How HoloLens and backward compatibility fit into Xbox’s grand strategy

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
June 18, 2015
Updated June 18, 2025
11 min

LOS ANGELES — Shannon Loftis has had a long career making games for Microsoft, from the original Xbox to a variety of Kinect releases. She also managed the now-defunct Microsoft TV business, Xbox Entertainment Studios, and she is now the head of publishing for Microsoft Studios, the game division at Microsoft.

Loftis reports directly to Phil Spencer, head of the games business at Microsoft, and she talked to us 1-on-1 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo industry tradeshow in Los Angeles, where Microsoft on Monday talked about how it will make Xbox 360 games playable on the newer Xbox One video game console.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.