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Phil Spencer Says Studio Acquisitions Are A Good Thing

Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Oh My God Reaction GIF by reactionseditor
 
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Did MS follow Sony when they put a hard drive in every Xbox? What about when they made wireless controllers standard? What about having a single pool of RAM in consoles? What about unified online gameplay system with voice chat? How about achievements? Yup MS is always copying Sony alright.
 

jhjfss

Member
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Homer Simpson Thinking GIF
 
Did MS follow Sony when they put a hard drive in every Xbox? What about when they made wireless controllers standard? What about having a single pool of RAM in consoles? What about unified online gameplay system with voice chat? How about achievements? Yup MS is always copying Sony alright.
Don't take the bait my man. It's a bullshit throwaway post meant to trigger folk. The very definition of taking a fresh dump on your porch, setting it on fire and running away.
 

TheGrat1

Member
Did MS follow Sony when they put a hard drive in every Xbox? What about when they made wireless controllers standard? What about having a single pool of RAM in consoles? What about unified online gameplay system with voice chat? How about achievements? Yup MS is always copying Sony alright.
I always found it odd how they had a HDD in every OG Xbox and then abandoned that with the 360. Also, Sony did the standard wireless controllers thing first, 360 still had wired. N64 had unified RAM prior to Xbox. Just saying. All of your other points stand.
 

Leo9

Member
Acquisitions are literally the only thing MS can do hype up their fan base at this point. It certainly isn’t games. CGI trailers and free to play halo is certainly not hyping me up any. Didn’t some influencer recently admit he got paid 350 dollars to promote gamespass? I mean the absolute state of this company and brand.

Edit: I also find it quite the coincidence that again, as soon as Sony gets some positive PR going here comes Phil with an interview with the same pitch hes been Saying for 5 years now followed by a smear job article about indies the next day. Yeah call me a tin foil hat wearing guy, don’t care.
You sound like a troll.
 

RCU005

Member
Of course he would say that. It's the only way he can get games on Xbox. IMO, they should've used those 7 billion to develop new studios instead of purchasing Bethesda.

Bethesda games would come to Xbox anyway. They basically paid to get those games off Playstation, and that's why I think they will fail. Their strategies involve screwing the competition, not improving themselves.

Look at Playstation Studios recent acquisitions:
Insomniac: Basically a Playstation Studio with the exception of one or two games.
Housemarque: Working with Playstation since PS3 at least.
Bluepoint Games (rumored): Also making games for playstation.

PlayStation is not removing games from Xbox, they are just improving their teams and allowing them to make better games.

Again, Microsoft just wanted to screw the competition. They love to play with dirty tactics.

Microsoft is like the DC of video games. They want to reach the success of Playstation but without doing the work and the time it takes to get there, so they prefer to spend money.

With 7 billion dollars, they would have been able to start at least 2 development studios. They would have been able to improve their own studios much more, give them tools or give them a better budget to have quality games.

Bethesda is not going to improve with Microsoft. On the contrary, because Microsoft lacks the vision and creativity and they try to compensate it with money.

EDIT: Also, Phil Spencer has always been just talk. I give you that he did improve the consumer perception of the brand, but the brand itself hasn't gotten better over the years. They haven't really improved their games output and haven't made several new IPs.
 
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Shubh_C63

Member
Won't you like to have your startup get funding and still retain their creative authority.

Of course Financial stability (or studio acquisition) is a good thing if done right. But hardly the right thing to do aligns with earning money.
 

jhjfss

Member
Of course he would say that. It's the only way he can get games on Xbox. IMO, they should've used those 7 billion to develop new studios instead of purchasing Bethesda.

Bethesda games would come to Xbox anyway. They basically paid to get those games off Playstation, and that's why I think they will fail. Their strategies involve screwing the competition, not improving themselves.

PlayStation is not removing games from Xbox, they are just improving their teams and allowing them to make better games.

Again, Microsoft just wanted to screw the competition. They love to play with dirty tactics.

Microsoft is like the DC of video games. They want to reach the success of Playstation but without doing the work and the time it takes to get there, so they prefer to spend money.

With 7 billion dollars, they would have been able to start at least 2 development studios. They would have been able to improve their own studios much more, give them tools or give them a better budget to have quality games.

Bethesda is not going to improve with Microsoft. On the contrary, because Microsoft lacks the vision and creativity and they try to compensate it with money.

EDIT: Also, Phil Spencer has always been just talk. I give you that he did improve the consumer perception of the brand, but the brand itself hasn't gotten better over the years. They haven't really improved their games output and haven't made several new IPs.
gonna cry tobey maguire GIF
 

Melchiah

Member
“One thing I’ll put out there is… starting a new studio — starting any small business, frankly, is a very risky proposition, starting a video game studio even more so.

