PlayStation Could Really Use A 'Gamer CEO' Like Phil Spencer

With Jim Ryan on the way out, Sony needs its own Phil Spencer.

[-Foxtrot]

A liar, a used car salesman, a guy who PR talks almost 24/7 where he ends up contradicting himself months later

Lmao. Definitely not

Just because you tell people what they want to hear and walk on stage with a casual gaming related shirt under a blazer does not mean shit.

[VenomUK]

NO. I'd prefer someone who does not have a frat-bro persona, that is super-rehearsed with PR speak, that talks about his achievements to prove how much of a hardcore gamer, sorry PLAYER, he/she is.

Yes I'd like to see PlayStation improve its communication but Jim Ryan, for all his shyness, was always authentic. I used to like Phil, but compare how he would answer if Starfield was coming to PS5 with if Elder Scrolls VI is, he gives a non-answer so that he avoids any criticism. That's not being honest with the community and I think less of him for this PR slyness.

[goldwyncq]

Authentic? Lol, didn't he lie about some of the PS5 launch games being exclusives? All that talk about how they believe in generations, only to announce later on that most of the games shown at E3 that year were going to launch on the PS4 as well.

[Petebloodyonion]

"Jim Ryan, for all his shyness, was always authentic"
You're joking, right?
Jim Ryan: "Yeah. We've got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft - the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it's all ages but it's also very young."
when talking about why Sony's against crossplay

[Tacoboto]

Did Jim Ryan even pretend to like video games?

[CrimsonWing69]

The flip-flopper Jim Ryan?

[Cacabunga]

Dual shockers 🤣
Thanks for the laugh..

Sony doesnt need a gamer they just need to have someone who listens to the fans, revives some of the most acclaimed franchises yet still pushes new experiences.

[jimbo676]

There's no one on Sonys side that has the equivalent of Phil Spencer. He's already a legend. Just his presence upsets so many people ok the other side, which is strange but it's hilarious. He just completed the biggest gaming deal in history. Nothing Sony had some had compared. They bought Bungie but Bungie has gone down hill with destiny 2 and they are now making games for Xbox too.

[sadraiden]

CEOs of multi-billion dollars companies aren't your friends.

Don't develop parasocial relationships with people that only care about that $70 hanging out of your pocket.

Whatever happened to just dunking on cringe CEOs?

[sparky77]

Sounds like every mouth piece from PlayStation lol

[Obscure_Observer]

"Sounds like every mouth piece from PlayStation lol"

They would love Phil Spencer if situation were reversed because what Phil Spencer is doing for Xbox this generation, is exactly what they want for Playstation that Sony is apparently avoiding.

Big investments in first party studios, indie, AA and AAA first party games, new IPs, old IPs, single player games, RPG games, Gamepass, Cloud Gaming...

I could go on and on, but you got the picture.

[Godmars290]

@Obscure_Observer:
What has Phil actually done for Xbox?

He took over for Mattrick who messed up with Always Online with neither having any real measure of faith in their own studios. At this point Phil's bet MS's status with consoles on COD where King's "their" attempt at mobile gaming. Bets that will take decades to see returns on, that if no more bets are made.

[Gamingsince1981]

This whole article is beyond retarded, why would any company want to emulate the people in very very far distant last in every gen ??? That's like telling the team that wins the championship every year to copy the team that comes last every year for better success. Drugs are bad mmmkay

[NotoriousWhiz]

Some of the best players are on bad teams. Cleveland had LeBron for 7 years and he had to leave and go to Miami in order to win his 1st championship.

[wiz7191]

@Gamingsince lol you’re bringing up last gen , when he didn’t become CEO until March of 2014 after Xbox One released. Even at the point the Xbox division didn’t have the full support of MS like they do today. All the big moves Xbox is making these days is because of Phil .. Acquiring Zenimax and now Activision

[Jin_Sakai]

A gaming CEO that can’t get a good game out the door. That’s exactly what PlayStation needs.

[porkChop]

They don't need their own Phil Spencer. PlayStation just needs a new CEO that actually plays and understands games.

