Microsoft Game Studios honcho Phil Spencer sees the upcoming years as a period of innovation, with great technologies impacting on the gaming market, but he’s not afraid of that, and thinks the Xbox One will stay relevant thanks to its computing power and the ability to connect to the internet.
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
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!!!
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.
Under his leadership, many have lost their jobs and fewer games have made it out the door.
people should call for his resignation, he has literally flushed xbox down the toilet.
another 3 studios closed today, thats it now, get out
Well purple101 you'd have to convince Observer and the other Xbox faithful that these studio closures and the fallout from the acquisitions is a bad thing and a sign of what's to come, and I don't think you're going to do that.
Nobody has managed that feat.
Obscure and Zeref have been summoned to the floor to give their account of these proceedings.
I 100% blame 'nice guy Phil' for the death of Xbox. The thing to realise is the Xbox Series S & X are performing WORST in console sales and game sales than the much criticised Xbox One - how can this be?
His two big mistakes were 1-not developing enough exclusives and 2 - always trying to beat PlayStation. If he made more exclusives over his decade reign and not tried to 'win' then classic Xbox would still be here in a profitable third place. Instead he tried a series of different projects to win and he ended up ultimately destroying Xbox by changing its relationship with its most loyal customers. What did he do?
* Phil spent a decade only release new iterations of Halo, Forza and Gears and not investing in creating new first party studios and IP. He mishandled Scalebound and shutdown Lionhead Studios.
* Phil tried Mixer, a streaming channel that could be used to promote Xbox dominance with free giveaways...
* Phil tried to create a streaming service that he regarded as too superior to consider PlayStation and Nintendo as competitors! But would instead compete with Netflix and Google...
* But his worst mistake was Xbox Game Pass - a multi billion dollar investment that could only work if completely dominated the worldwide gaming market - but it didn't. Instead it changed the culture of Xbox gamers so they resented spending on third party games as they were now trained to expect everything for free. Now all the games Microsoft had invested so much in were not only NOT making money from other platforms, as ever, but they were now NOT EVEN making money from Xbox customers.
If Phil Spencer had just concentrated on making new games and not non-stop gimmicks to beat PlayStation, I genuinely believe the Xbox would be an attractive platform with regular exclusives like Halo but with others too that would give it its distinct identity and maintain a profitable existence. Phil's been in charge for over a decade, the blame lays at his feet.
Nah idiots like those 2 are lost causes. Just look at the idiotic floundering comments already being posted.
Last MS financial results for FY24 Q2 which is the company's sales data through Dec. 31, 2023. According to the earnings, gaming revenue is up 49% year-over-year.
That doesn't sound like he flushing it down the toilet and that also makes very unlikely he loses his job any time soon.
Revenue up due to acquisition... Spending 10s of billions for new companies of course revenue is up. They don't tell us profits but they wouldn't be shutting down these divisions if they were in the black. Pretty sure they're shifting so radically because their current state has been an abject failure
This is 100% due to Activision Blizzard. If that deal had not gone through, Xbox revenue would be flat, which means a game like Starfield failed to move the needle.
@crazyCoconuts
While I agree that Phil and team have gone back on their word. Especially the last six years of promises.
But I disagree on your logic about the revenue.
They bought the companies to boost their gaming division revenue. In that regard they were very successful. They are owned by MS so your point is moot.
They made all that money and still doing studio shutdowns...
It's bottomless pit of money MS wants. There's no amount of money MS can make to save their own studios. They're doing it out greed and general incompetence. Calling Phil's head won't mean anything or do anything for MS. They'll still destroy regardless.
Damn idiots don't know how to read revenue reports. Revenue was due to folding in Activision Blizzard Revenue. They were up 61% due to Activision Blizzard with 62% increase. So they only went up 1% over last year. But idiots going to be idiots thinking Spencer is helping Xbox right now. Lol
It is funny that it was him finally touching Bethesda that was the straw that finally broke the camels back. They should have been calling for this years ago.
Phil needs to go. His time is over. When you oversee layoff after layoff after studio closure after studio closure, it's impossible to keep going forward and have people - employees and fans alike - trust you in any way.