Of course an executive from a company who started business by buying stuff instead of creating it would say that. It's been their modus operandi from the very beginning, ever since they bought DOS when they couldn't create an OS of their own for IBM in time, and it's still the same with Windows and Xbox. They had all these years and the fabled Warchest™ to create studios of their own, but instead of putting in the work they chose the easier route to bandage the problem. Their solution takes content permanently away from people, instead of bringing something new to gaming, unlike what Sony and Nintendo have done.
 
Or Microsoft saw that Xbox had zero games in the horizon. So they had to buy a whole publisher to keep up. Business. I still have no clue why Sony bought Housemarque. Longterm cost synergies? Maybe Returnal is more successful than im assuming.

Microsoft as a whole I seen in a more positive light. Their laptops look good. Windows is finally catching up to their hardware. Xbox is still a mess though. If I had a struggle buying games and unlimited amount of free time, gamepass is amazing.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Of course an executive from a company who started business by buying stuff instead of creating it would say that. It's been their modus operandi from the very beginning, ever since they bought DOS when they couldn't create an OS of their own for IBM in time, and it's still the same with Windows and Xbox. They had all these years and the fabled Warchest™ to create studios of their own, but instead of putting in the work they chose the easier route to bandage the problem. Their solution takes content permanently away from people, instead of bringing something new to gaming, unlike what Sony and Nintendo have done.
I pointed this out in a different thread today, but Sony started out very similarly.

They bought a big publisher as well.

I assume you must feel the same about that.
 

Andodalf

Banned
Of course he would say that. It's the only way he can get games on Xbox. IMO, they should've used those 7 billion to develop new studios instead of purchasing Bethesda.

Bethesda games would come to Xbox anyway. They basically paid to get those games off Playstation, and that's why I think they will fail. Their strategies involve screwing the competition, not improving themselves.

Look at Playstation Studios recent acquisitions:
Insomniac: Basically a Playstation Studio with the exception of one or two games.
Housemarque: Working with Playstation since PS3 at least.
Bluepoint Games (rumored): Also making games for playstation.

PlayStation is not removing games from Xbox, they are just improving their teams and allowing them to make better games.

Again, Microsoft just wanted to screw the competition. They love to play with dirty tactics.

Microsoft is like the DC of video games. They want to reach the success of Playstation but without doing the work and the time it takes to get there, so they prefer to spend money.

With 7 billion dollars, they would have been able to start at least 2 development studios. They would have been able to improve their own studios much more, give them tools or give them a better budget to have quality games.

Bethesda is not going to improve with Microsoft. On the contrary, because Microsoft lacks the vision and creativity and they try to compensate it with money.

EDIT: Also, Phil Spencer has always been just talk. I give you that he did improve the consumer perception of the brand, but the brand itself hasn't gotten better over the years. They haven't really improved their games output and haven't made several new IPs.

Yeah those Bethesda games like Deathloop and Ghostwire sure were coming to Xbox anyway!

Beth needed cash and if MS didn’t come in we may have very well seen Starfield as a times exclusive. Don’t spin this as MS just stealing games. That’s the opposite of what happened.

Beth had to make games like 76 becuse it lacked cash, and we don’t get sequels to prey or dishonored cus they didn’t sell enough. With MS they have the money to keep making those types of games. FOH
 
Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
Xbox basically perfected console online gaming and Sony stole all of it.
 

Vagswarm

Member
Phil Spencer says what he feels at any given moment based on how it benefits him & Xbox -- even if it's the total opposite of what he said when it didn't benefit him. There's little consistency, and a lot of contradictory statements over the years. I stopped taking what he says seriously.
 
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Kagey K

Banned
Phil Spencer says what he feels at any given moment based on how it benefits him & Xbox -- even if it's the total opposite of what he said when it didn't benefit him. There's little consistency, and a lot of contradictory statements over the years. I stopped taking what he says seriously.
I think that's more your interpretation of it. He has actually been very consistent about it, and taken a lot of heat for some of it.
 
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Xbox is always behind Playstation. Sony pushed the power narrative in 2013 then Microsoft started doing that in 2017. Sony pushed the subscription and cloud gaming narrative with PS Now in 2015 then Microsoft started doing that in 2018. Sony pushed the first party games narrative in 2018 now Microsoft pushing the first party games narrative in 2021. Now according to Jim Ryan they are working on bringing their huge IP’s to mobile market because mobile is the biggest cash cow in 2021 just ask Roblox or CoD/Activision. When PS games does come to mobile, I expect Xbox to follow suit after a few years late once again.
What is this nonsense 😅
 

Zeroing

Banned
I think that's more your interpretation of it. He has actually been very consistent about it, and taken a lot of heat for some of it.
He never takes heat for anything, the fans give him "unlimited lives", it's never "game over" for him ;)
But really, he can say and do whatever he wants, the fans will always support him, like xbox will start selling Oreos and the fans will spin it as a good thing for gamers - gamers need snacks.
 