[Sephiroushin]

While I agree the thing is that CEO are business men who are there to look for ways to make money through logistic etc, especially those CEO on big corpos, they do not care about the minority on the industries they are in, in the case of gaming they do not need to play videogames, they need to look in what people want, and we gamers on forum etc are the minority, they see casuals more important, for example the leaks from Activision COD shows up very welll, they rather has less gamers playing COD who actually spend money on battlepass and skins than gamers who actually would keep playing the game if the sbmm was not as bad as its now, and they even have patents about it, so they do not even try to hide it.
No CEO genuinely care about gaming besides Gabe with Valve and a few others who has small companies doing games, but these CEOs from big corporations just care about ways of bringing money.
Some people call Phil a gamer but no gamer with integrity would have praised crap like Redfall before release, no gamer who would have played Redfall before release would praise that piece of shit or even allow it to release on the state it did, because it had potential but just that...

[Charlieboy333]

What I find hilarious is when Phil's faithful rave about how much of a gamer he is which makes him so much better than 'Mr Business' Jim Ryan. Well you would think a gamer would know when a game is complete shit then wouldn't you? Yet Phil wholeheartedly approved of ( and even praised ) mediocre crap like Crackdown 3, Halo Infinite and Redfall. That makes it even more obvious how much he sucks at his job for someone that's supposed to be 'in the know'.

[1Victor]

@Fox
Lmao. Definitely HELLLLLLLL NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
There I fix it for you

[RNTody]

@Foxtrot In addition to this perfectly accurate and succinct comment, I'd also like to ask in what goddamn way Phil Spencer is remotely a gamer. Wearing a gaming T shirt does not make you a gamer when you know absolutely nothing about quality. You can say what you want about Jim Ryan being the most dull of PlayStation bosses with a vision that isn't popular, yet PlayStation has not released a SINGLE game that was mediocre this entire generation so far.

[Abear21]

Agreed, however, more swag/bravado from Sony would be welcome—at least a little more talk about what’s coming, not Phil levels of nonsense, the guy that wants that Elder Scrolls VI banner even though it’s half a decade out, but I think fans want more hype from Sony

[derek]

You will never read articles from the likes of this moron asking why xbox doesn't copy the more successful playstation/Nintendo platforms, never. There is a desire in the xbox community for playstation to validate the idiotic things Microsoft does by insisting that they copy them.

[BlackTar187]

They also get too much money from MS to spew this drivel .

[darthv72]

Phil may enjoy gaming (like the rest of us) but he is no hard ass who knows how to crack a whip and keep the teams in line. The Mr Nice Guy approach tends to be more off putting than inviting. He may be a genuine "nice guy" but Sony needs a leader, not a dude bro, lets all Halo and chill.

[Crows90]

Hes not nice though. Its a front. He knew damn well playstation gamers were waiting to play starfield...regardless of how that game turned out he knew. He purposefully made it exclusive...not nice. Hes buying up industry to negatively impact the majority of console gamers...not nice. He says he lets devs make what they want...but most happen to make live service games.

[Godmars290]

If this is about how Phil likes games, then the issue is the types of games he likes. That if applying personal interests, like walking back only to repeat original negative comments about SP games, how that effects the overall stance of the company he's suppose to be representing.

@Crows90:
And since it supposedly about MS just owning IP, it being a credit that Xbox games like Minecraft are on Playstation, what Phil says only comes out hallow.

[isarai]

Nah I'm good, maybe a gamer like Shuhei, but not Phil, he has no integrity and just lies all the time.

[slate91]

The comment section should be good on this

[MrDead]

Well it is a 100% flame bait article, should be a nice click generator for them.

[shadowT]

Phil only takes care about gamers. That is why he spend $70 billions for Activision, while knowing that Microsoft shareholders will never see this money again.

[UltimateOwnage]

"Gamers"? Those games he bought with that deal were already coming to more gamers on every major platform before he showed how much he cared. What he convinced MS's check writers to buy took all of those IP away from more gamers than it will give them to. Very sad.

[sci4me]

I dont even know how to reapond to this....

[Charlieboy333]

@:ShadowT

Firstly, as UltimateOwnage explained so nice and clear, the Bethesda and Activision acquisitions will result / have resulted in a very large portion of gamers not getting games they previously would have gotten. That's it. These acquisitions aren't even giving Xbox players anything extra....just games they were going to get anyway.

