• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sony Wants To Grow PlayStation By Making Xbox Smaller, Phil Spencer Says

Spider-Man himself isn't an inherent flex either.

It is true that Spider-Man and Marvel IP generally have a higher ceiling for gaming than Indiana Jones ever will. It's also true that IP has a very low floor in gaming, no matter what it is. After years of bad licensing conceived as money grabs, people are conditioned to stay as far away from IP games if they're anything less than great. The branding is actually much more likely to hurt the game than help it. As recently proven with The Avengers apocalyptic failure, despite being developed by a studio that had recently released 2 blockbuster Tomb Raider title; and with Guardians of The Galaxy. A decent game that wasn't good enough to supercede its poor marketing and Avengers' bad leftover taste.

Ironically, Insomniac's Spider-Man proves why true blue exclusives are good for the industry. It's not a juggernaut because of the brand. Many Spider-Man games before it outright flopped, despite some of them being decent games. The money, time, tools and guidance Sony provided to Insomniac, who wouldn't have had access to the IP without PlayStation going to them after being approached by Marvel, summed up to a high quality game that otherwise wouldn't have existed in the same form.

And remember: Marvel didn't just go to Sony about licensing their IP. They also went to Microsoft, who turned them down. Also note that the only reason Xbox now has Indiana Jones coming its way exclusively is because Microsoft gobbled up Bethesda.

Appreciate your response, but what matters more the ceiling or the floor? I'd hazard that Indiana Jones' ceiling is closer to Spider-Man's floor than it is Spider-Man's ceiling.

I agree with you that exclusives are good for the industry though.

Did Bethesda already have a deal for Indiana Jones? What's the history behind that?
 

Venom Snake

Member
0iuu3u.jpg

q4b7i9.jpg
 

Amiga

Member
Phil was the one making Xbox smaller for many years. Talks a lot but produces little.
All his efforts were waisted on turning games into services and locking them behind the MS paywall. They realize they can never achieve that with original games and need to takeaway the biggest established franchises they can.
 

Unknown?

Member
A year maybe before but sony keeps pushing and pushing. Still dont see ff7 r on the xbox thats been a year or kena.

Hard to money hat a game not in development. They got deathloop, ghost wire tokyo and about to close star field. If sony wants to money hat like that i don't have issues with Microsoft fighting back buying publishers.

Lmao, those Bethesda games were never staying exclusive and the FF7 reference is an anomaly, not the norm.

I bet you believed Phil when he said he was bringing more options when all he was doing is removing options and putting it on their shitty streaming services.
 

Venom Snake

Member
The cringe is unbearable over there lately.

That's the difference between these groups. PlayStation leaders, such as Mark Cerny are nerds and embrace it. Xbox leaders are nerds that are desperately trying to look cool, which just makes it worse.

And, Nintendo is just unapologetically weird.

Meanwhile at Nintendo:
szvljr.jpg


And that's why i love them the most. :messenger_heart:
 
They have the same library 3rd party wise minus a few exclusive here and there. Sony outclassed them in first party content. What is Phil even talking about here? Sony made them small by making great games from their own in house studios? Phil Spencers act is slipping. Microsoft as a whole are looking very jealous and bitter about sonys success with the PS brand.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
Look...

The most comparable acquisition Sony did vs Bethesda, ABK is Bungie.

I think we all know Bungie wanted to stay multi platform after any acquisitions, I assume it was a stipulation as part of the acquisition. Sony made sure to let it be known Bungie will stay multi platform.

Going by what Phil said.....why did Sony make the deal with Bungie...and MS didnt....knowing Bungie wanted to stay multi platform.....

......no one held a gun to Sony's head to make the deal....

But yet MS decides to spend 80 billion on Bethesda, ABK...and already announce some Bethesda games being exclusive....that before the deal there was a good chance they woulda been coming to Playstation.
And dealing with all the other drama Activision has was gonna be much more of a headache vs Bungie.

Phil plz.

The more he talks in regards to this acquisition, the worse he looks. Exclusives are a part of gaming, its fine. But this woe is me, please help us little guys act is tiring and sad.
 
