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Should Phil Spencer be replaced at the head of Xbox?

KRYPT83

Member
That's kinda pathetic don't be like that, people get their feelings hurt and get into their emotions and say irrational stuff. Phil has did a great job at Xbox and considering the state the world's in who cares if a game need's a couple more months to get buttoned up..
 

DryvBy

Member
Keep him I say! Whilst their AAA output has been less than stellar, the pivot to Games Pass and more recently, xCloud are the real game changers here in my opinion.

Anyone saying Mattrick was better weren't paying attention. Not only did they try to lead with the Xbox One as a cable TV box (and for the US only, of course), they also tried to turn into some weird TV content creator (hence Quantum Break) to compete with Netflix.

This pivot is much better for Microsoft and arguably, the industry in the long-term imo.

Game Pass will be a problem when every company decides to do their own pass. Netflix didn't die because they offer some movies and TV shows people like. Microsoft is struggling to produce actual games so if the Indies and 3rd party leaves, you're left paying a monthly service for a bunch of Xbox Exclusive games, which haven't been very good under ol Philly Cheese team's management.

Who is going to be paying to play Xbox on their cell phones? I can currently so this same crap with PS Now and no one talks about it because it's dumb.

If Microsoft didn't have unlimited money for dominating the PC market, they would have dumped Xbox a while back. Instead were getting stuff other companies have been doing for years and going wow and much amaze over it.
 
That's kinda pathetic don't be like that, people get their feelings hurt and get into their emotions and say irrational stuff. Phil has did a great job at Xbox and considering the state the world's in who cares if a game need's a couple more months to get buttoned up..
Phil has not done a good job, he was on the right path to doing a good job though. Do you remember Rise of the Tomb Raider? Remember how he locked that down for an entire year? Yeah, well that is what he should have been doing repeatedly with any AAA game he could possibly get his hands on.

The Xbox One could have actually of caught the PlayStation 4 if they properly leveraged money and locked up game deals, it could have been a PlayStation 3 situation but what did he do instead? Push out some mediocre first party games, a few good ones and then invest absolutely nothing into third party developed games, or exclusivity, he did nothing.

All of these holes in their game library could have been filled with timed exclusives, it would have rounded out their library and people would have been ecstatic and excited about Xbox and that could have carried over into the 9th generation.
 

SEGAvangelist

Gold Member
Phil has not done a good job, he was on the right path to doing a good job though. Do you remember Rise of the Tomb Raider? Remember how he locked that down for an entire year? Yeah, well that is what he should have been doing repeatedly with any AAA game he could possibly get his hands on.

The Xbox One could have actually of caught the PlayStation 4 if they properly leveraged money and locked up game deals, it could have been a PlayStation 3 situation but what did he do instead? Push out some mediocre first party games, a few good ones and then invest absolutely nothing into third party developed games, or exclusivity, he did nothing.

All of these holes in their game library could have been filled with timed exclusives, it would have rounded out their library and people would have been ecstatic and excited about Xbox and that could have carried over into the 9th generation.
Do you remember the way this forum blew up when money-hatting RotTR? Obviously not...
 
Do you remember the way this forum blew up when money-hatting RotTR? Obviously not...
Yeah people lost their fucking shit, Xbox gamers were singing from the rooftops and Sony gamers were ripping their hair out.

How it should be, that's how you build a brand. This kumbaya "we can all be friends" bullshit is a delusional hot take from somebody completely disconnected from reality. Do you think Sony is successful and slaughtering Microsoft because they're playing nice? Fuck no, they lock down anything they can to build and maintain their brand, that's how you get customers, that's how product confidence is developed.

It says to your customer that you will do anything to ensure they get the newest and best experiences and that they will make things happen for you.
 
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DynamiteCop! DynamiteCop!

You ok dude? Your tune has changed somewhat.
There's only so many gross missteps that can be tolerated before you can't take it anymore. The amount of chances we have given these guys to correct and right the ship is ridiculous. The massive talk and total failure to deliver, the bullshit statements and overhyped nonsense. The endless talk from Spencer where he contradicts himself three times a month...