Secondly, if you think the shareholders are just going to be fine with spending 77 billion without getting anything back in return you must be completely mad. I can promise you that if these acquistions don't pay off to their liking there will be some....ummmm....BIG changes at Xbox central.

[GoodGuy09]

Unfortunately it is much more important for it to be a business person. Them being a gamer would definitely be a huge bonus. A person that's more a business person should just shut up which is what Jim Ryan should've done lol.

[ApocalypseShadow]

No. I want a CEO that leads like a good CEO that strikes a good balance and is knowledgeable of what makes gaming fun. Makes the company money that in turn, allows them to produce more content and take side risks. While taking into account what gamers want. No matter how much bullshit is thrown at Jim, he did a good job holding the torch compared to Phil who lies, misleads and misdirects on a continuing basis.

He launched PS5 during a pandemic. Not knowing what direction the economy was going to go. People out of work. People dying from a virus. What did he do to balance out a new launch with an uncertain future? He decided to continue making games for PS4 that printed money. That was 100+ million sold. That sold millions of copies of games. Makes sense as a CEO would do for a business. Keeping them in the black.

Jim didn't create inflation. He just adjusted to it. If everything else is going up, taxes, utilities, job salaries, game development, etc, where is that money going to come from? Investors aren't going to say go ahead and cut profits to make some gamers happy. Some will say if they were in that position, that they would cut profits to gain more brownie points. But I'd know that was a lie. That would actually get you forced out faster.

It's also funny that Jim isn't getting recognized for launching a great system that doesn't break. Not recognized for giving away a PS5 collection of games for buying the PS5 at launch. For launching all these games from GOW, Horizon, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man Miles Morales, GT7, etc. Not recognized for FF exclusivity. He's not being recognized for putting his stamp on giving a free game with the console with Astrobot. He's not given recognition for giving away games with the Stay at Home initiative during the pandemic for 2 years in a row. A great list of quality games. He's not recognized for launching PS VR 2 which is a risk in itself. Not recognized for the headsets standard features like eye tracking and foveated rendering, HDR, haptics, new Controllers, etc. And having full games like Horizon and GT7 for launch. Not recognized for paying for exclusivity of RE8 on PS VR 2. Not recognized for paying for RE4 Remake VR exclusivity. He's not recognized for getting Fire Sprite, Insomniac, Bungie, etc that will add greatly to PlayStation game development.

Instead, he's getting blasted for not being a "Gamer." That friendly CEO that's just one of the boys you can eat pizza with and wears gaming shirts. Plays games instead of coming up with new ways to make money for a business that expands Sony's portfolio. For all the nonsense thrown, not one GaaS game has released. But he's being tried and convicted for trying to launch a few online games, that gamers asked for, that have longevity. Yeah. You can make an online game and add nothing extra to it. But most online games today add more maps, more characters, more items, to keep gamers engaged. Any game from GT7 to free games like Rocket League can be considered GaaS games. Because they keep adding and adding content. Some items are free. Some you have to pay money for. But again, him hasn't launched one yet to get this much vitriol from. No facts given that the company moved away from single player AAA that's their bread and butter. Just a whole lot of rumor bullshit. And gamers eating that shit up for breakfast lunch and dinner.

I just want a CEO that can do the job. Make money. Then invest back into the platform. I don't need to like him or act like he's my friend. I don't go around acting like my bank CEO or my car maker is my friend. All they need to do is keep my money safe and sell me a great car.

[Lightning77]

Meanwhile he finished up Shawn Laydens Administration with SM2 and issued LS games for its 1st party studios under his leadership.

Again that was Shawn's administration, Jim was carrying out what he had done or layed out already. Jim wasn't responsible for the first few years of PS. He will be responsible for the next year going forward even after he's gone.

[mkis007]

Jim was shawns boss...

[Lightning77]

@Mkis Umm no he wasn't. Layden took over Jack Trenton's positions in 2014. Jim Ryan was president and CEO of SIE Europe. Layden got let go In 2019 and Jim not only took his place but is running PS as CEO. So no Layden has his administration through out The PS4 and part of PS5 not Ryan.

It's now Jim Ryan's Administration going forward. For a bunch Of Sony fanatics I'm very surprised y'all don't know that.

[DOMination-]

That's incorrect.

Jack Tretton and Shawn Layden were only head of SCE America. E3 was held in North America so it always made sense for them to head those conferences but they were never head of PlayStation.

