Xbox hasn't 'given up' on the console war — they already stopped taking part

Some people haven't appreciated Phil's honesty here and see it as admitting defeat, but Spencer is just laying out the reality of Microsoft's place in the gaming industry right now. Most gamers are already committed to a platform of their choice and have invested in this. Playstation has been the dominant console since its release in 1994, and since the doomed Xbox One generation, its lead is insurmountable. Spencer is describing how Xbox's focus needs to be on other avenues to compete and ultimately grow.

[Notellin]

The switch to digital was critical for consumer retention. The majority of people won't change phone ecosystems for the same reason.

[VenomUK]

I'm not sure Windows Central editor Jez Cordon will approve of this criticism.

[S2Killinit]

When I read Spenser’s comments, it sounded more like he was trying to lay the blame on his predecessor. It is possible that Spenser’s position as head of xbox is under threat so he is trying to deflect blame. The MS board cannot be happy with Spenser’s comments either unless the whole thing is a ploy tor MS to play dead for the acquisition scheme.

[Obscure_Observer]

"I'm not sure Windows Central editor Jez Cordon will approve of this criticism."

He has been in odds with Microsoft recently, he kind of had a public argument with Aaron Greenberg a few weeks ago regarding Hi-Fi Rush´s sales.

Now he´s spreading rumors about some Playstation timed exclusive deals with Konami to bring Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake and Castlevania to PS5.

He might just jump ship at this point. Lol.

[LOGICWINS]

".....unless the whole thing is a ploy tor MS to play dead for the acquisition scheme."

As they say, you never let a good tragedy go to waste. Phil used Redfall as an opportunity to demonstrate Xbox's weakness...thus making the Activision acquisition more palatable to the EU commission.

[Hofstaderman]

@Obscure I don’t blame any XBOX fan jumping ship at this point…

[SullysCigar]

Lmao at this article title - pure gold!

"Xbox hasn't 'given up' on the console war — they stopped taking part"

I would definitely beat Usain Bolt in a sprint, but we'd never know for sure if I just "stopped taking part" halfway down the track... right?? Windows Central logic.

[MatrixxGT]

💯 also people will stick with what their friends play on too.

[P_Bomb]

@MatrixxGT
I’ve seen this first hand at work, lol. You’d think it was still 2007 there. The Xbox clique stayed firm. Where your friends play can make a difference.

[crazyCoconuts]

So why does Sony continue to waste their time and money investing in great exclusives?
If everything is set in stone, why not just ride it out?

[jznrpg]

Games is most critical over everything else

[EvertonFC]

Maybe people who are invested in Apple iTunes but I am not sure someone from either samsung or sony xperia would lose anything switching.
Can you help me out with some examples pls.
Neither agreed or disagreed.

[Hofstaderman]

If Series had the games PlayStation has I would switch over in a heartbeat. Ecosystem be damned…I go where the quality games are. Ps1, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, 360, later PS3, PS4… My only loyalty is to defining gaming experiences.

[jwillj2k4]

I had Spotify for like 6 years. As soon as they fucked the interface up on the phone I switched to Apple Music. It’s not as good imo but the point is no one can fall asleep at the wheel and expect to stay in the lead. Buckle down crank some good ass games out CONSISTNETLY and I’d buy an Xbox it’s as simple as that.

The reality is they really don’t care if people buy an Xbox. The plan is macro (multi system w. Game pass). However they can get you is fine with them.

On top of this they save money advertising greatness, failing then apologizing versus putting resources into a game out the gate. Their core ears up the tears and it won’t matter once they’re the #1 publisher so no harm in popping sh*t and apologizing later.

[Chevalier]

"If Series had the games PlayStation has I would switch over in a heartbeat. Ecosystem be damned…I go where the quality games are. Ps1, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, 360, later PS3, PS4… My only loyalty is to defining gaming experiences."

I would just supplement and buy the Series X if they had good games to sit alongside my PS5. Had the previous Xbox systems as well, but, held off getting the series X because there's just not enough games to make it worth my time. Got burned getting the Xbox One S and didn't want a repeat.

