Phil Spencer Talks Differences Between Scorpio and PC, Scalebound Cancellation and Taking Risks

Today Xbox Division Head Phil Spencer took to Twitter to respond to a few questions from the fans, as he often does.

[SpaceRanger]

Phil is honestly the only one with sense and honesty. Aaron Greenberg and Major Nelson have ignored all of this, but will probably bring up useless "total gaming hours" stats by the end of the month.

My favorite portion of Spencer's tweets is one that I've been trying to get Xbox Fanboys to understand since...well forever...

https://mobile.twitter.com/...

I said it last gen and I'll say it again. Investing in top notch indies and having exclusives will always matter.

[whitesoxfalife1976]

only thing i dont like is that the fact phil gotta keep explaining word by word to these users over there on twitter.
It was never bad like this last gen. I know everybody is open on these platforms but really some these KATS that be questioning arent questioning just stealth trolling getting him to bite and then come with they're agenda Like he is lying 24/7.....

Of course you not gonna a full direct answer and why shud you for so you can turn around and make 250-400 word article of actually twisting what he is saying feeding it us gamers as truth.....

We as gamers need to really understand what really goes on from an industry p.o.v. not as an consumer....

[TFJWM]

Spencer was head of MS studios before becoming head of all of xbox. All of their recent IP problems have happened during his watch. He has had a role in all of these deals and failing games yet since he is a great PR person people seem to just overlook it all.

[j15reed]

I feel like of course you can always have more games, but I'm good with my Xbox backlog is crazy right now. Its all these other people that seem to have issue with everything MS does.

[Lonnie18]

What backlog, they need to focus on new ip's not bc!

[SpaceRanger]

What's your backlog? Other than multiplats?

[lastking95]

Exactly those ppl complaining arent even interested in xbox. My back log is huge

[XanderZane]

My backlog isn't huge, but I still need to finish Tomb Raider, Gears 4, FH3, Van Helsing and a bunch of other B/C games. I started playing World of Final Fantasy & The Last Guardian and that side tracked me.

[TheDivine]

Lonnie what backlog is there on PS4? Bloodbourne and Uncharted? The only two ps games worth a heck thus far?

What about on WiiU? Bayanetta and Xenoblade X? Maybe Tropical Freeze and Wonderful 101?

Both Xbox and PS rely on indies and third parties. Nintendo relies on only Nintendo. PS finally is getting rolling next year (And its a doozy) but as of right now Xbone has it beat with great exclusives. Not sure how Gears 4, Fora Horizon 3, Recore, Quantum Beak, Dead Rising 4 and Halo Wars 2 all releasing in a year is anything but killer. Throw in BC games, third party games, and older exclusives and it was the best Xbone year and I have a backlog for sure. Just my opinion though. Bloodbourne and Uncharted have been the only exclusives I really loved on PS4. Star Ocean 5 was great as a long term fan of the series but not a lot else. Nioh and Persona 5 are hype though.

[aconnellan]

What do you mean you've been trying to get Xbox Fanboys to understand that forever?

The Tweet says: "Apologies but this isn't how games get built. There isn't a pour in $X and get game. Much more iterative and organic than that."

For the last 2 days, all I've seen on this site is "Stupid Microsoft should have stepped in more and provided more support and more money", with other more sensible people countering that more money may not have saved Scalebound.

At the end of the day, every game made is a business decision and transaction, whether we like to think that or not. Developers and Publishers need to earn their money back - it's a case of "Scalebound will take 'x' amount of money to make, 'y' amount of time, and based on that should generate 'z' amount of revenue. The longer it takes to make (delays, setbacks, more required resources), the more money has to be poured in, which reduces the amount of money to be made upon release.

It looks to me like what happened was a case of Microsoft and Platinum Games coming to the decision that, after numerous delays and missed milestones, it would be less of a loss to cancel Scalebound now than to pour God-knows how much more money into it to get it finished.

Also, get that 'Xbox Fanboy' crap out of here

[rainslacker]

I'd like him better if he explained why the game was cancelled. Saying it's an organic process means nothing to those who were expecting the game or brought the console with the hope of playing this game, nor does it explain why it's good for us consumers that we can not actually play this game due to MS decision. Nothing is said about what came of this cancellation, and all I can see is that we've had a game taken away from potential games to play on the system.

In one tweet he indicated that 1st party studios are critical, yet hasn't explained why under his leadership, not a single 1st party studio has been procured or made from the ground up since he took over, nor given any indication if that's even happening. No ancillary evidence suggest that MS is actually trying to procure or make any 1st party studios.

To date, we haven't seen where this idea that that MS wanted an UC level game(the reason they brought ROTTR exclusive rights) will come to fruition, because MS doesn't have the studios to make it.