Kaz Hirai, Andrew House and then Jim Ryan were PlayStation CEO during that time. Jack and Shawn answered to them. Although it is true that both Andrew and Jim were head of SIE Europe before their promotions.

Sony then moved away from regions and decided to go with simply a "Head of PlayStation studios" approach some years ago. IIRC, Shu did it for a while before Hulst took over that role on a more permanent basis.

[Lightning77]

I can't think of anyone better than Shuhei Yoshida. He's currently the head of Sony's independent Initiative. Promote him to take over Jim Ryan's spot. He's more than deserved it and ppl really like him and instantly recognizable amongst the industry. The fact it could be some faceless suit deep within the lairs of Sony who could drastically be out of touch or push the wrong things at PS is a possibility.

We also need to understand things suddenly won't just turn around for its 1st party even if Shuhei takes over. If he just canceled all those LS games and started making traditional single player games, Sony's first party has to, rehire, redirect and start over. Which will take even longer for them to release anything.

Come next none E3 we can only hope those LS games land in their next showcase. They have to look good and engaging.

[OmegaSoldati]

LMAO!

[UltimateRacer]

No thanks, Spencer is one of the biggest clowns in the industry, right up there with Don Matrick. Sony need another Kaz/Shawn Laiden to lead them for the next 10 years.

[UltimateOwnage]

Agreed, I'd love it if Kaz came back, and even Ken Kutaragi. A solid, tested CEO with the father of PlayStation. Lets see some innovation in the hardware sector again and stop this "uniconsole" style hardware and annoying GaaS crap that just slaps a different logo on the same box and services and call it "different".

PS3 was vastly different than the competition and innovated years ahead of its time. PSP was as well in so many ways, and both still hold up very well as a result. That was thanks to leadership and innovators working hand in hand to push the limits. After Ken left, it all became much more generic. Not to discredit the massive contributions of Mark Cerny, but he's no Ken Kutaragi.

[randomvoice]

Nah we don't need someone blowing smoke up our ass. Just get someone who will invest in single player games and we're good.

[UltimateOwnage]

Nope. Two talent-less clowns buying/consuming treasured industry talent and squeezing the life out of cherished IP and long-standing teams is not something the industry can sustain. What MS has already done is terrible enough. Can't foster talent, industry relationships, new IP or mutually beneficial partnerships by leading? Do it the MS way - just buy it and try to buy "consumers" along with it. We're gamers, not a bullet point figure on a spreadsheet, Microsoft.

[bleedsoe9mm]

Phil is the GOAT

[Charlieboy333]

Guilty Of Always Talking for sure

[Inverno]

What these companies need are people who don't obsess over growth to the point where they trample over their employees and have horrible anti consumer practices. Hostile , stress inducing, work environments with management that only care for that end year bonus. CEO's that out on a fake image, but you can see it in their face that they're sleezy mofos. The greed and chasing trends have gotten to some absolute disgusting levels. Nothing but price hikes, and advertisements shoved down everyone's throats. Nah what these companies needs are people who understand that they owe much of their success to consumers and employees that are their back bone.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I always think that as a short term approach to business, whatever makes the most money in the shortest period of time, unfortunately that kinda mindset doesn't always produce results, it often hurts the company and turns customers away.

[Charlieboy333]

What I can never understand is when these companies are no longer satisfied with making a shitload of money.....they start wanting more and more and more. Eventually that's not enough either and they won't be satisfied till they make ALL the money.

Ironically this always seems to come at the cost of cheapening and diluting the very product / experience that was making them that shitload of money in first place. People then lose interest since you are not providing them what they expect from you.....or even worse the company loses trust that was built up over nany years.

Case in point. I am a proud Playstation fan and I currently still have faith that they know what they are doing ( since they've never given me a reason to doubt them yet ). But I swear to you, the day that Sony starts making games designed around GAAS as their priority and starts dropping the quantity and quality of their AAA first party single player output, that is the day Sony can fuck off.

They have good thing going with their story driven, technology pushing, single player, first party blockbuster titles.....with pretty much each release resulting in great critical and financial success and popularity.

It is kinda predictable that all gaming companies want that Fortnite holy grail money printer of their own....but in Playstation's case, trying to accomplish this goal had better not be at the expense of the things that put them in the position they are today.