Of course he would say that. It's the only way he can get games on Xbox. IMO, they should've used those 7 billion to develop new studios instead of purchasing Bethesda.

Bethesda games would come to Xbox anyway. They basically paid to get those games off Playstation, and that's why I think they will fail. Their strategies involve screwing the competition, not improving themselves.

Look at Playstation Studios recent acquisitions:
Insomniac: Basically a Playstation Studio with the exception of one or two games.
Housemarque: Working with Playstation since PS3 at least.
Bluepoint Games (rumored): Also making games for playstation.

PlayStation is not removing games from Xbox, they are just improving their teams and allowing them to make better games.

Again, Microsoft just wanted to screw the competition. They love to play with dirty tactics.

Microsoft is like the DC of video games. They want to reach the success of Playstation but without doing the work and the time it takes to get there, so they prefer to spend money.

With 7 billion dollars, they would have been able to start at least 2 development studios. They would have been able to improve their own studios much more, give them tools or give them a better budget to have quality games.

Bethesda is not going to improve with Microsoft. On the contrary, because Microsoft lacks the vision and creativity and they try to compensate it with money.

EDIT: Also, Phil Spencer has always been just talk. I give you that he did improve the consumer perception of the brand, but the brand itself hasn't gotten better over the years. They haven't really improved their games output and haven't made several new IPs.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
100% agreed. For once, Phil and I are on the same page. Exclusives are far more polished, take far more risks and win goty awards for more often than third party games. I am all for them.

The only issue i have is with moneyhatting. Buying exclusives just to keep them off of other platforms doesn't make them better. They might be a bit more polished since they don't have to release two skus at once but Deathloop would be the same game it would've been if it wasn't an exclusive. Same goes for rise of tomb raider, ff7, ff16 and most recently Godfall and Medium.

I just don't think square enix is hurting. Same goes for zenimax. Skyrim and fallout were great sellers. They did not need to be rescued. But I am mostly ok with zenimax being the only exception because MS needed a bunch of new productive studios badly and zenimax was a perfect fit.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Mmm.. what do you want me to say about this. Sony “had zero games in the horizon. So they had to buy a whole publisher to keep up. Business.”

I would say this strengthens my point.. but that would imply Microsft just entered the gaming sector.
I would say for all the "organic growth" and "nurturing" talk they bought thier way in.

Then they used thier position to strong-arm other publishers, and continue to do so.

Would that be incorrect?
 
He never takes heat for anything, the fans give him "unlimited lives", it's never "game over" for him ;)
But really, he can say and do whatever he wants, the fans will always support him, like xbox will start selling Oreos and the fans will spin it as a good thing for gamers - gamers need snacks.
What's he done wrong then? As far as I can see he's given us the consumer the best deal in gaming, he's grown the Xbox first party to 23 studios and more are coming. He's got the most powerful hardware on the market and he's also got a budget next gen console as well for the less fortunate.

The no games narrative has well and truly been squashed after the E3 conference. 30 games 27 Day 1 on Gamepass, no other console maker has as much growth or innovation in the last 5 years as Xbox and I haven't even touched on Xcloud.
 

Melchiah

Member
I pointed this out in a different thread today, but Sony started out very similarly.

They bought a big publisher as well.

I assume you must feel the same about that.

I assume you're talking about Psygnosis, who still continued to release games on Amiga, Saturn, N64, and Windows, until 2000, seven years after the acquisition. Yeah, that's sure the same as the Bethesda situation. Looking forward to see Bethesda's flagship franchises, like WipEout and Lemmings were, on the competing platforms. Talk about a logical fallacy and intellectual dishonesty.

Yeah those Bethesda games like Deathloop and Ghostwire sure were coming to Xbox anyway!

Beth needed cash and if MS didn’t come in we may have very well seen Starfield as a times exclusive. Don’t spin this as MS just stealing games. That’s the opposite of what happened.

Beth had to make games like 76 becuse it lacked cash, and we don’t get sequels to prey or dishonored cus they didn’t sell enough. With MS they have the money to keep making those types of games. FOH

Timed exclusives ≠ permanent exclusives. At least people can play the former eventually, even on Xbox, just like f.ex. The Medium, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Bioshock could be played on PS platforms eventually.

It's laughable to claim there wouldn't be next The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, and whatnot, without Microsoft coming to the rescue in their shining white knight armor. Some people sure swallow the snake oil salesman pitch easily.
 