Especially after HiFi Rush hit their metrics. I guess we know what to expect for Ninja Theory next once Hellblade is out, and Machine Games once Indiana's out & Todd Howard focuses back on ES6.
Ninja Theory won't last after HB2. Because it won't hit some impossible metric in order to be a success at MS.
Expect NT to be gone in a years time also. Where the hells the advertising for Hellblade 2? Another MS issue they do to themselves bunch of clowns.
Their first-announced Series game going out like this. Their marketing so far has just been a daily tweet or two the last week.
And now this will overshadow everything up till and through its release. Maybe Ninja Theory will get the same dignity as Tango and bow out with a better PS5 port.
Unrelated but since there's a shortage of devs to make Fallout content ... MS could've asked Tango or Austin or both to make a new Fallout game (doesn't have to be a full-blown RPG) ... fans would've gobbled it up after watching Prime's FO season 2 ... and it would've been a nice experiment to check the feasibility of having Fallout venture into non-RPG genres (like it was done before during Interplay days).
This is what I would've guessed/suggested from past statements from Xbox & co., that you can experiment with new ideas (using new or existing IPs) at current Xbox ecosystem.
But ... after axing Tango & Austin ... don't know if Xbox is still open to such experimentations.
Just watch Outer World's 2 also be dead on arrival without Playstation and Nintendo gamers buying that game you can expect Gamepass to kill that IP too. Ditto for making that contract to exclude Playstation gamers from getting Indiana Jones too. Remember how Tomb Raider sales were on Playstation after the 1 year exclusivity? Expect even worse for Indiana Jones too
It's not just Phil (Phil is just the dumb kid taking the money) and Kotaku is NOT the voice to listen to as shi7 sites like Kotaku helped contribute to modern gaming toxicity and disinformation. Kotaku staff = Much like Phil, and yes need to go.
MS has been posting record profits, you think they give a crap about games and gamers? Think again.
What a prat.
People gave him and Matt Booty the benefit of the doubt for a few years due to the mess they inherited but a decade on and all they've done is ruin gaming for everyone.
The only success they've had is MS Flight Simulator which was developed by a third party anyway - and Forza Horizon which by pure coincidence went downhill in quality the second Playground were acquired (imo) and that's all I can think of. Everything else they've touched has been ruined.
It's genuinely staggering how either of these two guys are still there.
Phil didnt even inherit a mess, he was equally responsible for it because he sat on the executive so the kinect and XBONE roadmap vision was also on him. Mattrick was the convenient public scapegoat back then but now theres no one to place the blame on.
If they're to keep anyone, I'd hope it would be Sarah Bond. She's at least consistent, constantly doing quick tweets with green emojis where she can, repping the brand, saying the next hardware will be the biggest leap ever (whatever that means).
Phil Spencer openly minimizes Xbox by going out of his way to congratulate competitors and talking about how great playing non-Xbox devices are; if only Xbox had someone that could even pretend to like Xbox for being Xbox.
This is the point I always found frustrating, the whitewashing of Spencers reputation when he got promoted. He was involved in the slide into mediocrity of the 360 generation!
The worse is yet to come and their fanbase don't know it yet, someone at MS posted and deleted a tweet saying all their main ''exclusives'' Halo, Forza, Gears etc will be heading to PS soon so grab a front seat ticket and some popcorn and enjoy the show;) The crying will be hilarious.
Yeah he is absolutely responsible for the abysmal state of Xbox. I can't tell Mattrick and Spencer apart at this point. Both have been horrible executives for the Xbox brand.
Phil's responsible for this generations mess. Phil was the one following orders under Steve Balmer and Don Mattrick.
Don even admitted he messed up on camera with the Xbox documentary
Let's keep the facts straight. Everything currently now is Phil's fault.
Xbox has been lagging behind PlayStation in terms of 1st party content, but 2024 offers the platform and Phil Spencer a chance at redemption.
Nah, that time has passed for many, and with their words on future plans, i really don't see it ever happening.
It's a wrap. Now is the time they are slowly going to move on as to not to kill the base as is. Titles will slowly drip onto ps and Nintendo consoles, etc. Those 4 already had to of been in development for awhile already cause two of them released really soon after the announcement
There is no ‘last chance redemption’ for Phil Spencer - he’s going straight to hell for tanking the Xbox console platform.
