Speaking at the SXSW Gaming Expo 2014 in Austin, Texas, Microsoft's Phil Spencer has conceded that Microsoft's Xbox One messaging across the May 2013 reveal event and E3 2013 could have been handled better. Spencer is adamant, however, that all of it came from a good place - Totalxbox
Polygon spoke with Spencer during the annual Game Developers Conference, and though the conversation ranged from the possibility of a handheld console to the trouble with closed platforms, one theme was inescapable: What the hell is going on with the games industry? And how will video game makers and publishers — Xbox included — get out of it?
“You can’t succeed unless you draw in customers from other publishers and other platforms. And because you’re not finding new customers with the games that you’re building, everybody’s kind of fighting over the same-size pie.”
People are going to twist this into him saying that Sony is bad for exclusives but what he is really saying... what he is trying to shout from the hills to the Xbox faithful, is that Xbox can not remain exclusive if you want them to ever take risks or make big games again. The back and forth game the PR team plays with the fanatics has to stop. Spencer doesn't know what Sony or Nintendo is going to do , but he is taking the Xbox games and putting them everywhere and thats how its gonna be. Going multiplat is the only way to GROW. Full stop that is what he is saying.
I don't think Phil Spencer is the one you want to ask this question. Are you sure he wasn't the one who asked it?
I won't bash Phil as much as I think he and his leadership team deserve, however, the data is showing the XBOX WW sales are nearly life support levels. Redfall failed - Star Field decent. What about those issues?!
Nothing is really wrong with the industry. More like: what the hell are video game makers doing? I’ve very rarely have I seen the disconnect between what gamers want to play, and what makers are trying to sell this wide.
What's the point on invest $500 on a ecosystem, that you will have on another console plus the other console exclusives. Why this made sense for Phil, get new customer but losing the old ones.
Microsoft has announced the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox will be discontinued in April and has confirmed that weekly streaks will also be coming to an end.
It feels like the video game console is at a crossroads. With Xbox Series X and S floundering in the ‘console war’, Sony suggesting PlayStation 5 is approaching the second half of its life after missing sales targets, and uncertainty around the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, there is growing concern that the traditional video game console business could be under threat.
It's obvious that MS is leaving the console biz. MS may have tons of money, but that doesn't mean they want to keep losing money on the gaming division to prove a point. Thanks Phil
Good article and this is not a duplicate. The link that @Maximus Prime shared is just a small portion of the full interview. This post is the full interview.
Times are changing quick, the same ol way the industry been is changing. Where people play is changing.
“What I think Phil is doing is setting up some smoke signals that we're thinking very differently”
I’m surprised how slowly Microsoft is moving toward Xbox as a software platform. They usually don’t care so much about upsetting their customers with unpopular changes like they do with every other version of Windows.
This "console market hasn't grown narrative " is overblown. The market has grown just not as fast as say smartphones. But so what? There is still money to be made in the business and just because Microsoft has failed doesn't mean the entire industry is facing sudden collapse. Gaming will be fine, every industry has to go through periods of restructuring. AAA games are made becuase its what attracts gamers the most and is where they spend the most money. (Demand/supply) Microsoft abandoning hardware should have happened years ago, they clearly lost interest at a base level in producing games and/or paying 3rd parties to back during the tail end of the 360 generation. Tired of hearing about the future of gaming, just make great games and/or invest in one's made by other to attract people to your platform.
Woof tickets being sold! An apology after the fact is not my idea of owning up to a mistake! The fact that a truth comes out before an acknowledgement is in all case in point leaving the person or entity withholding the truth, no other course of action!
To put it simply; Microsoft has been forced to tell the truth.
Yeah, they probably shouldnt have sugar coated anything, the mixed messaging and bad pr didnt help either, but i believe the path Phils taking now will help get them back on the right track.sony may be their competition but theres no doubt ms could learn a few things from their approach to games and their audience.Im actually happy with the fact that they seem to have realised this sooner rather than later..signs of good things to come...
Great job Phil.
Sugar coating would of have made the difference in the first place after all these ideas that they put on last year it's was dude for controversy.
I think it's a step in the right direction. I still don't fully understand it though. If you're going all-digital, why do you need to check up on us every 24 hours, even for single-player games? Steam doesn't do this. It makes no sense.
They didn't even sugar coat it, they bluntly and arrogantly stated things about the Xbox One when it was revealed, right up to E3.....even after in some parts.
"we have a product for people who can't get online, it's called Xbox 360"
"We can't just flip a switch" - NEXT DAY <FLIPS SWITCH>
"I mean we’re really not going to change anything we’ve done with Xbox One.” – Major Nelson"
"We’re over-delivering value against other choices I think consumers can get."
Then you have Adam Orth's "deal with it". I mean thats as blunt as you can get.