Zeroing

Banned
What's he done wrong then? As far as I can see he's given us the consumer the best deal in gaming, he's grown the Xbox first party to 23 studios and more are coming. He's got the most powerful hardware on the market and he's also got a budget next gen console as well for the less fortunate.

The no games narrative has well and truly been squashed after the E3 conference. 30 games 27 Day 1 on Gamepass, no other console maker has as much growth or innovation in the last 5 years as Xbox and I haven't even touched on Xcloud.
Looks like you already have this text ready to be copy pasted when needed.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I assume you're talking about Psygnosis, who still continued to release games on Amiga, Saturn, N64, and Windows, until 2000, seven years after the acquisition. Yeah, that's sure the same as the Bethesda situation. Looking forward to see Bethesda's flagship franchises, like WipEout and Lemmings were, on the competing platforms. Talk about a logical fallacy
They will all be playable without an Xbox in your house.

As such it is easily compared.
 

Melchiah

Member
100% agreed. For once, Phil and I are on the same page. Exclusives are far more polished, take far more risks and win goty awards for more often than third party games. I am all for them.

The only issue i have is with moneyhatting. Buying exclusives just to keep them off of other platforms doesn't make them better. They might be a bit more polished since they don't have to release two skus at once but Deathloop would be the same game it would've been if it wasn't an exclusive. Same goes for rise of tomb raider, ff7, ff16 and most recently Godfall and Medium.

I just don't think square enix is hurting. Same goes for zenimax. Skyrim and fallout were great sellers. They did not need to be rescued. But I am mostly ok with zenimax being the only exception because MS needed a bunch of new productive studios badly and zenimax was a perfect fit.

I wouldn't hold my breath for a bug-free Elder Scrolls, despite of it being exclusive now. It'll be funny if the end product ends up being as messy as their games have always been, and proving all the MS propaganda wrong.
 

Porcile

Member
Why does everything (even someone congratulating their competitor on an acquisition) have to immediately devolve into console war nonsense?

Seriously, what exactly is wrong with some of you?

The psychology behind some of this is fascinating.

Can you imagine a world without console wars?

IRXc.gif


I hate this trend of these major corporations pretending they are chummy and congratulating each other.
 

Zeroing

Banned
Great counter argument 🙄 you came in posted a comment that was utter rubbish and I put you in your place. That's what happened, you know it, I know it and you deserve it 😁

Or you could answer his question, since you threw out the accusations.
He shut down a lot studios, make Rare do Kinect games, then he goes into being the head of Xbox and he did spoke and did a lot of contrary stuff only to woke up a couple of mouths ago, but of course, all of you will say BUT he's so much better than Don Matrick....
 

jigglet

Banned
Usually I wouldn't agree but if the alternative is to see Tencent hoover them up then fuck it, let's side with the lesser of two evils.
 

Kagey K

Banned
They won't be playable outside of Microsoft's ecosystem, unlike Psygnosis' games were. As such it is not a comparable situation.
Phone, tablet, PC, console....

Seems like more options than we had back in the day.

You couldn't play all of thier games on one console (or device) you had to buy multiple.

You are right they aren't compatible, just on sheer buy in size alone.
 

Kagey K

Banned
He shut down a lot studios, make Rare do Kinect games, then he goes into being the head of Xbox and he did spoke and did a lot of contrary stuff only to woke up a couple of mouths ago, but of course, all of you will say BUT he's so much better than Don Matrick....
He didn't make Rare do anything, they claim they wanted to do those games.

The rest you are going to need to be more specific. Or continue generalizing, I don't really care and it makes you look dumb.
 
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Zeroing

Banned
He didn't make Rare do anything, they claim they wanted to do those games.

The rest you are going to need to be more specific. Or continue generalizing, I don't really care and it makes you look dumb.
Personal attacks, very adult of you. "they claimed" you say. Phill also claimed the power of the cloud was going to make games look amazing....yet here we are. Just continue on your tiny bubble.
 

McCheese

Member
this guy shut lionhead and ensemble studios down. Says a lot about him that he thinks all these smaller studio's were founded with the dream to build value and cash out. It's a numbers game for him and once the gamepass honeymoon period is over they are going to milk these companies dry.

Bethesda is the one I worry about the most, epic single player RPGs are the opposite of what gamepass actually needs which is smaller service based games with a lot of secondary transactions.
 
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Melchiah

Member
Phone, tablet, PC, console....

Seems like more options than we had back in the day.

You couldn't play all of thier games on one console (or device) you had to buy multiple.

You are right they aren't compatible, just on sheer buy in size alone.

Tell me when they can be played on PC with Linux OS or PS5, and I'm game.

You could play most of Psygnosis' games on PS1 and Windows, both Sony's and Microsoft's platforms. The same can't be said about Bethesda's games.
 
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