I'm really excited about," he said. "We're probably still months away from showing it in any major way. But it's nice to see us getting back to our roots at Microsoft Studios because we started as a PC developer."

Last week, Microsoft released Halo: Spartan Assault for PC via Steam, marking the iconic franchise's debut on Valve's marketplace.