So many things Phil says MS needs, or that he wants to do, but so few things he's actually achieved.

I'd actually like someone to name one thing he has promised, or said MS needs, that has come to fruition,or looks to be coming soon, that he likely had some direct control over. Don't say BC, because that happened too soon after he took over for him to be the driving force behind it.

As far as promised games, and lineup hype, I understand that he hasn't been in charge long enough to see what's coming from the efforts to provide new IP's and more games, so I'll give him time on that. Hopefully this year will show some appreciable results.

But, looking at all the things that have happened under his reign, I can't actually say I can 100% credit him with any of them, because they all likely started before he took over.

Phil talks a good game. I believe he means what he says, and likely wants to achieve great things for Xbox. I just don't think he's currently succeeding, or at least, that vision hasn't actually come anywhere close to fruition yet. Whatever it is he's trying to do, can't actually be seen yet....we just kind of know about it because he likes to say nice things to keep people happy.

[maybelovehate]

I do hope they will bring the Xbox Interface to PC. Implement it like Steam Big Picture mode. Scorpio sounds nice and all but there is no way it will match my PC's performance, I just want a better interface for gaming and entertainment on the couch using my Windows 10 box.

[Obscure_Observer]

The guy is under fire. But i belive him. Like or not, many skeptikal gamers will too. He may be on his lower momment right now because of Scalebound´s cancellation. Come E3 he´ll rise again. :)

[UCForce]

I don't think it gonna happen. This isn't like PS3 days. This one is completely different.

[Obscure_Observer]

There's nothing different. Phil is the guy answering to Xbox owners and fanboys alike, when Major Nelson and Greenberg is nowhere to be found.

For that i respect him even more. The hypocrites are fast to downplay every positive move from Spencer calling him a front, giving credit to higher ups every "good" decision made. When things go south Phil is the man to blame and NOT the higher ups.

So yes. I think Phil is the right guy to run Xbox and all he needs is Xbox Owners and fans support.

Is gonna be a rough year, but he'll make it.

[yomfweeee]

Not sure why people keep believing in Phil. He's all talk.

[Bigpappy]

Yep we Xbox owners sure are stupid. But thanks for your advice on who should run Xbox. I think we'll stick with Phil and listen to what he has to say though.

[Tharja]

Meh Xbox was never good

[Max-Zorin]

The Original Xbox was.

[jznrpg]

Only modded

[Nyxus]

And pre-kinect 360.

[gamer7804]

maybe shouldn't have closed lionhead.... if they really think first party are critical.

[Kavorklestein]

Imo Lionhead peaked in 2004 and never would have made anything close to even Recore in terms of quality or new ideas ever again. Let alone Even Fable. They seem like a studio that was always going to be living within their own shadow, and be stuck using cartoony/stylized graphics to tell very dry and simple stories with charm but no MUST PLAY IT NOW appeal. I saw a future of purely junk titles that would never sell well, or never really be of high demand to anyone. IMO, Ms made a good decision with Lionhead getting shafted, and Scalebound seemed interesting, but not really Noteworthy in the end. (I could be wrong) Frankly, MS needs a new game that plays/feels familair to something we've already seen/played, but tells a meaty or unique story with an inspiring setting or world that gamers can REALLY sink their teeth into.

Something like Mass Effect was for 360, like Halo was for OG Xbox, and hell even like Quantum Break TRIED to be but with more substance and and replayability.

Hell, even a game about an Alien race with cryptic dream/abduction segments would be a start... Now DO it already MS!
Buy Crytek! Make a game that has betrayal, or A game that has truly perplexing mysteries to solve... Make it as polished and playable as Halo, but as deeply bleak and haunting as The Last of Us, or as unique as Quantum Break, with the impact and intrigue of Mass Effect or Bioshock. Make it as simple to pick up and play as Portal or Limbo, with the balance of story/freedom and depth as Skyrim, Fallout or the Witcher 3.

It can be done! Now just do it already!
Pay some people some REAL studios so REAL money to get REALLY creative and knock our goddamn socks off!

I mean if Zelda can still be so fresh and new yet familiar, gaming hasn't changed THAT much, so get busy making teams with PASSION and VISION to make the next sleeper hit!

Fuck I've got MILLIONS of ideas! Nobody ever asked me if I want to be part of a concept creation team but I could go on for DAYS with new ideas and fresh approaches to tell stories.

It's not that damn hard to think outside the box, now get some geniuses to BUILD the impossible already!

[gamer7804]

I'd have to disagree on Fable Legends, I was in the closed beta and played fable legends to a good extent, it was very polished and fun. Definitely was a unique title allowing for single and multiplayer, and even a 5th player as the DM of sorts.