"2024 Is A Chance At Redemption For Xbox & Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer"
I thought that was supposed to be a decade ago
U do rel7se ps5 is at thr moment only getting g those titles that were mentioned nothing else as of yet
"Nah, that time has passed for many, and with their words on future plans, i really don't see it ever happening."
Xbox has PLENTY of first party games this year while Playstation has none!
There´s more first party games from Xbox Games Studios on PS5 this year than Playstation Studios own games.
Those are the *facts* and if those facts is not something to Sony be ashamed of, they can´t feel shame at all.
Granblue Fantasy versus, FF7REBIRTH, Helldivers 2, Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade will have launched on PS5 and not on Xbox by the time Hellblade 2 launches.
This only first party games count is cope.
And as a bonus meme...Microsoft will have published 3 first party games on PS5 (Hifi rush, Grounded and sea of thieves) before their first for the year on Xbox(hellblade 2). Glad they have their priorities straight...
It's funny when people like to say xbox has more games coming to playstation this year than sony does.
YET, they leave out the context that Microsoft literally bought the biggest (Activision) third party publisher and Bethesday (another big one). So congrats on having to buy giants in order to compete?
On topic, wasn't Starfield the "last chance" for redemption?
Am I to assume that if the games they have coming this year don't get positive, feedback then 2025 will be the year of redemption?
@VersusDMC
"Granblue Fantasy versus, FF7REBIRTH, Helldivers 2, Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade will have launched on PS5 and not on Xbox by the time Hellblade 2 launches."
None of the games you mentioned are first party. None. There´re more Xbox first party games on PS5 this year then Playstation´s own first party games, undeniable fact!
The real bonus meme is Sea of Thieves a game which PS fanboys used to sh!t on
"And as a bonus meme...Microsoft will have published 3 first party games on PS5 (Hifi rush, Grounded and sea of thieves) before their first for the year on Xbox(hellblade 2). Glad they have their priorities straight..."
Imo, the real meme is Sea of Thieves, a 6 year Xbox first party game which diehard fanboys used to mock and sh!t on, making to the top of the most pre-ordered game at PS Store in a year where Playstation has zero first party games.
https://twitter.com/BenjiSa...
and all will end up on playstation, and nintendo, if xbox was doing amazing they would not need ps or nintendo, if gp was amazing they wouldnt need pc. PS has multiple first party games in development that we dont know about. Look at how halo was treated, look at redfall, and look at starfield. Its fine to be loyal and prefer one platoform but to be wilfully ignorant about it just ridiculas.
LOL se we are moving from "exclusives" to "console exclusives" to now only "1st party exclusives" matters just after MS has bought 2 publishers for $77B??
Moving goalpost to always favor MS i. Your argument is getting tiring! Exclusives are exclusives! 1st or 3rd party, they are still exclusives. You do remember the PS2 literally killed the Dreamcast, Gamecube and the first xbox due to mostly 3rd party exclusives, right?
Observe is actually correct. Sony paid to play. But we don't mention when they do it. When they do it we're totally cool with it. N4G 4lyfe!
“This notion that Xbox can only be this one device that plugs into a television isn’t something we see in the Gen Z research. Because nothing else is like that for them.
Some of them will have an iPhone, some will have an Android, but all the games and everything is the same. I can still get to TikTok on both of them, at least for now." - Phil Spencer
Read it and weep... all Xbox games are coming to as many platforms as they can put them on, and this is the first step towards them getting out of hardware entirely, just like Sega did.
Xbox has been Dreamcast out of the industry. You can deny it all you like, but it's happening.
@Obscure_Observer
You certainly have more faith in Xbox than Phil Spencer does, I will give you that.
@VersusDMC here yall Sony fans go moving the goalpost again lol now this only first party things is a cope when yall was the one who started that crap in the first place. When Sony had all the first party games and Xbox was relying on third party , yall was shouting they had no first party games. Now the tables turn and suddenly it’s a cope. lol
@lodossrage and so it’s also funny that the majority of Xbox first party games this year aren’t coming from any of those big studios lol except for Indy .. the biggest one this year is coming from a studio that Sony left and almost let that studio die after releasing two big exclusives on their console first. Now MS swoop in and saved them , then here they are with the best looking game this generation. Now that’s ironic , but you mention buying studios like Sony biggest studios weren’t BOUGHT my brother.
