The 56-year-old CEO of Microsoft Gaming, who has been the company since 2001, oversaw the axing of roughly 1,900 jobs at Xbox's recently-acquired developer Activision Blizzard King.

Now, Spencer has commented on the job losses at the 'Call of Duty' developer, and how the gaming business – which has seen mass lay-offs recently - may have become stagnant.

When Polygon asked if the job losses were a reflection of the industry as a whole or more pertained to Xbox's future, he said: "It’s a little bit of both, but I’ll say the thing that has me most concerned for the industry is the lack of growth.

"And when you have an industry that is projected to be smaller next year in terms of players and dollars, and you get a lot of publicly traded companies that are in the industry that have to show their investors growth — because why else does somebody own a share of someone’s stock if it’s not going to grow? — the side of the business that then gets scrutinized is the cost side. Because if you’re not going to grow the revenue side, then the cost side becomes challenged."

The Xbox head, who was present at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, emphasised the industry needed to find stability again in order to protect other workers from losing their jobs.

He explained: "Just across the industry — you mentioned it, and in sitting here at GDC, I reflect on friends of mine in the industry that have been displaced and lost their jobs and how just, I don’t want this industry to be a place where people can’t, with confidence, build a career.

"So that’s why I keep pivoting back to: How does this industry get back to growth?"