Microsoft has just put the April Xbox One software update in the bag and is preparing to roll out the preview of the one for May, but Xbox Division head honcho Phil Spencer is already looking to those coming beyond next month, and apparently he likes what he’s seeing, and he'd also like to put more smaller games on the platform to help with the wait between big releases.
Phil Spencer and Microsoft have come under fire following the closure of multiple Bethesda-owned studios including Tango Gameworks.
wow haha.
i dont think he will resign. or will be kicked off.
if hes still here after everything in the past, this wont affect him unfortunately.
He and his cronies have a sweet deal. Even if they are fired, stock options and parachutes will mean they never need to work again. Cronyism at its worst.
@Rhino, lol at the people disagreeing with you. Phillip Spencer the man to represent the average gamer as a gamer himself is in a Ferrari commercial as proud owner. Lol. Of course he'll get his golden parachute despite leaving the xbox division in flames.
He might even be on Sony's payroll 🤣🤣🤣 and he is definitely loved by Sony fanboys, a true Trojan horse…
I think his days are numbered TBH. Spending 80 million of all acquisitions yet can’t even compete with others it’s insane
This also proves gamepass isn’t as profitable as Xbox fanboys make it out to be
That huge Acti-Blizz acquisition wasn't worth it ... They should've stopped at Zenimax and instead focused "rescuing" individual studios like Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Crytek, Volition or Gearbox etc (much better than trying to devour the whole of one of the largest gaming publisher)
IMHO, with no $70 Billion deficit, these studio closures would not have happened ...
Also shows how laughable it was for so many to cheer on Microsoft for trying to monopolise the industry, several studios down the drain.
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Nirav from GL writes: "If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?"
***If the makers of a GOTY competitor that outdid sales and Game Pass expectations and owned by the richest company in the world cannot stay open - what hope is there for everyone else?***
None if you stay in an arena of corporate driven metrics. And this is what happens when you allow publishers to buy up massive amounts of studios and IPs. There's only so much internal competition and the focus in the end will remain on those who look best on a spreadsheet.
Players can be so driven by what is best for them and only see what is put right in front of them. But that's not what is best for them. They are being lied to constantly, as seen by Microsoft's ridiculous praise for Hi-Fi Rush and Phil's lies about Redfall prior to release and how big of a supporter of both studios he has been. But, instead of thinking "wait, this corporation wants me to think this way, should I be listening to them and believing them?" players eat it up and go "OMG, did you hear what they said! They're just like us and they know what's best for the industry."
And because of this single-mindedness of the majority of gamers, we are where we are now. Massive layoffs. Massive studio closures. Games that we were told were representative of the core values of said corporations shelved and studios behind them shuttered. The truth is coming to bear because the truth all along was only what the numbers in an excel spreadsheet told the corporate suits.
If you truly want what is best for the industry, what is best for developers, then you need to support Indie games, support developers that maintain control over their IPs and direction, support boutique publishers who only exist to help Indies make it out the door and don't own the IP. Stop supporting major corporations with your money or you devotion. Stop playing their games, and I don't mean video games, but their marketing, their double speak, their guy without a tie who says things you want to hear PR, their future of video gaming concepts as if we were hurting for new ways to play games other than installing/downloading and playing them, and especially any slogan from them that gives the impression that they are for you, the consumer. They are not. You're merely a value on a spreadsheet.
Sure, I'm the one drinking the koolaid. Keep believing in the corporations. They definitely have your best interests in mind. All hail the Big Green, For You Blue, and Nostalgia Red! All praise big corporations buying up other publishers. All praise the inevitable spreadsheet adjustments. For greed, not the players.
@Christopher - look, I didn't mean to sound rude with my comment there, you do make some good points. However, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. If this is honestly how you feel, then you don't have to game anymore, you can go find another hobby and put your time and effort into that.
Do I wish that these gaming companies were always a customer first driven business? Sure, that would be great and dandy, but that's not real life, nor it is realistic to expect that fully.
Saying to stop supporting these corporations, or my guess is specifically only Microsoft considering this is the mantra at N4G, isn't the answer. Indie games are great and I have adored plenty of them, but imagine a world with no Halo's, Zelda's or Last of Us titles. No thanks.
***However, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. If this is honestly how you feel, then you don't have to game anymore, you can go find another hobby and put your time and effort into that. ***
Do you know how many great a indie games there are out there? Why would I need to stop gaming at all? There are even AAA quality indie studios who develop and publish their own games still. Why would I need to leave gaming when I can instead support the good elements of the industry?
***Saying to stop supporting these corporations, or my guess is specifically only Microsoft considering this is the mantra at N4G, isn't the answer. Indie games are great and I have adored plenty of them, but imagine a world with no Halo's, Zelda's or Last of Us titles. No thanks. ***
First, pretty sure my reply to you makes this about all of them, not just Sony.