Yall need to be more worried about Sony closing studio after studio , the PSVR 2 dying , Sony losing billions , and the fact that yall biggest game this year as in Stellar Blade was once being developed as a multi platform game until Sony paid for them to be a second party studio. lol but you want to mention things being bought , your delusional
Shame in the competitor buying up tons of dev teams in order to make that a reality? Yeah...there's no shame in that on the PlayStation side....
There's probably tons of games exclusive to Xbox that won't be on PS because of their early access clause.
However list the games that count helldivers 2 I'd argue has done more for gaming this year than any other title will.
It could be their only game and it would still be a great year because it was that unexpectedly good even haters of love service games are playing it
Still at it? Doesn't matter at this point. The games will eventually launch on PS5.
I see you ignored his" only first party games count" line as if preordained. Is it on xbox? No...then it is ammunition. Meanwhile sony gets to passively soak up 30% of all ms game studios sales.
@obscured: “There´s more first party games from Xbox Games Studios on PS5 this year than Playstation Studios own games.
Those are the *facts* and if those facts is not something to Sony be ashamed of, they can´t feel shame at all.”
That says more about Xbox than PlayStation that they have to release games on rival consoles to stay afloat, Microsoft and YOU SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED OF THAT FACT.
Edit After thought: it took Microsoft 6 years to finally fix their sea of bugs just in time to release it on PlayStation 🤷🏿
On topic:
MS’s last chance was Starfield…
How many last chances are there?
@Osbscure
You’re moving the goal posts into places that have no basis in reality anymore.
Life is too short to hold onto grudges. Grudges against a console, game or company is just petty.
Has nothing to do with a grudge. Ive been waiting 12yrs for them to get back to their greatness, im done waiting and have moved onto just watching that ship sink as i play on literally every other platform
^^... I still play on it, as well as the other platforms. Which is why I am not someone who dwells on the negativity like others do. there is always something for me to enjoy in this hobby.
@darth
Again, not dwelling on negativity, they legit haven't made anything i want to play since like gears 3 and halo reach. I did play Crackdown 3 and gears 5 cause i had hope given i was a huge fan of the older games, but that was a dud on both cases.
You're thinking it's way deeper than it is 🤣 make something worth playing and ill play it, i was hoping starfield would be that but again, dud.
^^...I never said YOU were doing that... but its obvious others (here) do. Its all they seem to do is dwell on negativity, especially if its XB related. all im saying is there is more to enjoy than there is to complain about. And this is exactly why I play all the platforms instead of just one. You say you do the same... so just enjoy it.
It's fanbots making their last stand in an attempt to save the Xbox, what more can one expect that the most optimism they've ever had. Xbox can't get a lock in Japan, still, and Europe is about to abandon it as well. What're you gonna do? And what happens IF Japanese generates interest? They'll see Europe losing interest and decide it's not worth it either. And it's not just Xbox, Microsoft as a whole is losing their footing. They've backed on subscriptions with everything they have to offer and it's tanking. Xbox needs to port to PlayStation and Nintendo while they can stay relevant and try to stay relevant, the longer they delay, we could see a complete Microsoft nose dive
And you think MS fans are just dandy? Besides, is it a grudge if MS continues to give reasons for people to despise them?
when you cant make enough from your own platform and pc and you have to go to ps and nintendo you know its a slow transition to 3rd party publishing, and that is fine. Xb never had the thurst or ambition after the 360
The second they decided to put exclusives on the ps5 they blew any chance of redemption
Even if they managed to get a win this year it dosent overthrow 10 years of mostly disappointments from Phil’s leadership.
Then this way, no company can redeem themselves. The very concept of redemption arc becomes impossible if the past is refused to be forgiven, even if the company manages to better themselves.
Then the now popular redemption arc of No Mans Sky or Phantom Liberty wouldn't exist in the gaming community if the same logic is also applied there.