Last edited:

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
You have 20 studios and tons of IPs. You are trying to buy up storied 3rd party IPs that are decades and decades old. It is MS that are trying to make PlayStation smaller.

But keep pouring fuel on the console war fire, Phil. Mr. "I don't like console wars."

And didn't they announce the other day they were going to be less chatty? Just can't help themselves. Reminds me of certain posters in the MS/Activision OT that say they're leaving the thread for a few months, and then jump right back in the very next day.
 

DeaDPo0L84

Member
Another point to make is if this was 360 era Xbox they wouldn't feel the need to go out and buy these 3rd party publishers like they're doing cause their 1st party output was consistent.

But because they were so myopic now they have no path forward BUT to gobble up a bunch of hot properties they can throw under the Xbox umbrella. It's the only way they can even have a chance to have power at the table when it comes to bargaining with Sony. Cause Halo/Gears/Forza no longer carry weight in today's timeline like they did in years past.
 

sainraja

Member
Phil’s right. That wasn’t the full quote. He went on to say, Xbox’s vision of gaming is different. Xbox wants the whole industry to grow, giving people more options and access to games.

It’s clear Sony just wants people on PlayStation hardware. Although they have been moving games slowly to PC, and not day one.
If Xbox's vision was "really" different, when they acquired Bethesda, their actions would have shown that. They want Xbox to grow and want Xbox to be the "many" options of play (Console, PC, Streaming) — nothing wrong with that btw, but that is what they are doing, not what you are trying to say. If they really wanted what you are saying, as you are saying it, they would have owned the decision to release their games on any platform. I thought that is what they were about to do when Phil started talking earlier on but it became clear soon enough that it was just word play. If they had done what I thought they were about to do, it would have been a BOLD move and more disruptive than just trying to mirror Netflix in gaming and pushing for streaming as an option. I mean, EA did the Netflix for gaming type of model before them.
 
Last edited:

ProtoByte

Member
Appreciate your response, but what matters more the ceiling or the floor? I'd hazard that Indiana Jones' ceiling is closer to Spider-Man's floor than it is Spider-Man's ceiling.
In this case, the main point of discussion is the ceiling.
Indy's not shabby IP. While I'm not going to pretend it has the same sales potential as Spider-Man, no one can pretend like it can't be a significant asset.

And in any PlayStation has displayed the capacity to reach similar heights with their own internal IP. Microsoft, if anything, has and continues to degrade, IP or otherwise.

But again: Marvel went to Microsoft with the same offer of IP choice. I'm honestly happy he did, because Xbox would likely butcher a character and ensure that another chance isn't afforded for years after the fact, but nobody forced Spencer to turn them down.

Did Bethesda already have a deal for Indiana Jones? What's the history behind that?
The project was announced in January of 2021, between 3-4 months after Microsoft announced the Bethesda purchase. Discussions around the former certainly started many months before the announcement of the latter, and I highly doubt Microsoft, who had turned down much larger IP, had anything to do with them.
 
Last edited:
When will Microsoft learn to just not say anything when the heat is on them? They always make it worse with their ridiculous statements. Just shut the fuck up!
 

Jaybe

Member
This guy sits through the industry’s most watched video game show of the year where Nintendo, Sony, and third parties all take awards and brings absolutely nothing but some Samsung+Xbox promos. You could have dropped a ‘coming 2023’ date for a title, an exact release date for either Redfall, Forza, or Starfield, a new game announcement, fuck, even something on the third party exclusive High on Life coming next week. But no. Complete silence, well complete silence aside for crying about how you’re getting stomped on a podcast of all places.
 

Crayon

Member
The key to this is to what degree they justified the massive outlay for the beth and abk purchases on the grounds of harming one particular competitor.

It's still weird Phil would get this much money. It's like people at ms are buying their own hype that game pass is going to break out by streaming on phones when that's in fact a big maybe.
 
At last some here see what Microsoft is all about : words, words, and fake news . They should have a shot with Trump...
I got a warning a few weeks ago on resetera for comparing shill spender and xbox fanboys to donald trump and that cult of personality.
And that's literally all is, a cult of personality. It's amazing how many ignorant, gullible and naive people will hitch their wagon to someone who just tells them what they want to hear, regardless of how full of shit they obviously are.
 