Besides, striving to recapture the lightning a bottle of games like Fortnite and Minecraft is futile 99% of the time. I mean not even Epic Games themselves had a clue how successful Fortnite would become. It wasn't even a blip on the radar until they made some changes that made everything click in place.

[outsider1624]

Yup yup we need a Phil too. Buy up some publishers and exclude other games from MS, make games day one on ps+ etc etc

/s

[Andrew336]

Articles like this need a "made for n4g" stamp somewhere.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Hell no! I'd rather someone competent that will steer Sony back to what made previous Playstation gens so great, I don't care whether they're a gamer or not, I don't like the direction Sony is heading, and I certainly don't want the dumpster fire situation that Xbox is in.

[Petebloodyonion]

Why would Sony need a Phil Spencer?
The last time I checked Playstation was the leading brand so it's not that they need a Likeable guy.
What they need is someone who can simply refocus Playstation on what brought them to the table while adjusting to the new reality and conveying a clear and honest message. Something that was completely lacking in Jim Ryan.

[Jigga69]

Whote wrote this non sense ?
Phil Spencer only knows defeats :
- Xbox One ? Failure
- Xbox Series ? Failure

And don't forget that no Xbox games have been nominated on the GOTY category at the VGA for 10 years.

[Deathdeliverer]

This here is ridiculous. The stuff people come up with.

[jznrpg]

Anyone but someone like Phil the used car salesman Spencer. Bring Shu back sure but nobody remotely like Spencer.

[gold_drake]

they dont need a delusional fame hungry talker as ceo lol

everything phil does is doing interviews talking about the most nonsensical stuff.

[Profchaos]

PlayStation had Shaun laydon who still argues for preservation from the sidelines he led the PS4 to be what it became and was honestly the best leader Sony has had he was a gamer.

[S2Killinit]

Hahaha that is rich

[Doge]

Suit or “gamer guy”, the whole idea of sucking up to a CEO is so tiring.

Look at Elon and everyone that’s worshipping him. We don’t need more of that.

[Hofstaderman]

Eff no.

[garos82]

No thanks. Not a fan of Phil. He comes across as trying too hard. I would ideally like Shuhei Yoshida

[DarXyde]

I don't think PlayStation needs a gamer CEO. You can be a gamer and an asshole at the same time. Generally, you don't get to become CEO without some very questionable and problematic behaviors and personality traits. Ryan is just more authentically corporate: you're painfully aware of his fiscal angle at all times. Spencer just reels it in, but he's very much a corporate head.

Anyone who thinks Spencer is "relatable" and is falling for the dressed down look probably also thinks a politician is relatable because they say "I betcha" instead of " I'm willing to bet". Sadly, it works. Microsoft drops Redfall under Spencer and because he goes on a stream looking defeated, surprised, and apologetic, he's managed to convince people that he's genuinely apologetic (no refunds, by the way) and somehow, Microsoft was completely insulated from the backlash as people completely went after Arkane; absolutely they deserve some of the blame, but you don't get to praise Microsoft for Starfield and berate Arkane for Redfall.

Anyway, there's a lot of fire for Ryan, and rightfully so. There's a night and day difference between PlayStation under him versus under others. I can appreciate him as "the evil I know". He's a known corporate quantity and I can't say that I ever felt misdirected by him; he is flamboyantly corporate. The danger of a gamer CEO is that they'll likely get a pass from the fans, which I see often with Spencer.

I don't agree. Just get a CEO that understand what makes PlayStation successful. They had an excellent formula and I fully understand that development is getting more expensive as teams grow and adapting is necessary. But the solution really is to double down on your strengths and really separate the existing veteran studios from the GaaS stuff. At the same time, don't do dumb shit with your existing great properties. Past execs at PlayStation understood the assignment. Sony has historically known how to choose them quite well, but Harrison and Ryan are hiccups. That'll happen, but now, just correct course.

But to do that, fans need to boycott PlayStation's L's. I don't have Plus anymore. Send the right message and they'll respond. They've historically been good about correcting course. The last thing you need is a gamer CEO to try and talk you out of hostility towards the brand when it's necessary.

[Godmars290]

A guy who needs to spend $70B for a 3rd party publisher? Who's repeatedly downplayed if not dismissed SP as well as 1st party games?