Not defending anyone here but I want gaming to improve, companies to better themselves and most importantly competition to exist so that we get offered the best products to enjoy.
(I know in typical N4G fashion, this comment will be downvoted to oblivion, but I want good games offered from every studios irrespective of publishers.)
@RaidenBlack
IMO, what @-Foxtrot means, one years doesn't mean much. It's a start, yes, but they need more, much more.
Look at your own example, No Mans Sky - they didn't just release one patch and everyone started praising them, no. They've been doing this consistently. If Microsoft will start releasing good games consistently, that'll be great, no ifs and/or buts! But hyping them up in advance (no worthy releases yet is what i mean) - dunno, i might be wrong, but i don't think it's healthy or helps anyone.
Your analogies are terrible. A company releasing a single game that failed to meet expectations.
Isn't the same as Phil Spencer making mistake after mistake after mistake after mistake, telling lie after lie after lie after lie for 10+ years.
Your whole comparison makes no sense. It literally took years for both of those to "redeem" themselves in the container of a single game. MS has been lacking for 12yrs starting with the halo/gears/forza criticism begining in the latter half of the 360. So even by YOUR logic, he's right, it's gonna take a lot more than one game to be redeemed ESPECIALLY after fumbling what many were already holding as their chance at redemption with starfield
It's not Playstation or Nintendos fault that Xbox poses no competition. They've had more support and more money behind them than Playstation and Nintendo combined!
You say you aren't defending Xbox, but, you kind of are. Xbox has been completely mediocre for decades. The last time Xbox was competitive was the 360 era. My 360 collection absolutely demolishes my Xbox One collection and so far Series X hasn't had much reason for me to jump to a purchase.
Can you honestly say Xbox is 'competitive'?! I would say not even close.
With the gaming media, Xbox is always just one game away from redemption and success. It's willful ignorance that they think there's a 'magic bullet' that will somehow erase all the moves by Phil & the gang of the last 2 console generations.
"Well there's always next year!" Should be the official Xbox slogan
100% this Mammo!
They've been screwing up for over a decade! Even if they release a game that's of the highest quality, that's nothing in the grand scheme things.
It also doesn't un-do Kinect (with lies based advertising).
Or Kinect 2 (forcing people to spend $100 extra for something they didn't even want!).
Or releasing two consoles with nothing noteworthy twice in a row (One X, Series S|X).
Or releasing unpolished games such as Re:Core, Sea of Thieves, Halo: MCC, Halo Infinite, Redfall, and Starfield.
Let's not forget canceling games as well such as Scalebound,Project Spark, and the Phantom Dust remake.
Finally let's remember the broken promises of vaporware games, languishing in development Hell, such as Perfect Dark, Fable, Everwild, what else am I forgetting?
Redemption is far far FAR AWAY for Microsoft. It'll take a full decade of only making smart pro-consumer decisions and releasing plenty of amazing games in order to make up for it all.
2024? It ain't gonna do squat on its own.
It was the same old story in 2020, 2021,2022 and 2023. XBox has never delivered this gen.
I wonder if the 2025's version of this article is already written, probably I would say
''2024 Is A Chance At Redemption For Xbox & Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer''
We've been hearing and reading the same crap since the xbone launch, these shills/journos need to come up with something new. Good thing is most gamers know this is all BS, they all read ''"Step right up folks and hold out your money or sub to our service. You don't know what you are going to get, but like always, take our word for it" Signed Lord Phil.
I don't know if anyone will catch the key word in the title? "Seem" relevant in three, four, five years. Meaning not really relevant from day one.
Does anyone understand the difference of "Seem", as oppossed to "Will"!? Nowhere did I state that these were Microsofts words, I merely pointed out a observation! It's not like if this was their true way of thinking, that it would make a difference anyway.
well day one your multiplats are 720p. if 5 years will be relevant like day 1 you fed up.
I should hope so too, i don't want to spend £430 on something that isn't going to be relevant a few years after i buy it.
yeah..just keep the great aa games coming in ,keep xbx live unique and running, get amazing kinect games and make sure halo5 blows our minds....
he should probably aim for making it more relevant... especially in the context of the living room, which is their ultimate goal