Exactly. Sony isn’t spending money to keep games off Gamepass for no reason.
So hilarious how people think a company can outbid Microsoft for gamepass content, when Microsoft could buy them 3x over.

Stop It And You GIF




People just cant accept that they suck at creating content or finding new talents. Buying publishers (not timed exclusives or funding new IPs for exclusivity) is a desperate move to get a bigger piece of the marketshare they couldn't get otherwise without taking access to content away from other storefronts.
 
CoD has cross-play.
i wasn't talking about COD. i mean the other 80% of games that can't afford to force PS to stop blocking crossplay on their games. Sony actively blocks crossplay with Xbox users on most games because they don't want you switching consoles or buying skins or whatever on the other system
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
He always was, someone like that will never really admit how manipulative they are... and how he is teaming up with another of the top liars of the gaming industry!!!
eUkLg3Y.jpg

Imagine the lies of Phil + the lies of Todd Howard!

People will call them visionaries, the real word is delusional.
Woah man keep Godd Howard out of this. His touch cured my virginity.
 

SJRB

Gold Member
Getting REAL tired of all the dumb shit coming from Xbox suits lately.

How is there a new Phil Spencer interview like every two days? Why is this guy being interviewed so often and why does he accept all these interviews?

These clowns better carpet-bomb us with 10/10 first party games in 2023 because holy shit, a little less talk and a little more action would be nice.
 

Banjo64

cumsessed
Getting REAL tired of all the dumb shit coming from Xbox suits lately.

How is there a new Phil Spencer interview like every two days? Why is this guy being interviewed so often and why does he accept all these interviews?

These clowns better carpet-bomb us with 10/10 first party games in 2023 because holy shit, a little less talk and a little more action would be nice.
It’s gunna be Starfield (which will be 10/10) but I doubt the rest will be vintage to be honest. Agree with you. Less talky talky, more makey gamey.
 

hinch7

Member
So hilarious how people think a company can outbid Microsoft for gamepass content, when Microsoft could buy them 3x over.

Stop It And You GIF




People just cant accept that they suck at creating content or finding new talents. Buying publishers (not timed exclusives or funding new IPs for exclusivity) is a desperate move to get a bigger piece of the marketshare they couldn't get otherwise without taking access to content away from other storefronts.
Reminds me of Epic, going with the small man syndrome argument vs Apple (and Valve).

Act in PR like they are in the interest of the consumer, but we all know the deal.
 
Last edited:

93xfan

Banned
So hilarious how people think a company can outbid Microsoft for gamepass content, when Microsoft could buy them 3x over.

Stop It And You GIF




People just cant accept that they suck at creating content or finding new talents. Buying publishers (not timed exclusives or funding new IPs for exclusivity) is a desperate move to get a bigger piece of the marketshare they couldn't get otherwise without taking access to content away from other storefronts.
The point remains that Sony pays money to make Gamepass less appealing.

Not saying who is right in all of this, but that point doesn’t get addressed much.
 
Last edited:

PaintTinJr

Member
From this quote it would seem Phil doesn't even know the history of project Direct-X-Box to be the the console defensive vanguard to stop Sony expanding the games industry and swallow up Windows gaming, hence why they weaponised the Windows' graphics api to make developers beholden to Windows and its single OS proprietary nature.

Had Direct-X-box never released then potato gaming would have died because the console market would have consumed everything up to the mid tier on PC - growing beyond billion users - killing most of the home windows market share and PC gaming as a viable platform in the process. The reason why gaming has expanded faster on mobile than on PC is because the hardware disparity is far narrower on smartphones between the handsets with active OS software support.

Microsoft's DirectX and Windows are the only thing stopping set-top console boxes expanding the market and massively raising the baseline hardware capabilities.
 