Second, I can easily imagine not playing those games considering the mass majority of us spend over 99% of our time playing other games from third party studios as it is.
Third, the answer is indeed to speak with your wallet. As long as you keep supporting these companies with your wallet, they will continue to treat studios the same. It's obvious that MAU don't matter, as seen by the closure of Tango Gameworks, the canning of promised updates to Halo Infinite, and the canning of TLoU MP.
Fourth, speaking with your wallet can also mean just waiting for deep sales and never buying MTX. This is how I support Ubisoft. I pay practically nothing for their games that I'm not even a blip on their radar. Even if it's a great game, I wait for a deep deep sale because I want them to get as little as possible from me until I feel they've changed their ways.
I don’t always agree with you. But you are correct and well said. It amazes me on what used to be a pretty straightforward industry has turned into such a greedy mess. Layoffs galore across the industry and corporates pushing/firing whatever is going to move the bean counters. With no regard for the people making the games. I’m tired of hearing these rich companies saying it’s just business, or an adjustment needed to be made, but it’s not personal. Then on top of it they have to inject corporate inclusivity into every game. On top of releasing broken games and expect people to pay top dollar.
But again well said and we as the consumer need to not only speak up but vote with our wallets.
Anything that makes millions is going to become a miasma of greed and corruption.
Honestly feel like Christopher's comment is on point.
Probably one of the truest statements I've seen on this site rdegarding the gaming industry change.
We have got to support smaller titles and fight against the homogenization thats been happening. Admittedly even from Sony even more so from Ubisoft.
There should be steam group or a site dedicated to listing devs on a scale with how much they control of their IP and if not, I might look into it myself.
I'm liking your agenda man.
This should not be surprising to any of you. We have been saying for MONTHS that Game Pass is not sustainable and that these acquisitions will come at a massive cost to the industry. People refused to grasp the difference between buying and investing in a developer like Insomniac or Housemarque, and buying the entire publisher. People refused to accept that spending billions to acquire the biggest publishers in gaming means you have to RECOUP those costs, and you aren't going to do it without consolidation, focusing on core IP that sells, creating revenue streams via ownership and releasing on other platforms, and closing down studios that are superfluous to the budget requirements. You will not recoup those costs by investing in risky new IP or creative new games and studios.
No, people cheered Microsoft on like they were delivering GOTY titles to their door and pouring money into the industry to grow Indies and triple A projects.
You are getting what you deserve. You take the consequences of the practices you supported.
Layoffs happen. Some games don't succeed. Everyone has seen it happen. Happens even to the winners.
This, however, is goddamn shambolic and if you can't see it now then there's no helping you and you should keep enjoying the "value" of Game Pass while contributing nothing to this industry.
I've never seen the developer of one of the best games of the year get axed before.
Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2, I can see them going independent again. There's more to come from MS.
This is exactly it. There is more of this coming. MS runs from one bad idea to the next, and GamePass is an unsustainable train wreck that we get to watch in real time.
GamePass is stalled for subscriber growth, and all that they can hope for is to either A) Reduce the quantity of games (i.e. shutter game studios), B) Reduce the quality of games (to make more mediocre but lower budget offerings), or C) Raise prices on existing customers. Or some combination of those.
MS does not have a passion for the industry. The XBox project, from the beginning, was sparked from the fear that someone else would eat their PC market lunch by making a games machine that replaced the PC. THAT was the entire motivation for getting into the games industry.
I saw it from the outset of day 1 on Xbox it's unsustainable no one was buying their games and a noticeable decline in quality and a push to live service elements to keep subscriptions active was obvious.
I saw it every time I'd go to a physical game shop for a Multi plat pre order no one was there for the Xbox version.
I'd go to CeX or other used game stores and be able to pick up the full range of Xbox studios first party games for 20 bucks and change while on the PlayStation side 20 bucks might get me two PS4 launch games and wouldn't even get me a single Nintendo first party game.
"Ninja Theory is next after Hellblade 2"
Anyone think it's weird it comes out in 2 weeks and there's hardly anything on it
Actually Foxtrot, I don't find it weird. When last has Microsoft thrown advertising weight behind one of their releases? Long gone are the days where their games had the sheer presence of Halo 3 or Gears of War 2. It's all been replaced with "play it day one on Games Pass."
Why spend millions on marketing a product when you aren't SELLING it? The Xbox faithful aren't going to buy it, they're just going to see it on the splash page of Game Pass.