[shinoff2183]

They can still easily compete by putting those 23 studios to work. They gave competition before with the 360 and did fine despite rrod, and lack of releases toward the end. Games sell console , please tell me people and falling for the defeated words of ol Phillip Spencer. Keep telling yourself. Ms would do just fine with a traditional console, traditional game sales, just bring the damn games. Ps Nintendo appears to have outsold ps during the ps3 360 wii Era. As someone who prefers ps, Nintendo is still alive and kicking.

[S2Killinit]

Exactely they can spend that 69 billion on developing their studios instead of trying to purchase a choke hold on the industry. This is why MS is a bad actor in the console industry, they dont want to create, they try to dominate using capital.

[CrimsonWing69]

I just think the statement where trying to compete by having better games on the platform was a very wrong way to look at things.

I understand in the short-term it’s not an instant change, but as you build a portfolio of game and keep with it consistently, then yes it’s dangling the carrot in front of a consumer and eventually they’ll bite.

The only reason I own an Xbox is for their exclusives. I don’t own an Xbox for Gamepass and Cloud Gaming.

If that’s their attitude, then just pull out of the race. I’m speaking solely as a consumer, but if you’re not offering anything good on your platform and consistently, I don’t want any part of your platform.

[CS7]

I’m surprised that he managed to make that statement and get so much press and fans to eat it up and even waste time discussing it.

It simply isn’t true.

95% of people buy new consoles to play new games. Gaming isn’t TV, music or apps where people routinely visit old stuff. Games take ALOT of time and people generally play newer releases.

And yes there are some of you who play older generation games but its not the mainstream who make up the bulk of console sales.

But if Xbox consistently releases 10/10 bangers that innovate and push gaming forward and Sony and Nintendo can’t match their quality, people WILL come over as evident in the early 360 days.

Phil’s statement was an absolute smoke bomb and run away.

[CrimsonWing69]

That's the thing, how he put it, it sounded like he's saying if they made a 10/10 game right then and there it wouldn't change the adoption rate for their console.

He's right, in that regards, but...

What he didn't mention, and what I'm not sure is his thought process, is that it takes a number of 10/10 games. Once you have built that library, what gamer wouldn't want to experience these games? I own all platforms, I do this because of exclusives and I don't want to lock myself out from experiencing games due to exclusivity. Of course I choose a primary (Playstation) due to the amount of time I'm on the platform and just the amount of exclusives I enjoy.

It will take time and it will probably take some monetary loss to get to that point. I think Phil is banking on the games from the acquisitions to finally start bearing fruit, but even then it has to be consistent. I honestly think Xbox needs to make deals for exclusives from FromSoft, Square, Sega, and Capcom. I'm talking AAA games and not some budget-ass AA stuff. If Xbox can get some more Japanese flavor with their current exclusives set to come out I think it'd have enough decent variety to make the platform a worthy contender in the console arena.

If Xbox just stays in this service direction and a focus on their "ecosystem" without delivering on exceptional games, I do not see a reason to support them.

[Einhander1971]

Fortunately MS hasn't had there own way. Thinking they could muscle into the console space and dominate. Bad luck lol 😆

[Father__Merrin]

Where are those jeering the 12TF Vs 10TF fiasco....I want to know where they are...

[darkrider]

One year of that talk from Phil Spencer with Fanboys making fun of the so call weakstation.

The reality is that Phil Spencer should be working hard with its team managing the studios to produce quality games. Did he do that? Nope.

[Viljong]

Atleast xbox have hdmi 2.1 port and better audio support for hometheatre even headsets.

[Hofstaderman]

For what games to take advantage of…?

[Viljong]

Every game run in 120hz mode with xbox. No matter the fps this cut the input lagg in half. My tv is 10ms@60hz and 5ms@120hz. When ps5 goes to 120hz mode it need game level support and it compress image quality to yuv422 instead of RGB. Becouse the 30gb/sec hdmi port cant support 120hz, 4k, hdr and rgb signal at same time.

