John Friend, Head of Xbox Gaming Consumer Products, on understanding fans – and listening to creatives

John, it’s great to connect. To kick us off, what did your path into licensing look like?
I’ll give you two answers – one is the more spiritual answer, and one is the practical answer! The spiritual answer is that my parents took me to a football game when I was seven years old and the place was electric. I was hooked and became a fan. So if I look back at what lights me up and why I am still in this career and loving it… It goes back to that moment of being a fan. In this business, we have the opportunity to touch fans, energise fans, move fans and create lifelong memories. That’s amazing.

Brilliant. And the practical answer?
I started in finance, but I didn’t like banking because it was all about money and that didn’t fill me up. I ended up in business development at Cartoon Network. My good friend had just started as the General Manager there and he asked me to look at this thing called licensing and try to figure it out. I thought it was cool, and I’ve loved it ever since… But it all comes back that feeling of being a fan.

We’re going to discuss several great partnerships for Xbox brands, but what makes a successful creative collaboration for you?
The starting point is understanding and being thoughtful about what the brand DNA is. Why does the brand matter to someone on a deep level? In gaming, that’s not just about representing a character or story but engaging with why people play as that character or enjoy being in that world. Ultimately, you need that understanding in order to connect with a fan.

The second thing is to listen. I love listening to the people who are most engaged with our games and those involved with creatively making our games. I credit a lot of our success with Xbox brands to the fact we have open ears. We listen to our partners and their designers, and to our own video game creators and writers. That’s where you find the nuggets that connect with people on a different level.

“It’s not just about representing a character or story, but engaging with why people enjoy being in that world.”

The third thing is that we invest in it. We have built and maintained a fantastic team of creatives and product development specialists who understand everything from manufacturing, product design, packaging design… Some of them are artists, some of them are cosplayers. If we want to energise fans, you have to deliver something they’ll love. That comes from engaging with creativity in a serious way.

You have a lot of brands and a lot of games. Do you play the games? Does that help you do the job?
Across my team, I know who plays which type of game. So, if it’s not a gaming community I’m personally plugged into, I know who to check in with – because it’s vital. Everything from the meta of a game to what’s happening in the latest season of Diablo… You’ve got to know that if you’re going to bring it to life.

We did a glow-in-the-dark shirt as part of the announcement for a new Spiritborn class in Diablo IV. It’s kind of goofy and we didn’t invent glow-in-the-dark, but it’s right for that character and franchise. It’s green, it’s rad, it’s dark, and very different from where Diablo IV started – which was blood red all the time. Now that happens to be a game I like a lot, but there are a few people on my team who have multiple level 100 characters every season.

That said, you don’t always want to go too ‘insider baseball’, but some fans are fans on a broader level. Look at EXG’s Cable Guys. The Halo Master Chief Cable Guy has been one of their top selling characters consistently – it’s been amazing. That’s a case where we had to take the game seriously, but not literally… Master Chief would not hang out in that pose, holding your phone or controller – I’m sorry!

We had to know the game well enough, to know how and when we didn’t have to take it literally. So, there is a balance to be struck, but if you don’t check in with those players who are passionate about it, you haven’t done your homework.

There are plenty of popular video game brands that don’t thrive in licensing. What gives a game ‘brand potential’?
I feel lucky to work on a portfolio like ours. From the heritage of Warcraft through to gems like Banjo-Kazooie… I see unbridled enthusiasm in our partners around the chance to be creative with our characters. Some of it’s proactive and some of it’s reactive. Some of the coolest products have come from partners coming to us and saying: “I love the idea of this – have you ever thought about it?”

What guides how you identify opportunities for your brands?
It centres on knowing the audience, and meeting the audience where they are. That comes from thinking about why people play certain games. There are games people play to be competitive. There are games people play to chill out. You’ve got to understand the psychological motivation. So, whenever I look at an idea for a property, I always ask: What’s the why? If you can combine the ‘why’ with some thoughtful analysis around ‘who?’, that gets you to interesting places.

“We listen to our partners and their designers, and to our own video game creators and writers.”