It's about fucking time.
Microsoft has been trying to play nice guys with Sony while Sony hates Xbox and would want nothing better than for it to die.
I'm not knocking Sony for their stance. Playstation is Sony. It's all they have. They were late to the PC party, have no mobile presence. It's console or bust for Sony.
They are protecting that at all costs.
Microsoft on the other hand was talking shit like a rising tide lifts all boats, thinking Sony thought like them.
Microsoft are so worried about negative press. They dared making Tomb Raider a timed exclusive and the pro Sony media shit on them.
They were so timid they never went after a third party AAA game ever again. Meanwhile Sony was out their trying to get everything they could afford.
Microsoft sets up gamepass as a unique selling point.
Rather than Sony matching it they just change their contracts to say that publishers can put their games on GP unless they put it on PS+ as well.
Fucking Microsoft had to give Sony Deathloop on PS+ and will have to give them Ghostwire as well just to put it on Gamepass.
They then go to the FTC and CMA and bitch about Gamepass and how it will help Microsoft dominate the industry and they can't be allowed to put COD on it.
So Phil is 100% correct. Rather than Sony competing and putting their first party games on PS+ they strive to try and kill gamepass.
The good thing about all of this is that MS has finally woken the fuck up and worked out that Sony fucking hates them and is trying to screw them over at every pass.
And good on Sony for doing that, buisnes is buisness.
Now Microsoft says FU to Sony.
They could easily pull the rug out from under Sony's feet.
Take Minecraft off Playstation.
Minecraft and Fortnite are the pied piper of gaming.
The new generation of gamers (young kids getting their first gaming console) get one to play Minecraft and Fortnite (excusing Nintendo here).
Not having Minecraft on Playstation will absolutely hurt Sony in console sales. This would fuck them over and Sony deserve it.
Gloves off MS.
This shit is streetbeefs now.
 
Last edited:

nowhat

Member
Fucking Microsoft had to give Sony Deathloop on PS+ and will have to give them Ghostwire as well just to put it on Gamepass.
What? Deals for both games (and Deathloop didn't release on PS+, it was released on PS+ Extra though almost a year later) were sorted out waaaaay before MS bought Bethesda. There's a thing called a "contract". Breaking a contract could cost a fuckton of buckaroos, which is why most companies/people avoid doing so. But there was never any "giving" involved. Just pure business (and also money already spent by both Sony and Bethesda).
 

IFireflyl

Gold Member
It's about fucking time.
Microsoft has been trying to play nice guys with Sony while Sony hates Xbox and would want nothing better than for it to die.
I'm not knocking Sony for their stance. Playstation is Sony. It's all they have. They were late to the PC party, have no mobile presence. It's console or bust for Sony.
They are protecting that at all costs.
Microsoft on the other hand was talking shit like a rising tide lifts all boats, thinking Sony thought like them.
Microsoft are so worried about negative press. They dared making Tomb Raider a timed exclusive and the pro Sony media shit on them.
They were so timid they never went after a third party AAA game ever again. Meanwhile Sony was out their trying to get everything they could afford.
Microsoft sets up gamepass as a unique selling point.
Rather than Sony matching it they just change their contracts to say that publishers can put their games on GP unless they put it on PS+ as well.
Fucking Microsoft had to give Sony Deathloop on PS+ and will have to give them Ghostwire as well just to put it on Gamepass.
They then go to the FTC and CMA and bitch about Gamepass and how it will help Microsoft dominate the industry and they can't be allowed to put COD on it.
So Phil is 100% correct. Rather than Sony competing and putting their first party games on PS+ they strive to try and kill gamepass.
The good thing about all of this is that MS has finally woken the fuck up and worked out that Sony fucking hates them and is trying to screw them over at every pass.
And good on Sony for doing that, buisnes is buisness.
Now Microsoft says FU to Sony.
They could easily pull the rug out from under Sony's feet.
Take Minecraft off Playstation.
Minecraft and Fortnite are the pied piper of gaming.
The new generation of gamers (young kids getting their first gaming console) get one to play Minecraft and Fortnite (excusing Nintendo here).
Not having Minecraft on Playstation will absolutely hurt Sony in console sales. This would fuck them over and Sony deserve it.
Gloves off MS.
This shit is streetbeefs now.

What a stupid take.
 
Top Bottom