If you subscribe to Game Pass or are obsessed with Xbox achievements, you should be familiar with the work of Chris Novak.
The head of Xbox research and design is leaving the company after nearly 20 years. Novak has led user experience research and design for over five years, having previously served as Xbox Design Director and Xbox Design Architect. In these roles, Novak is responsible for user experience for many of the company’s biggest projects, including Xbox Game Pass, as well as cloud gaming and Xbox Live.
“Microsoft has always been my place to learn in the melting pot of games, from the best industries in the world,” Novak told Polygon. “I have to see it in the best of times and the worst of times. And that learning process, I cherish very much.”
Chris Novak leaf blowing stickers from the wall Photo: Chris Novak
Novak took over Microsoft’s Xbox research and design, a turning point for the company and its flagship console. When the Xbox One launched in 2013, Microsoft’s marketing strategy failed: the Xbox 360 succeeded in reaching a major gaming audience, but Microsoft wanted the Xbox One to be a complete entertainment system. The Xbox One reveal was a notorious disaster, focused on everything but video games. Microsoft quickly realized it had to win back gamers, but it never completely abandoned the entertainment platform.
Nowak became head of Xbox research and design after Microsoft made a public push for the idea of Xbox focusing primarily on video games. While consoles are still important, an even more exciting idea for Xbox leaders is the freedom to play Xbox games across different devices, starting with the launch of Xbox Play Anywhere, which lets players play on Windows PCs or consoles Visit the game.
Xbox leader Phil Spencer came up with a unique idea: Gamers should be able to play anywhere using the Xbox ecosystem. After PC, Xbox leadership focused on bringing Xbox to mobile via cloud streaming. Novak noted that Microsoft’s touch adapter kit for Xbox cloud gaming was a particularly proud moment in his career at the company.
Gotham Racing Project 2Image: Bizarre Creations, Ltd./Microsoft Game Studios
“How big is the challenge when you’re trying to build the experience of an entire game on a device that was never designed for? That’s the challenge at hand,” Novak said. “As part of the xCloud work, we spent a lot of time tracking this down with the xCloud engineers and making sure all the technology allowed us to render this output to any device. […] That was one of my proudest moments. ”
Another feature he likes to review is the Xbox’s photo mode and achievements. Xbox Live initially launched with a limit of only five achievements.Nowak and his team realized Gotham Racing Project 2 These achievements reinforce Microsoft’s philosophy that different play styles are acceptable.exist Gotham Racing Project 2most people want to win races and run fast, but some players want to take storefront photos and explore the environment; the various achievements reinforce the idea of doing things your own way, something Novak and company have been doing for decades The mantra that has always been there.
“Achieving that balance is an ongoing challenge.”
Novak’s biggest challenge, he said, was balancing experimental changes with making players comfortable. “It’s very easy to build something new but not better,” Novak said. “And most people want their gaming experience to be comfortable, familiar and fast. It should connect them to what they want as quickly as possible, and every time you do something new, you might ask them to use Different buttons or thinking about different processes. They might get frustrated with it.”
Image: Microsoft
“Achieving that balance is an ongoing challenge,” Novak continued.
Novak said he left Microsoft to take a vacation and readjust his life. After losing a close person three years ago, Novak said he wanted to find time to learn new things. He won’t jump to the new company right away.
“I’m going to be at Xbox for 20 years,” Novak said. “For me, some really exciting things coming out of Xbox will be dedicated to working on there for years. It’s going to be amazing. But am I going to commit? Satisfied with the product? Do I really need to go out on my own and continue my own learning journey and try something else? If I don’t do it now, when will I do it?”