And really, lets not forget where Xbox is thanks to Phil and the many, many, MS CEOs he takes after.

Also, FFS, just got rid of Ryan.

Sony needs to take risks, be more creative, like they were in the PS1-PS2 eras. Period.

[BehindTheRows]

Sony actually needs to keep doing what they’re doing. They’re business is BOOMING right now! A risk here and there? Sure. It just doesn’t need to come at the expense of their current model, which is their most successful yet!

[Godmars290]

Thing is, what they were about to do under Ryan was go all in with service games. As it seems their implosion has become rather obvious. AAA scale drama simulators need to cool down as well. Have some space in-between for B to A scale productions to fill up. To be risks that should they genuinely catch on they can be made into AAA.

[BehindTheRows]

There is no evidence that they would have gone all in with Jim. They'll do what they normally do would do — dabble. People were worried in 2010 when they introduced the Move and I said the same thing: their core business model would not change. And it didn't.

They know what they're doing and have seen 4 highly successful PlayStation consoles, so they deserve a little benefit of the doubt when it comes to handling the brand.

[CBaoth]

exactly, there is this false narrative on the web that Sony mandated all their studios to make GaaS IPs. They've acquired several devs like Bungie and Haven this gen to specifically make these types of games but until we see GaaS games from ND, Sucker Punch, Insomniac, Bluepoint, Guerilla, etc...it's all fearmongering at this point. What we have is a very publicized rumor that Factions is in real trouble. And who knows this may be a godsend to all the SP gamers. Maybe Sony realized it's a foolish endeavor to shoehorn a developer into making an IP w/o intimate knowledge of said genre?

What I see as the real problem with Sony's strategy is most of the SP studios released new games late into the PS4's lifecycle and the cupboard was left bare. This would've been really highlighted if not for the Insomniac acquisition. Really only BP and Team Asobi had something ready at launch. Wanna justify the new PS+ hike? Buy Crytek, get access to the Crysis and Hunt IPs, and have them reboot Socom. All ya need is a PS6 and a sub. Sony is going to need a reason for shooter fans to stick with Playstation after COD migrates to GP. It'd be a great way to mitigate the "fallout". But no matter what Sony can no longer rely on 3rd party software to placate MP fans given MS' strategy of buying up the industry

[Phantom68]

Nope

[Chocoburger]

No please. If Sony replaces Jim with someone similar to Spencer, I'll be left with only Nintendo and PC gaming going forward.

[Barlos]

🤣🤣🤣


Did Obscure write this?

[sci4me]

One of the dumbest statement so far.. You could just write "Sony should become Xbox".... He is the image of Xbox and american company, and whats wrong in my opinion...

[ravens52]

🙅🏾

[BehindTheRows]

I don't think I've ever read a more LAUGH-OUT-LOUD inducing headline than this in all of my years coming here.

[anast]

This guy has brought some of the worst games and he cheapened all of their major IPS. Not to mention are we even sure he's a gamer?

[RupeeHoarder]

Give me a suit that cares about the product and doesn’t look like or sound like Phil. Why? Because underneath Phil’s persona…he IS a suit. You don’t lead at any large corporation…without being a suit. The difference is he has this MLB baseball mascot vibe. The totally rad, gamer bro thing was fine for the 1990’s, early 2000’s when everything was tacky in gaming. Nowadays? Give me a straight shooter professional. Gaming transcends high school boys that sit in their basement all night drinking Mountain Dew in 2023. A large population of gamers are actually adults now. I want to feel like a kid when I play, but not when I’m listening to a presentation about new hardware.

[ModsDoBetter]

Lol no.

As bad as Jim Ryan is, he isn't Phil Spencer bad.
They each have their negatives but Phil's are much, much more prominent.

[DynDasE]

No.
Phil Spencer looks like a gamer, but definitely a PR Guy who is only here for buying competitive, not innovate.
Imagining 77Billion USD if the money went to game development.

[Kekewei]

No thanks.

[Markusb33]

who writes this nonsense, must be slow news week to start click bait

[Charlieboy333]

Excuse me!!? Sony DOES NOT need a useless bullshitter like Spencer whose only accomplishment has been to condition his slack-jawed customer base into believing that buying games is bad and that the Xbox console hardware is not a priority. He released the series S to make sure that Xbox always has one foot stuck in last gen.....proving a headache for developers and proving woefully inadequate in all ways that matter.