These people don't have a clue what in hell they're doing.
 
Game Pass will be a problem when every company decides to do their own pass. Netflix didn't die because they offer some movies and TV shows people like. Microsoft is struggling to produce actual games so if the Indies and 3rd party leaves, you're left paying a monthly service for a bunch of Xbox Exclusive games, which haven't been very good under ol Philly Cheese team's management.

Who is going to be paying to play Xbox on their cell phones? I can currently so this same crap with PS Now and no one talks about it because it's dumb.

I agree that we will probably end up with a lot of other publishers going this route. I'm sure Microsoft is too. My guess is Microsoft is banking more on xCloud than Games Pass in the long-term. They're one of only three vendors who can really do it at scale, with Google and Amazon being the other two. My hunch is that's all they care about, ensuring the likes of Activision, EA etc use their infrastructure and not their competitions. That's where the real money is for them. Prove it works, get people on-board. Google fucked themselves out of the gate with that.

I think the PSNow comparison lends itself to that. Sony couldn't scale it. It's been six years and it isn't available here yet for example (Australia). Sony don't have that kind of capability (though I'm sure they'd love to).
 
The threads here 🤣 being a leader means making though calls, so they delayed a game ... Sony and Nintendo delay games all the time .
This isn't just delaying a game, this would be like if Nintendo delayed Breath of the Wild for 4-6+ months and still launched the Switch anyways... This was the only thing they had to get right.
 

sinnergy

Member
This isn't just delaying a game, this would be like if Nintendo delayed Breath of the Wild for 4-6+ months and still launched the Switch anyways... This was the only thing they had to get right.
It’s still a game . They could have launched now and let thé hardcore play with the Series X and install their catalogue for all I care ...

Sony and Nintendo delay even without COVID.

and there are enough games left for the Series X launch.
 
Yes because Jim 750 million dollar ryan has a real passion for gaming lol. Andrew house and his guys did sure but the king of money hats not so much.

The counterpart to Phil Spencer is Herman Hulst at Sony (even though most people think it's Cerny). Both are ex-game developers.

If either of these two started doing the rounds with constant amatuer PR bullshit with interviews and appearances trying to hype up the console, you'd know something was up.

The problem with Spencer is his first mentality is of a salesman (or corporate strategy and execution). If Xbox seriously wanted to compete with Sony they'd get rid of this guy and install someone that has worked on games before. Spencer has no fucking clue. He was even talking up that Halo Infinite footage, he had no idea why it looked so bad.
 

Raekwon26

Member
Get rid of this guy.

I'm 100% certain this guy is more worried about what stupid T-Shirt he'll wear when in front of the camera than putting out quality games.

Seriously, every time I see this dude the first thing that pops into my mind is this:

source.gif
 

MistBreeze

Member
Microsoft does not know how to work any more
U have a great hardware with great specs yet no exclusives no compelling ambitious 1st party
A console must be a console compete hard like 360 days no pc shared exclusive 3rd partt deals an incentive to make consumet buy ur hardware
Or get out of console business snd release gamepass everywhere
 

Paracelsus

Member
The head of 343 needs to go, and if Microsoft knew the progress for Halo and they gave the okay, the person that gave the okay needs to be fired too.
People lose jobs for a lot less than this s*.
 
Of course he should be replaced.

He's the guy behind Kinect shovelware, he's the guy behind TV TV TV NFL TV TV TV, he's the guy behind announcing vaporware (e.g. Phantom Dust), he's the guy behind the failure of Mixer, and now he's the guy behind mismanaging a billion dollar IP.

Consistency matters, and for almost a decade, he has consistently failed to run the Xbox business without issue after issue after issue after issue after issue. I'm guessing the reason he hasn't been replaced is because he has a good relationship with Satya Nadella. However, continuous massive fuckups such as Halo Infinite can and do erode whatever buddy buddy pally wally relationship is in place. At some point, it's results over friendship.