[Bronxs15]

I’m excited to see what Microsoft does with the Scorpio. Browsing N4G comments you’d think Microsoft was the scum of the earth for gamers, but you could argue they have done more for gamers this generation than sony. Play anywhere and backwards compatibility are 2 examples of this.

Xbox consoles have always been very future driven / forward thinking in their designs. The original xbox really out did the ps2 and gamecube on a technical level. It was the first system to have a hard drive and features like streaming custom music. I believe dreamcast had a Ethernet port and the ps2 did have the add on adapter where as every xbox had it built in and they actually had a flushed out service like live to utilize it.

Pioneering features continued with xbox 360. Sony really scrambled at the beginning of the generation to bring psn up to par with xbox live which had cross game chat, ability to change username etc from the get go. Also these hardware updates we are getting this generation (for better or worse) was first done by Microsoft. I believe the 360 was the first time we’ve seen a console get significant hardware updates, the original 360 launched without HDMI or wireless wifi, which were later added in hardware revisions. On the game side I think they really popularized co-op gaming with things like firefly in halo and horde in gears of war. And was there a prior instance with a console game doing what mass effect did carrying a save file forward? I also think Microsoft made the download game space popular with xbox live arcade and tittles like geometry wars, braid, limbo, Splosion man, shadow complex etc.

As for the xbox one, it’s a pretty advanced console. First time we see an hdmi in port. I believe it’s the first console that ran 2 distinct operating systems, one for games and one for the os so we got features like being able to snap internet brower, youtube app or live tv to a side of the tv and still play your full game. Smart glass integration is cool, being able to use my iphone’s keyboard to enter text on xbox. First time we’ve seen major accessory (Kinect) packed in with every console – though unsuccessful let it not be said that microsoft doesn’t try new things.

Sure they started this generation off in what was looking like a anti consumer way and that bad press took center stage. That was under don mattrick and we see how that worked out, he’s gone and phil’s done a 180 course correction. But to be fair there were some benefits to the original vision, but the negatives out weighed them. With the xbox one and the always connected vision they were looking too far ahead.
I hope they keep their pedigree with Scorpio and really deliver an amazing machine.

Ps. Here’s a thought, if Microsoft wanted to win back some favor and positive attention they should announce that multiplayer will be removed from behind the pay wall. They can pitch it and play it up as a feature of the close integration between xbox and windows 10 and wanted to treat users fairly, since multiplayer is free in windows.

[ColonelHugh]

There is no way that Microsoft would cut any part of their subscription service. Reports show that for the Xbox subdivision, those fees are where the money is. Software and hardware revenue is down, but XBL revenue is more or less stable.

[NeoGamer232]

I think MS is taking risks.

Scalebound was one of them and it seemed like a great idea. But it didn't look like it would achieve everything it set out to do.

Sea of Thieves is also a risk. Rare has been jabbed at for years about not making a great Rare game. MS removed the shackles and are letting them do something. From what I have seen this game is very unique and interesting. But, it is also risky.

Killer Instinct was a risk to start the generation and it has been one of the best fighting games this generation so far.

Quantum Break was a risk. Alan Wake was a cult classic for 360 but its sales did not match expectations. Signing onto a new IP by Remedy was another risk.

Kinect bundling on X1 was a risk and they had to backtrack on it.

Crackdown 3 Is taking a risk on cloud compute gaming.

MS is taking risks with HoloLens.

And they are taking a risk on VR going forward.

DRM for everything was a risk and they had to backtrack on it. Yet, digital sales are quickly growing so we may see a re-track forwards again on this. It was just too early for its time.

Scorpio is another risk. Waiting to be the last to release a new console PS4 Pro and Nintendo Switch will precede it is a huge risk given that MS is not in a dominant console position.

MS also took a risk by bringing Windows 10 to XB.

And then the play anywhere and and universal apps platform to make development easier across the PC and XB platforms.

MS certainly is taking risks... And some are working and some are failing. One thing is very clear. They are not afraid to take a risk and they are not afraid to back track off of mistakes.

[peewee11016]

IDC what anyone says anyone who things the UI on XBOX one is good your lying to you and everyone else. Shit is s8 trash. Damn loading screen on every damn MENU you are trying to load up. Its fuking say. Keep that shit away from PC we dont need that shitty UI

[lastking95]

Clearly haven't used one (at least since the overhaul)

[peewee11016]

Ummm yes i have i OWN it got it for sunset and break. If they did then they OBVi aint doing a good job

[medman]

Microsoft is walking around with a floppy, while Sony is rock hard.

[Moe-Gunz]

He's such a good PR guy. To me all he does is say what people want to hear, but the actions are contrary to the words. Have to admire his ability to keep people believing.