Phil who praised Crackdown 3 as the next great thing, at the same level as Gears of War and Halo. Speaking of Halo, he proudly declared how impressed he was with Infinite before that fateful reveal where we all met Craig...this moron doesn't have a clue what a great game looks like. Phil, whose reign has ensured a massive decline in quality and consistency of game releases to the point where horse manure like Redfall has become the new Xbox normal.

Even Bethesda's new 'second coming of christ' IP....the brainchild of the great Tod Howard...turned out to be a soulless, generic, uninspired, limited, ugly looking borefest after all the hype and waiting. It's also not just their first party providing uninspired content. Phil also sucks at third party deals. Playstation goes after Final Fantasy XVI........Phil goes after shit like Ark 2 for his fanbase.

A fanbase that used to celebrate bangers like Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and Ninja Gaiden II have degenerated to the point where games like Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment and Starfield are praised as being cream of the crop.

Gamepass and cloud is all that matters to Phil for the future.....a future where they only need to provide 'servicable' games on a budget. So why the fuck would any one of us want him in charge of Playstation!?

Because I can promise you now that I wouldn't have Spider-man 2 to play right now if it was up to Phil.

[Andrew336]

TLDR

[Barlos]

Nice

[Charlieboy333]

Well I had a lot to say. What would you suggest? Splitting it all up into 10 different posts so you can have fun trying to piece them all together like a puzzle? It's ok, I know reading too many words all in one go must hurt your brain. It really doesn't take that long for us that know how.

[Nacho_Z]

He meant This Literature Definitely Right.

[hiroyukisanada]

They DEFINITELY don't need anyone remotely resembling Phil Spencer's lyin' ass 🤣
But a CEO like..well... Almost every one they've had EXCEPT Jim Ryan? Yeah, that sounds good lol Well, maybe not Kutaragi. But Kaz Hirai, Jack Tretton, Andrew House, Shuhei Yoshida, Shawn Layden were all business men who felt like they "got" what gamers wanted. I didn't have as much of a problem with Jim Ryan as others but he definitely isn't for everyone. He's a little too old school.

[BrainSyphoned]

Shockingly dumb.

[Vengeance1138]

Holy God NO! Phil is a snake oil salesmen who admitted the brand will die in 4yrs and that making great games isn't the answer.

If you want to kill a brand? Take lyin Phil

[Soulsborne]

The amount of "gamers" ( they arent) that fall for this little show and dance is beyond me. He has not only killed the xbox brand but the entire industry is feeling the waves. Xbox could use a CEO that isnt Philly boy.

[DragoonUS]

LOL Thanks, but no thanks!

[ocelot07]

Get rid of one idiot and bring in a clown like good guy never tell a lie Phill?

No thanks. I much rather they thing back Phill Harrison and give him a life long iron clad contract.

[Hereandthere]

Hahahahahahah, what a joke of an article. Phil is such a gamer, he thought redfall was a great game.

[PaleMoonDeath]

Pretty sure they could use their limitless cash instead but hey :P

[Einhander1972]

No.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Facts

[ChasterMies]

It’s long been time to dispel the myth that Phil Spencer is just a good guy gamer like you and me. Dualshockers should stop drinking the Kool-aid.

[RhinoGamer88]

No, Phil and the team's glory time was the 360 period. SInce then, underperformance and failure (see Redfall) has plagued them. However, don't worry, he and his posse will continue to stay in power and earn $$$. In other companies, the VP team would have been canned.

[derek]

Oh god no, that's the last thing Sony and gaming needs. Less focus on personalities and corporate mission statements more on games with no spin.

[Aussiesummer]

What to drive it into the ground?

[tombfan]

Because he uses shirts and looks like he actually care about the community when in fact he doesn't? He's just PR talk, ALL - THE - TIME.

[Rockstar]

...lol,

No thanks..

[Ninver]

Snake oil Phil's art of spin can never be matched.

[DaniMacYo]

Have you seen the difference between PS5 and Xbox?!? One’s actually continually dominating the gaming market and releasing great games the other is just spending daddy’s cash to look good and talk shit while making sub par games that nobody remembers after a few days.