One of the products I’m most proud of recently is the Xbox 360 construction set we did with Mega Construx. We’ve worked with Mega for 15 years, a lot of that purely on Halo. They were visiting our offices and we sat down to look at who is buying these products, and it was adult collectors. We’d been looking at these as great toys, but a lot of these consumers were using them less for play and more for display. We also identified that they had fond memories of when they first got into Halo, but they also had fond memories of when they first got into gaming… That led us to turning our attention to the Xbox 360 itself. It came from knowing the audience and respecting who was engaging with the product.

Yes, I suppose people have just as much of an emotional connection to the console or the controller as they do with the games. The console’s ‘start-up sound’ might be just as iconic a brand element as the Xbox logo.
Look at the Xbox controller cake we did with Finsbury Food Group. It still sells! We looked at that through the lens of taking your love of gaming and sharing it with your loved ones.

And you’re right, there will be emotions tied to when you turn on the Xbox and hear that sound. The question is, how do we physicalise that feeling? Do you remember the classic blades dashboard Xbox had before the UI and the system evolved?

I do!
That’s super evocative. We could take that visual language to soft goods and do some fun there. I’m totally with you.

Both the cake and the Mega Construx set are good examples of creative, somewhat ‘left field’ launches. How do you navigate those types of products to ensure they bend a brand rather than break it?
We look at where we are in the lifecycle of a game or franchise. There are times we have to take a character or franchise more literally, because the ‘camera is zoomed in’ on them more than other brands. Big launch moments, especially around new games, is where we have to be a little bit more literal. Then there are other times we can pan out and be more playful. It all comes down to timing and where fans are on a brand’s journey.

That said, we’re not afraid to poke fun at ourselves with the fans. Look at the Xbox Mini Fridge we did. Internally, we had spoken about how the Xbox Series X looked a little like a fridge. We were on the path of developing a Mini Fridge – we had identified a partner and started work on design… And then the meme blew up!

Yes, lots of fans online were making the fridge comparison – and then you made it a reality!
Why would we not lean into that, it was amazing. The Mini Fridge is the single highest selling SKU I have ever worked on. It’s insane and keeps selling. Yes, fans can be very protective of things, but they also appreciate it when you laugh along with them.

It’s the same with things like the Halo Cookbook I imagine. You can be playful with ‘serious’ brands in a way that doesn’t diminish them.
Exactly. And there are places when you want to do things like that and places where you don’t. If something is a key part of a story, you don’t want to mess with that.

And there’s been examples where we’ve failed. With Mega, at one point in time, we designed vehicles for Halo sets that we felt would be cool for that universe, but that hadn’t actually appeared in the game. Fans said ‘No thank you’… That was a case where the fanbase wanted us to be more literal.

Fascinating. Now, are there any other launches you would point to as being good examples of how creative partners can be with your brands?
There’s a lot – you love all your children!

“I feel lucky to work on a portfolio like ours.”

One is relatively small, but I’m really proud of. We launched a shirt in conjunction with The Coalition highlighting Gears of War after the Xbox showcase this year. It’s a collaboration with an artist that The Coalition loves and has worked with a number of times – a great artist named Luke Preece. We suspected it would go well, but it sold out insanely fast. The material and shape of the garment was steered by knowing who Gears fans are – it’s not a generic black shirt. And Luke’s design was great – it’s very evocative of the themes and underlying brand DNA of Gears. I loved it.

The other one I wanted to highlight is more high-end – a Pip-Boy replica that Bethesda developed in conjunction with The Wand Company. It’s insane; it truly brings it to life. You can actually listen to radio stations from the Wasteland. It’s so faithful to the universe, it’s awesome and genuinely innovative.

John, this has been great. Before we wrap up, are there any brands in your portfolio that you feel are still relatively untapped or underrated licensing-wise?
It’s an easy answer – Call of Duty. Look at the scale and impact of that brand with fans, year after year… The launches are massive and it’s globally popular – across different devices. It’s popped up in a few interesting ways in consumer products over the years, but there’s a gap there that I want to explore. It has untapped potential.

Good pick! Last question, what helps you have ideas?
There are three things that spark ideas for me. One is shopping. I love going to physical stores and if I leave the US, I love going to see what people are buying and seeing at different stores. The other thing is playing video games, and the last one is sports. I’m an avid consumer of sports. I go to games; I buy the stuff. The deepest way I could engage with the fan journey is by engaging with my own fandom.

Thanks again John.