They know what they are doing. If 'you' treat them like "good 'ol simple minded folk", then 'you' are relieving them from blame via ignorance. They knew that they were going all live service, streaming and mobile a long time ago, The Oracle tends to see the obvious. While companies patronize gamers like they are children, which most of them are, may be confused for stupidity, they are also not so stupid they don't understand the decisions that they are making toward the overall direction of their company.
*None of their games were even close to competing for GOTY. They paid for names to be mentioned.
Xbox survived it's first gen by pure luck halo became a hit and it was huge followed up by halo 2 which had one of the biggest marketing campaigns I can remember seeing in the early 00s we had guys in master chief outfits on the sidelines of state of origin as a promo it blew my mind.
Then the 360 fell under the excellent leadership of Peter Moore and outpaced the PS3 for the first three quarters of that generation the only time anyone has ever done that.
Since losing Peter Moore it's been a rapid decline and buying up the industry stank of a desperate move along with the idea of gamepass itself stank of desperation to me no one was buying the X1 they needed something to get people interested and here we are.
I would happily lose gamepass if Xbox could go back to the 360 era style of focused heavy hitters and solid games.
The championing of consolidation they did was disgusting and what's happened as a result is proof they never had gamers or the industry at heart they need their ROI and that's all they cared about big daddy ms has signed a number of blank checks getting them here and it's coming to collect on their debts
Well, MS bought Bungie to get Halo (and shut down the Mac version), which is a big reason they were as successful as they were. And the PS3 actually outpaced the 360, which is why it eventually outsold it despite releasing more than a year later. So really, not much has changed if you think about it.
The former president of Blizzard Mike Ybarra in a statement on Twitter says Microsoft Gaming CEO is hurting just as much as anyone else following the closure of three studios under Bethesda - Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Alpha Dog Studios. Roundhouse Games is also joining ZeniMax Online Studios.
Yeahhh I doubt it's hurting a millionaire as much as it's hurting fans and people who lost their jobs
Mike Ybarra‘s defence of Phil Spencer is the dictionary definition of tone deaf. Even Alanah Pearce, who’s close to Aaron Greenberg and Phil called him out on it.
“Mike, I have a lot of fondness for Phil and don’t doubt he’s incredibly bummed about this, but CEOs can handle some “shots” amidst people having their lives destroyed. Your sympathetic posts should solely be directed at those who’ve lost their jobs.”
https://x.com/charalanahzar...
What makes you think these are Phil's decisions? This is likely coming from Microsoft, and not the Xbox division.
At this moment, even Xbox fanboys are starting to hate Microsoft. It's fu**up, after fu**up, after fu**up... that's the state of Microsoft gaming.
Purchasing developers left and right, then killing them off...
Phil was the worst thing that happend to Xbox. Might as well just shut down their gaming division and fu** off
Poor Phil. He must be crying into his bonus cheques. Makes your heart bleed doesn't it?
I'm sure he'll be upset that those cheques contain a small percentage of money MS is still making from the closed studios games too. Next time someone purchases High-fi Rush or Evil within all that money is now just Microsofts, just think the former devs at Tango who made Hi-fi Rush MS's most highly acclaimed game in years will get nothing more.
MS are buying these publishers for the big IP's like Elder Scrolls and Call of Duty they have little interest in the ones that don't make huge profits... and firing thousands and closing studios looks good on the next quarterly shareholder report. Gotta protect the share price.
This is all coming from the executive who thinks we should have the option to tip devs... apparently so publishers can pay devs minimum wage. Will someone think of the C-suite executives!!!
That was from a former Blizzard exec. Did Phil make a comment on that also?
edit: Oh, it wasn't Phil who said this himself.
Gott alove the tought process on that...gentlemen we need think of more ways to get money out of these..gamers...wait..what if they just gave us their money..like for free.
Yeah, the guy making $10m a year is hurting as much as those who have lost their jobs and are worrying about their future and supporting their family. /s
It takes a real lack of shame to even try put the Good Guy Phil™ spin on this. It's not going to work this time.
He's sitting around feeling sorry when he should of been doing everything in his power to get people jobs in other studios you're telling me after toys for Bob split from Activision there wasn't a opening in the call of duty mines for arkane it's just woah is me.
Keep the good news rolling
Speaking of June updates, I'd hope that they have a nice update to announce at E3 (goes live post presentation).
Update containing auto sign in, external HDD, 3D blu ray support, etc would be nice. :)
Glad to see these consistent monthly updates and support, hoping for DLNA, mp3, and external USB support. Anything more is just "gravy."
Monthly updates, secure network, dedicated servers for all, and a quick efficient interface, that is why I still prefer XBL, free games are really nice, but they shouldn't be in place what I am actually paying for.
Nice.
LOOKING FORWARD to testing them out ;) keep up the good work ms ... big thumbs UP!!!