Meanwhile Sony is making memorable titles that has the community talking about how great this game or that game is.

Microsoft are just buying their way into already created titles making ends meet.

I think you can guess which company has a Phil Spencer and which one doesn’t.

I think Sony are doing must fine without that douchebag Papa lying Phil thank you.

[Elda]

PS definitely doesn't need anyone remotely like Phil Spencer knowing he's a liar.

[Solitariussaint]

Oh man, some of these Xbox enthusiasts really are backwards, upsidedown, twisted, in reverse and completely insane!

Long live PlayStation and PSVR2 and Nintendo and may the Xbox brand, Phil Spencer and their anti-consumer Activision deal all be left to rot so that we may be free of their bullshit!

[Trilithon]

lol what a dumb article. the games should be the face of the company, not some dude. Replace him with AI. remember Cliff Bleszinski?

[Psychonaut85]

No thanks. I’d like another Shuhei Yoshida please.

[Nacho_Z]

Give me a choice between a CEO with no charm who delivers the goods and one with a sh*t eating grin who wastes a fortune and delivers very little and I'll pick the former, thanks.

[RAFTECH26]

The fact that sony fanboys are triggered by this is amazing. Nothing but good news for xbox… they have a great future…

So far for Sony…. Are lay offs and price hikes. And system releases that don’t make sense.

But carry on

[Longadog]

this being considered as good news for your kind is why your xbox still languishes at the doldrums for over a decade now. /facepalm

standards just keeps getting lower and lower for phil's minions

[LucidIllusion]

Where is that asteroid?

[rlow1]

Like moths to the flames. People just keep biting into an article that purposely uses speculation to stir up the masses.

Imagined controversy, the life blood of any news site. No wonder the world today is so jacked.

Oh well enjoy the banter over much to do about nothing.

[Zenzuu]

"Powa of the cloud," "The world's most powerful console," "12 teraflops of power," "We're going to focus on building our own IPs and creating world-class first-party studios."

All this person does is engage in PR talk. The last statement, in particular, never actually happened. All they've been doing is pushing Game Pass hard and throwing money ay buying whatever studios they can. At one point, it became laughable when they even attempted to buy out Nintendo. At first, they were loudly announcing the number of Xbox units shipped and sales. However, as soon as PS5 sales surpassed those of the Series X, Phil suddenly changed his tune, claiming that sales don't matter and remaining quiet about the actual figures.

Since the release of the PS5, Sony has already released solid first-party titles and third-party titles like Returnal, Ratchet & Clank, Demon's Souls, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy 16, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Astro's Playroom, The Last of Us Part 1, Persona 5 Royal, and more.

Apart from Forza, what other decent first-party games have been released for the Series X generation? Halo wasn't as strong as it used to be. Starfield is the only title that has been well-received, so they are promoting it heavily as if it's the ultimate gaming experience.

Sony's gaming division is performing well as it is. It doesn't need someone like Phil.

[Zenzuu]

...

[Zenzuu]

......

[Zenzuu]

"Powa of the cloud," "The world's most powerful console," "12 teraflops of power," "We're going to focus on building our own IPs and creating world-class first-party studios."

All this guy does is PR talk. The last statement, in particular, never actually happened. All they've been doing is pushing Game Pass and throwing money, buying whatever studios they can. It's laughable they even attempted to buy out Nintendo at one point. At first, Phil were loudly announcing the number of Xbox units shipped and sales. However, as soon as PS5 sales surpassed those of the Series X, Phil suddenly changed his tune, claiming that sales don't matter and remaining quiet about the actual figures.

Since the release of the PS5, Sony has already released solid first-party titles and third-party titles like Returnal, Ratchet & Clank, Demon's Souls, Gran Turismo 7, Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy 16, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, Astro's Playroom, The Last of Us Part 1, Persona 5 Royal, and more.

Apart from Forza, what other decent first-party games of it's our IP have been released for the Series X this generation? Halo is not a heavy knockout like it was in the past. Starfield is the only title that has been well-received, so all Phil promoting like it's the holy grail of gaming.

Sony's gaming division is performing well as it is. It doesn't need someone like Phil.

[J-DARKnes]

🤣🤣🤣
29315;🤣 good one

[YourMommySpoils]

And when did Phil become a gamer? He can't even hold a controller properly