Tempest audio 3d is cringe marketing. Becouse xbox and every gpu have better audio support. Tempest chip only mean sony was too cheap to work out a dolby atmosDTS:X license. Dolby atmos is great for hometheatres which ps5 dont support. Dolby atmos and dts also have 3d headset support. Where you can actually adjust settings towards quality or directional audio. Becouse 3d audio actually lower audio quality becouse headset need to emulate directionality. And even tvs from 2017 have 3d audio support. Tempest audio is nothing special its the worst system compared to xbox and pc.

[crazyCoconuts]

"Spencer wasn't trying to write off Xbox's prospects of making great games, simply stating that the games alone wouldn't win some arbitrary war over console sales."
He's not being criticized for not suddenly winning the console war. He's being criticized for not making good games and endangering losing the users he has.

[thesoftware730]

The only thing this site talks about anymore is Xbox and how PlayStation is better in every article. None of you are talking about games anymore. The PS-Only people especially, is it because PS5 has had sort of a new game drought for a bit now?

I will post this same comment in the threads to prove this.

[VersusDMC]

Exclusive releases planned and released for this year

Forspoken
Horizon Burning Shores
FFXVI
Stellar Blade
Spider Man 2
And there might be some more 2023 big games as well. Silent hill 2 seems likely.

And there are indies like Tchia, humanity and all the PSVR2 games.

So i don't know what PS drought you are talking about...unless you are going to say 3rd party exclusives don't count.

Which is hilarious as the Bethesda games would be on PS if Microsoft didn't buy them...so those aren't 3rd party exclusives because they spent billions to buy them?

[thesoftware730]

first, I appreciate the list lol. You listed 4 games that are not out yet.

Second, I fully agree 3rd parties count, but for some reason, it didn't count in 2022 when MS had tons of 3rd parties and indies, some day 1 but no 1st party... hmmm...sus, double standard much?

Finally, you listed those games that nobody is talking about on here, go look at the front page lol.

[neutralgamer1992]

They didn’t stop taking part they were knocked down and knocked out multiple times over the past 4 generation. Even now they don’t understand piece of pie chart relating to gaming consoles

You can have the best services, best features, powerful console and can make all the positive PR statements. But if you don’t have the games to back it up than icing only gets you so far. You need the cake and since 360 days Ms have had a habit of servicing icing on

If I was running Xbox i would focus on games only. Regardless of what cult of Xbox fanboys say games matter more and Phil has to get out of the vocal minority bubble and listen to gamers.

There needs to be Xbox exclusives which have 90 or above and are in GOTY conversation. Starfield will be the deciding factor for Matt booty, Nelson and Spencer. If that game fails Xbox will get brand new leadership and that means new vision. Every single Xbox head has come with their own vision and start from scratch instead of building on what was already there

[sadraiden]

FFS there's blood in the water here at N4G. Nothing but Xbox/Redfall posts for DAYS.

[EvertonFC]

Have you ever really tried @Xbox? maybe 3 years of 360 era out of of 20 years of being in gaming and ONLY fable, project dark, pgr, forza, halo, gears and ori to show for it

[masterfox]

"they stop taking part", sure still screw it up for good with our buyouts :D

[TheEnigma313]

They would have been good had they built off of the 360's success instead of boasting about the numbers being obsessed with Sony.

[Unknown_Gamer5794]

If anything, Sony built off of the success of the 360 by taking notes on what made it do so well and adopting some strategies accordingly. It’s funny hearing some of the things that Xbox fans are complaining about Sony doing, such as securing timed-exclusivity of some games/content or exclusive content in games, when that was exactly what MS was doing in the 360 era. Why are those practices suddenly problematic to them now that it’s Sony who’s employing them?

Of course, the number one reason for Sony’s success is that they know the value of producing good exclusives, while the concept falls on deaf ears at MS, but Sony has certainly employed some MS strategies on the side to give them an extra edge, and it’s kind of funny to me that MS themselves can’t even seem to understand what made their own system viable two gens ago.

[anast]

Now they have a built-in excuse to go all in on mobile gaming. They are too obvious about all this stuff.

[Tedakin]

They've been putting their games on PC day 1 for years now. Obviously that's going to affect console sales, yet people still cling to it. I know several people who have Gamepass, but only game on PC and don't own Xboxes.

[PhillyDillyDee]

If that were true than why would they release a console at all? Now explain why they released 2.