I'm unsure if Matt Booty or Sarah Bond are as committed to the Xbox business as Philip Spencer is, so if he (Philip) were to ever be replaced, it would likely have to be someone (with a successful track record) from a whole different industry/discipline. You never want the new guy to be someone who doesn't care enough. So if Microsoft were to 'reshape' the Xbox leadership, expect someone like the villain from Mirror's Edge 2 to be brought in to run the business.
 

Allandor

Member
Why always those hate-threads?

Phil is just the head of something. He doesn't make all decisions. First people are screaming that MS controls their first party studios to much, than they change that and people scream that they don't control enough. The MS studios are more or less free in their decision how to create a game. Halo infinite is just one of those 50% of software projects that don't run well (actually still 50% of all software projects fail), game companies are not immune to this.

And btw, MS brought back many things in the last years. Age of Empires is back. Yes we are still waiting for AoE4 but at least it is in production. Flight Simulator is back, Gears Tactics, .... also under spencer. Yes MS does not focus on console-only experiences, but MS can't just do the one thing.
 
It’s still a game . They could have launched now and let thé hardcore play with the Series X and install their catalogue for all I care ...

Sony and Nintendo delay even without COVID.

and there are enough games left for the Series X launch.

Well, actually Sony delayed TLOU2 a few times
 

Paracelsus

Member
I wonder how many of those "Microsoft and Xbox are doomed" threads are from fans that actually care and not from other fans that just want to shit on it.

We are this close from a monopoly, you don't want Microsoft to go the way of the Dreamcast.
"But there's Nintendo"
Nintendo is its own gen and doesn't even remotely register in Sony's radar, parallel market and different offer.

Do you just want to laugh at Microsoft and then end up with a $799 PS5 Pro much like Nvidia and their gpu?
 

SebastianM

Member
Xbox is like Ubisoft in hardware form, once you get that, you'll understand their business model and what your expectations should be about their ecosystem.
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
Oh snap, armchair quarterbacks giving the coach shit when they don't like the playbook, based upon their extensive experience running billion dollar businesses.
 
The strategy to go half-way in with hardware and half-way with 'services' was always going to get trounced by Sony who have kept their singular focus on hardware and great I.P like always.

I'm sure Phil didn't make that decision but his handling of everything else has been dire also.
 

Grinchy

Banned
I don't know if it's Phil's fault or just the corporate structure at Microsoft in general that's at fault. But it's clear that something is wrong.

Look at how they will just throw someone in charge of Mixer who doesn't give a shit and then shutter the whole thing seemingly out of nowhere overnight. They spent a ton of money on that venture. Any other company might have actually tried. Maybe they treat the gaming division with the same "who gives a shit" attitude.
 

ripeavocado

Banned
Absolutely.

The Xbox Game Studios are a mess, Xbox as a brand is in its weakest point since the original launch, they have poor communication. Everything is based on his persona and lately even fanboy bullshit that only fanboys (a small subset of gamers) care about.

Halo Infinite is a disaster, it's their main IP and main Studios, it's a big failure.
XSX has no real launch exclusives.
 

ripeavocado

Banned
“I honestly think we’re in the best launch lineup position that we’ve ever been on Xbox,” Spencer said.

News of July 20, 2020.

From my point of view Spencer has not kept any of his promises so far, he only knows how to sell smoke year after year. It is time for someone else to take over.

Absolutely years after years of unfulfilled promises, only few people on internet forums believe him.
 

aries_71

Junior Member
I believe most of the problems surfacing today were caused by decisions made before his time as Xbox's head. They are paying their hubris, when in Xbox360 mid life they decided they could ride exclusively on third party games generally behaving better in the 360 than in the PS3. They basically stopped investing in internal studios and probably let the talented people go.

Now they are reaping the fruit of their decision.
 
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